Resuming my Retrogasm 2018 Comp Entry - Lenneth from Valkyrie Profile (WIP)

Gabby

Following on from the Retrogasm 2018 competition, I'm going to pick up my entry of Lenneth from Valkyrie Profile (PS1) from where I left off as I was unable to complete it in time. I knew it would be a tough call to finish alongside everything else I had going on, but I always had the intention of finishing or further refining it afterwards.

For those of you who haven't heard of Retrogasm, it's an art competition run by the good folks at IHazToys, basically out of love, nostalgia and for fun. Basic rules are to create a character or vehicle from any console or PC game 6th gen or ealier. I highly recommend checking out the entries through the Facebook group and maybe even join in next year's one.

Now is a good time for me to pick this project up again as things are a little quieter for the time being. Here is where I left off:



If you'd like to check out / track how I've gottent to this point, I've been keeping a progress thread at https://www.facebook.com/groups/RetrogasmArtCompetition/permalink/2106779266272755/. Though I'll probably pop all my posts and updates onto this thread at some point also.

This character was waaay out of my comfort zone, which is part of the reason why I chose her as a challenging learning piece (and of course much love and nostalgia). So I'm happy to hear any feedback or suggestions while I tinker some more in Substance.

Gabby

I'm just going to pop a copy of the thread I kept throughout the comp (and will add to as I go) right here. Feel free to browse and comment and maybe you'll even take away a thing or two from this. Enjoy

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After a long look back through a bunch of games I've played over the years (I'm sure there's plenty I've missed too), I think I've settled on Lenneth from Valkyrie Profile; specifically the PS1 version. I would usually go with a more quirky / goofy, non-human (looking) character, but for this I'm leaning towards the exact opposite.

I could go about her style in a few different ways - more chibi, toon / anime or the relaistic route. Though I have a fair idea of how I would go about texturing her realistically.

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I finally took some time to make a start on this (things have been a bit crazy these last few weeks) and have a few WIPs to share of my progress throughout the week.

I worked off a base mesh that I had modeled up for comic / semi-realistic characters and modified it a bit to match closer to Lenneths proportions in the concept.

For my second WIP, I tinkered some more with the proportions, but mainly worked on (and re-worked) the face. I feel like the face is at an okay-ish point for the time being, though I'll probably change it somewhere along the way.


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And here I've 'fleshed out' some of the anatomy; nothing too detailed as she will be mostly armoured up. Adjusted the proportions some more and added a placeholder hair blob for the time being.

I think Lenneth is at a point where I can start roughing out her armour. I have some work to finish up before that though.

Gabby

Started roughing out some of the clothing and armour bits and pieces. There's still plenty to add and polish up, as well as a bunch of detail work. Feedback is welcome and keep up the awesome work everyone!


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Time for an update! I've now placed the most of the main forms of the armour, accessories and started some rough detailing. She's finally starting to look like a valkyrie and a bit better each time I add more bits and pieces I think. 

I'd like to spend no more than another week or 2 on the sculpt, so I can have a nice presentation by the end of the comp. Lots left to do though, so I'll have to see how things go with my schedule and sneak in as much time as I can to work on it.


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Our Battle Maiden is looking a little closer to being battle-ready. Roughing out the details hasn't been anywhere near as tedious or time consuming as I thought it would be (though I'm nowhere near done yet). Not too sure, but I might sculpt the hair, partly because of time, and to differentiate a bit more from other models I have seen; made with hair cards.

Now onto the lower half, then I'll need to start finalising / polishing things up real soon to get her game-ready in time.


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Another update for you all before I start finalising aaaaaaall the details. I'm going to try and wrap up the sculpt in the next couple of days as there's almost 3 weeks to go (eek!).

Gabby

Hiya! So uh, ideally I'd have the sculpt retopoed already, but things didn't really go to plan. Nevertheless, I'm still chipping away at the sculpt and am giving myself until tomorrow to finish it up. Hopefully followed by the speediest retop and rig ever.

The skin, hair, 'under armour' and boots need more work, but other than that, if there is anything I might have overlooked or that could use a bit of love let me know.


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Alright, I'm calling the sculpt done as I need to move things along. I'm fairly sure I won't finish it up in time, but between work and other projects I'll see how things go (there is a teensy bit of hope). Either way I'll keep working on it afterwards.

Gabby

Welp, there's no way I can have anything presentable ready in the next half-hour. Well done to those who manage to get their entries in on time and for those who don't, it's great to hear that a lot of you will continue on with your projects anyway. I'll be one of those finishing my character up later and will continue to bug you all with updates as I wrap things up. For those of you still following along, here's where Lenneth is at right now.


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And here are some fresh bakes. Don't mind the messed up bits, getting those sorted now.


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Oh wow, there have been some awesome entries in this comp. Congrats everyone!

I had done a bit of texture work since, and I'll be working on it some more soon as work has quieted down a bit for the time being.
Seeing as I started this progress thread, may as well keep it going. Here's how the model looks with the base colours, ao and normal maps.


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And this is my latest update. I'm tinkering with things in Substance at the moment. Not entirely sure where I'm going with it just yet, so I'm open to any critique or suggetstions (don't mind the dead eyes and artifacts).