Fantasy Gothic Temple

Benjammin

Hey everyone,
I put together this environment as a school project last year. I was pretty pleased with it, but it was produced under a pretty tight deadline and I want to spend some time polishing it up. I've also switched to Substance Painter from Quixel Suite (really wish I'd done that sooner...), which is an opportunity to do another pass over the textures.



More on my artstation page
I'm looking for critique on anything that you think needs improvement/polish. I already intend to rework the floor meshes and textures, but anything else you think could do with some more attention, please let me know! Also general C&C is welcome!
Thanks in advance!

Benjammin

Update:
I'm redoing the candle - the original was made in a rush, and I've learnt more zbrush tricks since then (array meshes ftw!).

Just the high poly for the moment. I'm going to pause on it and come back later with fresh eyes to see if I want to change anything. 
Thanks for viewing. C&C welcome, of course

Benjammin

Update 2: High poly statues. Decided to redo these to get more variation. I'm no character modeller, so I used DAZ to for a base pose (the face is my work), then blender to simulate cloth, then into Zbrush for extra detail.

jStins

Nice scene! I like the lighting and the modeling of the architecture looks solid. The floor tiles feel a bit chaotic compared to the rest of the space. Do you have reference for them? Could be that I'm just expecting to see a more organized pattern and what you have now is accurate...

Benjammin

Hi jStins, thanks! You're right about the floor tiles, and they're something I'm going to rework. I was attempting to break up the flatness, as the floor takes up so much screen space. I think I pushed it too far, though

Did a slight rework on the new statues. They're going to be cast bronze so I wanted a smooth look, but when I compared them to the candle sculpt, they had lost a bit too much detail in the faces:

Benjammin

Texturing of the candlestick - screenshots from substance painter. Have I gone too far or not far enough with the corrosion? Any other crits?

Thanks

Benjammin

(Hopefully) final shots. I've tweaked and polished all textures, added some new ones, and adjusted the lighting a bit. I added balustrades and raised floors in the bays to divide the space. I struggled to find the right setup/layout regarding the statue placement, but I think their reduced scale and round pedestals fit better with the surroundings.
Thanks!

jamecz

This is looking nice! I think the scene in general feels a little barren however. Perhaps adding some more props to populate the walls like hanging plants, chandeliers, church benches, more candles?

The statues feel imposing because of the lighting on them being predominantly from the ground but I feel that you can emphasize that aspect more as they dont feel very "large". Maybe tilting the god rays down and adding more warm point lights near the bottom of the statues could help create a dark cavernous feeling and create the illusion of a higher ceiling.

Benjammin

Thanks jamecz! 
I don't want to model anymore props for this - its time I moved on to other projects, but I'll try to rearrange what I have for better effect.

Benjammin

Ok, final final images...

Lots more images with breakdowns etc over on my portfolio (link in my sig). Thanks everyone - time for the next project...