[WIP] Catwoman

HazelTheHobbit

Hi! I've recently started a new project- Catwoman based on Karl Kopinski's Catwoman painting. Thought she looked so cool and fun to make!



I'm basing her face on Tessa Thompson cause I thought she'd suit the character.



I've made the jacket and trousers in marvelous designer and have just started cleaning up some of my blockouts so far. Crit is obviously welcome!

HazelTheHobbit

Some updates, starting to look at the props/accessories for a bit. Need to have a proper look at how I'm gonna position the whip, looks v awkward atm

HixaLupa

I love the way you've done this! The clothing folds are great, were they marvellous designer or hand made?

HazelTheHobbit

@HixaLupa They're all marvelous with a little bit of sculpting over the top!  

jose.fuentes

love how this is turning out, great work so far 

HazelTheHobbit

@jose.fuentes thankyou! 

HazelTheHobbit

Some tweaks based on feedback!

HazelTheHobbit

Almost done on the highpoly, I think the goggles could do with a more interesting look & I'm not sure whether I like the cat plush on the backpack yet! I think I'm gonna have a go at the motorbike for a bit before giving her another pass before retop  

HazelTheHobbit

Little bit of work on her face/skin!

HazelTheHobbit

Finally coming out of the end of the retopology tunnel! She's missing a few bits still but wanted to slap some basic textures on there

Pav3d

Nice face texturing! could do with some very subtle variety in the skin tones and in the chest area too. Whats the plan for the fur collar? Hair cards?

bkost

You could try a mix of geo and cards with this technique
Looks like this fur collar would be great for this workflow

HazelTheHobbit

@Pav3d @bkost Thankyou! Yes I agree, I'll come back to her skin and give it some loving. Yes I think some kinda combo of a base texture and hair cards!

HazelTheHobbit

A lil texturing update, just trying to get some roughness/subtle colour variation into the leather. Gonna be looking at the fluffy collar next  

slosh

Is there a reason you made her african american?  Cuz I don't get that vibe from the concept.  Unless you are just deviating and doing your own thing.  I think she still looks pretty solid so far.  Her proportions still feel a bit thick to be catwoman, esp in her legs IMO.  You could taper her legs thinner at her ankles to keep her thicker thighs but to give her legs a bit more variation in proportion.  Her eyes feel a bit cross eyed as well...definitely too much sclera showing on the outsides of her iris.  

artofmars

I'd also say the helmet cap doesn't feel like it has enough thickness. It feel like a thin swimmers cap, not a helmet meant for motorcycling.

HazelTheHobbit

@slosh Not any reason in particular- I was looking for a face to base her off and thought it'd be cool to base her off Tessa Thompson instead of finding something more similar to the concept :P I'll see how tapering her legs looks I agree about the eyes! I'll give them a proper look, thankyou! 

@artofmars Yeah I based her cap off an aviator's cap- I think that's what it is in the concept?
 

Carabiner

I really like her body type + face, nice work! 

HazelTheHobbit

@Carabiner Thankyou!

Edrice

This is awesome, nothing much to say. Maybe break off the color palette a bit, with red stiches, or gold accents, just to add more interest an break off from the black and brown palette.

HazelTheHobbit

@Edrice Thankyou! Yeah I agree! 

HazelTheHobbit

Yay progress! Finally got her backpack and weapons in! Textures still need some love and I'm considering re-doing the cat face- just can't decide how I want it to look! I also reworked her goggles a bit to make them more realistic and not just kinda glued-on looking.
Tapered her boots ever so slightly as well but any more makes her feet look huge!

Next I plan to do the cards for the fur collar and then I might do a pose/lighting pass to take a break from texturing and also get a fresh look at them in better lighting so I can finish them up (I have a kinda annoying habit of half finishing the textures, posing and then finishing them after)

Also! An eyebrow tutorial that someone requested on twitter, figured I might as well stick it in incase anyone found it handy! 

HazelTheHobbit

Done some work on her hair and fur!

Alex_J

hey, just wanted to say I appreciate that breakdown of the eyebrows. Seems like a simple thing to do but it gives me a lot of trouble.

HazelTheHobbit

@BIGTIMEMASTER You're welcome! I had no idea so many people would find it useful!

HazelTheHobbit

Its been a busy weekend! I made her a rig complete with controls (which I never normally do) It was pretty cool learning how to do it and I'm already thinking of ways to improve it for next time after having a play around with it.



I've got 2 main poses on the go at the moment and so far I'm happy with them- I struggled to match the bike one exactly to the concept because of the size of the bike etc. I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to do with the bike- I kinda like the idea of blacking it out but idk whether it looks cool or just looks lazy/unfinished- let me know!



On a whim I figured I'd see how she looks with her goggles down and its pretty cute so I'll probably do a few shots with them down like this!

I'm starting to go through all the textures and give them a proper finish/polish/wear pass/make good pass so any critiques are welcome  



I'm probably going to do a tweak on the position of her head/eyes for maximum engagement on her face as well! Having an eye controller this time around is sooooo helpful!!

bkost

Wow, wonderful progress Hazel! It's nice that you have some rigging skills! Any resources on intermediate character rigging? 

The bike leaning pose could be more exaggerated. And I'd love to see the bike textured to the quality of Catwoman, add in a few minor backdrop objs and some ground texture and you'll have an amazing portfolio piece!

HazelTheHobbit

@bkost Thankyou! This is the main tutorial I used https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOokoFED7QE and then I had a look on youtube for any extra specific things that I wanted to do Pretty straightforward and beginner friendly!

I've decided to ditch the motorbike- as much as I like it, the model I found isn't quite the right bike from the concept and its a bit too janky to texture to a good enough quality and I think it'll bring the whole character down if its not done well.

That being said I think I'm almost finished! She just needs a little more polish and tweaking on textures (and maybe lighting but I feel like I've re-done it loads and it always comes out pretty much the same haha)

Thoughts/crit still welcome of course!

Alex_J

would a little less roughness on the leather be nice? like, relegate the level of wear you have right now to just high impact areas (knees and bum) but let the rest be a bit shinier?

It seems like you've got a realistic result but a little gloss on her curvy parts might give a nice result. help her pop off the background a little more.

HazelTheHobbit

@BIGTIMEMASTER Thanks! Yeah I totally agree, I did a dirt pass last night and it's matted it down more than I realised! I'll give it another pass tonight  

HazelTheHobbit

She's finished! Thanks for all the crit along the way! More pics are on my artstation  
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/qANGLz