SHRIKE - Character Creation

LouisPhilippe

Hi!
I just started a new character for a personal project and I figured I'd share the process at the same time.
I'm very open to any critique or comment!
Here are the two different concept art I did for this character. The character is supposed to be gloomy, sad and cute with a small hint of badass.
The visual style is simplified and stylized. Think of a mix between Pixar, Tim Burton and Inside (the game).
I have more backstory but I'm trying to keep this fairly straight forward :* .


I decided to go with the female character after getting some feedback from friends. I might change some of the design along the way.
Here's a quick sculpt I started today in ZBrush to quickly block in the proportions. I'll probably start working on the hair next and keep adjusting the proportions and facial features as I go along.


I'll keep updating this thread as I keep working on this, hopefully it's insightful or at least entertaining!
Cheers!
Louis

LouisPhilippe

Started working on the hair.

slosh

Dig the direction!  Face is unique which I like.  Her proportions feel a bit off.  They feel like teens or kids in your concept but the body sculpt feels too hourglass for a teenager.  

LouisPhilippe

slosh said:

Dig the direction!  Face is unique which I like.  Her proportions feel a bit off.  They feel like teens or kids in your concept but the body sculpt feels too hourglass for a teenager.  

Thanks for the feedback my dude, i've fixed the proportions a bit! 
I started adding some of the clothing, i refined the hair and face a bit as well.

LouisPhilippe

more work in progress, started the pants.

Carabiner

Looking very cool - really like this style!

LouisPhilippe

Thanks Carabiner!
More work in progress, testing out some values.

LouisPhilippe

Starting to think about my retopology. should i make the hair a separate mesh or combine it with the head? I think I'm leaning more on the separate mesh way but i might be wrong. same line of questioning for the eyelashes.

LouisPhilippe

Taking a small break from re-topology to finish up the bow concept for the character. Here's a sheet with some of my references and a quick sketch on the bottom, I might still change a couple of things but this is the direction so far... As the name of the thread might suggest, this whole character is based around the "Shrike" bird, which is a carnivorous bird notorious for impaling it's prey on sharp sticks before eating it. I wanted to keep that in mind when thinking about shape design. So far I like the shapes but it doesn't feel as gloomy as i'd like, although I kind of want the feel from the bottom right image where the weapon feels kind of comforting to the character. I'd love to know what you guys think!

ChiNguyen

I really like your character style. I think it would benefit you to make the hair a difference object from the head so that it won't give you a hard time figuring out the head topology.
As for your bow, I like the shape and I think you're heading in a pretty good direction with it. 

LouisPhilippe

Thanks ChiNguyen
bow wip

LouisPhilippe

Almost done, not a fan of retopology.

LouisPhilippe

Re-topology is done, I know it's not perfect, but it's the happiest I've been all week! 
Feeling very excited to jump into baking and texturing.

Carabiner

Looks great! Heck yeah. Keep at it

LouisPhilippe

Bake came out alright, I still need to fix some areas, but i'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. This is a test render in marmoset toolbag.

LouisPhilippe

First texture pass. Might take a break soon and switch to the bow. Would love to get some critique. Also, do you guys know how to paint a direction map from scratch?

Carabiner

Yesss, I was wondering how this piece was coming! The texture pass looks good! How dark is that base color black though? It looks very dark and maybe that's intentional -- but if you're sticking to what's technically PBR correct you'll probably want to use a value like 0.8 or 0.9 or something, so that you can get a true black by being in shadow. (e.g. https://seblagarde.wordpress.com/2014/04/14/dontnod-physically-based-rendering-chart-for-unreal-engine-4/ )

LouisPhilippe

@Carabiner
Thanks! I've made the values a bit lighter to be PBR correct
Here's a quick update on the progress i made on the bow. I decided to change the design after experimenting with different options and add some metal near the handle.

LouisPhilippe

Riggin in progress... I'm new to Maya so this might take a while hahaha. 

LouisPhilippe

Rig update - day 5: I'm slowly loosing my sanity. I'm starting to think in hierarchies and constrains.

All jokes aside, i'm learning a ton doing this project and i'm pumped to push this model further

LouisPhilippe

Update after a long hiatus... Rigging is mostly done. I'm cleaning up the skin at the moment.
I've been following the Pluralsight - Maya Rigging Fundamentals tutorial by Peter Gend. I'm no expert when it comes to rigging and animating so If anybody have good recources/tips/critiques to share I would very much appreciate it.
After i'm done skinning i would like to start working on a walk/run cycle as well as blend shapes for basic facial expressions and blinking.

Tits

Looking forward to see you finish this

LouisPhilippe

Finally calling this one done. not perfect by any means but I'm happy I went and did the entire process from scratch.
Would love to get feedback and critique.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW13R4nAUHE

LouisPhilippe

Got some critique, reworked the materials and presentation... I hope its better now!

Carabiner

Looks very cool! I have to say, the aesthetic of the character and of the bow don't seem to match. Is there a reason for that? The rendering/modeling style matches, but the girl looks kind of modern and rockabilly and the bow looks more high scifi/fantasy.

LouisPhilippe

Carabiner said:

Looks very cool! I have to say, the aesthetic of the character and of the bow don't seem to match. Is there a reason for that? The rendering/modeling style matches, but the girl looks kind of modern and rockabilly and the bow looks more high scifi/fantasy.

Thanks! It made more sense in the context of the story but apart from that I personally like the mix between contemporary and fantasy elements.  Although I don't think I did a very good job of representing the aesthetic I was going for hahaha. I'll apply myself more on the next project!