Character almost finished - Please give me feedback

elcucuy

I feel like I am very far and I'd like to add this to my portfolio, but I've been looking at this for very long now, so it would be great to have some fresh eyes give me some feedback on what doesnt work and can be improved.

One thing I still plan to do is make the stairs and wall where shadow is darker and use ambient occlusion to blend in ground, stairs and walls better.

Here is my reference image: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/aRrwPX

Thank you!

Ashervisalis

Nice work!! Are you going to do some colour editing, or is that done? I feel you could up the contrast a slight bit, get her eyes to look a little more to the right, and tilt her sword a little more to the right. That might help you match the concept a bit more.

Alex_J

Materials all look a bit plastic-like. Has a toy-like quality to it.

I think that may simply come from not having enough subtle realistic noise, especially on the fabrics. Don't got to make her all dirty, but just lots of slight variations in colors and roughness will make it look more realistic. Assuming you were meaning to make it look more realistic, of course.

Also the facial expression is a bit dead compared to the triumphant pose.

If you were meaning to show likeness with the concept, I wouldn't show the concept because your face is quite different. Still a nice looking character but doesn't even look to be the same ethnicity as reference.

Ashervisalis

Ooh, yeah, work on the facial expression a bit! The concept looks like one eye brow is a bit raised.

elcucuy

Ashervisalis said:

Ooh, yeah, work on the facial expression a bit! The concept looks like one eye brow is a bit raised.

You are right! Will do that

elcucuy

Alex Javor said:

Materials all look a bit plastic-like. Has a toy-like quality to it.

I think that may simply come from not having enough subtle realistic noise, especially on the fabrics. Don't got to make her all dirty, but just lots of slight variations in colors and roughness will make it look more realistic. Assuming you were meaning to make it look more realistic, of course.

Also the facial expression is a bit dead compared to the triumphant pose.

If you were meaning to show likeness with the concept, I wouldn't show the concept because your face is quite different. Still a nice looking character but doesn't even look to be the same ethnicity as reference.

It does look plastic-like unfortunately, I will try out, what you said! And I know I didnt match any likeness of the face at all, even though I tried hard for a while funny enough and I figured it wouldnt be great to show the reference, but I also felt its a great reference and wrong not to state. That right there should probably be a strong reason to not put it in a portfolio. I will still try to implement your advice. Thanks!

elcucuy

Ashervisalis said:

Nice work!! Are you going to do some colour editing, or is that done? I feel you could up the contrast a slight bit, get her eyes to look a little more to the right, and tilt her sword a little more to the right. That might help you match the concept a bit more.

That's pretty much done, Id just do some slight adjustments and render passes/compositing, but I figured some things are off and wanted to get some feedback before I do that. You have some points there! The likeness is aweful anyway, but It's not like I didt try haha.

elcucuy

Implemented some of the advice I got! Added more detail overall, worked on the hair again and on the head. Still not much likeness, but I think the expression is better now. Wasnt able to improve the skin , not sure whats off and would appreciate help a lot!

ChrisFraser

I know its a bit too late but I feel like the hands are a bit too masculine/meaty/large for an elegant noblewoman like she appears to be. The knuckles and fingers are a bit manly. Man hands, like that episode of Seinfeld...

Ashervisalis

I feel the hair looks like a wig. I don't know anything about hair grooming, but I feel it could use a lot of work.

elcucuy

ChrisFraser said:

I know its a bit too late but I feel like the hands are a bit too masculine/meaty/large for an elegant noblewoman like she appears to be. The knuckles and fingers are a bit manly. Man hands, like that episode of Seinfeld...

I've never seen Seinfeld, but that little dinner scene was pretty funny! And you are so right, they're too big and the raised one looks way too  flexed also. I will definitely need to fix it. Thanks!

elcucuy

Ashervisalis said:

I feel the hair looks like a wig. I don't know anything about hair grooming, but I feel it could use a lot of work.

agreed, I worked on it quite a bit actually, but I got rid of some noise in the process and didnt realize how much it actually hurts the look. Ill give it one last shot

kanga

Posed and textured its hard to give useful comments on the figure. Its really easier to comment on a piece from the beginning of the process. Proportions are always challenging and the legs seem short. The feet dont really look correct and its hard to read the pose, possibly due to the camera and figure position. The trouser material falls a bit dead and the wrinkles and creases look rubbery. The same goes for the red like inside of the hip piece. The pose doesnt seem balanced. The composition of the scene looks a little random and the FOV doesnt work well.

For character development you would benefit more from showing the start of the process and set yourself up for guidance throughout.

elcucuy

I dont see what you are saying about the legs and feet tbh. I can see all your other points though. Regarding the composition I tried to stick to the reference, which I really like. And yeah, I should have asked for advice much earlier on and I will next time! Thanks for the criticism!

Alex_J

I think the materials are looking a bit better, but could be pushed further still.

The inside of the overcoat, is that silk? Or velvet? The reflective quality of it doesn't seem like fabric still.

Concerning the skin, the roughness is too uniform I think migth be the biggest problem. The flat part of her chest is makes sense to get a big reflection like that because its pretty taught, smooth skin. But the prominent tendons on her necck should be broken up a bit in the roughness map. Because that's not like super smooth, tight skin there.

I am just guessing here -- if i was working on it these are the things I would experiment with. So don't take it as commandment, just suggestion.

seigearts

I don't have those pro artistic eyes yet so it might be just me but......the raised fist looks kinda weird (maybe because of the viewing angle ),
A bit round so to say.

elcucuy

At this point there is lots of good advice and plenty things to work on. I will start a new character today and try to be more conscious about all these things and probably chose an easier reference with less clothes. I hope by posting my progress earlier on, I will avoid a mess like now.

Alex_J

It's defintely not a mess. It's a really nice character. It can just be improved.

Game developers are always saying, the last 1% of production takes 90% of the time. I think it's true even of individual things like characters. The final polish takes a ton of time, but it's not like your foundation is junk here.

All the fixes people suggest is simple stuff. Tweak the size of the hands. Slightly scale the legs. Add a little more interest to the materials. Very small changes but you jsut gotta play with them to take the thing to next level.

Even if you can't do what somebody is saying directly, sometimes there is workaround. Like say the legs are too short, but scaling them stretches you textures. Well maybe you can scale them and then rebake the old textures to new UV's. Or maybe simply changing the lighting or colors of the legs can create illusion so it's less apparent. Just keep experimenting and I'm sure you can improve this character you put so much time into something much stronger. There is time to retreat but I don't think you there yet. Quitting too early is seriously fatal flaw sometimes.

elcucuy

That's true. It's just that I spend a lot of time tweaking already and I feel like im going nowhere and even if I were to fix a lot of these things I still dont have the likeness of the face. But thanks for the encouragement!

Alex_J

yeah no likeness may be a problem is you are showing to job recruiters cause matching reference is important skill... but i think the clothing and overall is well done. I dunno maybe one of the pro character artist could give a more definitive yay or nay, but IMO it's good ccharacter and can be very good with just a bit more work.

But who knows maybe you crank out a few more then you'll have better knowledge how to fix this one up.

elcucuy

Worked on a lot of things from facial expression, hair, pose, proportions to lighting and composition based on feedback I got. At this point Id really like to call it finished, although if there are smaller adjustments, Id take it into consideration. Let me know what you think either way, maybe some things I can work on for my next project. Thanks!

LuizHD

The skin looks a little too glossy and the SS gives the impression she's made of wax. I'd lower the intensity a little 

elcucuy

LuizHD said:

The skin looks a little too glossy and the SS gives the impression she's made of wax. I'd lower the intensity a little 

True! I made some adjustments! Thanks