Sketchbook: silentheart00
polycounter lvl 3
Hi everyone! New to polycount but not new to modeling and sketching. I heard this is a great place to be, so I figured I'd hop in.
Currently, I'm studying to be a game artist, so any resources/critiques/experiences you can give I will greatly appreciate. I love making characters, so I'm gearing myself towards that even though I am aware someone must be exceptional to stand out for characters. I gotta try.
Any critiques are always welcomed.
Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/silentheart00
Sketchfab: https://sketchfab.com/silentheart00
CGCookie: https://cgcookie.com/u/silentheart00
Currently, I'm studying to be a game artist, so any resources/critiques/experiences you can give I will greatly appreciate. I love making characters, so I'm gearing myself towards that even though I am aware someone must be exceptional to stand out for characters. I gotta try.
Any critiques are always welcomed.
Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/silentheart00
Sketchfab: https://sketchfab.com/silentheart00
CGCookie: https://cgcookie.com/u/silentheart00
Replies
This was our final in my hardsurface class, a Vespa! The budget was originally 18k-20k triangles, but the professor increased it to 35k. However, I had already moved on to the UV unwrapping stage, sooo... This is it, heh.
Things I would like to have done differently:
Modelling a 2014 Ford Mustang as a way to practice using 3Ds Max. I prefer Blender, but my coursework requires I use 3Ds Max, so might as well brush up.
Black and White
Variant
Phew! Got some time to work on personal projects now. Been trying to understand anatomy more, but it doesn't come up a lot in my studies (just a lot of hardsurface), so there are things I know I can improve. Here's a rough proxy of my current DND character, Kaeria.
Here's a concept for a mask. There are a lot of details I'm thinking of putting in the model, but this is the general idea. This is a texture heavy assignment, so some minimal modeling and lots of texture work.
Okay, experimenting with hair card workflow. I do like the ponytail coming together, not quite sure how I feel about the pulled up hair texture. Could probably do it better. I'm not sure how worried about it I should be with the headdress covering most of the roots, but there is the front portion that's a concern. I'll give it a think.
Feedback is appreciated.
Also probably not a good idea to add hair right now as I haven't retopologized the body yet. But! Experimentation is important.
Alright, finished the hair! Pretty happy about it this time around. Much better attempt.
So, I realized the sleeves are blocking all the detail as I planned for the sleeves to be opaque, so I may scrap those. But! I learned a way to create cloth in Zbrush, so not completely lost lol
I like the design ideas!
Finally figured out the skirt situation and adjusted the feet. Alright, I am done with modeling. Now to retopologize and texture!
Phew, been a while. I hope everyone had a nice break!
Still working on retopology. Really enjoying Retopoflow, an addon for Blender. It helps speed things up a lot!
I believe it's just this slip thing and the skirt left to retopologize. Almost there.
Alright! Finished retopologizing Sandal (minus the teeth about mouth bag because I completely forgot those are things I need to add, heh.) Also pretty sure I can take out some polys from the skirt, but I'm a bit tuckered out from today.
It took me so long to figure out a retopology workflow for the skirt because doing all of that by hand was rough. Zbrush was giving me funky results, mostly the edge flow would become super wonky and just caused more problems than results. I probably spent the most time on this section, maybe redoing it 4 times-ish? I lost count lol. But, through trial and error and a good chunk of research, I found a solution that was way easier than anything I've tried before! And gave good results! Phew, it was a long road, but success!
Hey everyone, sorry for being quiet. Ran into quite a few snags while unwrapping and phew, did that take time! But I got through it and now am on a first pass of texturing.
Laying down a first pass of textures, getting things figured out.
Been toiling away at the textures, but I think I've come to the point where I need to put the double-sided and transparent elements in. Let's go!
I am so excited to finally enact the ideas I've had in my head for a while now with the overcoat. When researching different animals, flowers, and minerals that signified or were connected to death, dragonflies caught my eye. They represent a visit from a deceased person, good luck, change and transformation, which I thought was very fitting for Sandal and the culture she was raised in.
Even though this is still a work in progress, I am so excited to see the beginning of something very cool.
This is me attempting to replicated metallic embroidery on a sheer fabric. Not sure how successful it is, could definitely use some refinement, but I'm taking a short break on this to come back with clearer eyes. Still plenty of other things to texture. Advice is appreciated!
Sorry seems Polycount can be a tough crowd.
The designs look cool, but the material seems a bit too costume-y/stylised at the moment that contrasts the realistic proportions of the person. Unless that is the direction you are intending.
Do you have a reference board for the kinds of materials you want to use? It's hard to see the end goal from your initial concept sketch alone and it might help ground the vision if you have a ref sheet with textures and the general vibe.
Hi @Minyi . Apologies for the late reply, I didn't notice it until now.
Yes, I do have references for the materials I'm replicating.
The inner wing portions is the top row, which I believe is pearlized organza. The vein portions I'm trying to replicate metal thread embroidered into the organza.
Then the dark magenta pieces are leather, dark blue pieces are satin, and the light blue should be cotton/linen.
The dress skirt is based off of this reference, but I didn't like how the more poofy version looked, so I slimmed it down:
but the material seems a bit too costume-y/stylised at the moment that contrasts the realistic proportions of the person.
Could you clarify what you mean by this? Is it stylized in the sense of the colors or proportions or something else?
Thank you.
It's been a while since I posted, so thank you for your patience.
Lots of things added since my last update.
Textured the flowers and minerals of the headband. I am personally pretty proud of the stargazer lily; it looks just like one!
And how it looks all together.
Once I felt the textures were good enough, I went back to Zbrush and put Sandal into a pose using the Transpose Master plugin. This was so much easier to use than to try and build a whole rig for something quick. Then I used the cloth brushes to move around the overcoat, skirt, and hair. I used the cloth brushes (mainly cloth pull) so I wouldn't distort too much and lose too much shape.
And then I'm experimenting with lighting setups and different viewing angles in Unreal Engine 4 as well as tweaking materials. For the wings, I'm figuring out how to make the highlights look like they're reflecting a different color like in this reference of pearlized organza (source https://bentextiles.com/media/catalog/large/iridescent-pearl-organza/white.jpg).
My gut instinct is the fresnel node in Unreal, but the way it's currently set up is not producing the results I'm looking for, so a rethink is in order. I'm sure I'll get it eventually, just need a think.
Now this is just the extra cherry on top, but maybe I could sneak in a dagger in her open hand to the side for that extra personality and flair. We'll see.
It's been a while since I posted, so thank you for your patience.
Lots of things added since my last update.
Textured the flowers and minerals of the headband. I am personally pretty proud of the stargazer lily; it looks just like one!
And how it looks all together.
Once I felt the textures were good enough, I went back to Zbrush and put Sandal into a pose using the Transpose Master plugin. This was so much easier to use than to try and build a whole rig for something quick. Then I used the cloth brushes to move around the overcoat, skirt, and hair. I used the cloth brushes (mainly cloth pull) so I wouldn't distort too much and lose too much shape.
And then I'm experimenting with lighting setups and different viewing angles in Unreal Engine 4 as well as tweaking materials. For the wings, I'm figuring out how to make the highlights look like they're reflecting a different color like in this reference of pearlized organza (source https://bentextiles.com/media/catalog/large/iridescent-pearl-organza/white.jpg).
My gut instinct is the fresnel node in Unreal, but the way it's currently set up is not producing the results I'm looking for, so a rethink is in order. I'm sure I'll get it eventually, just need a think.
Now this is just the extra cherry on top, but maybe I could sneak in a dagger in her open hand to the side for that extra personality and flair. We'll see.
I finished Chrysosanalaimopotichthonia. More info here: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/eJ9rrb
Been a while. I went back and relit my old projects after a crash course on lighting with a friend and they look much better.
Otherwise, going back to an old project and redoing the textures. I'm pushing myself really hard to get the textures to read properly, analyzing all the source images and everything. But it's looking really, really good so far.
Still, more to go! Let's go!
great studies, good work.
what i'm seeing is that you're jumping into detail prematurely which causes you a lot of heavy lifting in the long run.
@killnpc Hi and thanks for the feedback!
Could you explain more in depth in regards to "jumping into detail prematurely which causes you a lot of heavy lifting in the long run"? I am not sure what you mean by this.
sure, so you're probably familiar with a fundamental concept in art often expressed as "mama, papa, baby", a general concept which expresses how best to package together and build up forms, from large to small.
mid-level forms connect forms together in a visually descriptive and functional way.
the best example i can think of might be the muscles that flex the elbow, like the brachioradialis, which stretches over the joint, tucking into the larger upper and forearm forms, the wrap and bulge shape of this muscle functionally describes not only its mass but the angle and tension being applied through and around it.
these mid-level forms girdle forms together and are awesomely powerful. adding smaller detail too soon can concealed these forms from you AND make it more difficult to develop or rework them. making efforts in pulling out more of these forms i think will enhance your work.
i hope that makes sense and will be helpful in your studies.
Yes, that does make sense! I see what you mean now. Thank you for the helpful feedback!
Hi everyone, hope you're having a manageable day!
A small update, just a small pass over breaking up the repeating textures, dialing in the look more. Trying to vary the roughness across the model more, too. Definitely working on aging things more, want to add more things like dirt and ripping up the cloak more. Hopefully I can wrap this up soon and head into a new project. Need to put this in the engine soon to see how well the textures are translating.
Hi everyone, hope you're having a manageable day and week.
So, for this, I'm layering in some rust in places, still have more places to go. Is it too much? Maybe, but I can always scale that back. I also took a first stab at the scar tissue across the right eye and the tip of the tentacle. It is surprisingly difficult to find references of scar tissue on a cephalopod because they regenerate. So, this is my best guess so far. They also have copper-based blood, so their blood is blue! Pretty neat! I also did a first pass of subsurface scattering maps so it's not just an equal spread across the whole model. Lots to hammer out, but one step at a time.
Hi! Very cool project!
Here are some points I you could consider (if you don't already):
here is an overpaint attempting to illustrate some of the points
Maybe take a break from the 3d asset now and then, do an overpaint for fun to try stuff out and set the direction yourself.
Keep it up 🚀
Thank you very much for the feedback @Fabi_G ! I agree there is a lot more I can improve, so I will look at this with fresh eyes and your feedback in mind. Some follow up questions, if you don't mind:
Thank you very much for your feedback!
Hi! I think this part of the armor looks a bit plastic like
Ah, gotcha! I see what you mean now. Thanks for the clarification!
Hi everyone, hope you are well today. I'm creating a druid satyr and would love some feedback on the anatomy, especially the legs as I'm still not very good with animal anatomy. There are also some less clear areas I'm still developing an understanding in, like how the muscles of the forearm flow from the elbow to the wrist as well as the sides of the ribcage into the armpit. I greatly appreciate any advice. Thank you for taking the time to critique my work.
Started adding in the clothing bits. Here's a very quick and loose sketch (which I now need to make a more detailed one for better reference, ha ha), a description of her outfit, and where I'm currently at with the model. I would greatly appreciate any feedback you guys have, whether it's anatomy or refining the concept or anything else. Thank you.