[Finished] A Silent Voice

chellewwxy

Finished project link: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/BmxONr

Thanks everyone for the helpful feedback, there's no way I'd finish this project without you guys!


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Hi polycount, haven't post WIPs here for a while! 
Hope everyone is doing okay, due to COVID-19, we're all suggested to stay home, and therefore I thought it'd be a good chance to start another personal project!
I started this project a week ago, and for this project, I want to create a high-quality portfolio piece which high-light my modular environment design & build-up skills. 

Here're some reference & inspirations I've collected so far:


C&C would be really appreciated:), will always interested to see what other people think of it:D!

chellewwxy

Some block out screenshots in Maya from the past few days:

chellewwxy

Today's progress!:D

I sorta had an idea of what the setting is for this environment, but I'm not sure about the exact theme I wanna go with it, and now that I have the basic scene laid out, I think it's time to work on the theme and setting a bit more.

chellewwxy

I've been trying to figure out what I wanted to do with the hero asset of the environment (a stone sculpt, perhaps with trees grow along it). 
And there's where I am right now, I'm still working on making this less human-like, will further explain the theme later on when the design is more mature. 

chellewwxy

Another update, I've been kinda slow with conception this hero piece here, but here's where I am right now. 
For better composition, I've made the sculpt to be taller.

I'm feeling kinda stuck with the design of the hero asset, so I think what I'll do for next is actually complete the base modular pieces for the building (the wall, floor, beams etc.), import them into UE4, and do a block out there. Then I can start creating the proper model. 

Steve Schulze

You might have an easier time initially if you sculpted your statue like a standard character - symmetrical with arms outstretched, so you can nail down the basic appearance, then pose and fuse together as necessary. 

It's probably something you'll get to, but joining points to help the statues structural integrity would help sell the design. The right elbow would likely be joined to the base and hand to the ear and head 

The ears generally look a little delicate. 

chellewwxy

Steve Schulze said:

You might have an easier time initially if you sculpted your statue like a standard character - symmetrical with arms outstretched, so you can nail down the basic appearance, then pose and fuse together as necessary. 

It's probably something you'll get to, but joining points to help the statues structural integrity would help sell the design. The right elbow would likely be joined to the base and hand to the ear and head 

The ears generally look a little delicate. 

Thanks so much for the feedback! That's what I usually do but this time I'm thinking of making it as an actual stone sculpt, and the character is going to be rather basic so I didn't choose to sculpt it symmetrically. 
And yep that's something I'll be working on, so it looks more grounded. Good point, thanks again:)

chellewwxy

More WIPs:D! I'm gonna import some parts and pieces into UE4 next up and see if the modularity works fine.

Pirax

This is interesting! It's got god rays written all over it Just be careful not to go nuts with them! Looking forward to the progress. 

chellewwxy

Pirax said:

This is interesting! It's got god rays written all over it Just be careful not to go nuts with them! Looking forward to the progress. 

Yep you got itxD! Thank you and I'll try to speed things up:)

chellewwxy

Today's progress, gonna test out these pieces in UE4 up next.

 

chellewwxy

More progress! Block out the environment in UE4 today, hasn't properly set up lighting and lightmap density yet, gonna work on the lighting and composition a bit next up:)

AngrySokol

Wow wow wow! It looks like something really interesting) Goof luck! 

chellewwxy

AngrySokol said:

Wow wow wow! It looks like something really interesting) Goof luck! 

Thank you! I'll try my best:)

chellewwxy

Set up the project setting and lightmass setting properly today, also did a bit of an experiment of what kinda mood I want the scene to have. 
The shadow still looks a bit dirty but that should be fixed with a full resolution bake.

Pirax

Nice light direction! Love the way the sculpture is shielding from the light, very emotive! Are you gonna add anything extra on the different levels? Might help add depth if you have something telling of going on the floor below

chellewwxy

/

chellewwxy

Pirax said:

Nice light direction! Love the way the sculpture is shielding from the light, very emotive! Are you gonna add anything extra on the different levels? Might help add depth if you have something telling of going on the floor below

Thank you! Yep, I'd like to do that (was thinking of adding some machnical stuff as shown in the reference), but will prioritise the things that are above first:)!

 

chellewwxy

The latest WIP, started to work on some textures, mainly just testing. 

chellewwxy

Quick update, set up the world space material and started to work on the first trimsheet today.

chellewwxy

Another update.

chellewwxy

Update, think it's still a bit too dark... From now on I'll start to add some more props into the scene, and then work on the sculpt.

Pirax

I'd agree with it being too dark, can't see your textures! Are you going to give the scene a bit of colour? Maybe some vibrancy from growing ivy or something along the lines would help both guide the viewer even more (if it crept in towards the statue) and provide that burst of colour. Keep it up!

chellewwxy

Pirax said:

I'd agree with it being too dark, can't see your textures! Are you going to give the scene a bit of colour? Maybe some vibrancy from growing ivy or something along the lines would help both guide the viewer even more (if it crept in towards the statue) and provide that burst of colour. Keep it up!

Hey thank you for the feedback! Yes I'm going to add a lot more props into the scene (ideally). 
Really helpful feedback, thanks again:)!

chellewwxy

Quick update. Will work on some vertex painting next up. Then will be adding more props into the scene and work on the statue.

chellewwxy

Went back to the sculpt today.

Hasn't texture the statue properly. Imported it into UE4 and I think it's getting closer to how I wanted to look.

valentin_baguirov

The new statue looks good, although I think that the previous silhouette was really sick.

chellewwxy

valentin_baguirov said:

The new statue looks good, although I think that the previous silhouette was really sick.

Yes I agree, but this new one kinda makes more sense to me, I think the right arm of the old one is not steady enough if you know what I'm talking about... 
And thank you:)

chellewwxy

Quick WIP, been doing some prop modelling:), I think I'm more than half way through the whole project now, and I'll try to get this done by the end of May.

valentin_baguirov

chellewwxy said:

valentin_baguirov said:

The new statue looks good, although I think that the previous silhouette was really sick.

Yes I agree, but this new one kinda makes more sense to me, I think the right arm of the old one is not steady enough if you know what I'm talking about... 
And thank you:)

Totally man!! You’re killing it btw!

chellewwxy

valentin_baguirov said:

chellewwxy said:

valentin_baguirov said:

The new statue looks good, although I think that the previous silhouette was really sick.

Yes I agree, but this new one kinda makes more sense to me, I think the right arm of the old one is not steady enough if you know what I'm talking about... 
And thank you:)

Totally man!! You’re killing it btw!

Thank you:)!!

chellewwxy

WIP, I'm not really happy with the texture of the statue, will be working on that a bit more.
Some space still feels quite empty and I'll be working on adding more props, and shape language into the scene too. 
Time to spend some more time on lighting as well.

chellewwxy

Worked on skysphere today.
Added some more props into the scene, and worked on the statue texture a bit more. 
Need to be more efficient.

chellewwxy

I think I'm at a stage where I'm about ready to get some proper feedback from people. 
Other than that, I'm thinking of adding more plants into the scene, and filling out some more space.

chellewwxy

Another quick update

chellewwxy

Another wip for today.

pixelpatron

I'd ditch the railing or at least remove parts of it, maybe only have it on the right side and foreground (don't obstruct the statue). The statue itself needs some work, and I think flipping the roof (so the opening is on the other side and using the light shafts to highlight the statue (like add panels till it's almost a spotlight hitting the statue). Mitten hand needs work, and the dress is really bringing the piece down. I'd put a bed of moss or flowers growing where the light hits. The rusted old looking pillars sitting on top of nearly pristine unstained concrete blocks looks wrong. Your overgrowth and decay looks like frosting (meaning it's just sprinkled here and there, and not really planned out). Where the light would hit this environment there would be foliage growth, with things dying on not really growing in the darker lit areas of the scene. You can still do the foreground stuff, just make it look unhealthy or aged/dead. 

chellewwxy

pixelpatron said:

I'd ditch the railing or at least remove parts of it, maybe only have it on the right side and foreground (don't obstruct the statue). The statue itself needs some work, and I think flipping the roof (so the opening is on the other side and using the light shafts to highlight the statue (like add panels till it's almost a spotlight hitting the statue). Mitten hand needs work, and the dress is really bringing the piece down. I'd put a bed of moss or flowers growing where the light hits. The rusted old looking pillars sitting on top of nearly pristine unstained concrete blocks looks wrong. Your overgrowth and decay looks like frosting (meaning it's just sprinkled here and there, and not really planned out). Where the light would hit this environment there would be foliage growth, with things dying on not really growing in the darker lit areas of the scene. You can still do the foreground stuff, just make it look unhealthy or aged/dead. 

Hey, thank you so much for the feedback and critiques! Really really appreciate it, and I'll be sure to look into these things you pointed out! Thanks again, really helpful! 

chellewwxy

Progress.

chellewwxy

Worked on lighting today.

chellewwxy

A bit more tweak today, was trying to figure out a better pose for the skeleton...

chellewwxy

Finishing it up I think, will be working on some final push, and record some fly through of it. Any feedback would be really appreciated:)!

chellewwxy

Finished it up, really thankful that I get to have all these helpful feedback from the amazing community! Thanks everyone:D!

For cinematics please visit my Artstation:D!

Artstation: artstation.com/artwork/BmxONr










The final Moodboard/reference board

chellewwxy

Some thoughts here, a bit personal, so please read it only if you want to.

    Was 7 weeks of sweat and tears trying to make this happen, as I decided to design an environment on my own, and I'm certainly not that much of a good concept artist. On top of that, I wanted to show people that I can create the production level of modular environment, so planning out trims sheets and trying to get the modularity going also made things a lot more time-consuming.

However, overall I did still enjoy the process, and I think I'm alright with what I ended up with here (thanks to the feedback from friends and community). I don't think it's quite at the level that I want it to be at, but I'm not regretting on the fact that I decided to design the environment on my own (rather than just making an environment based off someone else's concept).

While saying that, I do think I won't be creating something based on my own concept in a while now. Why? Because it's not that effective.

Anyways, if you did read all these thoughts I have, thanks for caring enough to read it to the end. 

I love my baby afterall, even tho it's just another ugly baby.

defragger

I think you did a great job. I like the attention to detail, especially on the concrete and decals. Lighting is also solid.

chellewwxy

defragger said:

I think you did a great job. I like the attention to detail, especially on the concrete and decals. Lighting is also solid.

Thank you! Appreciate it!