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Can i ask the artist to change the "visual" style of their concept? (anime to comic/realistic style)

firstly i am a beginner at sculpting, but i have previous drawing knowledge like anatomy, shape appeal, composition etc... i am learning to be an sculptor for collectibles, so i am following an instruction that i received.

the instructor said: go to arstation and look for concepts you like, after you found an conceptthe instructor said: "go on arstation and look for character concepts, after you found an concept you liked then ask for permission of the artist to do use their concept to make a sculpture of them, you could make your own design but if you are a beginner you shouldnt try to make an concept of your own, that might be too hard on you and the design will have a high chance of not looking good in the end, if you are a beginner try to get some experience first before doing your own designs."

so i went to artastion but i cant really find any concept that suits my taste, i love league's skin universe "Omen of the dark", it fits perfecly in my tastes, the character designs are dark/evil but they are actually really "stylish" like an JRPG villain, these designs dont give that macabre vibe like Dark souls or bloodborne. i dont know if i can change the "style" of a concept, like taking an anime/semi realistic character to an more comic/realistic style.

Replies

  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter

    Hello,

    I believe English isn't your native language (and it isn't mine either anyways) ; and from there, you are probably being confused by the meaning of "can".

    • You *can* do whatever you want : you can ask anything to anyone, no one is going to knock on your door and tell you you can't do this or that.
    • However ... should you ? In my opinion, contacting a concept artist because you like part of their work but would like them to rework it for you because it isn't quite what you are after would be of extremely poor taste, even if you offered compensation for their time. That doesn't mean that they would be mad at you or anything, and perhaps some would be more than happy to take on the challenge. Who knows.
    • Furthermore, modelers deciding to stray away even partially from a reference concept they are working from almost always end up producing something inferior to the original design.

    Now all that said, you can still do whatever you want - you could for instance mashup two designs (costume + head) to get what you want, or style-bend an existing design. But that too, imho, would be a disrespectful thing to do to the individual designers. Unless perhaps if done as fanart of a big established franchise.

  • HelzBenz

    something that i used to do when i used to draw/paint was to take parts i liked of differents characters costumes and merge them together, of course i changed bits of the designs like shapes, ornaments, colors etc... so it wasnt just an copy and paste, of course in the end i had to do more changes because of shape appeal, just because something looks cool on character doesnt mean it will look cool on another.

  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter

    Yes ... and ?

    What you just described has nothing to do with your original question, which was about contacting a concept artist and asking them to change part of their work for you.

  • HelzBenz

    i probably misspelled or you didnt read that right, but what i wanted say was if i(me) the sculptor could change the visual style of their concept when i do the sculpture.

    now imagine how absurd would be to ask an concept artist to rework their stuff.

  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter

    Well for that too, it's up to you to be the judge of whether it is of good taste or not.

    The scenario you are now describing is :

    "Hello, I like this piece of yours [that you likely spent dozens of hours on], but I don't quite the style of the face - are you ok if I change it [because I know better what would look best] ?"

    This IMHO is just as disrespectful as the other scenario. Again, some artists might not mind, some might. It also depends if you do it as practice piece you do for yourself, or as something you plan to put in your portfolio. But yeah at the end of the day, if one is contacting a concept artist to create a model based on their work, then the least they can do is to respect said work. Either that or creating their own. Or, developing a tight relationship with a concept artist (working on numerous projects together, and so on), which would naturally lead to mutually beneficial favors going both ways.

    It can also depend on the skill shown by the modeler in their previous work. If they do have an ability to sublime designs and bring them to the next level with tasteful edits, then great things can happen.

  • okidoki
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    okidoki greentooth

    (I would also rethink the worthyness (?) of your instructor.. why only get inspiration from one site ??) But i also think that your task is not to use a concept of your taste but one you like because of the challenge you will have to push your sculpt abilities. If you practice sculpting then you should try to make that concept into a sculpt and not redesign it (expect some tiny little bit which are not so good readable in the concept or are just wrong.) Because this is the thing you want to learn: read a concept and are able to make a sculpt out of it.

    (And i wonder about asking.. even if you ask then you sculpt could be.. well just bad.. but of course someone should always credit the concept artist. Even if you never publish this.. and if you changes things.. then write: inspired by.. and.. i made my own version of..)

    Just my two cent.

  • Ruz
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    Ruz insane polycounter

    jeez Pior 'grand Marshal Polycounter', how long have you been here :)

  • Eric Chadwick

    Ha. Yeah, so "date" ranks change into "points" ranks after 100 points, and pior has more than 1360 by now... you can see the ranks listed here https://polycount.com/discussion/comment/2484871/#Comment_2484871

    You can also see rank leaderboards here https://polycount.com/activity which is kinda neat.

    Note, we don't use the point system to gate services nor award benefits. It's a simple forum feature that can add to the experience for some people. More about points here.

  • kanga
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    kanga quad damage

    Its part of a character artist's job to be able to lift a 2D concept to 3D and communicate the creators style effectively. Best just to shoot a mail to your instructor. Better yet choose another piece and attempt to translate it to 3D, style and all. Getting out of your comfort zone can be a good thing!

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