Succubus - WIP

TaulNotShort

I know I just recently started a different thread of a different character but I really wanted to take a break from it lol
I made these concepts about a year ago and decided to take it off the back-burner.

Out of the four I chose 2 and 3 to start on and get modelling.
The first rendition, not that interesting! I thought I could add some wings, but struggled with how to incorporate the skinned look that'd connect the wing membrane to the back.
Some more refinement of body, horns, and face. Started adding spikes as well.

Ended up scrapping the wings and switched to a spikey back.
Refined the spikes on the back and started to concept where else I could add tears and have the tail look less basic/typical.

Fast forward a few weeks to now and I'm feeling pretty satisfied with where she is! I'm mainly posting here to get any feedback or critique in case I missed something that could be corrected or if something looks off!
This week I do plan on tweaking the tail bones and small things here and there to really polish it up!
Cheers!

TaulNotShort

Wrapped up some small fixes here and there and have since added pores and wrinkle detail to the body and face!
I did also start work on the low-poly and I'm low-key regretting having so many spikes! This low is going to take forever to finish haha 

With persistence, I'll hopefully have this done soon enough to start baking and texturing.

TaulNotShort

The bakes are so messy and I'm still setting up the scene but it's progress nonetheless! Starting to block out materials and lay down the foundation for the skin. I normally only do static characters, but this time around I want to do a little more, like an easy idle animation.

Alemja

Really digging what you have going on! I love the paleness of the skin, I can't wait to see it more defined

Krom

I also like the skin/material of the face and the lips.
Do you plan to add more SSS on the ears?

TaulNotShort

Alemja said:

Really digging what you have going on! I love the paleness of the skin, I can't wait to see it more defined

Thank you! I'm excited to keep working on the skin and have it look really translucent and pale

Krom said:

I also like the skin/material of the face and the lips.
Do you plan to add more SSS on the ears?

Thank you, and I do! I'm hoping to maybe add a stronger light behind the head so the scattering is easier to see in final renders

TaulNotShort

Alrighty, finally had some time here and there to work on textures these last few days. I mostly focused on the face and got the skin in a decent spot. Some stuff still feels off, but I think it's at a good enough point to start a similar treatment on the rest of the body.
Slapped some placeholder hair and brows as well to get a better idea of what I want to go for when I reach hair cards.

I made some lashes as well that I think fit her look better than what I had before. She will eventually have normal eyes as well, the pale blue is just a placeholder. Tryin to figure out some cool lighting, but I'm not there yet lol
I'm fairly pleased with my progress so far, and am excited to work more on her! I do think that her undertone is too pinky/warm for spots that aren't near the open wound areas, and I want to make some small mesh tweaks, so I'll hopefully have those changes in a few days.

Comments & Critique are welcome!

Alemja

Liking how some of the wound-like areas are looking, but I think you're correct about it feeling a little too pink overall. I think introducing some of a more grayish color on areas that aren't the wounds would help give the skin more depth and give it some much needed color variance. Did a quick paint over for you:

I also think that the skin is too shiny overall, making it all feel the same. I would tone down the shine on anywhere that doesn't have a wound or is spiked. I think the all over shininess is also giving that feeling of something being "off" and "not quite there"

Hope this helps!

TaulNotShort

Alemja said:

Liking how some of the wound-like areas are looking, but I think you're correct about it feeling a little too pink overall. I think introducing some of a more grayish color on areas that aren't the wounds would help give the skin more depth and give it some much needed color variance. Did a quick paint over for you:

I also think that the skin is too shiny overall, making it all feel the same. I would tone down the shine on anywhere that doesn't have a wound or is spiked. I think the all over shininess is also giving that feeling of something being "off" and "not quite there"

Hope this helps!

Good points, and thank you for the paint-over; it really helps!

TaulNotShort

Very slow progress because this past week had me flip-flopping over the design >:( 
I ended up switching the horns to something a little simpler and more closely matching the shape language of the spikes and tail. They aren't perfect, but I'm happy with them

Since last update I've also tweaked the skin tone to be cooler and added discoloration and bruising, gave her some more organized lashes, added sss to the ears, and started fleshing (lol) out the more gorey parts of the skin.
I also started to feel like something was missing from her look, so I'm sort of back tracking yet again and am adding back the wings from earlier sculpts. (So glad I didn't delete those files!)
Run time for this project will take longer because I'm going back to hp, but I do think I'll be glad I did in the future.
There are still a ton of things to do, like finalize the gore treatment on the chest and then translate that to the rest of the wounds, add hair cards, make eyes, etc.!! The list goes on! But I am having fun and learning as I go, which is what I want to gain out of working on this project.

TaulNotShort

More progress! 
Created a better transition between the horns and the head, changed her makeup a little, textured her wings and eyes!(From the 3/4 view the tip of her nose looks a teeny bit long? So I might shorten that and see how that looks )Testing out moodier lighting still. I need to bring it further down so it's not just the torso and above that are lit. For the wings I took inspiration from Lilith from Diablo, and I think I got it to a point that I'm pretty satisfied with!
zbrush kept crashing with every attempt at merging the wing mesh to the back, so for now it's separate. I don't think it's too obvious a separation unless pointed out lol.
I still need to create the meniscus and shadow mesh for her eyes, optimize her lashes, and start on the hair and brow planes (my least favorite part of the process to be honest)
This time around after textures and hair, I want to try rigging and making a short idle animation so it's not just static like previous projects. Maybe I'll have her sitting on something? I don't know. I'll have to brainstorm.
Comments and Critique are welcome

HarlequinWerewolf

Loving this so far. I assume you're going to do cards for the hair? Super curious to see it come together

TaulNotShort

HarlequinWerewolf said:

Loving this so far. I assume you're going to do cards for the hair? Super curious to see it come together

Thank you!!
Yes, I do plan on doing cards for the hair.