Latest Character

Sean McBride

Finished this guy a couple days ago...



Head Flat
Body Flat

I'm kinda in a funk and i'm not really feeling like i'll make it in the game industry... bleh. Any of you in the industry think i have some potential or something? Just looking at some of the crazy work poop, soul, moose, roshach, rockstar, mop, pior, qubism, and many more because there is so much talent here, gets me down sometimes because its like... i'm just not ever going to be at that level... /pittyparty

hehe oh well, i guess it'll pass and i'll suck it up =p

Thermidor

heh , i often feel the same way ... normaly i feel i can get the same results with time , but the industy moves so fast , by the time ive mastered somthing theres a new thing out there to get my head round ...

the model looks great tho , and even tho ive never held a pump action shot gun it looks a tiny bit small ... or his hands are , love the camo texture tho , its really nice

CCPhil

he is cool. His legs seem a bit slim compared to his upper body, but its not out of proportion and I think that actually looks really cool

The skin is cool but it seems a bit lifeless. You might want to make it sharper and give some more color to it

Keep it up

Ruz

n30g3n3s1s - You keep on improving. don't give up, just keep on with it
I like this piece btw .
you are being a bit impatient IMHO, took me years to get in the industry.

Perseverence is the key

Sean McBride

Thermidor: Thanks... yes the industry does seem to move quick. I had some trouble with the handle of the pump, its very angled so he has to hold it an a wierd angle. The shotgun could appear to be to small i'll have to get some real measurments and make sure its not.

CGPhil: Sharpness I can do... i'm so tired of working on this guy though. He's been quite a process There are a few unrefined places that i may go back in and sharpen up.

Ruz: Thanks. I've been doing this for about 2 years now... i guess i still have more time to put in before i go anywhere. I guess i'll just have to work at taco bell or target or something. I wont give up, i enjoy it to much. Just seems sometimes that i'm just playing catchup and i'll never get... cought up.

Forgot to mention this, but the weapon was done by X-Con, a good friend of mine.

Kevin Johnstone

Of course you have the potential. Unless I've missed something, you modelled, rigged, posed and textured this guy yourself right?

So, you are not a 'master' yet, but you are on the journeyman's road and with continued hard work and honesty about what are your strengths and which are not and confronting that will take you where you need to go.

Time is always the crucial factor.

Sometimes it is good to finish a piece. Don't show anyone, come back to it in a couple weeks and then refine it.

Or start with a much clearer design, have it worked out in thumbnail sketchs with little colour tests, have a bunch of reference, then think about little customizations you can make to standard designs that give a little flair.

Reference is god. The more you use it, the better you will get, the more you try to wing it, the more you will stagnate and have lows like you have now.

To me this looks like you are not sure what you want to do.

theres 2 routes, reality and stylization.

You seem to have chosen reality in this one. Seperatly the pieces hold up well, solid material, colour and shade control. Take together they don't hold up as well.

The problem with realism is that material definition is not enough, it is the interplay of materials and parts that break realism.

For instance, that neckpiece where the body armour sits upon. You didn't think that through, you were not sure how it attachs, so you couldnt show how it works to the viewer (and that is the artists job) and instead you tried to darken it out so that there was less information for us to read.

But , that area should not have shadow, and although most viewers couldnt tell you the exact reasons why, they will still know it looks wrong.

So give more thought and preperation to you designs, figure out how it really works and when you have that figured out, it will be easier for you to demonstrate that to whoever looks at it.

good luck. don't give up

qubism

listen to what ror says. im totally agreeing with him. he said all that i could have said

Steve Schulze

You're a damn sight better artist than I am, Neo , and I somehow managed to get a job. Just a matter of persistance and chatting up the right people. I can't see why you'd have any problems being employed with your current skill set and unless you're prone to tantrums or are really stinky or something...

Sean McBride

Thanks guys. You really nailed it there ror. This is for a mod i'm working on right now and the concept was drawn from the back, i wasn't given any front/side/back angles so i had to wing it just like you said. I tend to really want to get referances and i'm glad that you think that by not getting referances and winging it your stagnating because thats how I wanted to feel but at the same time I thought that I might be depending on my referances to much. Like if i was a better artist i wouldn't have to look up many referances or something... As far as the neck thing, I didn't know what to make it of it really. So i did just that, darkened it , added some very generic shadow and left it. Do you guys know what do do with it? I have no clue. Ive been working on this guy on and off for quite a while so i'm kind of burned out on him. I'm willing to take another pass at him but as far as idea's go i'm really running low.

Mr Smo

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet! I saw the head on your mods site a while ago and have been waiting for the rest .

i like the eyebrow scar thingy

I think you definately have what it takes to get in! good luck!

Sean McBride

hehehe keep it somewhat on the lowdown. Were goign to release this in a few days but i like the support and crits i get from polycount so i couldn't resist... something i'll seriously miss if/when i get into the game dev industry.

Mark Dygert

He is cool, VERY cool! Nice texture work, good use of space when you unwrapped. Great way to giving more important areas of the model bigger texture space. I would say this is up to industry standards EASY!

Now for the crits: (I only mention them to make it better)

-Design Flaws-
- The second mask strop shoul go above the ear or higher around the head. You want a tight seal that would not slip off in the heat of combat. Having both straps going around the bottom of the head it might just slip off around his neck. Take a look at the straps around most of the common types of gas masks. Most have a pretty elaborate set of straps that wrap around the upper part of the head. Granted this mask does not cover the eyes, like most gas masks.
- Which brings up the second point, gas can get in thru the eyes, tear gas, nerve gas, even dirt will get kick up in the eyes of a soldier when in combat. It would suck pretty hard if he gets put down like a chump because he gets some lint in his eye...

- He has a really wide torso, and broad shoulders/ The arms seem to be a bit skinny for someone with such a huge torso.

- Watch out for the wrist deformations, you might need to make some mesh adjustments so you can better animate the wrist. It seems to be pinching a bit in the render, which leads me to believe it will pinch more durring animations. If you post some wires we might be able to make some suggestions?

- The mask covers up the skin folds you did around the nose and cheeks. Did you not like the way it looked and decided to cover them up? Or mis calcuate when doing the skin? Either way I think there needs to be some shandows and highlights where the mask meets the face. Just to show that the mask is being pulled into the soft flesh of the face. Even the toughest tough guys have some squishiness to thier cheeks

Sean McBride

Thanks vig

I agree the second strap should go above his ears and i could probobly get away with just modifying the model and not have any bad stretching of the texture. The problem is in the original concept (which i didn't do) he is exactly as he is here. I agree about the eyes thing, but again the concept. This mod has a virus that has somewhat died out over time and these characters wear masks as extra protection.

The torso thing i guess was an accident. I'll have to watch myself on the next model.

I'll have to work on my rigging skills, they really... well... suck at the moment. I'll be working on them. I'll post some wires for you guys to look at.

I didn't really cover up the folds in the skin, they are a little off the skinmap area that i had planned for, I'm just kind of messy when it comes to painting skin. From the side the folds are a little more prominant. I'll post some more shots of him tonight.

poopinmymouth

Looking good man. I think my biggest crit, is that you have it high poly, yet it still lacks definition, and there is not much in the texture either. Most of the limbs seem kind of bulbous and overly round. I would say more wrinkles and creases would help a ton. Really nice model, but could use some more medium scale detail.

Sean McBride

Thanks poopster,

CameronC

*scratches head*

I don't get it. Unless it took you a month to create that or its over 5000 tris, it's awesome work and better then 80% of stuff I see in games today.

FatAssasin

I've seen worse in AAA titles. Keep at it man. How many developers are there in Alabama anyway? That could be part of the problem.

Sean McBride

Thanks FatAssasin. There is 1 accualy... in my town. And there are a couple in Birmingham, AL but thats it. You would think having 3 companies in alabama they would either be full or begging for artists. I'm in a tech town (nasa, boeing, lockheed martin, many others) so there is a surplus of programmers/engys. Emailed the only one in my town and never got a reply... of course that was about a year ago so i've improved quite a bit. Anyway, i'm willing to move in a few months. Just got some stuff to get sorted out here first

CameronC: You signed up to say that? thanks.

FatAssasin

If you're willing to move, and especially if you haven't made up your mind about where, check out Erik Asorson's advice to another artist trying to land a job...

[ QUOTE ]
I don't think that the game industry is the kind of place where you can conduct a "focused" job search. You should be applying to a minimum of 100 companies per month, and expecting to hear back from only 5% of those at best. Of those 5 maybe 2 will become interviews. And over a course of maybe three months probably one will become a job. But that's all it takes is just one.

[/ QUOTE ]

Read the entire post here. Scroll down to about the middle of the page and look for the long post with all the great websites relating to getting a job in the industry.

b1ll

I dont know about this one..

Overall its interesting.

I feel the proportions are a let down, torso compare to legs doesnt feel right, The shoulder area feel poopish in the pose.

The face is Ok, The flat is allright, except that even tho you have good colors, they feel splash there for no reason, or not at the right placement on the skin. but its allright , it doesnt feel right applied to the head mesh tho, The mesh feel blocking ish.

Texture wise, U are good with material, but lack right highlight and shadow placement , except on the metal, that is cool. I feel more smaller detail would be much more interesting.

Overall you are getting better, Ur face are not as cartonny or dodgy then before, there is a way to go I feel, but u are Getting much better. IMO that is.


b1ll