1rst Post

amadikus

I would like to say first, greetings to all. Due to the advice of a friend of mine I am now making my first post. I have been a frequent visitor and have for a long time admired the great work produced by so many talented artists. I am aspiring to be a character modeler and would like advice from you seasoned travelers as I am on this journey. I've just recently switched from EMesh to EPoly. This is a character that I designed and painted and would like your critiques. I am at a total loss with what to do with the hair. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

JBoskma

Hmm, I have one big crit, which is, make your mind up concerning the sex.

-male face
-female hair
-male body
-female clothes
-male name?

BoBo_the_seal

Ambiguity is what makes this character. The great thing about art/fantasy is that you can freely cross those lines.

- BoBo

almighty_gir

[ QUOTE ]
Hmm, I have one big crit, which is, make your mind up concerning the sex.

-male face
-female hair
-male body
-female clothes
-male name?

[/ QUOTE ]
-female pronounciation? =P

i like the concept, i think itll look cool when its finished =D

hawken

[ QUOTE ]
Hmm, I have one big crit, which is, make your mind up concerning the sex.


[/ QUOTE ]

It's a bloke. I know how you get confused

I like the pose on the design. The model looks a little ridgid compared, but I'm sure you'll sort that out over time. What poly count are you aiming at and what software you using?

[edit] Ah edit poly, so max right? The hair would be good as a normal map, having a sort of rope feel to it in the sketch.

gauss

if this is your concept, perhaps you'd want to leave off the phone numbers and replace them with an email address watermark instead?

Mark Dygert

Androgynous characters are all the rage, hello look at the Final Fantasy games. In FF you are either a hermaphroditic magic wielding adolesent or you are a cute fluffy cat looking thing.

It looks good, I have some issues with the shadow or left leg I can't tell if its shadow, fog, or a leg? I am guessing leg that you didn't want to detail? With it being so close to a highly detailed right leg, it doesn't make visual sense that there would be depth blurring. His calf muscle seems to stick out a bit too far and throws off the design of the boots. Or maybe its the way the flap on the boot is drawn?

Gauss brings up a good point. I would also cut down on the wasted white space and maybe change the background to a gradient or paint something simple behind him just to punch it up a bit.

Here is a (in a rush) paint over to show what I mean about the boot flap and the background. Personally I think having the feet that close together breaks the dynamic pose of the character. I would have the left leg floating a bit farther back. As if he was being being hosisted up by his belt, instead of standing tipie-toe on a very small platform. The characters hands, face and upper body say he is powerful, calm and confident, almost at ease in the ammount of power he has, like he can handle anything. When people are relaxed men especially they tend to let thier knees fall away from each other, even when hovering, unless they are wearing rocket boots like Iron Man. Having the legs that close says he is not relaxed, and not certain about things. So its a mixed message to the viewer. In my opinion it is what is telling most people its a chick pose, besides the hair of course.

Over all you have great tallent and this is some really good work! Looking forward to seeing this one finished =D

amadikus

I want to first say thanks to everyone for their comments. I am especially surprised and delighted to receive a response from Bobo seing that you are such an inspiration for me. I'll be posting an update within the next 2 days. Thanks again.

FatAssasin

The mesh is looking good. I would just continue some of the edge loops around the groin and shoulder areas for better deformation. And also, rearrange the verts on his back to better follow the anatomy, like you did on his chest.

shotgun

amazing
the guy posts asking for a crit on the hair and everybody offers something... but not concerning the hair. looking at the dude's portfolio, i think he knows his shit very well and we should all feel honored to have him post here.. (not that crits are bad, of course)

as for the hair, if i look at the mass of the hanging hair , the "knots" that bound the hair right off the skull seem oddly thin. if not sure tho what it is you are at loss with.. how to texture them? the general looks of it? i think the idea is cool, not too functional, and i'd work on it just so it gets a kick ass silloutte (less blocky), and move on from there..

good stuff.

Steve Schulze

I finished writing a post and then noticed that it was basically exactly what Shotgun just said, but seeing as I went to all the trouble of finding this picture I'll post it anyway


There needs to be a little space between the hairtie and his cranium to account for the bulk of hair. It could probably be a little tighter than illustrated here but much more and he'd be starting to pull his hair out.

FatAssasin

I've had pretty good luck with transparency mapped polys for the hair. Here's a couple viewport grabs of an example, one with transparency turned on and the other with it off so you can see the mesh.




Rendered image:

amadikus

This is a quick note and thanks to everyone for their posts and comments. I have good news that a division of Ubisoft has contacted me for a potential position. I am currently taking a test, so I'll probably get back to this model towards the end of the week. Thanks again to everyone.

BoBo_the_seal

good luck with the test!

- BoBo