DWIII - 3D - PhatChance - wizard/vegetation

PhatChance

Here is what I've got for a concept so far. He's a thousand year old wizard/sorcerer that uses the vegetation as his power. His cloak will be covered in moss, mold, dirt..etc.. maybe a few little things growing on it, insects and such. I'm going to make his skin as old, wrinkly and funky as possible. It'll probably have a translucent look, little veins running beneath. His eyes will be blind and whitish. The main thing I'm missing is a solid design for his staff. Any ideas or comments on the design would be appreciated. Thanks guys!

Ged

thats a really complete looking concept, have you already decided that this is going to be the one? Its a cool idea but I dont know if Id appreciate him if I hadnt already read your little story about him? I think a really knarled branch or many branches woven together that spread out at the top and have big powerful magicness bits floating at their tips haha.

slosh

well, looks like ur solid in ur idea so more power to ya! looks good

PhatChance

One of the reasons I came up with the character I did is that I think it's going to be really fun to sculpt. Lots of wrinkles, and surface details to play around with. I know I'm much more likely to finish something and put my best work in if I'm having fun with it


I'll do few more sketches of the staff this weekend. I like the idea of it having some greenish glow effects swirling around it for sure. I want to come up with something that's a little more unique than the typical Gandalf wooden staff that he has now.

rooster

awesome

boomz

Reminds me of something you'd see in The Neverending Story. I'm glad people are using vegetation, it has such cool possibilities to explore. I looked at the pictures first and then read the story so I can tell you the story is cool but visually, it needs a little more. Try adding some middle-range detail, you have mostly large shapes and small wrinkles/creases/pits and everything, but you're lacking for in-betweens. Maybe some extra branches or thorns here and there to create hiccups in the silhouette so he doesn't appear so blobby. Its looking cool though, for sure.

wake

Cool idea, but I think you can take it further. First of all, kill the staff. Every *wizened mage* has a staff of some sort. Play around with other ideas. Also, play around with the fact that this guy is 1000 years old. The moss and wrinkles are good but obvious touches. Try to find other ways that 1000 years of development would affect a being. What if being 1000 years old means a member of this species is still in its adolescence? Or what if, like a tree, he never stops growing? Then you come up with this cantankerous creature that is perfectly at home in its body. If he's 1000 years old, does his skin flake like human skin? Does he shed? Molt?

I find that little considerations like these can go a long way in the development of a character, and can help to give it a lot more personality. Sweet stuff bro, keep it up.

Vanessa Mull

What about having some more interesting deformaties like gnarly bits and even ancient carvings (runes) in his trunk that can light up. You might want to look at interesting tree shapes to push his pose which now is a little too straight up and down

Robert Headley

I think a Walking stick would suffice for his staff. They can be pretty Gnarled, which would fit well with this design, a true wizard doesn't need a fancy staff.

KICKER

I agree with Wake, you have a good concept here but I think you can really push it in a new and exciting direction by really exploring who and what this character is. Perhaps the artifact is something he's retained from his earlier years as a magician and is the source of his longevity? Good work so far, anxious to see more.

PhatChance

Lots of really great feedback. Thanks everyone! I will be drawing tonight, will post new stuff soon.

I did plan that the artifact would be the source of his long life that maybe at one time he was a human like creature but time and the use of this magic has slowly taken all that's human away and changed him into this strange creature that he is now. I agree that making this artifact something other than a staff is probably the way to go. Maybe he'll just have a gnarled old walking stick in the regular looking hand and the tentacle hand will wield his artifact 'weapon'.

PhatChance

Okay, I think I've got an idea for the artifact. I'm thinking about something like this..






It would be pretty big, enough so the tentacles could wrap around the stem and the cup would be about the size of his hand. The smoke that emits would case mold, fungus and spores to grow all over anything it touches. Also I think I'll add a slug like trail behind him where he's walked, but with a dark shiny moldy look to it.

eoin

Sweet man.
There's a real nice nostalgic Labyrinth vibe for sure which can only be a good thing. Yeah this is a much better artifact idea...smoking out! I hope it's good stuff

-eOin

naruSol

Very cool. But damn, man, what timing. I am this very moment in photoshop designing a magical over-sized pipe for my turtle dude and just have to come across yours which makes mine look terrible plain! I HATE YOU! The war of the pipes has begun. This isn't over my friend. . . this isn't over.

For realziez though, love the guy and the pipe.

SonofRock

having a pipe for an artifact fits your design for the face really well. He's all puckery from smoking artifact tobacco...artifabacco?.

richkid

hmm, i would say less megadeath meets swamp thing. the jacket is a little too generic wizard, give it something more interesting than a jacket, maybe a cloak made of forest carpet. so its moss and pine needles and leaves all mashed together. and i would make the tentacles either more vine like, or more branch like.

awesome character though, and i like the idea of the pipe, it would be fun to have the jacket kind of open, and maybe his torso is overlapping roots or something, so when he inhales on the pipe, you see it stoking a fire in his chest...only you can prevent forest fires


cant wait for the next post

ArtMonkey

Love the pipe!
I love the idea of the pipe blowing out tendrils of magical smoke that makes fungus and mold grow out of everything the smoke touches... very cool!
I kind of agree with 'richkid', the jacket is a little too generic. Could there be some other things from the real world that be used instead of the jacket? Since this guy is sort of plant-like, maybe he grew around something? Maybe there is a spiked gate or fence sticking out of him? I dont know, i'm just throwing ideas out there.

PhatChance

Time for an update! I modeled the low poly body and head yesterday and moved on to high res for the head today. Here's what I have so far. The rest of the surface normal map details, skin pores, fine wrinkles etc, I'll do in Photoshop.

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r4ptur3

mouth up is looking super wooden and awesome -- make sure mouth down doesnt get too soft

PhatChance

Yeah, I'm trying to make sure I keep a variety of surfaces, some softer, some super crisp and almost wood like, the rest in between. It'll be more clear when I start working on the textures. I want to make sure he has some human qualities and isn't just a Lord of Rings talking tree

PhatChance

One more..

PhatChance

fogmann

Mmmm, creamy chocolaty goodness yum!

Heh, if you kill that spec it won't be so cool, but I suppose at one point you'll have to, and I'd think adding a cavity/occlusion bake when you get to texturing will help you to preserve more of the nice surface qualities, while making it look rough, wood bark-like.

Looking good, and quite interesting.

wake

I have to say Phats, this guy's got character. I only have a few points to add, which are that considering the porridge-like consistency of the rest of his face, the ears look oddly structural and a bit out of place. You might try experimenting with them, shriveling them or if you're going by human biology make'm HUGE because the ears and nose never stop growing.
Also, if you are going for the baggy/hanging flesh bit, it might make this guy even creepier if you stretch the forehead-- let me explain.
If you ever watch how they do plastic surgery, or if you just stretch an old person's skin (which is cruel ), the skin flattens out or forms these tight ridge lines where the weight is applied, and then slowly the further away you get the more it returns to baggy-saggy-flesh party. So, IF you are emphasizing that aspect, try pulling the flesh tighter along the forehead and then making it baggier once you crest the cheekbones.

Just a thought. Keep it up man, it's lookin good.

rollin

nice

shotgun

lol 'phat chance' indeed! that looks incredible
what's in that o-so-renderly pipe u've got there hmmm????

PhatChance

Yeah Wake, I agree with you about the ears. I think since most the cartilage has rotted and fallen off of his nose that his ears should be much more beat up than they are.