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Portfolio overhaul

polycounter lvl 18
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_Shimmer polycounter lvl 18
Hi guys,

long time no real post with personal stuff from me... I have been mostly struggling with jobs, moving around, loosing files in harddrive crashes, trying to have a real life and doing some occasional freelance.

anyways, I recently finished concept art work for the video game adaption of Wanted by Universal Studios, that I cannot show in this moment but once the game is released. Perhaps I go studying but now I am looking for work around the globe. So i thought in order to compete and since I haven't done to much 3D here I decided to give my portfolio a long needed overhaul with some recent stuff.

I will post the stuff I create here, including some wips.

As I am kind of in a rush with not much time on my hands I will do pieces that demonstrate certain things rather then going my own route of doing things for personal work.

Meaning gamey characters, realistic and non realistic anatomies, strong focus on sculpting, faces, cloth, some proportion, texturing and shading and so on. so its less personal but for me a good opportunity to get rid of old habits and learn some new stuff.

so lets start. (sorry if occasionally a picture wont show up as I swap them sometimes but it will be fixed shortly after).

so i started with this one, which was quite fun and is still going on. Its a character that started out as a really simple sketch of a monk by my former art director Dan blomberg.

MANKYMONK.jpg

Over time I realized it was a bit to simple so I added stuff and it became some sort of guard thing. At this point i really liked Mudbox.

0002_MidKingGuard.jpg
0001_MidKingGuardWIP02.jpg
0001_MidKingGuardHeadWIP06.jpg
MidKingGuardHeadWIP07.jpg
0001_MidKingGuardWIP03.jpg

FINISHED:

0001_KingGuardFinal.jpg
0001_KingGuardFinalHead.jpg


but then I rediscovered Zbrush with version 3.1 (3.1 not 3 that is) which turned out to be a blast. still awkward in control and ui but definitely came a long way.
Its amazing how nice you can sculpt in there....

hmm first try on a realistic head. Obviously I don't want to make them boringly uninteresting so I try to give them something (in this case the chin area).

002_Civilian1.jpg



second attempt on a realistic head using the base bust from arsh. Fucking pain in the ass to sculpt the eyes properly. I redone them at least 20 times or so and still dont like them..

0010_Headsculpt.jpg



this one was fun, using arshs base mesh and the transpose tool (in the wrong way though, got it now, rotate not move :D). it was fairly quick , like 2 hours or so...I am amazed by zbrush.

0001_SpaceGranny.jpg


same attempt, this time with rotated transpose. i will continue this one perhaps as it was fairly quick aswell.

0001_SpaceBuilder.jpg


so thats it for now. I am definitely looking for critiques and feedback to further improve the works. Feel most invited to suggest some other subjects to create if you like!

Also feel free to visit my web portfolio that has some work Ive done for Sega Rally with Valkyrie which I believe I didnt post here

stephko.viranyi.de/folio07



As I also look for work I certainly welcome pointers to nice workplaces aswell! i would love to work with some polycounters in future even though the majority of you guys work in the us, which is a bit hard to enter as an European with no degree or heavy xp whatsoever.

Cheers

Replies

  • aesir
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    aesir polycounter lvl 18
    First off, you have GOT to get rid of that seam on the kings gaurd guy's head and neck. Even if you just clone brush it out. Otherwise its a fantastic piece.

    Your 2nd random heady study from arsh's base looks like you got into the details too fast. The major forms look a bit too blobby, especially in the neck. I agree with you that the eyes are a bit distracting because they arent perfect spheres. I wish you had just thrown some spheres in there and sculpted around them rather than trying to sculpt it all out.

    While artistically I like that the ideas you're working with for your last 2 speed sculpts, they feel far too un-planned on the design side. Youre mainly just throwing shapes together, which is great for having fun and practicing, but not really what I (personally) would want to see in a portfolio.

    Going through your site was a blast. You have a ton of great work in there that I'm pretty jealous of. I like your site setup too, as un-organized as it seemed, it was nice and pleasent to just scroll through and see all your work.
  • PeterK
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    PeterK greentooth
    Hey Stephan,

    Glad to see you posting some new works. I really like the guard's costume design, it's original and the carries it's level of detail well. It gives me a sense of "Harkonen" clothing, which is great.
  • rollin
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    rollin polycounter
  • Guriamo
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    Guriamo polycounter lvl 17
    nice one, good to see some new stuff from you :)
  • rooster
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    rooster mod
    space builder definately needs a builder's arse crack :p
    aesir, I figure he left the seam due to the hood thing he has on, looks like it covers those areas. still, as a standalone portfolio image it does look jarring
  • Fliff
    *LOL* Space Granny wants a hug

    see you in wien, ginga
  • BoBo_the_seal
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    BoBo_the_seal polycounter lvl 18
    Nice work Shimmer. Looking forward to seeing more from you.
  • _Shimmer
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    _Shimmer polycounter lvl 18
    aesir: thanks! Yeah the head is pretty much WIP, so I tossed some photogrpah on it but didnt bother cleanin the seams for now. all in all i am kind of unsure with the head. I am thinking of reunmapping it all together with the hands and use no mirroring... Thing is the face is unique rest is mirrored which worked before because of the hoody but I am thinking of gettin rid of it....

    Bobo, Guriamo, peter, rolling thanks.

    fliff, I think you want a hug , with my foot ;P Looking forward!


    anyway here is an update of the Guard...He currently weighs relativly hefty 17.000 tris with some stuff still not fully done. I am aiming for fps standards so I am going for around 15- 17.000 tris in total with optimization. In any case I dont really care for polies nowadays... The body with coat and and leather armor has a 1k texture. the head aswell, even though i am looking into mapping them together with the hands, keeping it 1k. Boots, underlying suit and perhaps hoodie will go on a 512 or 256 later. Not sure yet. Damn you hoodie...

    Hand are not done yet as I want to create a reusable template for later projects, so I will probably take the hands into Zbrush and give it a go there.


    0001_MidKingGuardWIP03.jpg
  • Renaud Galand
  • EarthQuake
    aha shim shim! some cool stuff here man.
  • b1ll
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    b1ll polycounter lvl 18
    Hey man, Been a while, Glad to see post shit again, Its turning out well, I dig!
  • RazorBladder
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    RazorBladder polycounter lvl 18
    SAUSAGE FINGERZ!

    Glad to see you posting something again, the space granny's face made me chuckle :)
  • BeatKitano
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    BeatKitano polycounter lvl 16
    Really nice character but even more amazing texturing skill. I would love to see work from you more often.

    Would you mind to show your flats ?
  • Mark Dygert
    Awesome stuff!

    Psstt... when showing off a normal map keep the diffuse gray and put the normal map in the bump slot. That way we see the effect but aren't confused by the colors.
  • Bryan Cavett
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    Bryan Cavett polycounter lvl 19
    I really like that monk... the texturing is really nice!
  • shotgun
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    shotgun polycounter lvl 20
    Very nice heads shimmer. I love how much personality and attention you gave them.
    The eyes seem too close, the inner corner of the eye should align more with the start of the nostril.

    Could you please post the flatz of this armor guy? Some seriously nice effect you got.
  • firestarter
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    firestarter polycounter lvl 19
    Nice work Shimmer, the Knights Guard has the look of authenticity to the outfit, really cool.
  • _Shimmer
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    _Shimmer polycounter lvl 18
    Thanks Renaud, its a standard scanline with a some lights and normal shader. i would have loved to use a realtime shader for the final, but new 3dsmax doesnt like some shaders as it seems... really weird.


    vig, yeah I know :D I make a render with the normal only when I find the time.

    Shotgun, beatkitano I can post them seperatly aswell. right now i just tossed them on the complete sheet. I hope however I can clear up the ppl minds how the shader works i use for the monk (which is nothing special really :D )


    EQ, b1ll, RazorBladder, Bryan, firestarter Thanks!


    So its
    FINISHED!

    i hope most of the images are self explanatory. Was great fun to do this again. work hours and hours and then post the stuff. I felt very encouraged to continue this piece because of you guys. Thanks a lot!

    here is is:

    0001_KingGuardFinal.jpg
    0001_KingGuardFinalHead.jpg

    puh took longer then expected having some troubles with the RTT and to many polygons :D


    Anyway here is some additional stuff. i would like to write more about the process i went through but I have a terrible headache right now :D

    0001_MidKingGuardHeadWIP08.jpg
    0001_MidKingGuardWIP01_hands.jpg

    So I redid the head once again. i realized a shit load of mistakes I made during making this piece. Too small face, too small eyes, wonky proportions, etc. I think most of this stuff comes from my gone by days of texturing stuff where you were used to cheat and trick to achieve certain effect, stylization in a sense. Bad habits... anyway I hoped to pull off a look that has some style, but still feels realistic.

    some renders and wireframe:

    0001_KingGuardFinalligh.jpg
    0001_KingGuardWireframe.jpg
    0001_KingGuardFinalHeadrender.jpg


    I want to do more and more now :D

    I would also like to animate this guy. I am thinking about rigging him aswell. Perhaps if somebody wants a take on this pass , this person shall feel free to contact me.


    so next up is something I am planning on collaborating with the insanely talented Luc Allenet. I am looking into doing something that is not necessarily my niche and doesn't have SHIMMER written all over it. I hope it will be good ;) I definitely encourage you to check out his website though:

    http://whitenights.free.fr/

    thats it for now. Thanks or all the replies.
  • shotgun
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    shotgun polycounter lvl 20
    yes please post/link separate flats. good job!
    this french guy is awesome
  • _Shimmer
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    _Shimmer polycounter lvl 18
    got rid of my headache :D here you go:

    001_KingGuardmapsHead.jpg
    001_KingGuardmapsBody.jpg
    001_KingGuardmapsBoots.jpg
  • Renaud Galand
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    Renaud Galand polycounter lvl 19
    Not much to say except... AWESOME !!! Masterpiece mister viranyi ! :)

    Oh yeah, just one thing, actually... POSE HIM !
  • xysdf
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    xysdf polycounter lvl 17
    AWESOME, me too! - face is done in a really nice way, somehow similar to a Deix face
  • Kevin Johnstone
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    Kevin Johnstone polycounter lvl 19
    hehe thats such a great character and I love the refinements. I think his being
    so moronic looking really adds to the idea of him being a medieval thug along
    with the clothing.

    He'd be fun in a cinematic, I picture him terrorizing the little people on market day
    as he strolls through with an enflated sense of his own entitlement, like Homer
    when he imagines himself in Godfather as some old chick 'make a the special donut
    jus a for you'.
  • dom
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    dom polycounter lvl 18
    Hey Shimmer, fucking awesome work there. the last shot has money written all over it. very cool stuff. looking forward to more.
  • Neo_God
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    Neo_God polycounter lvl 18
    Hahaha, crits seem totally inappropriate here, you're awesome, and you know it, now go get a sweet job for people to envy you over...GO now!

    as if I had to say "God job"...
  • konstruct
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    konstruct polycounter lvl 18
    WHOOOOAH nelly. some sweeet work there. Looks like you had fun with it.
  • Sa74n
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    Sa74n polycounter lvl 18
    great work stephan!
  • rooster
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    rooster mod
    great work! he reminds me a bit of a medieval heavy :)
  • Holi
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    Holi polycounter lvl 16
    Woah! Totally inspiring stuff...
    I looove how you give some personnality to your model (and how simple is your website)

    *****
  • _Shimmer
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    _Shimmer polycounter lvl 18
    I meet today with luc and discuss what we will do. lil something.

    female bust attempt. crits and comments are certinaly welcome.

    0002_FemaleHeadWIP01.jpg
  • ebagg
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    ebagg polycounter lvl 17
    Fucking masterful stuff dude, really inspiring.

    The only comment i have is the soldier guy, and his weapons, awesome beefy lookin dude, but, a tiny sword and little throwing knives? The weapons don't seem to fit the character...
  • Mark Dygert
    The more deadly you are, the less you rely on things that can fail you, like big weapons =P

    Eyes not as geospheres!?
  • Zephir62
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    Zephir62 polycounter lvl 12
    I think you rotated the right eye a little too much in that last piece, his stare looks like he has down syndrome
  • Renaud Galand
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    Renaud Galand polycounter lvl 19
    Hey stefan, I really like the "not classic" look of your female bust. But I think that some shapes could use some more work, though. The face is really excellent, but I think that the profile isn't doing his job. The nose seems a bit "blobby" and undefined and the general form is a bit more man-ish to me. I don't recognize her from this angle, actually :)

    But hey, just my thought, and it's really tiny compared to the overall model, which is awesome.

    Keep them coming !!
  • Sa74n
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    Sa74n polycounter lvl 18
    whats up with those double-lips you can see on every second head sculpt these days?
  • _Shimmer
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    _Shimmer polycounter lvl 18
    reworked her a bit some polypaint shizzy since bobo made me jalous.

    0002_FemaleHeadWIP01.jpg
  • Ged
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    Ged interpolator
    very very impressive guard dude, looks like he would fit right into assasins creed :) The mouth on the girl looks a little strange, actually I would say the mouth anatomy on a few of your speed sculpts looks a little odd, not much of a crit but maybe do some mouth area sculpt studies just for that extra level of coolness.
  • halloner
    cool work Shimmer,i like the texturing, it is really gut!
  • Talbot
    Very nice! It reminds me of Assassins Creed...
  • _Shimmer
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    _Shimmer polycounter lvl 18
    thanks you a lot guys. I know, i need to get rid of many old habits and misinterpretations of style vs realism aka mistakes not inteded to be done.

    Zbrush is a hell of a nice tool. puh just made this one, still rough and couldnt wait to polypaint, but yeah the idea is kind of a son of a universe , everything and nothing. pretty wonky and still away from what I want to do but thhat the idea. Its for a personal project of mine, hope it will see the light of the day one time....

    0001_SonoftheUniverseWIP01.jpg
  • Quickel
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    Quickel polycounter lvl 12
    Awesome work. I love that your characters aren't shooting for photo-real and have such personality to them. Do you paint your diffuse in Photoshop or ZBrush. There's great attention to details like how the chick's all freckly and then has the tan line around her neck.

    Keep 'em coming!
  • imb3nt
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    imb3nt polycounter lvl 14
    Excellent work.

    This is really awesome stuff.
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