Witch Bust - Critiques and comments wanted

Swizzle

I've been messing around with this thing off and on for the past few months and it's seriously bugging me. I can't quite get it looking feminine while retaining the evil old witch look. I've looked at lots of reference pictures and even at some old women in in person and I still can't quite pinpoint what exactly I'm doing wrong, so... HALP!!1!

Any suggestions, critiques, comments, paintovers, whatever would be welcome. I've already almost completely reconstructed the face once before, so I'm not above making major changes.

[I'm aware that the head is very elongated. That was just a stylistic choice.]

Zephir62

I think you need to stop thinking "evil witch" and start thinking about just plain "evil." What in particular gives that mischievous and dastardly look?



Analyzing this picture and overlaying lines on top of the edges of distinguishable features, I came to the following conclusions:

1. Sharp, hard angles and shapes connotates evil, while curved shapes make something more friendly

2. Angular face produces a more sinister look, vs. the round which implies innocence

3. Emotion conveyed through gestures and facial expressions are the icing on the cake.



This is the method I use when I get questions like this, and it's probably just as applicable if you compared a woman's face to a man's. If it works for you, great!

flaagan

Reminds of the wife of the 'miracle worker' from The Princess Bride.

Swizzle

Swizzle

Well. This took for-freaking-ever to get working properly.

There obviously isn't much by way of texturing done yet, but that should be coming soon. There are still a bunch of errors and seams I need to paint over, but I'm just excited that I actually got things working without Modo and xNormal repeatedly puking all over themselves.

I guess it doesn't help that I'm on a relatively lame laptop.

vik

this looks fantastic swizzle! cant wait to see it textured

Mechadus

I really like where this is going - and LAMO at the kitten photo Zephir

I agree that she doesn't look really all that evil, so much as just angry. I think if you sharpen the cheek bones by pushing the cheeks in under them, it could help some... Also, perhaps push the outside corners of the eyes up a little bit. I don't think Witches are known for hygiene either, so perhaps some pock marks, or more warts could help make her look nastier. Overall tho, its great - really says witch even without the hat

-N

Swizzle

Thanks, guys.

I know what you mean about her just looking kind of angry, Mechadus. I think what I'm going to end up doing is giving her fairly desaturated skin and some darker color around her eyes. I'll also end up emphasizing her cheekbones a little more and I'll give her some warts, scars and moles.

Anyway, this is how things stand currently. The textures are still very unfinished, but whatever. They get the point across for now:

Swizzle

Did a bit more work on her. I'm trying to make her a bit more evil looking. I'm not sure about the shading under her cheekbones; I think I may rework the actual model and normal map a bit, but I haven't decided yet.