OK, heres a basic idea. Demon prince communicating with a demon lord. The idea is a fairly slim build, long white hair, grey green skin, handsom features, leather trenchcoat with cut-off sleeves in tatters, bad ass spear, loads of charms and trophies. I want him to be lithe looking, the type of dude that looks like a snake ready to strike at a moments notice.
Still early on but I am getting that warm fuzzy feeling with this idea so far.
Nothing final yet, just one of a few ideas I have. Looking to go for a simple design this year and work on making it technicaly the best I can and presenting it properly. I tend to go in way over my head... I'll try a few thumbs aswell although I do like the idea for this dude so far. I'll sleep on it and see how I feel in the morning, we have time afterall
Definitely take some time to do a bit of thumbnailing, even if just to vary the guy you've got here. While your design could work, it feels very familiar at this stage.
Great idea, though i think you should some thumbnails and get the silhouette right. def got the feeling of Vader talking with the emperor on this one. keep going!
Thanks guys. I got fed up with trying to get proportioned thumbnails and decided to visit the university library near my appartment. Thankfully they allow non students to take out books provided you sign up and provide your details (and pay the fee obviously). They offer art classes there so I managed to take out "The structure of man" 5 DVD set, cost me almost as much as buying the damn things but it really is worth it. There is a great section on rapid concepting there that I highly recomend to anyone else who, like me, has less than acceptable skill in 2d. I'm still going through the DVDs so nothing to add yet. Just a friendly heads up to everyone having a tough time concepting.
Shh, don't tell him that, he's quite sensative don't you know lol. Anyone here watch legend of the seeker? I'm going for the outfit the bad dude wears, Darken Rahl I think his name was. Kinda like a robe/ dress thing.
Here's a basic line thumb. I'll blow it up and detail it next. I like the pose so hopefully I will be able to put whats in my head on paper (or ps lol).
I'd wholeheartedly urge you to take a step back and consider the concept some more. It's practically the same as all the other characters you ever did, save for one or two... maybe that's your strategy to get back into modeling - playing your strengths, so to speak - but I know that I wouldn't be able to keep with a concept for the entire range of the Dominance War if it didn't bring something new to the table.
Thanks guys but this is what I'll be doing. I haven't done any modeling, baring sculpting a little here and there for fun since my daughter was born. Its kinda funny, I have gotten this same crit every DW I have entered. I get what you guys mean but for this DW I want to focus on creating the best piece I can and presenting it in a way that looks good. To be honest, if I really wanted to explore my boundaries I would do a mech of some sort. I totally suck at hard surface modeling. I need to create something that I feel good about and this is a concept I have had floating around in my head for quite some time.
The concept is still in its infancy, I have yet to add clothing, weapon, skull and smoke. In the smoke is going to be a demon lord talking to this guy. I will be modeling that too but in lower poly and only an image of it will go into the final piece so I won't have any constraints on him. That will give me the chance to push myself without it potentially ruining my entry. If it isn't going well I can scrap the design element.
Small update. Still working on the back leg and arm as well as the ass and a few other areas. Still need to design the spear, add the skull and clothes/trinkets. Trying to make sure I have a solid enough concept this year that I don't end up getting lost during the modeling phase.
Lots to do still but i think I'm off to a better start than I was last year or the year before
Started on a base. Just roughing out the larger forms to make the sculpt a little quicker and easier. Not ready to show the head yet, still just a subd box lol.
Still working on my concept. My PC died, for real this time so I had to get new crap to fix it. Decided to go AMD this time, it was an athlon 64 x2 or a celeron dual core.... no brainer lol. Funny thing, it cost less to buy both motherboard and CPU for AMD than it did just to replace my old mobp with one that supported my old CPU. If I baught the latest spec intel based board I would have had to buy a new CPU for it too and I never buy celeron. Anyways, I'm back up and running now and this AMD rig scores almost 1000 points higher in 3dmark06 over my old system so I guess it was a good thing in the end.
I'd suggest to make a new and more simple basemesh. When you have modeled the muclegroups, you'll get uneven polygon distribution.
So I think you should make a new one without any musclegroups and just keep it as simple and even as possible (like the arms!) and you won't get a headache when starting to sculpting.
corv's on the money, you want all your polys as square as possible so when you sculpt them they don't stretch about.
I think the concept's kinda generic to be honest, but if you care enough about it then something good will emerge, so if this is what you're set on then keep at it
edit: I think you can use most of this mesh mind, just look at areas where you have long and thin polys, square 'em up
I'd give you the same advice, just do your first path wit a very simple box model, just block out arms to hansd with fingers, legs to feet (no real need for toes at first) and a box as head. Then go crazy on that to get the main proportions and flow of forms.
After that make a new base and re-sculpt it (either using zBrush Retopology and reprojecting your previous work or just building a fresh base around the previous one and doing a fresh sculpt, wich I perfer)
Making to much definition in your first base wil just disturb your freedom in sculpting your first path, because maybe you will want forms to flow different ...
Thanks again guys. Got a little bit of sculpting done, still only about 20 mins in. Still at subD 1 trying to rough in the face and tweak the forms into place. This base is working fairly well for me so far, after taking rooster's advice. Cheers mate. We'll see how it goes from here. Sadly I've only spent about 8 hours or so on my entry since the war began. Hopefully I will have a little more time to work on it now.
Basicly just roughed in the basic forms of the face so far but I'm off to bed so a quick update here for feedback.
More. Now I need to mask off the head and go back a few levels to sculpt the body. Then its back to max to model the wings, clothing, weapon and trinkets. Its always funny looking back at how ugly things looked at earlier stages lol.
Getting there I think, slow but getting there. I just wish I had a few hours to sit down and work on this in one go rather than 10 mins here 20 there... Still, loads of time left, should be able to finnish this year
Clee101, I'll work in some asymetry once I've finished with this subd level (still on the same subd level as the above image). I still haven't really touched the legs or arms and I still need to do the back too....
Jobolo, thanks for stopping by, what do you mean by habs?
jim_sam, still getting to the legs
Taking my time on this one. Usually i rush through the sculpt and end up with a n00bish mess.
Little more.
Coldkodiak, yeah, the back is off. I am trying to figure out the muscle structure needed to support his wings. I roughed in the muscle groups rather loosely so I have somewhere to start. I thought of using bat muscle structure but their wings are arms so that won't work seeing as this guy has both wings and arms. I have never seen a model with wings and arms that has plauseable muscle structure so this is proving pretty tough. Any suggestions welcome.
Yeah, the muscle forms are coming out nicely man. Keep looking at reference and keep at it. Maybe sometime soon tho, start making some exaggerated proportions, like maybe the wings can be really massive and wide... See where you can push this guy from the norm.
Finally have a muscle flow for the back and wings I like. I tried about 7 different ideas out and while some were more anatomicaly plausable this one looks best so I think I will go with it and move on. Time is starting to run down and I can't afford to spend more time on this. Still, I do like the way it has come out
Not much of an update, yet again life conspires to rob me of time to work on this. Still think I can finish but I will need to really push the time I have. I still need to build the low poly, the clothes, weapon, wings and the list goes on. Getting annoyed at my time constraints....
Cool looking sculpt so far man. Like the work you did on the abs and chest / pecs. The end seems to be approaching quickly for me as well, but keep pushing!
Replies
Still early on but I am getting that warm fuzzy feeling with this idea so far.
http://vampiresgaze.igniseus.com/DWIV/Conceptp1.jpg
Quick construct concept
[edit] little more refined
http://vampiresgaze.igniseus.com/DWIV/test2.jpg
Nothing final yet, just one of a few ideas I have. Looking to go for a simple design this year and work on making it technicaly the best I can and presenting it properly. I tend to go in way over my head... I'll try a few thumbs aswell although I do like the idea for this dude so far. I'll sleep on it and see how I feel in the morning, we have time afterall
Good luck all.
"im about to talk to my lord. i should make myself presentable" and it would have to be presentable in terms of 'demons'
would give you lots of room to be creative, yet stick to ur original idea.
just my thoughts
definately should go thumbnail-crazy
Info here.
Back to cramming
http://vampiresgaze.igniseus.com/DWIV/thumb.jpg
http://vampiresgaze.igniseus.com/DWIV/thumb2.jpg
This is about 1/2 size, I will post the full size concept when its done.
yea for real, take a step back and do some more thumbnailing. dare urself to avoid the human form completely - or almost completely.
break ur barriers man
go biiiiiiiig
The concept is still in its infancy, I have yet to add clothing, weapon, skull and smoke. In the smoke is going to be a demon lord talking to this guy. I will be modeling that too but in lower poly and only an image of it will go into the final piece so I won't have any constraints on him. That will give me the chance to push myself without it potentially ruining my entry. If it isn't going well I can scrap the design element.
Lots to do still but i think I'm off to a better start than I was last year or the year before
http://vampiresgaze.igniseus.com/DWIV/basestart.jpg
Still working on my concept. My PC died, for real this time so I had to get new crap to fix it. Decided to go AMD this time, it was an athlon 64 x2 or a celeron dual core.... no brainer lol. Funny thing, it cost less to buy both motherboard and CPU for AMD than it did just to replace my old mobp with one that supported my old CPU. If I baught the latest spec intel based board I would have had to buy a new CPU for it too and I never buy celeron. Anyways, I'm back up and running now and this AMD rig scores almost 1000 points higher in 3dmark06 over my old system so I guess it was a good thing in the end.
So I think you should make a new one without any musclegroups and just keep it as simple and even as possible (like the arms!) and you won't get a headache when starting to sculpting.
I think the concept's kinda generic to be honest, but if you care enough about it then something good will emerge, so if this is what you're set on then keep at it
edit: I think you can use most of this mesh mind, just look at areas where you have long and thin polys, square 'em up
After that make a new base and re-sculpt it (either using zBrush Retopology and reprojecting your previous work or just building a fresh base around the previous one and doing a fresh sculpt, wich I perfer)
Making to much definition in your first base wil just disturb your freedom in sculpting your first path, because maybe you will want forms to flow different ...
GooD Luck and Have fun!
Basicly just roughed in the basic forms of the face so far but I'm off to bed so a quick update here for feedback.
http://vampiresgaze.igniseus.com/DWIV/sculpt1.jpg
C&C welcome. G'night all
Little more.
http://vampiresgaze.igniseus.com/DWIV/sculpt2.jpg
Still very early on only about an hour spent on it in total but gotta update before bed. I only get like 20 - 40 mins a day on this guy atm...
Getting there I think, slow but getting there. I just wish I had a few hours to sit down and work on this in one go rather than 10 mins here 20 there... Still, loads of time left, should be able to finnish this year
Bare with me, I suck at sculpting :P
Maybe just a thing
The center of the muscle of the thigh is too pinched.
Keep going !!! The hair is gonna be a nice challenge I think.
Jobolo, thanks for stopping by, what do you mean by habs?
jim_sam, still getting to the legs
Taking my time on this one. Usually i rush through the sculpt and end up with a n00bish mess.
Little more.
Getting the hang of Zbrush at long last. I love the brush mod tools
You going to add armor or equipment to this guy?
Coldkodiak, yeah, the back is off. I am trying to figure out the muscle structure needed to support his wings. I roughed in the muscle groups rather loosely so I have somewhere to start. I thought of using bat muscle structure but their wings are arms so that won't work seeing as this guy has both wings and arms. I have never seen a model with wings and arms that has plauseable muscle structure so this is proving pretty tough. Any suggestions welcome.
I want to see more !!
keep going !