DWIV - 3D - Helixx
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Ahh DW4.. been thinking about this for awhile now and it's about time it started. I've found my sketches to be a bit lacking. I tend to be a bit of a "by the seat of my pants" kind of artist but from my past experience with DW3 I'm going to try and nail down my ideas a bit more. I'm still not sure which character/class I'm going to be going for but here's my ideas so far.
Clericon - holy priest type with mounds of cloth and ribbons wielding a scepter(ala SailorMoon style)
Invoker - Small impy type of character with a huge summoned rock golem. Unsure of the weapon/artifact with this one but i'd go with something a bit more funny.
Demon Lord - Darkness based creature. Something you'd see in the deep ocean with tentacles and biting claws
Here's some of my sketches using alchemy thus far. Once I nail down the type, i'll do some better sketches. Let me know what you think.
Ahh DW4.. been thinking about this for awhile now and it's about time it started. I've found my sketches to be a bit lacking. I tend to be a bit of a "by the seat of my pants" kind of artist but from my past experience with DW3 I'm going to try and nail down my ideas a bit more. I'm still not sure which character/class I'm going to be going for but here's my ideas so far.
Clericon - holy priest type with mounds of cloth and ribbons wielding a scepter(ala SailorMoon style)
Invoker - Small impy type of character with a huge summoned rock golem. Unsure of the weapon/artifact with this one but i'd go with something a bit more funny.
Demon Lord - Darkness based creature. Something you'd see in the deep ocean with tentacles and biting claws
Here's some of my sketches using alchemy thus far. Once I nail down the type, i'll do some better sketches. Let me know what you think.
Replies
I think #1 has some potential too.
Decided to do some further exploration into #2. He was my favorite as well.
Basically he'd be a stone golem summoned by some small invoker guy(to be designed).
Here's the further exploration with some other head ideas, and some samples I quickly did to see how I could make the stone look stylized. The image at the bottom is some great rocks that I found trolling the forums that I thought would look great if I could imitate them.
Gonna take a little break from the big guy and now work on the smaller invoker guy for a bit.
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/8800/fmprockswip.jpg
-Woog
The invoker still needs some work.. I like the idea of a little fat guy riding on a perch. Still not tied down to the shapes though.
The weapon/artifact is still up in the air.. any ideas? I'd love some feedback on what I've got so far.
I also like the style these rocks are going, maybe a bit more colour variation in the greys? Mind you this is just a concept.
I like the flat part for the invoker hah.
Here's some more ideas for the invoker.
i'm loving the direction ur headed with this
should be a real fun contendor
I would go with the more mysterious hooded guy. Much more interesting character design.
-Woog
Going to really try and keep the proportions like the concept. Hopefully it doesn't lose that look once it's in 3d. So far so good I think. Finished the body in low poly and I think it's ready to bring into zbrush for detail work. Still trying to figure out what to do with the head though. Also, I had the idea of the invoker having a small doll as his artifact and it would look like a small version of the huge golem. Still up in the air. Here's the body. If anyone has any suggestions on head shape just post me some sketches.. been at it for a few hours and I've got squat to show for it. Thanks
I started doing some tests with the sculpting on the upper arm instead of sitting here twiddling my thumbs trying to figure out the head. Here's what I've go so far. I'm really looking for some imput on where to push the details more or push the angled flats more.
Thoughts anyone?
Here's an example of a smoother version I just did up. Less noisy bits.
Also, don't forget the negative space. We don't want to be overwhelmed by the rocks all over the place, so consider areas where it can be less busy.
notebookguy: Haha thanks, the invoker is still in the workshop, he needs a real structural rethinking but I'll keep you posted.
jeremy: Great idea for the cave. I thought about that and I'm still not sure but I added it in to see how it looks and so far I like it. I guess the cave could be the invoker's home so I could do some simple decorations on the outside of the cave. What I have to keep in mind is the scale and how things are going to look when it's all together.
As of right now the ratio of uv space and polygons is a bit skewed towards the golem because personally I think he'll sell the piece over having an elaborate invoker. Not saying he's gonna be whipped off last minute, but he'll have less detail than were he a standalone character. Sorry for rattling off, in short: If I end up making the invoker a bit bigger the cave idea won't work because it'll have to be too big. This will make the distribution of tris/pixels more even but I'm still not sure what to do.
Kamui: Took your advice as well and toned down some of the busier areas and tried to add more height variations. It's still early in the process and I'm sure he'll get some more lovin' before he's finalised. If you see any spots that could use some help feel free to just circle them on a paintover and let me know what would look better.
Here's where I'm at as far as the golem goes. Head is still meh... we'll see where it goes. Might try some other heads on for size tomorrow after work. Oh, and I plan on just duping his fingers so that's why he's missing the ones from his right hand. Cheers!
Did a paintover of the foliage and greenery I plan on putting on him. Also changed the head a bit. Still a wip. Going to focus on the invoker for awhile and let this guy stew.
-Woog
Trying to keep the accessories to a minimum because I think his portion of the tris/pixels will be somewhat limited due to the size of the golem.
Having trouble deciding whether I should do the invoker in the same stylized look as the golem or make him more realistic looking. Appreciate the feedback. Here's a sample.
i was, to be honest, expecting a somewhat shorter/stubbier invoker. to kind of show him as 'weak, but not really' but i'm loving this either way
very nice cloth sculpt, and the golem is fucking brilliant, some really nice hard shapes.
His belly may be a bit much, though - it's almost as if he's pregnant. Couple that with long fingernails, a ring, bracelets and pronounced man-boobs and he's certainly an ambiguous character
This is gonna be great mixture of two fantastic characters.
Kozlow
JFletcher: Thanks man, I've always found the cloth stuff fun. I hope I can keep those solid shapes from the golem high poly when I retopologize and bake it out. Keep at it with your stuff man, it's the cleanest looking high poly i've seen in this contest yet.
r4ptur3: Ya man, balls to the wall. Planning on finishing this year
Zwebbie: Ambiguously something haha.. my creations always have some weird proportions and I'm hoping that in the final composition the 2 characters are good contrast to eachother. Can't wait to see the next steps in your entry.
notebookguy: thanks man
Kozlow: Ya hopefully they mix like vanilla chocolate swirl icecream... not sure where I was going with that but.. yum. Thanks man.
Belltann: Well so far the retopo is going alright, little over an hour to do 1 upper arm piece.. I guess it's not so bad. Just throw a movie in and work away. Keep it up man, your mountain king is has great weight and forms.
Started doing some retopology work last night, here's the result. Just threw a bit of spec on there to get better idea of the details. Hope to get the rest of this done soonish then work on the invoker retopology.
Low v | High v
-Woog
Culpin: About the patterns on the belt; I'm planning on implementing them graphically on the clothing of the invoker. Also, I'm planning on making the belt as if it was just metal so the details won't stand out quite so much.
Spent the last few days plugging away at doing the retopology of 17 individual rock pieces, as well as, unwrapping and baking. Next up is tweaking the normal map to get more out of it. Try some poses with the golem see how that's going and start my texturing. Here's a quick screengrab of the lowpoly with normals applied still hot from the baking. Just applied a hint of colour and spec to bring out the details. I'll post some better stuff once I get him a bit of texture work. Lots more to do.. not enough time in the day.