cyber sea witch

mister

hello - first time posting here, in the hope that I'll get some constructive criticism on a new project that I have just today started.

i've got a basic idea of where I want to go with this, but one of the problems I've had in the past is rushing ahead with my design only to have it fall down towards the end. I should probably use existing 2D designs, but I like making things up even If I do struggle with it at times.

well heres the initial base mesh, built with sculpting in mind.



Ive had an idea floating round in my head of some sort of snaky monster with cyber implants and heavy weaponry, and its evolved into more of a sea witch with cyber implants and heavy weaponry

think ursula form the little mermaid, but with a more elegant, young, slim physique, the main ideas I have tied down are.. a laser cannon in the right hand, the octopus arms will form a sort of formal gown with coloured scales, and the face will be reminiscent of the child like empress from the neverending story. plus a whole load of cybernetic implants (power supplies, wires blinky lights etc..)

anyway, ideas and initial crit on the mesh will be greatly appreciated, I'll try and back up all this text with some images throughout the week.

n88tr

Work looks good so far.

Tempting to post suggestions but I'm sure you're just starting now so I'll give you some time to improve on the design.

Welcome to Polycount!

Havok

Yep, welcome . Since you are just starting I'll say put another loop right before the tentacle things as the quads look a bit too stretched. You want even quad distribution if you are going to sculpt it.

One thing that I like to do before I get to far is to give it an attractive pose. I can't stand it when someone gets far in a project but the pose is garbage. It can make a quality model look less good in my eyes. Since this is a female with a "slim physique" as you said, I think she should have a more feminine pose. This would include an arched back, slim waist, and maybe skinnier arms than you have. At the moment this doesn't shout "young female" at me. Doing the things I said may help a bit.

Keep going with this!

System

Looks like a pretty neat mesh for sculpting, just try to even the loops up a bit where the tentacles and body are as there seems to be a gap, plus those large pointy looking quads in that area need to be less pointy! Last bit I can see is the fishy hand compared to the human hand looks lower poly.

Edit: Havok got there before me.

If I were you I would open this image in photoshop and do yourself a paintover, who knows if you spend hours doing a cool sculpt you may get stuck with knowing how to proceed with the head area etc.

mister

good advice on all fronts, thanks. although theres no need to worry about the pointy polys, they subdivide with no problems. and I'll be re building this mesh around the high poly once its done.

ok progress..

skinnied up the waste and arms, and made the neck longer as that always makes girls look more elegant.

also added more divisions to the tentacle hand and enlarged it.

checked that the hand actually works (ive had that let me down in the past)

and finally, took the mesh into Zbrush and used transpose to take a look at how it would pose, not too badly i think.

images!




I haven't put much into the look of the cybernetic parts yet, I may do some high poly models tommorow for that. also Ive gone off the child like princess look, its not fitting, so I'll research some new face types to base this on.

crit away

conte

this is so win.

andersh

have you sculpted any basic human / bipedal anatomy before? this looks pretty ambitious...

also, i find that it helps to have a carefully planned back story for your character designs...and not really trying to "wing it."

mister

thats not a bad idea, but admittedly Im not much of a story writer, I'll have a think about it while Im away next week, it may influence some changes, especially with the face and colour scheme which Im not even close to tying down.

Nothing wrong with being ambitious, nobody would improve if they didnt try something outside there confort zone, Ive spent too long recently with practice pieces that dont get finished, all of which were bipedal sculpts. I'll be putting up a website soon with my finished works, but none are as high detailed/spec as I want this to be. hehe, tentacles have got to be easier than legs though surely?

will post some more images once I have something.

mister

okay - I actually had some ideas about this while I was at work today (bug fixing day so lots of opputunity to think)

wall of text:

Name: Princess Hadrienne.
Age: 21
Bio: born the daughter of a subjugated king, Hadrienne grew up feeling that she was denied the life that she deserved as part of her birthright, she is bright but despite the still privileged upbringing she received inside the castle walls she developed bad morals and the desire to rule. During this time she practiced witchcraft, but it wasn’t until the human world invaded in order to expand its domain into the deeps that she came close to achieving this. A human Prince offered her the chance for power and perfection by bonding her magic with human technology and standing as ruler of the oceans as his queen.

Description: a Cecaelia, a creature combining the torso arms and head of a woman with the tentacles of an octopus. She carries little in the way of personal effects, instead relying on the embedded human technology that invades her body. This makes up:

A deformed right arm that can house any number of devices used for amplifying her magical powers, her usual apparel here is a magical laser cannon.

What would normally be hair is now a mass of wires and lights, bundled at the back and fed into a power allocation unit, from here conduits weave and penetrate the skin to reach there destination, most are amassed at the main weapon on her left arm.

She wears no clothes; instead the various scales and translucent fins form to make a quite spectacularly shimmering colourful gown, when in fact it is her naked form.

She is slim, not athletic but has an elegant form, long thin neck and postured shoulders and back.

[FONT=&quot]The technology is made up of many moving parts, lights and wires, more of a retro style designed in places to look like jewellery or parts of the body.[/FONT]



like I said before, Im not much of a story writer but this should certainly generate an image in peoples heads, and its already helping me with designing the smaller details.

anyway, images. some high poly hard surface models for the implants, they need more detail but Im tempted to add that with crazybump. next will be the power unit on the back.



and I did some quick silohette paints for the hair, I like the bottom right the most but I can see how bottom left would be better.



I'll start on the most basic sculpt next, and start to think about the type of face she should have.