Kayae Sha - Character
polycounter lvl 10
Kayae Sha is the name i just decided on for this race. I've been wanting to do an environment for a bit that consists of a large body of water at the top of a mountain, in a crater type of thing. So essentially a big lake, and from the lake grow these huge trees. These creatures live in the trees, but spend the majority of the time hunting etc in the water and in caves. I wanted the design to mainly look like these could be sort of be amphibious, but definitely capable of jumping across canopies etc.
So here is a sculpt, which i threw a few messy alphas on the appendages. I just put them on there for the sake of giving it a bit more character for the screenshot, but my current sculpt has none.
On my current to do list, i have:
Change the pelvis a bit, it's not quite ready.
Work on the face, it has a lot of changes in store.
Work on the feet, those are just general placeholders i made.
Other than that, lookin for all C&C. Not just artistic but also practical, I didn't give you the creature's background for nothing
EDIT: removed off axis "second picture" for back shot.
here is old picture: http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/3141/skinnyback.jpg
removed "swim function" from original creature, transferred to this race:
and here is quick fun video of the sculpt: (I will try to make for all the following work I do, because I think they're cool to watch).
[ame]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHLToiX1LeM[/ame]
Currently rethinking first model, and will make the second more exciting (i personally hate how generic humanoid it is atm)
So here is a sculpt, which i threw a few messy alphas on the appendages. I just put them on there for the sake of giving it a bit more character for the screenshot, but my current sculpt has none.
On my current to do list, i have:
Change the pelvis a bit, it's not quite ready.
Work on the face, it has a lot of changes in store.
Work on the feet, those are just general placeholders i made.
Other than that, lookin for all C&C. Not just artistic but also practical, I didn't give you the creature's background for nothing
EDIT: removed off axis "second picture" for back shot.
here is old picture: http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/3141/skinnyback.jpg
removed "swim function" from original creature, transferred to this race:
and here is quick fun video of the sculpt: (I will try to make for all the following work I do, because I think they're cool to watch).
[ame]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHLToiX1LeM[/ame]Currently rethinking first model, and will make the second more exciting (i personally hate how generic humanoid it is atm)
Replies
regardless, i am considering a tail. would be full length of the body
I think a small tail would help and would show that the creature has some sort of balance mechanism in place, right now it looks very agile and kind of easy to fall over! haha.
keep it up
First off you are not quite done yet on the over all shape and design of the character yet so don't start putting surface and skin detail on the character yet. Not to be mean or rude or anything but there is no reason you should also look at the posture of the alien it looks like its about to fall over. A tail might help in the visual balancing of the character but I still think if you use a soft selection and the move tool you might make it look a more stable.
I suggest to work on primary and secondary detail before you start working on the skin detail. Primary detail being the silhouette, secondary detail being the more important details like muscle structure or in your case shell over all shape, eye sockets, hands fingers feet toes.
Hope thats helpful
Seriously dude chill out...Reason it takes you a full day is because your acting like a little kid and arrogant for the most part, with the majority of posts ive seen you make...dont go around calling people morons for starters...he was just a bit impatient no reason to bite his head off
Politely and calmly tell him it takes time Versus scaring people off.
now..
ralusek: To answer your question looking at your character im seeing a few things that can use some improving and other things I suggest to keep in mind
First off I suggest going back to subd-1 And Puting pieces into poly groups
mainly the
head
arms
chest
legs
feet
claws
Now I suggest you worry more on your form and muscle structure as oppose to putting nice alphas on there, where as it makes a piece look good...if you dont do proper muscle structures ahead of time it will make a piece look very incomplete
the beauty of polygroups is it allows you to work in detail with 1 chunk at a time and you can even sub divide 1 zone more then the rest of the mesh (warning though it does scre up your topology as you sculpt)
a more clear foot design would be nice to see right now there wavy zig zaggy liney things its clear there not thought out much
Perhaps I suggest chicken feet?
the claw hand things could use some sharpening really go back and improve this piece
It has much potential but dont add on more detail what you have before you add pieces
mid section is cool I dig it!
I hope this helps you on your way!
An amphibious climber/jumper would most likely have long fingers and toes for gripping branches with webbing between them for swimming and could be spread out to catch the wind while jumping.
A long flat tail would help with control while jumping and swimming.
I'm not sure I've ever seen a tree dwelling creature with digitigrade legs (which need more attention to the anatomy). You probably want more frog like legs.
Right now this creature reads more of a desert dwelling creature than an amphibious/arboreal.
The important thing is that you develop a thick skin for serious critiques(you'll need them) and that you press forward with your art and talent!
Regarding your creature, I confess I didn't read everything in the thread but my first reaction is that the face resembles more a mass of curves and random shapes than anything nature would form for a realistic creature, alien or not. Spend some more time thinking about what this creature does and how he lives. What physical adaptations would he have and what would they look like really? Get some reference, watch some discovery channel or animal planet.
Good luck!
i guess i should start with the very basic level, make sure i get the posture right. since i noticed a lot of comments about it feeling "unstable," i need to figure out what is out of balance.
here is the profile:
i tried to keep a center of gravity, so i'm curious if the majority of the comments are directed at my second picture. the second picture is simply a screenshot taken off axis.
the first picture is on proper axis, as is this third profile one. so if between those two, the character feels out of balance, i'd love any suggestions to get it feeling right. (i'm thinking about just retaking that second one)
On a broader note, I really like the design of the forearms but shouldn't that design be reflected in the legs and feet? the two don't have any connection right now!
Just my tuppence worth
~P~
Why would you reply with this, ^^ instead of giving a crit?
..
Ralusek,
Interesting character so far. The only things that are bothering me about it right now are the hands and feet.
The hands/claws look very awkward at the moment, so much so I can't figure out how they would move/work. Functionality is the key to believability.
As for the feet. Right now I'm getting the vibe that this character is going to be able to move and/or jump really fast.. if this is the case then the feet are going to need to be able to support such movement and right now they do not look like they could do so. Perhaps try beef them up a bit, the toes in particular.
The only other point I would make is to beef up the lower torso a little bit. Is the lower torso going to be able to support everything above it?
Keep working, Ill be watching for your next update
from what i can gather, there seem to be a lot of issues directed at functionality. while i will get to addressing the first model immediately, i need to adjust it's function a bit. the first thing i wanted to do was just to remove its "swim" sort of function, as that's what i felt was the most out of place as it stands now.
for the time being, i just created a new type of race to fill that part of the same environment, and gave them a sort of similar head. hopefully this race can feel like a distant relative, however it's otherwise much more humanoid.
here is a first pass:
and a quick video of the sculpt for fun (i will start doing these for all progress made on these guys from now on):
[new video moved to OP]
Now as far as adjustment to the old character, that's at least one function off my back. So for now, he's more of a cave dweller/maybe tree function still present. I might make a third for the trees, or better merge the two on this original.