Art noob looking for critique.

chris.voudiotis

Hey guys, long time lurker 1st time poster.
Recently finding myself unemployed I've decided to use the time on my hands to build a folio, so I've returned to a Harry Callahan character I began for a challenge here but never finished. If you pros can give me a few texture tips I'd appreciate it.

It currently weighs in at 700 tris with a 256^2 map.

I'm also looking for a tut to build a quick rig to help me pose him.

Hopefully I've posted in the right place and hopefully I can contribute to your community.

Thanks,

Chris.

duncan

HAY HAY Voudi.

So awesome to see you here man. Just wait till Emil see's this. As I have mentioned to you before I am really digging the style. The face especially is The strongest part at the moment. I would consider making his index fingers a little shorter and a little less fat. Possibly consider making them planes instead of cylinders.

..............http://www.tomtallian.com/........................ Awesome ref and fantastic technique.

I am so glad you are on board and I am sure you will receive all the help you need over here with Polycount. Try over at GameArtisans too.

D.

chris.voudiotis

Duncan! Advice from the master himself! I was worried no one would reply ): Thank you and I will definitely take that on board. I've finished his guns and now I just have to do the base and a bit of a texture tweak..Then when he's posed up I can't wait to get a final render because I've got a new character/env I want to get started on soon.

Good to hear from you man.

Voud.

iWeReZ

Could you post a different angle ? and some wires.

From what i see right now, i like the cartoony proportions and the textures good, But he looks like hes in an awkward pose.

Slave_zero

I like the guy. Nice jacket and trousers.
Imo The hair lacks some detail. I'd paint some hairpatches, highlights and darks in it. The shading on the face is a bit desaturated and coukd be a bit stronger. For my taste I'd go with more saturated shaded areas.

chris.voudiotis

You guys are awesome, such specific advice is really helpful at this stage and I am really keen to get something finished for once. I will post more angles and wires as soon as I am finished the base. Thanks so much.

roosterMAP

I like the art direction a lot! However, I hate the elbows. You gotta move the vertex a bit. Keep up the good wk!

chris.voudiotis

Thanks roosterMAP, but I'm not quite sure what you mean about the
elbows? Id appreciate it if you could be more specific?

I am notorious for having desaturated stuff, I think I am afraid of colour...but perhaps it could give it a bit of an old movie vibe..not sure. As for the pose...well I hope I will be able to iron that out in rigging...so many uncertainties..well, I need sleep! But thank you for the great advice.

Mark Dygert

Awesomeness!

- Not sure what happened to the feet, hopefully they're buried in the ground?
- Careful with the use of black as a shadow color, probably stick to a darker value of the surrounding colors instead.
- Have you rigged him up yet? Low poly joints/skeletons are a science unto themselves and one that is best left up to experimentation, trial and error.
- The knee joint could probably be simplified and the wrist might need some more geo but it all depends on the skeleton.
- Whats with two .44 magnums? Just felt like mirroring it also?

Nice work so far keep it up!

chris.voudiotis

Hello! No I haven't rigged him up yet, you're right it is damn complicated.

I will definitely be more careful with black in the future. And now I know a bit more about geometry.

The two magnums are due to some poor planning in my UV phase, but I am very reluctant to go back so it will stay, I will just pretend that its an "extreme" harry. Anyway, here are some updates...but I think I'm done with this fella for now...another mostly unfinished piece. But I am enthusiastic to get started on something new.

All of your advice has been tremendously helpful in learning. Thanks.

Mark Dygert

Cool stuff. I really like the base you did. I look forward to seeing more!

Lord_Mason

I agree about the elbows. they look out of place and very large, I'd move his sleeve down the arm a bit more to cover it just little bit, or move the elbow vert so its not so big. but it still looks really cool!

//mason

chris.voudiotis

Hello. Just tentatively starting something new here and I thought I'd post it up seeing as I'm doing the whole posting thing now, curse you Duncan! If you could feed my back it would be much appreciate it.

The idea is basically an evil type of pixie with a spear, kind of cliche I guess but I'll try and put my own sort of spin on it. I'm going to try and give the naked figure a good shot, but I may end up covering her up for decency's sake. The background/ base will ideally consist of mushrooms and bio luminescent globule things..

The count is around 3000-something but I will probably hit 4k with hair. I will possibly hit up a 512 texture for the body and a 256 for the extras if necessary. Not too sure about that at this stage. The mesh will be cleaned up further before unwrapping, but please let me know if you have any good advice about the shape.

Thanks,
Voud

Gallows

Some of the back and butt polys look a bit off, mind showing a different view?

chris.voudiotis

Sure...not sure if this will help.

Steve Schulze

Woo, that's a bit of a mess, particularly around the shoulder blades. I'd recommend grabbing yourself some shots of other peoples models to get yourself an indication of good mesh flow.

Aesthetically you're off to a good start. Once you get your geo sorted, you should have the beginnings of a nice piece of work.

chris.voudiotis

*sigh* these things cant be rushed can they ): The craziness around the shoulders is my attempt at forming edge loops for the wings. Perhaps they should just be jammed in to the mesh, rather than sewn.

Thanks for the advice.

OrganizedChaos

One thing I'd suggest is trying to distribute your polys a bit more evenly. It's especially noticeable in the legs and feet, a lot of dense areas and areas where the loops are spread apart. Jackablade had some good advice when they mentioned looking at other peoples models, observing what others have done can really give you a sense of how things should end up.

chris.voudiotis

Hi all, been trying to complete an environment folio piece based on a warhammer concept art image but have pretty much run out of steam and don't really want to go back to it. Anyone else encounter this sort of problem when doing environments and if so any tips on overcoming it?

Thanks, Chris.

Spitfire

I like your style sir!

doeseph

Hi all, been trying to complete an environment folio piece based on a warhammer concept art image but have pretty much run out of steam and don't really want to go back to it. Anyone else encounter this sort of problem when doing environments and if so any tips on overcoming it?

It's pretty common to get burned out on a project, and the best thing I've been told (and do) is to work on multiple projects at once and bounce back and forth. When you feel yourself getting frustrated or losing focus, put it aside for a short time and start doing something else. The great thing about 3D is you can always come back to it!

raul

when i get bored, i take a break, find stuff to do for the next few days and come back with a fresh eye. Find other stuff to do, like another piece, or "study" a game, or try that thing called "social life". I feel that at times is better to just blow some steam off, and find things that will ignite the drive back and come back to it.

vcortis

raul wrote: »

when i get bored, i take a break, find stuff to do for the next few days and come back with a fresh eye. Find other stuff to do, like another piece, or "study" a game, or try that thing called "social life". I feel that at times is better to just blow some steam off, and find things that will ignite the drive back and come back to it.

Yeah I feel you on that one I'd say I spend about 80% of my freetime creating art 90% of the year. Eventually it's only natural to need a break. So I take a few days off hang out with my friends, go to a pub, watch some sports, play some games, go for a hike... just get my mind off of it for a few days. After a few days away I'll start getting the itch again to make some art and bam there you go!

chris.voudiotis

Hello again, just posting some progress on that fairy character I posted a while back, I fixed up some of the geo, but I am looking for some quick advice on the texture or even the general design of the character if possible. Thank ye kindly.

SHEPEIRO

shes cool nice colours...

with the environment work...its easy to get bogged down, sheer perseverence helps but good workflow is extremely important, looks like you were texturing that uniquely, that going to take a long time, tiling textures and assets are a god send and env artists best freind if you want to make anything more ambitious than a vignette

but this is coming from someone who rarely does any work beyond experimentation and greyboxing outside of work these days...

Spitfire

that looks great, i love the wings!

chris.voudiotis

Shepiro, where do you work? How do you find it? Just curious.
Thanks Spitfire, so much more to do though and I don't know where to begin ): Your website has some cool stuff on it!

achillesian

i feel like all your textures lack contrast, like you're playing it too safe.

chris.voudiotis

Thanks achillesian. I feel that way too, but I can't seem to get out of the goddamn habit of doing it. Whenever I go a bit harsher it just doesn't look right.

Here's how I'm planning on doing the back, trying something a bit different.