Souleater : Another creature by Art-Machine

Art-Machine

Hey guys, wow has it been forever or what?!

The job hunt didn't go well at all and i kind of went under the radar for a while to regroup.

Anyway I have been working on a lot of creatures over the last months, but most haven't gotten past the sculpting stage. Here's one that finally made it and is mostly 'done' but still somewhat WIP. Currently trying to decide if i want to make a game model out of this or leave it as strictly a render piece..



As the name suggests this hovering fatty will eat your soul if you get too close. Though it looks like a demon it's actually a sorcerer who's become deformed by over-indulging in dark magic. Now it has to consume souls of the living to fuel its existence and continued power.

Hope you like it~

Vrav

Beautiful as always! It's the texture painting you do.
Sorry to hear about the jobhunt... somethin's gotta come your way.

makecg

hehe freaky i like it !

crazyfingers

Sorry to hear about the job hunt, but glad to see you back in the forums. What kind job were you looking for, what style of art? Best bet for landing a job is to have characters in your portfolio the studio can look at and think, wow this stuff can go right into our games. Just a thought. I've always thought your stuff belonged more in a game art museum that in a game. Take from that what you want, your work is inspirational as hell.

Hazardous

Dude thats awesome! awesome because he looks evil, yet takes care of his skin with PROACTIVE, hes on a subscription for sure! I love it! Keep applying man something will come your way for sure.

serialkiler

i think its should be named personeater it doesn't look like souleater ^^ otherwise nice job.

PS: the texture looks to clean.

Belias

nice idea ..

Razorb

really really love this.. the skin tones and design is great \o/

makecg

Maybe add like a glowing soul source or something going into his belly.
that will make it seem more like a souleater

Nizza_waaarg

cool

dig the sculpt man. Was thinking he might be a little on the clean side (even some slightly gnarly-er skin texture could be cool) but still looks great... i really dig your clean, fancy looking renders and textures you do, nice finish


and how did you not land a job? :poly118:

turpedo

Nice character Artmachine. Try changing the color of the teeth on the belly, I feel that it is too similar to the skintone. It might give you some better contrast overall.

Frump

This guy is looking awesome. My only crit would be to maybe add more roughness to the skin as he looks pretty smooth overall. More surface variation, like on the tongue. As it is though, it still looks great. It's too bad about your job hunt; good luck when you continue it.

konstruct

mouth bellys are ALWAYS cool

achillesian

great example of less is more

Art-Machine

Thanks all for the comments.

crazyfingers wrote: »

Sorry to hear about the job hunt, but glad to see you back in the forums. What kind job were you looking for, what style of art? Best bet for landing a job is to have characters in your portfolio the studio can look at and think, wow this stuff can go right into our games. Just a thought. I've always thought your stuff belonged more in a game art museum that in a game. Take from that what you want, your work is inspirational as hell.

and how did you not land a job?

Sorry to hear about the jobhunt... somethin's gotta come your way.

If the job hunt didn't go well for you, then we're all fucked.

I should clarify that I did get some response from what were actually the studios at the top of my list. Naughty Dog, Insomniac, for example. I felt they had a nice mix of creative styles I could contribute best to. Problem is they're in the US, and turns out I don't have the educational paperwork for a work visa... So I had to walk away from those great options. So the list of studios to hit-up has been reduced to Canada, which reduces odds of getting an offer by a lot.

Anyway, I do have a very fantasy based portfolio which I'm aware of and will try to shake-up a bit. Since it's the type of subject that i enjoy the most, I tend to do those for personal work to ensure I finish it. And honestly it would be the best kind of job for me anyway.

Nice character Artmachine. Try changing the color of the teeth on the belly, I feel that it is too similar to the skintone. It might give you some better contrast overall.

I did try that out in the early stages but quickly realized the teeth are lost against the darkness of the inner mouth, so i stuck with the skin coloured teeth to make sure they pop.

PS: the texture looks to clean.

My only crit would be to maybe add more roughness to the skin as he looks pretty smooth overall.

I'd like to address these comments : We're so used to seeing the same formula repeated in creatures. If it's a demon it has to be ugly, bumpy, and elephant-skinned. I like to challenge the norms a little and wanted this guy to have very thin and translucent looking almost frog-like skin. Especially since this guy used to be human, how many humans have coarse inch thick wrinkle-fest skin? Anyway not to sound defensive, just explaining why it's so clean and smooth skinned.

I would tweak the texture with a little more grainy-ness if i made this into a low-res, since I'd have baked texture maps to work with however.

Maybe add like a glowing soul source or something going into his belly.
that will make it seem more like a souleater

A friend did suggest this earlier, and I'll have a stab at it, see how i like it.

great example of less is more

Thanks, it is a sensibility i tend to agree with.

Art-Machine

I know the pose/weight is terrible in this quick test, but what do you guys think of this idea, instead of having him just hover magically? I'm on the fence between the two...

retleks

I really like this AM. And I respect the fact that you recognize the common approach to this subject matter as a cliche, and it shows a lot in your works. I don't see the influences so obviously in your pieces, and that makes them enjoyable. Most of any of my crits are purely subjective. I think it would be nice to see some of his bone structure, especially on the back, where the skin seams like it sags down to his gut. You might get a little more form on his side by indicating the ribcage as well. He seems very symmetrical, but that doesn't really seem to be hurting it. I think a balance b/w the first and the last pic would feel better.

Great stuff though!

Hazardous

Art-Machine wrote: »

I should clarify that I did get some response from what were actually the studios at the top of my list. Naughty Dog, Insomniac, for example. I felt they had a nice mix of creative styles I could contribute best to. Problem is they're in the US, and turns out I don't have the educational paperwork for a work visa... So I had to walk away from those great options. So the list of studios to hit-up has been reduced to Canada, which reduces odds of getting an offer by a lot.

I certainly dont mean to pry man, as im sure youve done your homework, and im happy to take this to PM if to not detract from your awesome thread, but I'm currently based in Australia, and i dont have a formal art education and even I can still make it ( Its been tricky ) and alot of help has come from the company + lawyers but its possible to get into the US because of relevant experience equivalent to lack of education. It looks to me like youve got lots of relevant experience too man, are you sure you cant get in ????

BTW the tongue/stand idea is fantastic! big sticky slug like trail everywhere he goes. and gives a nice reason as to why his legs appear weaker, I like it!

Art-Machine

Hazardous wrote: »

I certainly dont mean to pry man, as im sure youve done your homework, and im happy to take this to PM if to not detract from your awesome thread, but I'm currently based in Australia, and i dont have a formal art education and even I can still make it ( Its been tricky ) and alot of help has come from the company + lawyers but its possible to get into the US because of relevant experience equivalent to lack of education. It looks to me like youve got lots of relevant experience too man, are you sure you cant get in ????
!

Thanks, I'll continue this with you in PMs

Art-Machine

Hey guys, finished the new tongue and put it into a pose. Also added some mouth glow, how do you like it?



Also here's the bind pose without any glows and less processing. I kind of prefer the mouth without any glows, see what you think.



Hope you like it.

turpedo

Haha awesome stuff Art-Machine. It just might be me, but something feels off about the weight. I don't get the feeling that the creature is really being held up by the tongue.

JasonLavoie

Art-Machine, the colours are BRILLIANT man, there is a warmth to it that really stands out to me, very very nice.

I thought he was floating :P If the tongue were to be holding him up, I would think it would have noticeable muscle definition around the core area... would have to be crazy strong to lift something up like that.

Always a pleasure following your work man, keep it up!

crazyfingers

The rear shot looks great, lots of anatomy to look at, but something bugs me about the front shot, seems to clean/ cartoony in places. The stomach teeth blend into his skin, and they're so pristine and aligned, doesn't seem very wicked or menacing. Some gnarley gums and crazy sharp nasty looking teeth would be cool. The head area also looks a little too simple to me, maybe give him a nose with nostrils, a necklace or something. Maybe go the opposite direction, do a dark cloudy shrouded face somehow and have only two glowy eyes blaring.
Hope you don't mind a quick paintover:


As an art piece its stunning and the glow adds a lot, but i just kinda wish it had more character in the main frontal shot.

conte

lovely!