Mechanic WIP

Tom Ellis

Hey everyone.

So those who remember my posts, may have seen my garage/workshop environment I did a while back. I've recently been turning my attention to learning to create characters and thought a mechanic to go in said workshop might be a cool character to try.

Here's my concept... it looks more stylized than how I want the 3D version to be, but that's just my drawing style... 2D isn't my strong point




And here's where I'm at so far with the sculpt. Crits would be awesome please. I'm having trouble with the hands, and obviously the boots don't exist yet.

SpeCter

I think you should make the trousers as a seperate Object like the shirt.
The anatomy looks way of, expecially the hand is to flat, make them rounder.

Take some reference for the trousers, there are folds which won´t exist like that.

Now for the positive things:

I really like your concept,good work, but why not make the model stylized like in the concept?
If you ask me, that would be way more interresting.

Tom Ellis

Many thanks Specter.

I agree it would be a better idea to do a stylized 3D, the only reason I'm trying to go for a more realistic look is simply because I'm yet to attempt a realistic character. I've only done one other character but I went stylized with that and wanted to try realism. I may redo it, or do another version stylized using the same base mesh.

In regards to the anatomy being way off, could you elaborate? I'm not disagreeing that it is way off, but if you could point out parts in particular that need work that would be awesome.

And yeah the hands suck, I'm having trouble making them look good at all.

bugo

My first spot is that you need to get anatomy book reference. First you should work your big surfaces out and think about the silhouette before going to the details. There's tons of anatomy books out there, specially at Amazon. Here's a very good one:

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Constructive-Anatomy-Dover-Books-Instruction/dp/0486211045/ref=pd_sim_b_6[/ame]

Tom Ellis

Thanks Bugo.

The shameful thing is, I've got a bunch of anatomy books already and I thought I'd studied them fairly well. I just have trouble translating it well into 3D! I have a pretty good understanding of muscle groups when it comes to what's in my head, but getting it to look similar on screen is a different story!

SpeCter

I think you start to early with details, stay at lower subdivision levels till you are satisfied with the forms.

And for the fingers(or generally) it would be good for you to learn the transpose tool(to bend them a little bit etc.) if you haven´t learned it already

albino_goldfish

creationtwentytwo wrote: »

wanted to try realism.
And yeah the hands suck, I'm having trouble making them look good at all.

Your best bet, is to do separate parts, try modeling a head, then maybe practice some hands, you'll never learn (well, maybe not never) but its kind of like getting out of the kiddy pool and jumping into the middle of the ocean and hoping your experience in the kiddy pool will help you reach shore.

Dracula

I agree with albino goldfish, just practice at doing one body part and do it as many times until it looks the way you want.
Well. i did a paintover, hope its helpful

Tom Ellis

Nice one, thanks for all the replies.

The paintover is a great help Dracula thanks.

Ok I'll have a practice on some heads/hands til I can get the shapes looking better. And I'll have a go with the transpose tool to sort the fingers out, the arms could probably do with repositioning too I think.

Thanks again.

Tom Ellis

Update!

Background etc is just because I stuck the images in my default portfolio PSD, although it makes it look like I'm entering it into a comp or something.

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konstruct

NICE one T style!, tho I feel like the tricep might be a bit visable from the front view too- (anatomy seems to be one of those things people can always bitch and moan about) :P

creationtwentytwo:, you might want to work a tad slower, and post more frequent updates. Its clear you have the process down- some crits on the finess part of all this would go along way- edge flow on shoulders, usually is the hardest part to nail down. looking up some ref for that would be a really good idea, same goes for the hands, fabric, head,- well, really all of it- Rather than going back to the drawing board on this guy, Id start something from scratch, where *near perfection should be your goal. its all about a ton of baby steps-

also, whats up with the back of the pants? It looks like hes got something hanging out back there :P

your presentation is really nice though!

serialkiler

he made poo in its pants fix is ass ^^ nice job

Tom Ellis

Really appreciate the comments guys thanks, and yes you are indeed correct, it does look like he shit his pants.

The actual idea was for him to be wearing overalls and them rolled up at the waist, overalls usually sag a fair bit around the ass/crotch when they're like that. But I just ended up making it look like he is wearing a diaper.

Konstruct, you're spot on with your comment. I rush things. Every time. I think I just get so excited about 'the next stage' at each step of the process. I'll rush the base mesh because I wanna start sculpting, then I'll rush that because I wanna start retopology/uv... erm... actually I rush retopo/uv because I hate it. Then I just wanna blast out the diffuse to see it finished.

Every time I start a new project I tell myself 'I WILL NOT RUSH' but it never happens. Now someone has specifically mentioned it though I will really try to take my time.

Thanks again for the crits/comments, as usual very helpful!

jakelear

I feel your pain C22, I suffer from that same rushing problem. I've come to learn, however, that wanting the results faster doesn't allow you to learn faster. Like Konstruct said, baby steps.

Whether you take this guy back to the drawing board, or just for your next character project, I can't recommend this enough:
[ame]http://www.amazon.com/ZBrush-Digital-Sculpting-Human-Anatomy/dp/0470450266[/ame]

Scott Spencer's latest book, it just came out. I just grabbed it the other day and it has already helped me immensely in understanding anatomy, and he makes it very easy to sculpt. This + a good anatomy book will be gold for getting all those funky little imperfections all tightened up.

Keep at it man!

Tom Ellis

Thanks for the comment, it is all too easy to rush but you're right, that leaves little room for improvement and learning.

Many thanks for the book link too, i'd been waiting to hear peoples thoughts on it before I bought it so I'll get that ordered now!

Thanks again.