Armored assault (character WIP)

Shiniku

I've decided to make a next-gen level game character model based off this concept I did toward the beginning of the year:


So far I have:

Turnaround concept:


Head WIP:


The head isn't looking too much like the character, but I'm mostly focusing on just making it look human first.

Also having some problems with femininity, I know it looks a bit mannish now... but my character isn't uber feminine. I'm having some trouble striking a balance, it seems to either look like a man or like a squishy little girl. Any advice here would be appreciated.

Any critiques and advice in general would be appreciated, it's not too late to make adjustments to the character either.

Also, I'm not sure how I'm going to do that hair. I haven't seen many 3d game models with curly/frizzy hair like this.

Shiniku

Thanks for the input! I think I'm a bit closer to where I want to be in terms of finding the balance in the femininity. Here's the progress on the head:


Comment/critique?

I've also started with the body, pretty much just roughed in at this point:


feedback greatly appreciated

ErichWK

The hips seem a bit narrow I think. You should widen them up.

AimBiZ

I think the torso is a bit too long.

Shiniku

Thanks guys! It's crazy how obvious some of that seems once you point it out.

Anyway, made some adjustments and worked on the high-poly some more.
I'll get started on retopology and such soon.

ErichWK

The hips and torso look better. But she looks disproportioned below her knee..like her legs are a bit shirt. She is covered in a lot of armour but still has an aura of sexiness around her. Which can make it difficult to show off without skin and cliches. You should exaggerate the parts of the body that makes her look like a dangerous woman in silhouette, ie: Longer legs, and I still think the hips could use a tiny bit of work to have more of an angle where it connects with her upper half.



Also her head looks a bit masculine, maybe make her neck a little longer and her head slimmer and less brutish? Then again, characters aren't my expertise so I could be completely wrong. haha.

Razgriz

Aha, I knew that you would end up a zbrush guy! It's about time.

I think your earlier head was more feminine, the nose on the most recent seems very wide. I also think that displaying in orthographic does a lot to widen the character and make her seem a bit manly, I would guess that she isn't so bad in perspective.

The wrinkled fabric on the suit looks great. The sculpting itself is pretty good, but It seems a bit flat because nearly everything is one piece. Using separate subtools (I could see 20 or so for such a suit) for all of the parts, like buckles, straps, and packs would do a great deal to add depth, better crevices and shadows, and make the model seem realistic. It would also, I presume, be much easier to work on pieces without constantly masking and isolating things. Cloth should bunch out right next to where its strapped down, and yours has a pretty flat transition, i.e, the boots look great, but if they were sculpted separately then it would be pretty easy to bunch out the fabric where it pulls tight on the leg.

By far the best character I've seen you do so far. Eager to see how it turns out man.

Builder_Anthony

I been keeping a eye on this to i think its gona be nice.

Shiniku

@ ErichWK:
Thanks for the crits! Yeah, I've been pushing the legs up and down quite a lot and can't quite get them the way I want them. I do agree that the lower part is probably a bit short though, I'll try and fix that. I'm really trying to avoid overly exaggerated supermodel proportions on this one though, which is a bit tough.

@Razgriz:
Thanks! I think it's my best character so far too, and I've definitely learned a lot, I'll be working on another immediately after this and hopefully it will be leaps and bounds better.

The head hasn't changed since I last posted it - though ZBush is messing with the perspective a bit. I can't disagree though, it is still too mannish. I'll see if I can work on that.

Also, I had been thinking of using a bunch of separate subtools this whole time, though frankly I'm not entirely sure how to do it. Like, when I see someone model someone naked, and then put clothes on them as separate pieces, I always wonder if there's some secret to getting the new pieces to conform to the body so well.. is there? Definitely on my next model I'll be more adventurous and do this more. Any more info on doing so would be appreciated though.

Although, I will note that the shoulderpads, kneepads, belt clips, belt buckle, elbow pads, gun holster, and shoe laces were all modeled as separate pieces in an attempt to add more depth

Also, I did all the modeling (except the Max stuff) in mudbox. Only brought it into ZBrush for decimation master .

@Builder_Anthony:
Thanks!

Shiniku

Progress!


She's 9,800 tris. Her hair is about 2-3K of that



Comments/critique?

tda

This is definitely coming along, definitely looking better as you scroll down. It's odd though, the face in your UV looks like it'd come out a lot more attractive than it actually does. It could be the angles or the FOV, but i think if the head or just the face was a little thinner overall it'd look more feminine, although i dunno if it's your intent to make this chick attractive or kinda scary, being the military type and all.

A big thing that'd help overall believability though is eyelashes and wetness to the eyeball

throttlekitty

I agree with tda on the face comments. (wait, tda?) It's refreshing to see a female face that isn't based around the whole 'omg every chick is a supermodel' routine.

The clothing has a watercolor-y look that I like, but in the further shots it looks a bit too muddy and flat. The pockets on the thighs for example.

dekorkh

Here's a couple quick/easy things i think would make this better.

Everything elbow down looks deflated - her hands are way too small. Her head is too wide, make it narrower w/o much scaling to the face - i think the face is ~ok. The hair takes away from her, try again with some reference or throw a helmet on her... or do something simpler for this one and give her a buz cut.. Her pose is a bit jolting.. turn it down just a notch.

And watch out for crazy angles/perspective when rendering... bold camera choices but I don't think they're working - thus, better go with something more subtle, tried and true.

popngear

I like how the design is not overly sexy or anything. She looks like a woman I'd be afraid of. Something that stands out right now is the volume of the hair. It looks very flat on the top in some images, giving the impression of thin hair, but at the sides it flairs out much more and appears much thicker. Perhaps even it out so it's more of a natural arch? Also, the suit being primarily grey/black makes sense of course, but it does appear quite flat. Playing up the material contrast could really help I think. Keep it up.