Faun character WIP
Hi everyone, I've been looking through people's work on this site for a while now but this is my first post on these forums. I'm currently working on a character for my portfolio and would be grateful for any advice - I'm currently getting the design down before I move onto the modeling, I figure that any input I get from you guys at this stage will be easier to use rather than taking a bad design further.
So here's a summary of the concept - an upgrade of the Greek god, Pan with wiccan influences. That about sums it up
. The two cultures/religions share many similarities which is helpful but at the moment I'm focusing on keeping it female and the element of earth/nature should be a strong theme, other than that, ideas are changeable.
Ok, so this is what I've got so far (sorry for the image dump but I feel the more information I give you, the better idea you'll get of what direction I'm taking with it).
After some rough thumbnails these are some silhouettes I sketched - they reminded me of the fashion design sketches you see, with the stick thin figures:
Some basic doodles, just drawing what pops in my head:
These were the first four concepts I had, I prefer the ones without the cape(?), I think you notice how thin the waist is when it's not there:
Then I started to look at possible areas of contrast - I wanted the horns and legs to be the main focal points, and to a lesser degree, the face and hands:
And these are the designs I have now using that last contrast design as a base:
Well, that's a quick run-down of what I have, I was just wondering what you thought, if there's anything that looks weird or could be improved. I know it's more of a concept post at the moment but I'll be taking this through to a game character so you should hopefully see it develop.
Any questions, just ask, I may have been too vague about some things
So here's a summary of the concept - an upgrade of the Greek god, Pan with wiccan influences. That about sums it up
. The two cultures/religions share many similarities which is helpful but at the moment I'm focusing on keeping it female and the element of earth/nature should be a strong theme, other than that, ideas are changeable.Ok, so this is what I've got so far (sorry for the image dump but I feel the more information I give you, the better idea you'll get of what direction I'm taking with it).
After some rough thumbnails these are some silhouettes I sketched - they reminded me of the fashion design sketches you see, with the stick thin figures:
Some basic doodles, just drawing what pops in my head:
These were the first four concepts I had, I prefer the ones without the cape(?), I think you notice how thin the waist is when it's not there:
Then I started to look at possible areas of contrast - I wanted the horns and legs to be the main focal points, and to a lesser degree, the face and hands:
And these are the designs I have now using that last contrast design as a base:
Well, that's a quick run-down of what I have, I was just wondering what you thought, if there's anything that looks weird or could be improved. I know it's more of a concept post at the moment but I'll be taking this through to a game character so you should hopefully see it develop.
Any questions, just ask, I may have been too vague about some things
Replies
I'd be grateful I could get some advice on what I've done so far:
The torso and arms have been elongated slightly. One problem I had though, was trying to match the concept exactly but I couldn't pull off the super skinny torso, which in turn made the arms thicker to make them match. I could make her skinny now I've got something to work with but I'm worried about ruining it.
These are the sorts of colours I think I'll be going for btw
I do enjoy your concepts and I believe you are heading in the right direction surely. A few things i noticed however.
While i understand you are going for wooden feet it feel that if this creature were to try and pick up her feet as they are now her ankle would be too skinny and break with the weight. also it is difficult to tell from the posts you have but i think you should bend the ankle joint further back, like a cats feet. as cat features usually dictates a feminine and elegant looks.
They horns as they are now seem too large, if they are made of would or bone they seem like the would be to unwieldy and possible cause some serious neck aches.
perhaps thinning them and separating them into two separate protrusions
but its heading in the right directiong, keep up the good work.
It's meant to be hair on top of her head if that helps explain away any 'neck-breakages' :poly124:. I've not sculpted hair before, it's mostly done with clay tubes and rake brushes - I tried adding individual strands using this tutorial but got stuck trying to append them to the hair http://www.pixologic.com/docs/index.php/SubTool_Hair_Sculpting_Tutorial .
Thanks for the ankle tip :thumbup:
I agree with KyleH about the feet. What i like about them in the concept is that they seem like she could be agile and while they are big in the latest image i could definitely see her walking around without problems, not getting the same feeling from the sculpts. They seem a little bulky, like it would take a little effort to lift them. I also like they way the human legs melt with the tree feet in the concept, feels a bit unnatural in the sculpt.
But looks like a good start, gl hf
I think you're trying to force this into looking life-like, when you should be going in the opposite direction and emphasizing the stylized proportions. The first batch of silhouettes looks really good actually, so I'm not sure why you aren't following your initial design. Follow those silhouettes.
Initial impressions: ribcage and breasts are elongated and too wide. Waist should be elongated and narrower, and hips wider. Arms and calves should be thinner. Hair is way too big... the angled version on the top right of the first silhouette sheet looks better.
The color palette also looks very bland, it might be a useful base but add some vivid colors to pop out some focal points.
Maybe a more animal like leg? Like a goat or deer. I think it would read better as a Faun. Or transition from human leg to deer legs towards the root-feet. I think the distance from the knee to the ankle or the ankle to the feet needs to be shorter to balance her better.
You could elongate the fingers and face to be less human and fit with the overall elongated style of the creature.
I think the feet are too bulky too ... here's a quick crappy paintover I did of my thoughts, hope it helps. Gave some variety/asymmetry to the horns and sized down the feet too.
Do gif files not work on the forums? I'll post a before and after picture to show the small changes. I changed the neck, shoulder joint and waist/chest. Also made the face slightly more pointed, less strong-looking. Like you say, hair and feet still need work.
I tried making the fingers longer, what's the easiest way to do that?
With other work out of the way now I spent today retopologizing, this is what I have - I think I need new sets of eyes on it. The feet are kind of messy atm, I'll finish them tomorrow.
Your normal maps are accomplishing very little, and looking from your sculpted model to your low poly model, there is little difference between them.
Unless you are going for a very minimal approach when it comes to the NM, I would go back and sculpt more, not surface detail, but more secondary details pull and push more shapes.
Primary detail is the over all shape of the object/character. Silhouette and the like.
Secondary detail is muscle shape and other forms that might not effect the silhouette but are very important.
Thirs... th... Third-ary detail is pores, pimples or anything like that surface detail.
Should I do the same on this character and invert the blue? But other people say stick to a black/white spec map and let the environment lights add and colour tints.
Here's what the textures look like atm, I still need to work on the specular like you said, just seeing if anyone notices something really off with it I suppose, thanks for the comments too
(they've been scaled down so you might not see the little details on the diffuse)