Becoming A Better Character Artist..

tanka

Hi Guys,

I'm currently on a mission to become a better character artist. I've began a project to try an get me through all the different areas I'll need to study. I thought I'd start a thread so I can get some feedback along the way, aswell as post my progress.


I've started sculpting Caitlyn, a champion from League of Legends.



I'm sculpting this because I think the character design is absolutely kickass! Also because I think it will be a good excercise due to the female form, the leather, the fabrics there are alot of interesting things to sculpt in this concept.

Here's what I have so far..



I'm fairly happy with what I've started off with, but I feel there's something missing. The ears are a bit sloppy (but they'll probably be covered by hair) and I feel like there's something wrong with the eyes. I'm not too sure though.

There's plenty more to come. Any feedback is much appreaciated.

Snader

You're using far too many subdivisions.

You clearly don't have a good grasp on the basics of shape and anatomy yet, so you should focus on those. By using less division,s by forcing yourself to work with rough shapes, by working on the basics you'll learn a lot faster than jumping straight to ultradetailed.

SkyGround

Hello!
You must to learn Anatomy. Dynamic anatomy for artsts.
Some of good authors - Godfrid Bammes, Ene Barchai, Fritz Schider ( maybe i made mistakes in names ))
Traditional skills, forms , anatomy - are keys. You can learn technical part only by reading tutors but real art skills come with experience.

Making characters by parts - is a bad idea. Start with simple overral shapes and forms and continue forward only when main forms is good.
In your current stage there is no anatomy, it is not human, more - it is lifeless.

Sorry for my English )) and good luck in your way!

Alex3d

Hey I don't know if you wish to texture it and pose it later, maybe make a game character(this is polycount after all). But If you wish to make a decent character, especially if its a complex character,you need perfect reference (front, back and side views). Judging from your anatomy knowledge you are a beginner, so you should start by making a base mesh in 3DS Max, Maya or Blender. Define your proportions in base mesh (nose width and length, brow line, all the body part proportions). Then export to obj and start sculpting. Sometimes really good artists would start the other way around and retopologize the mesh from zbrush back into Max, but I think you need to get the basics first.

Urthrese

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Artist-Sarah-Simblet/dp/078948045X[/ame]

reference, reference, and more reference. you can never have too much. i suggest getting a good anatomy book. this is the one i have and it's amazing. i use it for just about every character.

MainManiac

You're doing the same thing I did, trying to jump into character modeling like its hardsurface or environments. Im sorry, but you can't do this. You're going to need a good understanding of the anatomy in the entire body, but most of all the head.

I also would not start off with female characters. Its better to start learning male anatomy and from that learn what makes the body have a more feminine look.

tanka

Thanks for your feedback. I should make one thing clear though, I am well aware I'm going to be making mistakes, and definitely expect do overs on my sculpts. It's all part of the process. This thread is less about me showing what I can do right now, and more about the journey. Saying that, I will definitely be redoing what I've got here.

Now to anatomy, I'm well aware of the importance of anatomy as a character artist, I have been looking anatomy reference, and believe me this looks alot better than it once did because of it. Obviously I need to push my knowledge further.

Just wondering if anybody knows of any good books in regards to proportions of humans, and also muscle/skeletal structure of humans. I have a few Andrew Loomis books which are good, but I think I'm looking for a bit more detail. I'll look into the book that you just posted Urthrese, but from what I've seen so far I'm not sure if it's what I'm after.

LRoy

A big help for me is to get some good reference then overlay your work onto it and see the differences. Obviously it's not going to be exact, but you should be able to see the major form issues.

tanka

I'm looking at downloading these:

http://figure-drawings.com/artstudentsguide.html
http://figure-drawings.com/bones-and-muscles.html

Theyre old books, but they look really detailed. Theyre not too dear either. Anybody heard of them before?

Shiniku

frell wrote: »

I also would not start off with female characters. Its better to start learning male anatomy and from that learn what makes the body have a more feminine look.

Where'd you get this idea? I'm not going to discount it but I've always felt the other way.

In my experience it's better to end up making your men too feminine than your women too masculine. There's a certain grace of the female form that is aesthetically pleasing even applied to men, at least moreso than making them overly rigid which can happen when you're too focused on masculinity.

Dunno though.

But I definitely agree with you, frell. Right now if the OP jumps into a character they'll probably just be disappointed in the end. You're better off doing some studies and learning some things and then applying them to a character model instead of just jumping in.

@OP
Any books you can get ahold of are good. I'd recommend downloading Loomis's books, like 'Figure drawing for all it's worth'. They're readily available online for free.

achillesian

Im supporting start with women, its much easier to pump male features into a character than female.

tanka

I've been well aware that women are harder than men (for the most part) but I should mention that the character from my OP is something like a goal. I'm more focused on building my skills in the meantime to get there. I made a start on it, and it's rubbish so I'm going to be doing alot of sketching and sculpting of both men and women.

I just saw the frell had a thread much similar to this, and there was some great advice in there. I'm going to start doing some of the stuff he did, and try to learn a bit more anatomy. I've spent a good portion of today reading through various anatomy books, and doing a few quick sketches. I'll post progress as it comes.

MainManiac

I figured its easier to create a female body if you already have some idea of muscle groups in male bodies. And once you get the forms on you can work your way down until you get the 'delicate' look.

tanka

I've been drawing heads all day, i thought i'd try block out a basic head of planes. I think I may have gone crazy with subdivisions though.. I guess i'll keep practicing.

krisCrash

That looks quite a lot better, the facial planes were what you were missing and it made your jaw and chin defined all wrong. On the new, I think perhaps the jaw is a bit long (going too far back).
Also, your neck in the first image wasn't good, so maybe try sculpting the neck ALONG with your facial plane exercises... then you can really learn how the jaw works.

And maybe those folds, like nares, dimples, the furrow from nose to lip, define them LATE in the process.

Personally for game character art I would say go for a low poly silhouette, get it working, before going nuts with all these subdivisions. Proportions + Silhouette > amount of polys spent on a cheekbone.