Learning About Character Modeling

KrissyB

Hi, my name is Krissy. I'm new to Polycount and this is my first thread. I have have been modeling for about a year. I hope to grow as an artist and learn more about the techniques that are used to create characters along with other objects. Please send me feedback! I would love to hear what I can improve on. Thank you all very much!


So I am making a character right now. She is a train robber from western America. I am looking to improve my character's shape and poly flow more than anything else. This is the fourth time I ever made a character so I am still new to modeling humans. Please send me your feedback!

Model sheet





I also started modeling her. I will post some images once I am at a decent point.

KrissyB

Here are my first attempts to modeling her. I started in Zbrush and retopologized it to 3DS Max. This is what I have to far. Please leave me comments. Any would be greatly appreciated.

praetus

Alright, I'll bite. As far as the model goes there are too many edge loops thrown into this thing. Because you're starting out, you're getting lost in the amount of details you have and not getting the basic silhouette down.

This mesh seems like something you could have made in 3DS without touching zbrush as well. Think of trying this out. Try and see what you can get get by only having 6 polygons going around the arms and legs. Maybe eight for the torso, four for the neck. Try and get a good shape out of using a small amount. You'll learn to achieve basic topology and shapes without getting lost.

MrChad

Neck has too many edge loops I'd say.
Body, horizontal edge loops seem reasonable. Vertical ones are too many. Try looking at wireframe references.

DDuckworth

On your drawings (and your model) you have the side view as if she is leaning forward with both her chest and head, praetus is right about the model so I can't really add much to that crit

KrissyB

Thanks for all your comments. I will adjust it when i retopologize.

Right now I got alittle ahead of myself and added more details to my Zbrush model. I'm going to go back to 3DS Max and reconstruct my model. Thanks for all your comments again. I will fix those problems.

KrissyB

Hi, everyone! I finally redid my model. I decided to try one piece at a time so the head is not connected to the body yet. I'm having trouble with the head and neck area. I changed the body so it has better flow. I hope to be able to animate it.

Aves

Even though I'm a newbie, I'd like to help out, if you'll allow it.
The head could perhaps be vertically shorter, by lowering the top of the head a bit. The hands could maybe be a little bigger, with lengthened fingers.

I hope it helps, and I can't wait to see it finished!

KrissyB

Yes, I agree. I already started changing the hands a little and connected the neck to the torso. I think I made the head a bit too tall. XD Thanks for your comment.

Psyk0

I want to see you improve on anatomy, starting with basic proportions, block out the body with least geometry then progress!.

Some stuff for you to check out
http://www.creativecrash.com/tutorials/real-time-character-modeling-tutorial#tabs

(scroll down to character modeling video, massblocking etc)
http://www.poopinmymouth.com/tutorial/tutorial.htm

So my point is, work on low poly before zbrushing (sure you can still have some fun with sculpting, but u needz teh basix!)

A-Train

Hi KrissyB, Welcome to Polycount!!!!

That's cool that you came up with a bit of a back story for your character.

It's not a workflow for everyone but you may like to try blocking out a concept for your character with a more art friendly & fluid pipeline. I'm a noob at character workflows (other than texturing that I did for "Bully" Scholarship Ed. for the Wii), but I've found using Sculptris to be really beneficial for quickly blocking out forms, getting the volumes blocked in, and the style down. It's also pretty good for getting a rough polish pass in before bringing it into a retopology app such as TopoGun which I'm a big fan of.

Great thing is it's absolutely free right now! http://www.sculptris.com/download.html and it's from Pixologic (makers of Zbrush). Being that you're familiar with Zbrush you may find it useful.

No basemesh necessary, you can just use the basic sculptris figure and work from there. Difference between it and Zbrush is you can add topology to the mesh to specific areas. Want a 6 arm creature: ala Goro from Mortal Kombat? Problem solved, as you can add tesselation on the fly. Only warning I can give you is you need a pretty powerful computer for it to work smoothly.

Hope that tip helps, best of luck on your model and again welcome to the boards