Angel Statue
polycounter lvl 7
I'm working on a staue for a sitting angel for a scene I did I while ago. Most the angel is only visible from the back and its only a small part of the scene so I don't want to spend tooooo long getting every last detail perfect. I do generally want something that looks good, however, even the parts that won't be seen at all. Here's the concept for the statue (Might not be a statue in this, but whatever).
It's from a larger piece of concept art.
I'm fairly happy with the hair and the body so far. I'm struggling a bit with the clothing and I'm definitely starting to feel a bit lost with the wings. Anyone have any good tips for sculpting wings in zbrush?
EDIT: Reference I used for face and hair:
It's from a larger piece of concept art.
I'm fairly happy with the hair and the body so far. I'm struggling a bit with the clothing and I'm definitely starting to feel a bit lost with the wings. Anyone have any good tips for sculpting wings in zbrush?
EDIT: Reference I used for face and hair:
Replies
Google angle statues and take a look at the clothing, (design, and folds etc) then get some for the wings, and face/body/position etc. Get LOTS. merge ideas, or pick one (mix, match) and recreate it.
with that being said - I also think you need to revisit the face. I think theres still a lot of improvement you could make on it. (as well as the rest of the body)
but you need more references (profile of face etc.)
hope that helps
as for the feathers I wouldn't worry about putting in all small fibers on them, just cutting in the rough shapes of em with the spine down the middle. and some small lines to imply those fibers.
hope that makes sense!
I've been putting off this statue for a while cos it was kicking my ass so hard but I'll revisit it in a few days and try all your suggestions! Thanks so much for all your time and critique!
And here's a test bake showin in modo:
There are a few baking problems here and then but I think that by the time it's in engine and all the damage and weathering has been added it won't really be noticeable anymore.
Agreed on previous comments on the cloth. And I would suggest working less "clean" when doing statues!
The face is too smooth and too crisp for it to be a statue. Take a good look at all those classical sculptures, hard crisp lines and changes of planes are very rare in general. Remember, those things where usually built from a single massive piece of stone, try to convey that as well.
As for the crisp lines, I'm pretty sure those will be much less apparently after baking. They were after I baked the statues to either side of the door.
Thanks for the C&C! Sorry if I'm coming across as obstinate!
The feathers could have been a lot better but I don't think I'm that good a sculptor to be able to pull off that kind of detail.
piece of advice: you took a quite hard subject to work. the best wy to work it would be to look at some bernini and canova for reference. they were the best as far as drappery and fine details in marble sculpts. tomorrow ill try and give you some good reference shots, but if you google for it you can find dozens of them.
My guess is that in a regular studio the character modeller would actually be doing statue, not the environment modeller! :P
I know you said the wings are "like the reference" but you don't have a picture which shows us the reference you are currently using for the wings.
All we have to critique you on is how we understand bird wings to look like as that is the closest resemblance to traditional angel wings on many statues. (see daphz's images)
I think you should spend some time trying to match to a reference as close as possible. There is no shame in Copying when you are learning and it will allow you to reinforce how to make the best use of your reference and bolster your sculpting skills.
I know its frustrating I can tell already that you are getting annoyed at this piece. But understand that when you are frustrated that means you are actively learning ans solving problems. This experience is vital. The key is to not let it get the better of you and to try not to cut corners to ease the frustration.
Please post images of the references you are using so we have better idea on the focus of the critiques.
This is the angle at which it will be viewed in the scene (and only from this angle):
And here's the other side, just cos it's there:
So yeah, it's not the greatest model in the world. In fact, it's a bit shitty. I'm just not good at this sort of thing. That's why I'm not a character modeller, it's not my strong point. I've just been gritting my teeth and doing my best to push out something that will do. You've all given me a bunch of great tips and they'll definitely be useful going forward.
It's definitely possible that I'll revisit this particular asset in the coming weeks or months. But right now, I hate it a lot and I have a headache from blitzing to just get it over with. Definitely not the best frame of mind to be doing art in.
I'll link to the asset in the scene tomorrow when I get this in engine.
Once again, thanks to all of you who gave me advice and critique, even if it didn't come to much!
It'd be worth finishing off the pillar she's sitting on as it'd help sell the model better.
Keep at it.
1: the moss doesn't look thick enough and its placement is quite random. as it is now it looks like a green tint, rather than a covering of vegitation. You might try baking an AO map with a broad search radius and using that as a mask (invert it). Modo has some neat up and down facing AO methods that might work well for this.
also with regard to the wings. at the point where they bend softly into a down slope it looks very unnatural. that should be a joint of 2 bones.
posewise it looks off balance. I would lean them forward more to account for the weight of the wings on their back.
r_fletch_r: Thanks for the advice fletch! It's not mean to be moss, really, it's meant to be more like algae/lichen. This is a standard texturing technique that I've applied to all the masonry assets in the scene to keep them feeling consistent.
If you're refering to modo 501's new AO maps they are definitely very cool but they can't be baked out because the ornly work in the regular renderer and not when baking to texture. Double sadness.
The wings could certainly benefit from being revisited in future.
And the pose is off. I meant to correct that (just be bending the low poly! :P) but I was kinda frazzled last night and I totally forgot. Will definitely be done, though!
And here's the full scene image. You can see that the angel is definitely making a huge impact on the scene. :P