Character building for portfolio

TheDarkKnight

Hey all, been awhile since I posted something here.
Here's a new WIP I'm working on, started as an anatomy practice sculpt, but turned into a project :





Aiming to paint the seam with the face out in the normal map, should work?

Based of this :


By Marcus To

Pretty pleased with it at the moment, but doesn't really feel like the ref at all, was hoping someone here could give me some advice to get this to look better

Shiniku

He's looking a little old for Tim Drake right now. Not just in the face.. but also the build. In the ref he's got a lot of muscle definition, but still manages to be pretty thin. In the sculpt he might be a bit too thick, and maybe not defined enough.

Also, I'm not too sure what's going on under that cape at the moment. But I think there's something wrong with the transition from his deltoids up to his neck. It would help if we could see this without the cape. But I think that area is too tall, and I'm not sure why the cape is bulging up in the way it is.

Plus there are some details lacking from the concept, like details on the bracers, belt, boots, etc., but I assume that's just because it's a WIP. Overall nice work, look forward to seeing it done.

TheDarkKnight

Thanks Shiniku, already started making him thinner before reading your response, also made a little thinner, trying to find a good way to make him younger in the face, always struggle with that so this is a good excersice to try and make a teenager.

Here's a pic of him without the cape (cape currently isn't looking to good might just redo the whole thing) :



And about the details missing, totally aware of those, just put the ones in I have right now to do some modelling instead of sculpting and to get the character in a little more, and seeing how it all looks, so yeah still need to do rest of those

Thanks for the feedback so quickly appreciate it

TheDarkKnight

And a shot of his face :

TheDarkKnight

Last update for today, tweaked the face a little more, and tried to make it look younger again, also made the eyes bigger to match the artwork a little better.



Looking at the whole body it seems the proportions might be a little off, but can't see what exactly needs fixing, anyone got an idea?



Might try and go even younger for the next character, and make a Damian Wayne Robin, who is like 10, might be cool

Sukotto

Hmm, I think his torso is just a little too long. Try lifting his crotch a little and see what you get then

Kip McSkipster

Did a little proportion tweaking, trying not to alter his build too much:



I think you should also study some more knees and feet. The lower half of the knees are too large/wide; the feet are too small and flat.

MoreDread

the torso looks too much like a flattened tube. you shouldn't lift the crotch up, that would just make the arms too long in relation to the rest of the body.
instead focus on the outline, mainly of the torso and pelvic area and add some curvature there. the thighs could be a little bit bigger, too. the abs are a little too squareish and spread too evenly along the stomach, pull their center up a bit to add some curvature and make the lowest pair a bit bigger.
the head is a little too big... the whole body should be at least 7.5 heads tall.. 8 for a hero.
hope this helps. you might also slightly lengthen the legs.
lookin forward to your next update!

JeremyRM

Hey couple things i noticed right off, chest emblem is too low and the belt buckle needs to be larger. I agree with others on proportions need work. Marvel has a book out that talks about how they get the heroic look, more is right about 8 heads. You can even go to 8.5 if you check out what they do. Also the tibia curves in.

TheDarkKnight

Thanks for all the feedback everyone, will definitely be looking into all of your feedback.

Did a quick proportions tweak, made him about 7.5 heads tall, seems to be working alot better already.
Tweaked the legs some more, thanks for the tips Kip!

Still having some trouble with the head, trying to figure out how to make it look more like the actual art.

MoreDread

hmm very hard to say... you might wanna bring out the jawline a tiny bit, right now the chin is kinda pointy and superheroes tend to have an exaggerated manly jaw... tho this one doesn't have too much of it, so be careful and don't overdo it
i like how this is comin along
some minor crits: the base of the forearm could be a bit thicker, and the belt should be raised up a bit.
still need to work on those abs a bit, altho they look much better already.
just do a google image search for abs, that might help ya.. and also confuse and infuriate you like it did me =P

MainManiac

How were those chest straps made?

mikezoo

off the bat man, push it to 8 heads tall. 4 heads to the crotch. then 4 heads to the feet. Adjust his legs when you do this as they seem stubby atm. I would make his torso a little less square and more triangle. Broaden his shoulders. Also your feet are way too small and squashed vertically. Because theres no side shots I am very curious as to whats going on. Post a 3/4s view and side shot too.

if your having problems seeing the model, then take a screengrab and paste it in photoshop. filp it horzionally to see whats up and then take the liquidify tool and push the image till you like the results. then adjust the changes in them in 3d.

**edit: after looking at your first post and you saying that it doesn't look like the intended ref model i gotta say this. right now you got a naked dude in a super tight fabric. a unitard with budge and all. Looking at the image of superhero dude Ref I see different things going on.
First off. His legs and body, he's NOT wearing a ballet unitard. It looks like he's got hard durable material on him. Perhaps a hard leather? Take another look. He's also wearing boots. And on his belt has a utility belt pockets on his belt. Another thing, about the cheast straps. They look like you extracted them off the model in zbursh. they dont have a consisient width as they wrap around the body. Actually model them out if you dident. If you did, then go back and give them a consistient width.

TheDarkKnight

Thanks again everyone.

frell the cheststraps are just a plane I made in Max, and using the ribbon tools to snap it to the surface, I wrapped it around the body, then put a shell modifier on and put some support edges in there

thanks for the awesome feedback mikezoo and MoreDread will definitely work on those points.

mikezoo about the boots and beltpouches, I know, haven't gotten that far yet, want to make the rest look "good" first.

Want to try and take this model to be somewhat of Arkham Asylum quality, not necessarily in the same universe though, but still somewhat of that games quality,

Here are a couple of more ref shots :

http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/5/51843/1162112-rrob_cv13_02_super.jpg
(This is kind off what I might do for a final pose)

http://www.majorspoilers.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/01picon2.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_b5bm541oRms/TVBRokLeuPI/AAAAAAAAAO8/Ya-K3X_MwQQ/s1600/IMAGE+023.jpg

TheDarkKnight

Finally found some time to do some work on this guy.

Re-did part of the eye area, and quicky added some cylinders to the cheststraps to get a better feel for the whole thing.
Also adjusted the width of the chest straps so it's more consistent overall.
Also adjust the abs somewhat, he'd probably have some armor under there, so not sure if I'm going to add some a-symmetry to those

TheDarkKnight

Full body shot, redid the feet and some small parts.
Pretty happy with how it currently stands, unless osmeone finds something that is really off, I'm going to start on the accessoires and the low-poly.

Not to sure about the cape, any suggestions?

TheDarkKnight

Added some boots and pouches and did a quick paintover on how he would look with the cape.



I'd like to make the cape and the cowl part of one object, just trying to figure out how, maybe do a seam on the bottom of the neck, with stiches so that it looks like it's one object.

Any tips?

TheDarkKnight

Thanks for the feedback Dustin, really appreciate it.

Boots have been given some love, trying to get a more leather feel (might have overdone it a little, but figured it would bake more nicely), and tried to incorporate your advise about the lats, pecs, knees and leg muscles.

Is there like a guideline for the size of feet?
Always struggle with those

TheDarkKnight

Well as Dustin suggested, I made a paintover for the cape.
Pretty pleased with the look I got here, using lots of folds to try and cover up the seams of the seperate objects.

Lombos

You might want to take a step back to get the anatomy in a better place. His overall proportions appear to be slightly wrong, which will turn people off.

I believe his lower body is too short, a little hard to tell with perspective on. Generally the midpoint of the body is the greater trochanter which is putting your midpoint about a half a head to low. If you drop to a low sub-d and move the crotch/hip area up you can fix it fairly easily and it will also help to solve the problem of your torso looking too long.

I agree with Dustin, the chest is a bit thin. Pulling out the pecs and lats should help. Maybe even the shoulders a bit too.

The arms are a bit thick in comparison to the legs, either thinning the arms or thickening the legs would work. Depends on the final look you want.

As far as feet go, the length of the foot is approximately the length of the inside of the lower arm, from bicep to wrist. It seems pretty long looking at it but try it out put your foot up against your arm and see. The width varies from person to person, just remember he has to balance on these, it should definitely be thicker than the narrowest point on the leg just above the ankle.

Details are looking nice, but if you don't fix the anatomy it will weaken the over all piece.

Keep it up :thumbup:

TheDarkKnight

Thanks will definitely be taking a look at the anatomy tomorrow, this was primarily an anatomy test, so thats where I want to focus most of my time.

You're right about the footlenght, just checked it out

Here's a frontshot without perspective on, to give a better look at him

TheDarkKnight

Sorry for the constant updates, but want to try and get that anatomy to look good.



Made the chest and shoulders wider, and made the arms a little bit smaller, also adjusted the side of the feet and added a quick cape (over done the folds, but should bake better)
Cape should look better when I put some animation in there, so that it falls more naturally

TheDarkKnight

Retopologized + unwrapped most of him and did a quick color block-in now trying to get the materials defined properly using a specular map (not to experienced with that), seems to slowly get there.


Here's a shot of what the spec currently looks like, plenty of space left, even after putting the final parts in.
I want to give him some gadgets (practice hard-surface modelling) aswell might aswell use that space for it

TheDarkKnight

still working on this guy :



trying to get those textures to look better, any suggestions much appreciated