ArenaNet Art Test Character

Elyaradine

Hey guys. Kind of a noob here, especially at sculpting, but I thought I'd give the art test a go and, if nothing else, learn a lot in the process.

Concept:


WIP:


Some GW reference:
GW1/GW2 proportions
Back design 1
Back design 2

The things I've been struggling with include: proportions (epic vs. real, sticking to the concept vs. what feels right), drawing/sculpting cloth, hair and fluffy bits (sculpt, or just do them as alpha planes in the low poly), and knowing how much detail to put in in terms of whether it'll show up on a 1k map. There are a couple of elements missing in the sculpt including some kind of design on the back. I'll get to them soon!

Crit/advice appreciated!

(But dude, it looks nothing like the guy on the right! :P )

imijatov

It's good to take an initiative like this when someone like ArenaNet provides free art tests for the taking.

Starting with proportions, I could see why you might have made her arms longer considering the source material. However, I would shorten them some (probably just a bit) as it seems like a flaw more than a stylistic choice. Consider redoing the hair in layers instead of as a single chunk since now it seems to be just a pasted single chunk of hair. Try adding more detail and realism to your folds. Right now they are kind of blob-y and just there. Study how real world folds work across a piece of fabric similar to this character's then try replicating that same shape and receival of lighting in your sculpt. As for the face, spend more time working on the structure of the cheeks and lips. Can't see the other features too well, so they seem to register ok. Also, (and I'm not sure if I'm making a good judgment here since I can't see them up close) shorten the gap between all the fingers.

All the crits I mentioned above seem to be things you're already completely aware of. So I say go with your gut and do some strong polish work.

makecg

Nice ! you pick one of the hardest characters to do, that's what i'm talkin' about. -

I usually go about modeling in a view port with the concept.. so you can get the proportions as close as possible... right now it looks too early to be gettin into those details.

mjackson126

Nice start so far man. I agree with everything imijatov has mentioned. The arms look too long. I think the idea to check out actual Guild Wars Character Models will help you nail the proper proportions. I would stick with that more than the concept. Sometimes it looks great in 2d, but looks like a mistake in 3D. I also think a good idea would be to work out the underlying anatomy before you start putting clothes and armor on her. One last crit would be to give her some better posture, as it gives the character a greater sense of weight and personality.

Elyaradine

imijatov: Thanks! I've shortened the arms a tad, and gone over the cloth folds again. I'll still be working through the rest of your crit. I think you may be giving me a bit too much credit -- I know what I struggle with, but I think I mainly struggle with it because I'm not sure what exactly is right! :P

The hair was kind of a 10 minute placeholder because she looked REALLY weird bald! Do you think the hair should be fully sculpted, or rather added later in the low poly? I was planning on doing a sort of hair base, and then just fill out the body with a bunch of alpha planes. I haven't done either before though, not for hair like this, so I'm not sure which will look the best.

makecg: Yeah, I mainly picked her because I've never sculpted cloth before. Any excuse to learn something new, yeah?

I've kind of been merging everything together and tweaking proportions, and then splitting them apart again to work on individual pieces. It's not necessarily the "correct" way to do things, but it really doesn't seem to take much time, and it keeps it fun for me.

mjackson126: Yeah, I agree completely regarding the difference between 2D and 3D. Like, she looks so awesome in 2D, but some things just wouldn't work very well in a game at all. Armour and cloth would get in the way, chains and stuff may need to be rigged, etc. Don't get me started on the boobs. ;P

I actually did try and start off with a solid base character before adding the clothing and stuff. What I found was that with the right proportions underneath, but covered in cloth and armour, she ended up looking really stocky, whereas existing GW/2 models are very slender and sleek, even with the armour. What I did then was to sculpt the armour on her so that it looked more slender, and then pulled in her waist and hips to hide the intersecting bits. If she removes the armour, she looks really thin and sickly... but since I assume the armour's never removed, I think it's okay. (As far as I know, removing the armour in a game would just be swapping to another mesh anyway, so it's not necessary that the underlying proportions are perfect, as long as it's a design decision and not because of a lack of knowledge!)

I'll be rigging and posing her afterwards I hope, so I'm not too worried about her posture right now as long as it's easy to rig/skin. Thanks though -- I'll keep an eye out for it.

I'll post an update tomorrow. Thanks so much guys!

Elyaradine

Progress report, cap'n!

I asked a friend of mine who used to study fashion for crit. Going to be making several changes to the costume this week to make it more believable, like solving the problem of the floating skirt (which, according to him, is kind of wrong in the concept too). I figure it's a positive change, and it also means that if the engine doesn't have some kind of cloth sim, if I can solve this properly I could get away with the same kind of shape and feel of the skirt, while being realistic in its explanation.

Hope it works. :P

imijatov

Your approach with fully sculpting the hair base mesh, then adding low poly alpha detail I would think would work well. Concerning the hair, the concept shows her hair flowing because of the pose she's in, I reckon (could be wrong). I don't know if it's best to model/sculpt it in an animated position, but if done convincingly might still be good. Otherwise, she might pass off as a bed head.

The work you put into the folds looks much better! Try adding more refinement to the boots (and anything that like it has only a spot of detail or radiates a blobby-ness to it). That should help push the believability of the character.