Matchstick Monster WIP

heybri

Hello all,

I'm finally jumping off my lurker post to start submitting here. This is pretty much my first solid zbrush sculpt that I know needs some work but at this point I'm a little stuck with it.

First, my references:



And here's the zsculpt:





I based my character around the idea of a burnt matchstick. So he is purposely melty and burnt out. His feet and hand/stub arm will be a charred black when I start texturing.

Any Crits are very welcome.

Shiniku

I like a lot of what you've done with the detailing and the burns, but overall it looks like it's placed over some uninformed anatomy and it's really killing the piece for me.

It's a shame but I don't think it could be really good without starting over, and putting a lot more work into the underlying forms and structures before you go crazy on all that detail.

heybri

I appreciate your suggestion however it may need elaborated further as it was not pinpointed what you believe needs edited. When I look at the character, I see that the upper arm on the sword arm is too short, the shoulders are a bit too broad, and it looks like the neck may need to be thickened but that's all I can fully see for myself.

tonysladky

Apologies if you're not familiar with all the anatomical terminology I'll be throwing out. I'm a bit of an anatomy nerd, and I like* using phrases like "Distal head of the tibia", not just because they make me sound smart, but also because they're precise. If you need anything converted to layman's terms, just ask.

*By "like" I occasionally mean "get carried away with".





The basic shape of the ribcage is overly simplified in your guy. It should taper towards the top and be wider towards the bottom. Also the bones you've sculpted out don't really make a whole lot of sense. They're too straight and regular (they're almost horizontal from the side).



The legs are also bugging me. My gut instinct is to ask where his fibulas are, but I think I could honestly forgive all the lower leg anatomy issues if they were just shortened up so that he's walking (or more likely, dragging himself) on the distal heads of his tibias. I always like this style of monster as gruesomely tragic as possible. Right now, though, his legs go far enough down that it looks like the burnt-off nubs are his heels, but that doesn't make a whole lot of sense without the rest of the foot, and if those are among the most burned parts, there's probably not any flesh that could hold in all the tarsals that make up the start of the foot.



I don't have a lot to say about the head, but I've got a couple nitpicks based on the anatomy that I can make out under the burns. I assume that deep depression on the side of the head is meant to be the ear (auditory meatus, if I'm not the only one who wants to get technical). Two issues: 1) It's a little high. The auditory meatus should line up with the bottom of the eye sockert. You've got it right about dead center of the eye socket. 2) The auditory meatus is approximately the bottom of the cranium (give or take the mastoid process). You've got a fair amount of cranium below the auditory meatus.

Also, in general, one of the first rules of thumb my anatomy/figure drawing teacher laid out my last semester of school: Avoid straight lines. They're not natural. It's been a loooong time since I did a 3D character, so correct me if this is something that isn't addressed while modeling in T-pose, but you've got some weird straight lines in this guy, most noticeably, the neck. The vertebrae of his neck seem to be going almost vertical, and those deep... claw marks(?) on the back of his neck look like they were made with a ruler from the side view.



I've gotta echo Shiniku: You've got some really cool detail on top of some really off anatomy. I would definitely go back and take a couple stabs at sculpting just some normal people, paying a lot of attention to the anatomy. You can find plenty of good anatomy reference online (3d.sk has some awesome stuff, but they do charge you for it), or there's a billion different Anatomy for the Artist books out there that will probably be helpful.

heybri

tonysladky- Thank you very much for the references and the breakdown. I'm starting to see what you have pointed out, and am looking to make changes. As said this was my first real zbrush pass so nothing was lost out of this; This was all a good learning experience to brush up on my skills and learn some pointers.

Thank you again for taking the time on the break down and links I will utilize them to make my future characters better and more grounded. And the photos will be placed in a reference file.