Dandelion Soul WIP

kemny

Hi, I'm new here

I'm graduating from college in the spring and could use feedback on this portfolio piece. I want this character to reflect the essence of a dandelion. Right now I'm focusing on roots, but I plan on adding leaves as well as I think they are very characteristic of dandelions.

I'm a sculpting noob, I usually work start to finish in Maya and just started messing around in Mudbox a few months ago. I'm sure my technique could use some work. Thanks for looking!

dirigible

Your sculpting around the neck is way too undefined, but it looks less finished than the face, so I'll assume you aren't done with it. One big thing tho - TURN OFF SYMMETRY ON THE FACE! It looks really unnatural when facial details are perfectly symmetrical. My technique is to use symmetry for basic shapes, and for details on the sides of the face, but any time I start detailing the center of the face I turn it off.

Do you have a character sheet, or concept art, or reference images? When I think of ANY flower I think of the petals first. Do you know what you're doing with the petals? That's probably more important than the roots.

kemny

Hi, here are some early concepts...





And my most recent paintover of my basemesh:



I am guilty of not nailing down a total concept before working on this character. She's for school, and I wanted it to be the best thing I've done and kept changing my mind, which has slowed me down considerably. (I have about a month left to work on it) Anyway, the aging is part of the concept. I'd like to illustrate it with blend shapes and transitioning hair systems. Here's a look at the petals:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZTI3wtdi1uk

As for comments on the symmetry, I totally agree!

dirigible

I completely sympathize with your situation (I'm in grad school right now). It sucks to say it, but if you don't have a solid idea of where you're going then this probably won't wind up being the best that you could do. In addition, you're new to sculpting and that means that what you can do now won't even compare to what you'll be doing once you have more practice. The bright side is that life doesn't end after graduation, and you can take the lessons you learn from this project to make your next one way better.

Even if you don't want to go "back to the drawing board" for this character, I highly recommend blocking stuff out before you try to start detailing. Once you have your blockout (it doesn't have to be final), import it into your sculpting program. Having eyeballs and hair and teeth all in the same scene is really important for knowing whether you're on the right track, since without those things your model will look weird no matter what you do.

Along that line of thought, I'd start thinking about how you plan on actually doing the hair. That's a nice rig you have, but what are the petals going to look like on the head? A couple giant petals? Lots of smaller "locks"? Is it possible to do what you want, or will it be a rigging nightmare? It would suck to put a bunch of work in, then realize that your original idea is impossible.

With all that out of the way, I think you have a nice style which doesn't really come across in your first image, and this could wind up being a really good portfolio piece.

kemny

Dirigible, thank you for replying! I think it's a good idea to focus on the hair, it's the most interesting part of the project after all, and could probably make it or break it :d So I'm going to follow your advice and try working on that. I have a few styles set up with roughly 100 placed petals but looking at that now the hairdo is a bit off... Also, the simulation works, but it doesn't have good collision. It hasn't proved a problem so far but further testing would be a good idea.

I'll be posting when I have something to show, hopefully later today or tomorrow I hope this thread will prove to be a great motivator to get shit done.

kemny

Some progress, I think it at least illustrates where my idea is headed... Both textures and hair are high priority these next few days.