WIP - Armored Brachiosaurus

DGB

Yeah, so I was on google the other day and found a few illustrations from "Dinotopia: The World Beneath" and decided to do a little modeling. I'm trying to stay true to the source material, although I have had to make slight changes here and there. I likely won't start detailing the main creature until after I finish with everything else that can be easily moved around. Also, I went a little crazy with the armor scrollwork the first time around so I'll need to simplify that at some point.
This is my first time doing a creature of this size, so feel free to hit me with any sort of advice you've got.

Much obliged.

http://www.delart.org/exhibitions/dinotopia.html
Link to original illustration by James Gurney.

Concept drawing based on illustration and Zbrush progress shot.

johnicus

MAN! I don't know why I haven't thought of doing something like this!

Dinotopia was probably what got me into doing all this stuff, and it's a really great idea. If there are other people on this forum who loved Dinotopia as much as I, you might have started a "Dinotopia Sculpting Love" thread, because now I wanna do it too. :P

That detail work is looking really awesome and I can't wait to see it finished! Are you planning to paint it, too? The colors in those books were so rich and vibrant.

johnicus

So while I was having a fanboy moment and showing this to my girlfriend, she pointed out that the tail seems a little short...

specsowl

Not only is it short, its also a bit fat. Even a brachiosaurus would have a substantially sized tail, though not as long as an Apatosaurus or Brontasaurus.

Also, I loved Dinotopia too If anyone made a protoceratops, I'd be so happy. Maybe I'll start one haha

DGB

Thanks for the critiques and support so far, all! Sorry for the long wait between posts; the belts were giving me merry hell in Zbrush so I finally broke down and just did them in Max. I also adjusted the proportions a bit.

@specsowl: Do you mean just the tail looks fat, or the dino in general?

@jonicus: It'll take some work, as I want to keep this as close as I can to the source material, but I definitely plan on painting it and later rendering it in UDK.

Also, I felt the armor was starting to stray too far away from the original so I did a second pass that came out more functional-looking. I also looked up some pictures of elephant armor so I might do the front bits and then do one last pass before starting on the cabin.

KazeoHin

::: Geoff Golbum voice:::

"That is one big pile of WIN."

Though I will say the leather straps are about as wide as my torso which kills the sense of scale because they look like normal, 'belt' style straps compared to the body mass of the creature. That makes this Dinosoaur seem allot smaller. We are talking about the single largest animal ever to walk on solid ground, maybe many, many smaller straps in place of a few large ones will help really sell the "BIG" of the whole thing.