Back to Basics - Low Poly Naked Male
Hey all.
With my Comicon Challenge entry wrapping up and a month or so until DW, I thought I'd get into another learning project.
I've been studying anatomy for the past few months and thought it might be best to go back to basics a little and start with a lower poly character than try and jump straight into ZBrush and start sculpting.
So the plan is to get a decent, well-formed generic human, low poly, maybe 1500 tris or so max. Naked for the most part, maybe some underwear.
The second part of the plan is to then hand-paint textures, which should not only help my painting skills but also allow me to paint in muscle groups.
Not a very exciting project to watch I'm afraid but it's more of a learning thing for me, and hopefully the end result will be portfolio worthy anyway.
As always, crits all the way will be much appreciated. I'll try not to move onto each next step until I've fixed problems people point out.
To begin with, here's where I'm at. The one main bit I'm not entirely sure about it the ass. I need to go look at some butt topology I think to clean it up some but it's not looking right at the moment.
With my Comicon Challenge entry wrapping up and a month or so until DW, I thought I'd get into another learning project.
I've been studying anatomy for the past few months and thought it might be best to go back to basics a little and start with a lower poly character than try and jump straight into ZBrush and start sculpting.
So the plan is to get a decent, well-formed generic human, low poly, maybe 1500 tris or so max. Naked for the most part, maybe some underwear.
The second part of the plan is to then hand-paint textures, which should not only help my painting skills but also allow me to paint in muscle groups.
Not a very exciting project to watch I'm afraid but it's more of a learning thing for me, and hopefully the end result will be portfolio worthy anyway.
As always, crits all the way will be much appreciated. I'll try not to move onto each next step until I've fixed problems people point out.
To begin with, here's where I'm at. The one main bit I'm not entirely sure about it the ass. I need to go look at some butt topology I think to clean it up some but it's not looking right at the moment.
Replies
I really should've named this thread something else lol.
Ok hands will be fixed. And Frell, I'll try to post my process on the painting once I get there.
I've written a large post on one of Pogo's thread that addresses many of the anatomical issues that you're having; it's too long to repeat so just head over there and take a look and it should help you out.
Good luck man, keep posting.
I'll have a proper read of your post, it looks like it would be of good use.
I see what you mean and that kinda sticks out to me too those thighs do look a bit girly.
In all honesty, when I look at it, it just looks so damn boring. I mean the guy I used for ref was in good shape, but stylistically speaking it makes for a pretty dull model. Do you think it's worth taking a bit of artistic license and making it more interesting, not least from a silhouette standpoint.
Emphasize crests/valleys, maybe exaggerate proportions (a little) whilst retaining a pretty realistic anatomical structure?
It's supposed to be an anatomy building experience but I'd rather have him looking interesting.
What dya reckon?
Wake - Ok I got ya. Seems sensible!
D2King - Good call, I didn't think of that and that would explain a few issues I was having with lining up the orthos.
Pior - I'm using a photo ref sheet. This isn't intended to be anything other than a naked guy with the idea of improving my anatomy skills in both modeling (beginning at this lower level of detail) and painting when I come to texture it. Do you think I should draw up some orthos anyway?
Here's a portion of the ref I'm using
Crits are encouraged (not on the quality of the painting itself obviously
Something about this clearly doesn't look right, I'm thinking it's the deltoid area.
I've been pushing polys all afternoon though and I think it needs a fresh pair of eyes. Crits will be amazing please.
He's gonna ba wearing boxer-shorts or similar which explains his lack of a crease between his butt.
Again, crits are welcomed at this stage so I can fix up issues before moving on with this.
Good Job looks really nice so far.
Yep, human proportions are a difficult thing to master, and I've still got a lot to learn.
It all comes down to anatomy study, and it's something I'm trying to dedicate a lot of time to.
After much consideration, character art is definitely what I want to do, so it's important I can properly flesh out a decent looking shape at different specs. A few people have said to me it's important to be able to do this and I think it's mentioned in one of the GIM podcasts that too many people jump into sculpting some high res, current gen thing without first having the ability to create something realistic proportionately at lower detail levels. Loomis also says in one of his books that it's impossible to create a properly clothed figure without being able to create what's underneath so I figured this would be a useful little project.
The plan is to do a female afterwards in the same way.
It's fun though, I love low-poly assets anyway, and find the non-normal mapped 'old-school' methods so inspiring.
Good point!
You're right, the 'bendy straw method would work better for deformation. I like the anatomical shape of the newer poly flow though. I'll look into how I can rework it.
Looking at the WoW assets, it appears as though the arm is actually not attatched under the armpit and the pec/serratus area is presumably weighted to give the appropriate stretch when the arm is raised.
I might do a little rig test before I move on and see what the best solution is.
Started painting today, VERY early stages. First time I've ever attempted to hand paint a character but it's a lot of fun.... and pretty hard!
So not much of an update but an update nonetheless.
This would have been a LOT easier on something with a bit more geo but it's been a lot of fun so I'll probably do something similar after this with a slightly higher detail head.
Crits welcome... as I said it's my first and fresh eyes will likely be able to give some pointers.
Torso is quite obviously very early stages... just working shapes for now.
Also the diffuse shot is in fact just a cropped portion of the texture, not an obscure 0-1 ratio.
I'm considering bailing on this project. It's so mind-numbingly boring and in all honesty, I'd rather have something I'm proud to put in my folio. Working at such low detail on what is simply a naked dude, does not feel like it's really helping me learn. Also, I wasn't getting a whole lot of crit, presumably because even if I did it well, it doesn't have that 'woah' factor. It's just a... naked man.
I'll stick to low poly for the time being but something a little more exciting.
Cheers N88tr.
Yeah hips fail
I was happy with the face lol!
Ok I'm putting this project to bed. In favour of something more interesting.