[Portfolio] Ivan Mijatov - Character Artist
Hey, what's up everyone!
I'm building fresh material for my portfolio website and would appreciate any feedback you guys can give as I work on adding new content to the 'site.
Any comments will do, on the website and/or on the artwork itself. It all helps: http://www.imijatov.com/
I'm building fresh material for my portfolio website and would appreciate any feedback you guys can give as I work on adding new content to the 'site.
Any comments will do, on the website and/or on the artwork itself. It all helps: http://www.imijatov.com/
Replies
The layout is nice and clean otherwise, which is good to see in a portfolio. Good start
Good work otherwise.
lhazard - I've combined all the works under one heading for the time being. I defintely want to do creatures, all in due time. Thanks for the suggestions!
megalmn2000 - I decided to ditch the blog altogether (at least for now). Good call on the blue/red banner footer colors. They've been taken out.
jeremiah_bigley - Thannks bro, I see what you mean. I'll have to reconsider the placement. I was following references like this one: http://www.topnews.in/files/vampire-teeth.jpg
Well, I have tons of art I still want to get done, so back to the grindstone...
The dark grey text on darker grey isn't easy to read, well, for the first time. You should change the contrast so it makes the text more easier to read. Also, add some texture sheets and wire frames to your presentation, it's important.
I would love to see texture-sheets as well. Good work man.
chrisradsby - Thanks bro! Yes, I've worked at Midway for ~3.5 years before they unfortunately went under. However, I'm aiming for a new quality bar with the content I'm creating now so I'll not be putting in any of my work from that previous job. I've not been working with any other studio since... Love your website, btw.
Question to anyone: Is it a good or bad idea to start applying to places with only two 3d character assets to show at the moment?
Since you don't have loads of content yet, you could just put everything on the index, instead of separating by categories, less is more and if you show most of your good stuff on the index, you KNOW people will see it. If you separate your work with categories, odds are that people will just click the ones that they think it's good, and this nano second judgment is based on the thumbnail.
Thanks man, wow Midway eh? Too bad it went under, quite liked their games. You got a lot of good stuff man, good luck
Trying to shoot for a quality bar like the Uncharted 2 main characters or catstyles sweet cowboy piece. Critiques and comments welcome.
Next, I'm moving on to making some hair for him and, after that, giving him some accessories. What do you think about stuff he can wear? I was thinking a backpack, grappling hook, whip, dagger or combat knife, watch, compass, holster and gun, and anything else that would be useful on him without making him look too busy.
Remaining things to texture: shirt/undershirt, backpack, hat, hair, shoes. Still would like to touch up the jeans and tool bag a bit. I'm shooting to wrap up the diffuse map portions by the end of this forthcoming weekend when I hopefully get more time. NOTE: There's currently no AO map. That's coming after I do the hires sculpt.
Currently in the process of wrapping up the diffuse texture for the character. There's only a few other tweaks left: hair polish, dirt/wound pass, and - further down the line - an AO overlay.
Next, I plan to weigh him first. Then pose and do the hires sculpt afterwards. I've never worked through the creation pipeline in this order before. But I wanted to make the hires pass more interesting this time around (no t or 45d posing).
LRoy: My current workflow for creating a diffuse is as follows: Export my 0-1 UVs as a 32-bit Targa image file. Import the image into an image editor app (Photoshop, in my case). Copy alpha channel, drop/paste into new PSD file. Marquee out a UV shell that corresponds with a piece on the character with the lasso tool (for example: face). Then, fill that selection in with the paint buck tool (single solid color). For each new UV shell, I'll make a new layer and rinse, repeat. I'll use these layers as an easy way to quick select specific shells as I'm working on them. Next, step is export the image file as a new PSD. Open that up in a separate tab/window, flip it vertically, save. This PSD will be used for ZBrush's ZappLink utility. I load up ZBrush, import my OBJ file, draw the OBJ tool into the ZBrush canvas, select an angle of the tool I want to first work on, then go to "Document", click on ZAppLink button. Takes me into Photoshop, then I paint/stack layers directly on the model. When I'm happy with my color work, I'll take it back into ZBrush. Rinse/repeat. Once done, I'll drop the PSD texture I created with ZBrush back into my original PSD file with the UVs and do any necessary touchups, paint overs to artifacts or other details that didn't come out quite right (they're usually minor). This process is probably similar to a lot of 3d artists. I hope this is the info you were looking for. If you need more, just let me know.
dustinbrown: Good catch, I was afraid of that. I've punched up the contrast/color up a bit so it stands out more. Hope this works better?
Technically he looks good, the texturing seems to be coming along nicely, however I have some problems with the design. For me, it lacks some creative input, and comes off as fairly derrivitive of other similar protagonists in the process.
Namely, the ring necklace, the wristband thing, and the belt are almost direct nathan drake copies, whilst the hat and whip are extremely indiana jones, so if you're trying to bring something new to the table, you need to try and steer away from these characters, even if they are inspiring for this sort of character.
Secondly, his accessories are just not selling him as a hardened explorer. He looks more like a tourist, with all his toys in his backpack. You need to try a subtler approach with all his bits and bobs, and try and subtly tell a story using them. At the moment it's kinda going "LOOK I'M AN EXPLORER, YOU CAN TELL THIS BECAUSE I HAVE A COMPASS, AND CHECK OUT MY SWEET MAP TOO." In my opinion, you need to tone this way down, and try and get accross his explorer character without screaming it in my face.
Technically, the only issue i see is the length of the shirt. A man's shirt should come down to around the crotch, maybe a bit higher. I presume it's tucked in all the way round bar the front and that bit at the back, if that's the case, there should be a good bit bulging where it's tucked in, and the untucked bits should be a lot lower.
It's coming along really well technically, but i do think you need to put more emphasis on the creative process before you jump in too far with the model
I really dig the website and the textures on this new character.
I've not done the hi-poly yet. However I'm moving on to that tonight or tomorrow before the new work week starts. I've already prepared and exported all my lo-res geometry for the sculpting process. Stay tuned for updates later down the line.
ZacD: Kansas City, huh? Awesome man, I've visited the zoo there twice with my fiancee, it's a very enjoyable place. Can't believe the kangaroos are free to roam anywhere in the zoo where they please. Thanks, I appreciate the website/character comment.
I sit here at work and think how aggravating it is that I can't spend more of my time on the character. There just never seems to be enough time with my current job eating up the main portion of my day. Wonder if anyone else ever feels that way
kanga - I appreciate that bro, thanks!
Below youll find a second sculpting update. After this one, there should be one final one. The shirt is very much a work-in-progress. Ill keep an eye on the thread for critiques or comments. Thanks for viewing:
Time to start pulling all the lose ends together now and running a polish pass on everything. Here's a final sculpting update:
Thanks for all of the feedback, it's greatly appreciated. It's really helped to shape the character into what he is today. There's always more that can be done of course, but I'm happy with him at this point and it's time to move on.
In the future, I'll try to post new wips and finished pieces in this thread as I get to them.
You can also find them on my portfolio website.
Next update will be the final update for modeling. It'll include the armor and accessories.
brand3d - Thanks there, Brand! Yes, I wish I had more on there, too. I'm aiming for a couple of more pieces, but it just takes time I'm afraid. And time is so limited, since I'm doing this in my spare time, like most of us here I think.