Zergling - WIP
polycounter lvl 12
Good morning, afternoon and evening 
I was poking around my HDD and found a Zergling I had been making using a concept drawing by Sam Wise I had found on the net.
Anyway, I have just finished my degree in Computer Games Design, BSc (h) and figured it would a be a nice addition to my portfolio; so here I am going on my merry way to finish it off.
Nothing too fancy at the moment just had a bit of a play around with the base mesh in Zbrush.
Let me know your initial thoughts - if any.
Thanks,
Dan
I was poking around my HDD and found a Zergling I had been making using a concept drawing by Sam Wise I had found on the net.
Anyway, I have just finished my degree in Computer Games Design, BSc (h) and figured it would a be a nice addition to my portfolio; so here I am going on my merry way to finish it off.
Nothing too fancy at the moment just had a bit of a play around with the base mesh in Zbrush.
Let me know your initial thoughts - if any.
Thanks,
Dan
Replies
a turntable (you will probably want to hit 720p):
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What you have made so far is your idea of that zergling. I mean, you have the rough idea of the concept, but you haven't actually 'looked' at the concept. In a production environment your model would be tossed away. And I shall try to explain why and what needs improvement.
Right now you have the basic shape of the zergling, most people will even say: Yerp, that's a zergling.
But having the basic shape anlone is not enough, right now it just isn't the zergling from that particular concept quite yet.
Turistainc rightly points out he's not menacing enough, all your shapes are too rounded. Look at the concept, and notice, while there are curved surfaces, almost everyting ends in a sharp point. Even the curves are broken up in slightly jagged edges.
You really need to dig in and push this more with the sculpting. Like I said, this is the basic shape of the zergling, now you need to push those forms. Forget about adding the skin details, its not yet time for that. Sculpt (or model) those big forms and shapes first. Notice that the mandibles for example are overlapping shells instead of the soft undefined form you have now.
Notice how the armor on his shoulder and leg are completely different shape and size from what you have now.
Look at his head, and see that instead of this big plate you have now, it is made up out of many overlapping and fused scales.
Another thing is that he has huge spikes and 'blades' where as you have some small and round pointy bits that do not convey any sense of sharpness or agression.
Now I don't know how much developed you are with sculpting and such, but I think right now, it mostly is a case of looking properly at a concept and how to translate it into a model. Sure, most of the times a model will deviate from a concept because what works on paper doesn't always work in 3D. Or you have to fill in the blanks of the conceptart. But the idea is always to stay as close, or as complimenting to the concept as possible.
In the paintover I did, I outlined the areas of concern in red. These are the things that really define the concept and where your model is too far off. Then I added a paintover to hopefully show you what it should look like in 3D on your actual model. There still are plenty errors, and I didn't adjust any proportions(the proportions are mostly good).But you will see that example is already much closer to the concept. And thats without any actual detail sculpting or modelling. Just the big shapes.
I hope this helps and good luck
I have spent this morning bashing the model about trying to develop it more into the harsher shapes you have outlined in the paint over. It's not finished by any means, but I think it's moving in a better direction so thankyou again
I posted the two up 'cause I played around after the first pic, but I goofed up on the lighting - oops
Now, lets talk about the model. I really, really like the fact you have carefully looked at my paintover and translated it to your sculpt. You might even have looked a bit too much at my paintover and not at the original conceptart hahaha. if you look carefully you can see there is some difference between what I drew and what is on the original concept art. Always try to stay as close to the original concept art, even when you get paintovers. ( a paint over is always a interpretation.)
Right, well so far I think you are very much on the right track, the big shapes are there, but you can still see there are some parts where your model differs from the concept (when I say concept I mean the original concept, not paintovers)
Take a step back and lets focus on getting all the basic stuff proper before moving on to the detailing.
Wings: If you look close at the concept (its a bit more ovious in my paintover) the lower wing actually seems to start at the shoulder, not behing his leg.
Legs: The shape of his legs is different, specially the foot part, try to match that closer to the concept. Also notice there seem to be two spikes on the back of his leg, and 1 reversed toe of sorts. Look carefully at the concept and you'll notice the difference.
Head: Look at the mouth, the teeth are much larger, and start directly underneath that headplate/ridge. There are no gums or anything. Remember, its a vicious bastard critter, these teeth are long, like needles and theres many of them.
After you fix these things, its time to look at the actual skin and detailing. What is skin, what is bone/exoskeleton? but first fix these basic things. You're well on your way
The inverse toe was something I missed off as I couldn't workout out in my head how I would create a rig for it later on - so I just chopped it off
Cheers again pestibug - your input is very helpful and appreciated
I also Have had trouble with the teeth. The long thin needle like teeth just don't come across to well in 3d they just sort of blur into one mush in it's mouth(!?). So I have made these thicker sharp teeth and positioned them how the thinner teeth would sit leaving me some room to blend the skull/shell head with the roots of the teeth (like in the concept).
Here is where I am at now:
So over the next few hours of work I will be correcting the foot structure, tooth embedding and also reining in the armatures as I seem to have gotten carried away and made them rather large..
Cheers for looking, let me know what you think
Are you sculpting in ZBrush btw? (Personally wrestling myself about whether or not to drop the $440 USD for it)
Looking at the way you sculpted the claw, tbh, I don't like it. (The bigger, upper claws) They looks too flimsy at their attachment point to the flesh, and there's no indication that it can move up and down like a crab claw. I'd revert back to MrJack's way of doing the claw and keep it at a standard taper.
Otherwise, looking good! Still wish there were less smooth carapace elements. After talking to Samwise Didier, and at least with MrJack's style, the skin's either A. fused carapce, hard looking or B. Pus-looking, veiny flesh. Take a look at the Infested Marine art and it might give a better example.
The smooth parts do need the variation on them; and they will, just not yet
Cheers for the tip on the infected marine too. I intend to collect a bunch of references for the smaller details like the attachment for the carapace. The armatures are looking thin 'cause I have enlarged the... "stabby bit"... I didn't change their thickness in the process, I can see what you see though
Here is where I am now:
Underneath:
I did a little turntable of it too:
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So, here is my progress so far... ( prepare for a thrown together video in glorious 720p :poly142: - try not to hate me too much)
[ame="
This is an 8K model of a Zergling, textured, rigged and animated; displayed in the Unreal III engine. I will most likely do a much higher res video for demonstration of the character model in real time soon.
*Images*
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1024x1024 maps
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Looking forward to seeing your next project, maybe something with hair would be cool!