Handpainted fantasy knight

stickadtroja · Mar 2013

Title says it all, everything is WIP though, so i would greatly appreciate crits and comments at this stage, especailly about concept, silutette and basic colours...

any tips on how to hainpaint would also be very nice!

wires, flat colour and closeup of face;

JoshVanZuylen · Mar 2013

Hey stickadtroja,

I like your painting style with this if intensional or not. I'm guessing your going for a cartooned look?
Your chars face is looking quite red in places if you where to tone that down a bit maybe.

Also and I can't say this enough you need to shade your models. Most people don't do this and it's what separates good from fantastic. If you where to add AAA (Artificial ambient occlusion) and some basic shading under the plates and around the face, it would add so much more depth to your character.

At the moment you have some of this going but it's not dark enough in some places. Try to define your edges more on the blu metal. From a distance they all start to blur together.

Another awesome tool is photoshops smart sharpen filter, if you use this on a duplicated set of your layers that have then been merged. (So that you can change something later if its not working and go though the process again) this can really bring out the details as well.

Your silutette is hard to tell for me personally as usually I think the shape is not really shown off in a T pose but in your case a battle stance.

All in all I can't really offer you any hand painting advice because you have done a good job!

Fenyce · Mar 2013

First off I would highlight the edges, if just slightly or with fat highlights will be up to you.
And then I'd try to bring in another color, right now it feels monochrome, try painting in some more colors, the overall feeling could still be blue, even if you add some shades of other colors (maybe brown, red, grey or violett) look at some handpainted stuff and you'll recognize that even if the overall feeling is something like blue there are diffrent shades in there.
And I think you'll need to push the painted occlusion a little. Maybe a occlusion map as overlay on the painted texture could help, or just paint in everything from scratch.

stickadtroja · Mar 2013

thanks so much for the comments and crits guys!

i agree with all of it, and so i spent some time to fix him up.

cloth, sword and shield is heavy wip, worked mostly on the armor pieces.
i will probably do like fenyce says and add some colours variation later, i have mostly been focusing on contrast and levels now...

crits?

MercurialForge · Mar 2013

Huge step in the right direction. Looking so much better. I would think about adding some kind of detail to the armor around the hips and on the shins and knees. It's very bland compared to the torso. Even if it's just something like the holes you have in the pauldrons.

Fenyce · Mar 2013

This already looks much better, but maybe you should look at some other handpainted armor, to me this doesn't feel much like metall atm. You're on a good way, but you still could improve. Sharp highlights alongside the edges may help to get a metallic feeling...

stickadtroja · Mar 2013

oliver: i added some engravings, so i hope that solves the issue...

fenyce: i tried to add some sharper hihglights but im not really getting a metallic feeling from it... what do you think?

i feel that maybe i should break up the symmetry by adding a dagger or something in hes belt. also im going to make the beard longer. and of course fix the sword and shield.

DESMOND · Mar 2013

Oh,I like this tracery. But you must transfer volume with texture. For example,look at Tyson Murphy's workshop.
http://vimeo.com/user1835838

pixelb · Mar 2013

The armor is looking better, but I don't think the highlights are intense enough yet. The color is too monochromatic. Real metal has lots of colors in it, some reflected from the surroundings and some just comes naturally from age. In these examples, rust or grime accumulates in the occluded areas, giving them a warmer hue.

Dagger and beard are good ideas, go for it!

reza-lowpoly · Mar 2013

the last picture show's you're alot more improved in metal/armor hand painted textures, but you should still check out some other Hand painted models for more research P.s dont focus alot on JUST armor texture, i think the sword needs alot works

stickadtroja · Apr 2013

thanks for all the crits guys! i tried to improve the stuff mentioned;

put some other colours in the metal, green mostly, and have worked a bit on the sword and shield. added a beard, but the dagger has to wait.

im not super happy with this though. i think my metal is to contrasty at the moment. maybe i should tone it down and just have light on edges and cracks...?

Fenyce · Apr 2013

I think I like that blue armor, it's like blue metal, you know... I never thought of it as standard grey metal, if it's supposed to be such, then you'll need to correct that ;D

It's better now (and I like the beard!) but there are still some edges, that could need sharper highlights... at least in my opinion. First of the metalpart in the middle of the belt. I think a sharp line in the middle would help that thing. Also the upper part of that beltarmor at the sides. I hope you know what I mean =D

stickadtroja · Apr 2013

yeah, no its totally supposed to be blue metal. i fixed the things you suggested, the hihglights on the hip-armor. now i have started working on a creatue that he is going to battle;

the green dude is there for scale
concept;

crits?

my plan is to make a lowpoly scene of all this, so when i finish the creature i will make them an environment. somekind of snowy cave or temple.

stickadtroja · May 2013

soooooo... some time has passed. still trying to finish this. so i made some progress on the scene. decided to skip the temple and do something simpler.

heres what ive got;

my biggest concern now is that its to bare. i want to add snow but i have run into some problems. any help would be appriciated..
problem;

the alpha isnt working correctly. im using xoliul shader 2 and i want to have some nice soft transparancy, not this jagged mess.
this is my alpha-image;

i have almost full black between the flakes, and yet it shows up as one big jagged plane in the scene above.
though maybe i should ask this in the xoliul shader thread....

anyways, what do you think? what is the biggest issues? composition? lighting? any feedback will be greatly appriciated!

also i tried to experiment with some depth fog to get a moodier feeling;

thoughts?

LongJh · May 2013

Looking good so far. I really like the fog, it gives this really spooky vibe that fits the snowy scene really well.

Um for making the scene less bare, in addition to the snowflakes maybe you can add more environment elements if you wish. *Things like rocks and stones, fallen trees, or ruins like broken fences or broken pillars (if that is your direction). More doodads, basically (footprints?).

Oh, and don't forget weather effects. The tops of the trees or any other objects might catch some of the snow as well.

Fenyce · May 2013

The scene feels a little to empty for my taste... because it end so abrupt. Maybe some more wood in the distance would help.

Lord McMutton · May 2013

If you're going with that thick fog, perhaps you should light up the beast's eyes, maybe add some light trails to 'em as well.

JoshVanZuylen · May 2013

Thats looking pretty good now mate! You might have to do the same for your monster as well though.

ZASkaggs · May 2013

This really has a lot of character. I'm really looking forward to the finished product.

JamesB · Jul 2015

I absolutely love this. Awesome job!

MephistonX · Jul 2015

This is looking great, the main character has a real don quixote vibe.

I agree with the lighting up of the eyes, and/or maybe posing the monster so his head is more forward so its less fogged to make him loom over a bit more

Turneep · Jul 2015

Love the art style. Really liking the lanky gangly build of the Knight.

Handpainted fantasy knight

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