"Wyvlett" by Shelley R
I call this little critter "Wyvlett". He is a baby Wyvern-type creature.
I completed him late last quarter as a school-related project.
This character was created with a high to low poly workflow, starting in ZBrush and retoping for the game resolution output mesh.
The eyes are currently not well suited to game output. I constructed them as one would for an animation pipeline character because I wanted to make them look great for presentation. However, I know this is likely not at all suitable for game output, so the "7,200 tris" part actually does not include the count for the eyes since it is currently artificially high. I really want to update this guy's eyes with the help of your feedback as soon as possible, so please let me know what you think the best approach would be!
[SKETCHFAB]d1b0JAMGxX3rDErkino5nL57xuL[/SKETCHFAB]
I also have a short character breakdown video of him here on vimeo.
Next quarter (which starts tomorrow), I'm planning on using Wyvlett and creating other characters in the same style for a collaborative game project. One of the next characters I'll be making will be the adult version of this guy if all goes according to plan.
Any feedback is appreciated, especially constructive thoughtful critique!
I completed him late last quarter as a school-related project.
This character was created with a high to low poly workflow, starting in ZBrush and retoping for the game resolution output mesh.
The eyes are currently not well suited to game output. I constructed them as one would for an animation pipeline character because I wanted to make them look great for presentation. However, I know this is likely not at all suitable for game output, so the "7,200 tris" part actually does not include the count for the eyes since it is currently artificially high. I really want to update this guy's eyes with the help of your feedback as soon as possible, so please let me know what you think the best approach would be!
[SKETCHFAB]d1b0JAMGxX3rDErkino5nL57xuL[/SKETCHFAB]
I also have a short character breakdown video of him here on vimeo.
Next quarter (which starts tomorrow), I'm planning on using Wyvlett and creating other characters in the same style for a collaborative game project. One of the next characters I'll be making will be the adult version of this guy if all goes according to plan.
Any feedback is appreciated, especially constructive thoughtful critique!
Replies
One thing I would say are his nostrils look a little more reptilian than mammal.
Still awesome piece and cant wait to see the adult version!
The only thing I would say it's that the overall creature is kinda dark, maybe adding a little bit more brightness to it?
But it might be only the background that is giving me that impression because I had that feeling mostly when viewing it on sketchfab.
Anyway, amazing work buddy
Here I uploaded an image,
I cannot really express it correctly since english is not my first language and it's kinda hard for me. But I only turned your image into a grayscale to see the different value etc. You can see that overall everything is pretty fark and could help alittle bit more contast.. Dunno if i'm making any sense!
An easy way to breakdown a shot/scene so that characters read well is thinking about a range of value for the environment assets, ground, skybox and the characters. Simply put, you could use mid/low value for the environment (15%-60%) and a mid/high (40%-85%) for the characters. Obviously this is an oversimplification and lighting will have a big impact, but establishing value ranges can be a good starting point.
In the screenshot below, you could simplify the values down to:
Ground: Mid
Trees/skybox: High
Critter: Low
Of course, this goes against much of what you'd see in nature with many animals evolving to blend in with their environment.
All that said, I think you have a nice value hierarchy in the texture and good contrast overall, but perhaps could work in a few more high value details in key areas.
@Tits: Thank you for your input and advice! I agree that white background is awful! I changed it to the darker charcoal background on the sketchfab player. I hope its showing correctly for everyone now. I definitely see what you are saying about the overall darkness of the character and textures. I will think carefully about the scene he'll be seen in and whether he will be clearly visible. I may very well need to update the textures with a wider variety of values. I really appreciate you pointing that out. I have a tendancy to stay in low-key value ranges in most of my work so its a weakness I need help spotting, so thank you for that especially.
@Somedoggy: Thank you for your input I really appreciate the different perspectives, info and opinions. Based on your comment I believe I'll do some lighting tests with him to see how the value range performs in different lighting scenarios. I think that will go a long way in determining if the value range is correct.
@pixelatedkiwi: Thank you very much!
@Bychop: Thank you! As part of our project he will definitely be animated later on but it will likely be another student who does the animating. I'll be sure to post a link to it when the animation is complete!
@Torch: Thank you!
@Chillydog12345: Omg I would spaz out with joy if I could have one of these following me around in real life.
@jStins: Thank you for all your thoughtful input. The belly and feet have been haunting me >< I will work on those along with the eyes before he goes into the game. Your description of determining the overall value ranges of different zones in a scene is very enlightening. Its good advice to have now while we are in the planning and designing phase of the project. I will carefully think about the value and color ranges of the forest floor, jungle foliage and canopy vs. the value and color ranges of the animals and interactive plants to make them obvious enough to the player. Thanks again for the other link about eyes as well.
As I work on the adult version of this creature, "Pterovyn", I'll post WIPs and updates here so please check back, everyone
My next character project is the adult version of Wyvlett, 'Pterovyn'.
Here's my concept drawing for Pterovyn. I'm starting Sculpting this week, and will post more soon.