Napoleanna Bonaparte (Rule 63) - Learning Experience
polycounter lvl 12
So, I have been working on this personal project for the last few days now. And I think it's time I put this WIP on this board. If you would be so kind, I could use advice and suggestions, including words of encouragement 
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Objectives
- Successfully bake Normal Map and AO. (I have never neatly baked one)
- Nicely colorize the piece in Photoshop. (I did texture one of my stuff... It looked bad.)
- Rig the Character for basic pose. (in Maya) And render a few beauty shots.
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Reference Sheets
- I mostly got the idea from combining Admiral Nelson, Joan of Arc, and Napoleon together.
This is where I am at right now.
The hair is currently a placeholder from my previous face sculpting practice. Though it won't change much.
Thank you for looking!
---
Objectives
- Successfully bake Normal Map and AO. (I have never neatly baked one)
- Nicely colorize the piece in Photoshop. (I did texture one of my stuff... It looked bad.)
- Rig the Character for basic pose. (in Maya) And render a few beauty shots.
---
Reference Sheets
- I mostly got the idea from combining Admiral Nelson, Joan of Arc, and Napoleon together.
This is where I am at right now.
The hair is currently a placeholder from my previous face sculpting practice. Though it won't change much.
Thank you for looking!
Replies
http://www.zbrushworkshops.com/zbw-masters-detail/?slug=Game-Character-Workshop:-Sculpting-Napoleon
Adjusted the proportion to my liking now.
Gonna move on to Low Res and Maps Baking. (which are my main objectives anyway.)
Added: Just tried some AO baking, I think I should sculpt a little sharper folds and wrinkles.
32k Tris
I re-adjusted her proportions all over again. And sharpened the sculpt a bit.
1. Don't cut face/head in half because of #2
2. Seams, bad
3. Don't be lazy making low poly.
4. Don't be lazy sculpting either
5. Face becomes grainy with Normal Map
There are topology lines along her lips, around her chin, around her nose, and between her eyes. I tried adjusting the low poly mesh, flipping green channel, quad -> tri, cage size, et all. Still an issue
If you're importing an obj, you can try selecting your mesh, then on the top menu doing normals-->soften edge.
Learning to texture tomorrow.
As for the model, I would suggest going back to the high-poly and fixing a couple of things before going into the low.
First, the anatomy has some strangeness to it. She seems to have very thin limbs/neck, and yet large breasts and a large butt. Her thighs appear to be the same thickness as her calves, and her shoulders appear to jut out of her upper torso.
I think fixing the underlying anatomy will help you sort out your overarching problems with the clothing, mostly being that they seem deformed around her strange anatomy.
On a material level, the clothing you have feels more like pile fabric, with everything overstuffed and lumpy. Using mid-size brushes, try to paint in the direction of folds, which would tend to X down the limbs.
Good luck.
EDIT:
Added: