Home 3D Art Showcase & Critiques

Diablo The Lord of Terror

Hey Everyone, I just finished up this project of Diablo and wanted to share it with you guys! 

In total this project took 20 hours but was spread out over the past month since I recently got married and of course have a day job. I have included a pretty in depth walkthrough of everything including multiple lighting Scenario's all in PBR realtime lighting, Animations, Marmoset Viewers of multiple views etc.

Check it out on my Artstation! 
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/WyrD2

Replies

  • PeterK
    Offline / Send Message
    PeterK greentooth
    A lot of times, models fall into the "quality workmanship" status and generally go ignored on this forum. The work is technically good, no flaws, from someone of professional talent. It doesn't quite make you go "OH MY GAWD" so people don't post and support the artist's efforts. I appreciate you sharing, and wanted to say it's quality work that I enjoyed viewing. I hope to see more from you when you post.
  • Bobobiscuits
    Thanks Peter! I really appreciate the compliment and the insight! 
  • almighty_gir
    Offline / Send Message
    almighty_gir ngon master
    I'll be honest, if it wasn't for @PeterK comment, i probably wouldn't have even clicked the artstation link, i would have just moved on. I'm not a fan of posting a teaser image on a forum and going "more over here pls". That's not what forums are for, that's what twitter or facebook are for.

    That said, because of Peter making me go look at your work, i now feel like i have to actually be critical. So i'm going to go against what he says, and say there are flaws, some serious ones in fact. And almost all of them boil down to laziness. I'll even do part of your job for you and post the breakdown shot. Largely because it will help me crit effectively.



    1. Wireframes:
    You want your topology to be as evenly distributed as possible, with higher density going into areas of higher detail. You've done the opposite, and thrown what looks like the polygon count for the entire remainder of the character into the spines. You could easily quarter the polygon count of the spines and not see any visual difference. Similarly, you have some weird areas of density going on in the palms of the hands, why so many polygons for something that doesn't carry any extra detail, or even deform that heavily?

    2. Base Color:
    At first glance it doesn't look too bad, but a closer look tells me that you've basically used two flat colours and then thrown a smart mask over the top to get some detailing on the scales/chitin. You've also baked your AO directly into the base color, which shows that you don't understand how PBR works, and that you're looking for a quick messy finish, rather than putting in the work with a real colour palette. Where are the orange highlights, the blues in the scales/chitin? This just looks... boring.

    3. Reflectivity:
    You literally took your AO map, multiplied it down, and called it done. This shows that you don't understand how material composition works, and that you'd rather not take the time to try.

    4. Glossiness/Roughness:
    Flat colour for the entire piece, except for the spines, which just have a smart mask thrown on them. Dude the roughness map is where you get to have your fun in this wonderful world of PBR.

    5. Final presentation:
    As i mentioned earlier, a teaser image with a "click for more" link is just begging for you to be ignored. But outside of that, the composition of the image isn't even that great. About 40% of the image is taken up with "dead space". Why not have some embers or something floating in the background? Take advantage of Toolbag's excellent DOF camera stuff. There is very little contrast in the image, and Diablo just kinda blends into the background... Why not add a rim-light and really highlight the outline? His eyes/mouth are emitting light... Reflect this with actual lights, etc.

    All in all, i think Peter is wrong. This isn't a technically good piece, it's mediocre, and it shows more than anything that you have a lack of technical understanding of PBR, and even basic topology rules.

    I hope you continue posting, i hope you learn and become great. But more than anything right now? I hope that you stop being lazy, and taking shortcuts. If you want to be recognized as a great artist, make great art, and take the time to make it great. So i urge you to go back and take another look at the textures and presentation.
  • PeterK
    Offline / Send Message
    PeterK greentooth
    @almighty_gir Brilliant breakdown, thank you my man; I think he can benefit a lot from what you've written. 
  • almighty_gir
    Offline / Send Message
    almighty_gir ngon master
    This is a prime example of why more experienced people don't give feedback anymore btw... Just complete ignorance on the part of OP.
  • Alex_J
    Offline / Send Message
    Alex_J grand marshal polycounter
    This is a prime example of why more experienced people don't give feedback anymore btw... Just complete ignorance on the part of OP.
    Why not? I don't understand? I thought this critique was really useful... OP isn't the only person who learns something.
  • Ashervisalis
    Offline / Send Message
    Ashervisalis grand marshal polycounter
    @BIGTIMEMASTER I tend to not take too much time providing critique for non-frequent Polycount users, because a lot of the time you can take half an hour to provide so much critique, insight, tips, etc, and then they never respond. Did they even come back to look at your advice? You never know. Other users might benefit from your critique, but I feel that's rare, because everybody has their own specific weaknesses.

    Regarding the work, I agree with the previous noted critique. The sculpt is pretty cool, but the texturing stage needs love.
  • Alex_J
    Offline / Send Message
    Alex_J grand marshal polycounter
    Ah, I didn't note the dates. But is that what @almighty_gir is talking about?

    I thought they were meaning to say, "experienced people don't bother helping noobs because noobs are too lazy nowadays, or they don't do enough homework" or something like that. 

    Which would be a shame, because I learn a lot from reading critiques of other  peoples artwork, and I especially value when the critiques have the kind of thoroughness and pragmatism you get from experienced professionals.
  • Ashervisalis
    Offline / Send Message
    Ashervisalis grand marshal polycounter
    @BIGTIMEMASTER You might be right about what he meant actually, I might have misunderstood the comment.
  • almighty_gir
    Offline / Send Message
    almighty_gir ngon master
    @Ashervisalis is right...

    Basically, i spent a good portion of my time going and looking and putting together a truly heartfelt post in an effort to help the guy do better. But it feels like in this instance, and in many others actually... A lot of people are just looking to post stuff and get a pat on the back and told how good they are. They don't want actual feedback, they don't want to be told how to get better, they want to be told that what they've done is good enough.

    And i'm just tired of putting the effort in to help people (again, a generality), and not even get recognition of that help. I'm not asking for accolades or anything, but just a simple "thanks for the feedback, i'll work on x,y, or z". Something to let me know that they've taken it on board and that the effort i put in wasn't for nothing.

    Polycount used to be a place where even the best people got told when they were wrong. I remember reading through one of Tim 'SpaceMonkey' Appleby's threads, i think it was one of his street fighter characters, it looked frigging amazing and yet there were people correcting him on some very specialist anatomy issues, and this guy, already a veteran, took it all on board and made the thing even better. That's what this place used to be, and seeing what it's become... A dumping ground for people who just want their dick sucked... It makes me sad.
  • Alex_J
    Offline / Send Message
    Alex_J grand marshal polycounter
    Ah, I see. Well, maybe getting into 3d is more accessible nowadays, so you just get more people in general.

    But I'm sure some people still benefit (I do -- I'm always reading critiques, more so than looking at the actual art) even if the OP never returns or can't be bothered to click the like button so you at least know they read your response. 

    You may have gone too far by calling the OP lazy, perhaps, even if at heart you didn't mean it in a mean way. Obviously, taking the time to author a serious critique, you are showing them a lot of respect. But people, especially young people, can be pretty thin skinned, so you have to be careful how you word things. Especially when it comes to creative stuff, as it's very personal in nature.This is something I had to learn after getting out of the army... it's tiresome not just being able to say exactly what you see and not worrying whether or not the person will be receptive because of your tone or not, but what can you do?
  • Eric Chadwick
    Hey this is a reminder to be a bit more respectful of others.
    https://polycount.com/discussion/63361/information-about-polycount-new-member-introductions/p1#respect

    I appreciate this is a good critique. But if you're going to take the time to crit, please take a couple more seconds to sandwich it between some positives.

    Labeling someone repeatedly as lazy doesn't really help. Maybe it works to let off steam, but it doesn't if you actually want to get through to them. Talking about the OP just wanting their dick sucked certainly is a bit of a dick move in itself, that could have been worded more professionally IMHO.

    Some will say that's not in the spirit of the old Polycount, we were able to talk trash easily. But that was a smaller community, where people got to know each other, and so we were able to be more direct. With familiarity you can shortcut, get right to the point. But that's not the case here.

    Basic crit skills... if you don't know someone already, be careful of being harsh, sandwich the crit with some praise. They'll listen better, and you're more likely to see more art from them.

    Thanks.


Sign In or Register to comment.