Was hoping to get some opinions on how I can improve this model. This was my first time experimenting with organic modelling for the gums and would really appreciate some feedback.
Not sure if you mean to stick closely to the Dark Souls mimic models or not, but here is some general pointers about gums:
Notice how the gums wrapped around the teeth a bit. Tongue becomes pretty thin at the edges. A scrunched up tongue with flared edges is what most animals do when they growl.
Looks like your geometry could be reduced a lot. There is plenty written about that, I'd encourage you to just spend a day browsing around here about that topic. Basically, any edges that can be deleted without effecting your silhouette should be (on static parts. Animated parts need enough to support your animations.)
You've used a ton of geo inside the mouth, but you could have used some of that geo increasing the interest of the silhouette. If you had made the planks of wood separate pieces, and had some sticking out a bit more than others, it would have been more interesting than the inside of the mouth being super high poly. I would also have liked to see the chest be a bit more interesting. Google 'antique chest' or 'antique trunk' and check out how cool some old chests look. It would be a good idea to mimic (pun intended) one of those beautiful old chests instead of using a simple box with a curved lid.
@Ashervisalis@BIGTIMEMASTER Thanks for the advice these are some really good ideas I haven't thought of, I didn't think of using mouths of lions etc as a reference but this is a good idea and i could improve using this. I do need to work more on lowering the poly count I do agree with that. I love the idea of making the the chest out of separate pieces this could have given the chest a lot more detail so thanks for the idea! I might recreate a new chest using separate parts and style it to a more antique chest!
just to clarify, i don't suggest using the lion specifically, but rather just gather a large reference of all kinds of beast mouths just to form that general idea of what gums and such look like.
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Notice how the gums wrapped around the teeth a bit. Tongue becomes pretty thin at the edges. A scrunched up tongue with flared edges is what most animals do when they growl.
Looks like your geometry could be reduced a lot. There is plenty written about that, I'd encourage you to just spend a day browsing around here about that topic. Basically, any edges that can be deleted without effecting your silhouette should be (on static parts. Animated parts need enough to support your animations.)