I h\think You have a good start but whats standing out to me is how boring the presentation is. This character looks and feels like a filler character, so not any one of import, like a basic enemy. His pose is also very generic and lacks any energy. This also feels true in the face where it feels like it was sculpted in that expression and just left there. The texture work is ok but it doesn't really say anything specific about the character. It feels like it came out of a Medieval fantasy armor kit.
Thanks, Joseph! He is indeed a basic enemy, and he is not my design he's just a graphical update of existing enemy character from an old game, as shown on the Artstation link.
I hope this is okay, but I did a quick paintover + redlines based on the original enemy design. Obviously it's on the lower resolution side originally, so there's plenty of creative freedoms to take. I agree with @Joseph_Bramlett in that it's a bit generic right now, even for the original design being quite simple. I feel the original has quite a lot of energy and personality, which your recreation seems to have left behind a bit.
I do feel that a lot of that "genericness" comes from some design and general foundations being a little bit lacking, in addition to the mentioned posing and expression issues.
Some random points:
the anatomy of the skull and face is confused. if it's meant to be more humanoid, it's missing landmarks, if it's meant to be more piggish or gorillaish it needs a lot more reference. I does almost feel like it's sculpted on more than the jaw is actually hinged with muscles creating a snarl. this makes it feel very uncanny. I went with an also generic humanoid-ish orc look in my paintover but this is by no means the only direction you could go; it just needs to be pushed further and more anatomical reference needs to be used in the future.
the eyes really miss the mark in terms of being that angry, aggressive grunt enemy. The original has a heavy squint/slant to its eyes and it forms almost an X shape between the nasolabial folds and eyes-- this can be recaptured while still being realistic I think.
the original armour is kind of more interesting imho. it had more shapes, and bolts. The detailing that is there is all very small (procedural?) tertiary surface detail, and that in itself is generic. it would make a fine addition to larger hand-crafted detail, but as the main visible detail it's a bit much.
thought it would be cool if the anatomy was a bit more defined and leaner. Right now the silhouette of the character is a bit muddy/soft. Some gesture to the forms would go a long way!
Obviously, it's not bad at all. But it does lack that last bit of attention to detail, design, and polish that would make it a truly great portfolio piece. looking forward to seeing more work from you sooner than later!
Thanks for the great analysis and the paintover, BagelHero. Definitely added more character to it. I tried to go for more realistic humanoid ape-like eyes, wasn't sure if I can make the slanted eyes look right. As for the armor, I again tried to make it as if it's a real working piece of equipment, so there had to be some logic into it. The original is very low res, it's clipping all over the body and it's very unclear how exactly it is supposed to work, so I had to improvise. The chain mail edges are not good looking, I agree. As for the anatomy - he is supposed to be a very skinny, scrawny looking and sinewy orc, and kinda comical with the oversized armor, but I guess I couldn't translate that very well, especially in the legs.
I am thankful for the pointers, they are very helpful, if I had someone like you giving advice while working on it, probably could've done it much better. Still a good learning process.
Replies
Some random points:
- the anatomy of the skull and face is confused. if it's meant to be more humanoid, it's missing landmarks, if it's meant to be more piggish or gorillaish it needs a lot more reference. I does almost feel like it's sculpted on more than the jaw is actually hinged with muscles creating a snarl. this makes it feel very uncanny. I went with an also generic humanoid-ish orc look in my paintover but this is by no means the only direction you could go; it just needs to be pushed further and more anatomical reference needs to be used in the future.
- the eyes really miss the mark in terms of being that angry, aggressive grunt enemy. The original has a heavy squint/slant to its eyes and it forms almost an X shape between the nasolabial folds and eyes-- this can be recaptured while still being realistic I think.
- the original armour is kind of more interesting imho. it had more shapes, and bolts. The detailing that is there is all very small (procedural?) tertiary surface detail, and that in itself is generic. it would make a fine addition to larger hand-crafted detail, but as the main visible detail it's a bit much.
- thought it would be cool if the anatomy was a bit more defined and leaner. Right now the silhouette of the character is a bit muddy/soft. Some gesture to the forms would go a long way!
Obviously, it's not bad at all. But it does lack that last bit of attention to detail, design, and polish that would make it a truly great portfolio piece.