[Critique needed] Character figures in Zbrush
Hello, it's a pleasure to meet all of you. I signed up here a few years back, but I got busy with moving etc. But now I have some time to spend with my hobby. My goal with 3d is being able to freelance and make some money one the side. And also make people happy by being able to deliver them figurines of their favorite characters or OCs.
I am a bit nervous posting here but we all have to start somewhere, and I hope to improve and learn as I go along, as sharing work and realizing mistakes will get me there.
This is the first figure I've completed, and it's based off Shademan.exe from the Megaman Battle Network series.
I chose this character because:
- The elements in his design are mostly simple, and they are good for beginners.
- Practice maintaining the character's proportions, and translating it to 3d.
My process was:
- Create a mannequin that matches character proportions
- Sculpt character in A-pose
- Try to combine the A-pose with the mannequin
I had to "rush" some parts: The wings and legs in particular. I mostly struggled maintaining proportions of the legs because of how they were detailed, my eyes got tricked several times and I would mess up the balance by jumping into either making them too thick or too thin. In the end, I felt like I had to "let go" because I was spending too much time on those parts, and I needed to finish it. The wings were the last thing, and I got too anxious on just finishing the model.
And also the leg ornament/detail threw me off (the long triangle thing on his knees down to his feet). I initially masked, and extracted the portion, then zremeshed until the details were really low. Then I used zmodeler to set up the topology.
But when I tried to wrap it around the legs, it would get screwed up. Eventually I had to do it the dirty way by just using dynamesh. In retrospect, before posing, maybe it would of been better to combine the two models rather then separating it, so that it can get rigged smoothly and not loose the details.
I would like some advice on how I should treat rushing in particular; when you are practicing modeling and you run into a 'bottleneck', should you aim to prioritize to finish your model, or is it better to try to take your time and fix it the best you can, even if it takes a month?
The biggest hurdles I need to cross are details in general. There's some messy details when you zoom into the model.
My next plan is to watch some youtube videos on zbrush modeling tips for around a week or so, then I'll go and make another 3d figurine.
I would be very grateful for any feedback and criticisms given. It's really the best gift an amateur artist can receive.
Also is there a way to spoiler pictures in the forum?
Replies
For clean up try trimdynamic or hpolish with smooth brush + backface masking on thin parts
Thank you so much for the response. I learned what backface masking is and it will be really useful for me going forward.
I'm also in the process of following your edits. I have to go to my 9-5 this week, but hopefully I can go back to it in the weekend.
Made some adjustments. Thanks carvuliero for the tips and help!
I should maybe increase the length of the chest area, but I gotta move on. I'm gonna go ahead and practice using bits of geometry, then move onto my next project as scheduled.
I'll post some WIPs.
I'm struggling with the anatomy. Especially creating characters that are skinny, but have some muscle definition is hard; trying to define a muscle structure but also you have to reduce it in a way because they aren't too buff.
Also I'm working on creating the silhouette of the clothes.
I think I did a decent job on the face.
I know that creating original sculpts with no clear 2d concept art is discouraged for beginners, but I wanted to try it for the hell of it.
Also I did some quick practice on facial accuracy.