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Dragon WIP

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Grim
polycounter lvl 17
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Grim polycounter lvl 17
Hello, I am new to the boards and figured I would post what I am working on for some C&C. I purchased a book on how to draw dragons so I could work on my sketching skills. This is the first dragon you draw in the book and I would like to know what you guys think about the sketch in general. I plan to take this model from concept to 3d model to uv mapped and textured then on to rigging and animation. Anyways let me know what you think and thanks for your feedback.
Grim
Dragon Sketch

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  • Ninjas
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    Ninjas polycounter lvl 18
    looks fine. I don't see anything obviously wrong with the drawing.

    Welcome to the boards!
  • Grim
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    Grim polycounter lvl 17
    Thanks Ninjas
    Here is the first step in 3d. I have the shape blocked in (I know it is still rough) but I managed to keep it all quads so I wouldn't have problems when I import it into zbrush to make the normal maps. I still need to make the horns...as always C&C are welcome.
    Grim
  • almighty_gir
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    almighty_gir ngon master
    i would have modeled the wings in their most outstretched position, along with the neck.. maybe modeling the neck/head straight forward as if he/she is reaching out to sniff something.

    looks fairly solid so far though
  • Tulkamir
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    Tulkamir polycounter lvl 18
    Looking great. Only thing I see, and I doubt it's really a bit problem, is that the wings seem to be quite a bit higher density than they need to compared to the rest of the model.
  • Grim
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    Grim polycounter lvl 17
    Thanks guys for the crits,
    almighty_gir: The wings are in their most outstretched position, the neck on the otherhand isn't but can be easily changed.
    Tulkamir: the reason for the higher density on the wings is because I plan to use a cloth simulation on the webbing, then bake that animation to the animation sets.
    All in all I do have a lot of optimization left to do. I added the horns on the head and hope to post some more updates soon.
    Grim
  • Grim
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    Grim polycounter lvl 17
    Ok I think I am ready to import it into zbrush now. The claws, horns and some other poly tweaks are done.
    dragonwip3.jpg
  • Grim
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    Grim polycounter lvl 17
    images no longer available
  • Wells
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    Wells polycounter lvl 18
    his 'crest' seems to have some crazy meshflow on it for something that is a plane with no volume.
  • Grim
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    Grim polycounter lvl 17
    That is going to be hair and I am going to use maya's cloth solver on it for animations and bake them when they look right. Not sure if this is the best way but it seemed to work very well before if you or anyone else has a better idea please tell me so I can work that out early. Thanks for the crit
  • Grim
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    Grim polycounter lvl 17
    First level of detail sculpting in zbrush. \o/ only 4 more levels of refinement to go.
    DragonZBWIP1.jpg
  • motives
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    motives polycounter lvl 18
    looking good there grim.. Suggestion: Larger wings maybe? Looks a bit small compared to the body. Kinda cartoonish you know? Bit more massive i'd like to see.

    Keep up the good work though, will be interesting to see him develop. You planning on lowpoly/normalmap this one later on?
  • Grim
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    Grim polycounter lvl 17
    Small update,
    motives: I made the wings longer (or at least as much as I could) if I would have caught this sooner it wouldn't have been hard but at this point I can only add so much since I can't change the topology as this would loose all my work in zbrush. I do intend to do low poly/normal mapped version. I sculpted more on the muscle groups and tried to tie them together a little better. I worked on the head and hind legs. I know it is hard to tell at this point but...
    DragonZBWIP2.jpg
  • Zergxes
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    Zergxes polycounter lvl 18
    Nice. Maybe a stronger base on the lower jaw? Great hind legs there.
  • Xaltar
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    Xaltar polycounter lvl 17
    Looking good smile.gif
    I agree, you need better jaw line unless you were going for a more snakelike mouth in which case you would need to shorten the snout.

    wires12zz.jpg

    Just a quick sketch of a skull in paintshop to give you an idea.
  • Grim
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    Grim polycounter lvl 17
    Thanks for the C&C guys, I doubled the thickness of the jaw:
  • Wells
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    Wells polycounter lvl 18
    I think the main point on the jaw that you missed, is that it has no hinge on it. No room for the bones to attatch under the cheekbones, allowing movement. Right now it just sort of comes out of his neck and makes him look sort of gummy-ish.
  • Ninjas
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    Ninjas polycounter lvl 18
    A little paintover

    DheadZBWIP1.jpg
  • Grim
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    Grim polycounter lvl 17
    Thanks for the C&C guys I am working on fixing/making it better.
  • Grim
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    Grim polycounter lvl 17
    Is this better?

  • Wells
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    Wells polycounter lvl 18
    Yeah, thats looking better, though it might still need some loving. If you're going for the viper-esque head, remember how ridiculously wide their jaws are at the back.

    A good exercise is to take a side-show of your critter and see if you can draw the skeleton in places like the skull where you might be having problems. Sometimes it can quickly show you where some vert-pushing needs to go.
  • Xaltar
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    Xaltar polycounter lvl 17
    Looking a lot better dude. Here is a quick paintover to help you with proportions.

    idea8uf.jpg

    And an idea I thought may help
    idea4aw.jpg

    By adding a bit of flesh between the upper and lower jaws it makes the mouth look a bit more real.

    Awesome work so far, keep it up smile.gif
  • Grim
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    Grim polycounter lvl 17
    Thanks guys,
    Sectaurs: Actually I was using my ball python as reference, I will keep working on it though and see what I can do. Thanks for the tips!

    Xaltar: I can't do that on this model in zbrush as it causes really bad stretching. I will do that in maya after I complete the normal maps.

    Thanks again guys for the feedback. smile.gif
  • Xaltar
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    Xaltar polycounter lvl 17
    NP, good luck with it. I like it alot so far, I am looking forward to seeing the finished product smile.gif
  • Grim
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    Grim polycounter lvl 17
    The next step of detailing:
  • stoofoo
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    stoofoo polycounter lvl 18
    I really like the scales, grim.. I think you've added them too early. That head is much too playdough-y and the musculature around the body looks like you didnt go passed the 3rd subdiv before smoothing it. Get a bit of pinching in there and vary the edge intensity. It will reward you.
  • Grim
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    Grim polycounter lvl 17
    Stoofoo, any chance you could do some kind of paint over to show me what you mean on the body? One of the biggest problems I am running into now is I was getting a lot of stretching even at level 6 so it is hard to really do much else with it. Even on some of the simple muscle areas it is starting to stretch and I am just not sure what else to do. Any help you can offer would be great.
    Thanks for the suggestions I will see what I can do.
  • Slum
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    Slum polycounter lvl 18
    You've dont have a lot of mid-range detail. You have lots of blobs for muscles, with detailed skin/scales on top. As stoofoo said, try going in and refining some of the smooth edges. I'm not a zbrush user, so I couln't tell you how to do it for the life of me :-P

    It's looking like a nice start, though. Keep up.
  • stoofoo
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    stoofoo polycounter lvl 18
    2 things you can do:

    A) seperate the mesh out. work only on the head then only on the torso and then the legs. You can do this by either masking out the part you wanna work on, or exporting just the part yo uwant to work on. On something as large as this I personally could not get the proper amount of detail on my mesh and have any reasonable amount of performance in zbrush.. I'd absolutely export it in chunks.

    B) use the pinch tool. Set it to like 100 and scale the brush down JSUT big enough to get 2 or 3 verts on something over the 2nd or 3rd subdivision. It will suck the edges in around it. If you go too far, dont worry, just smooth it and it will relax them back. I tend to do a hard pinch then smooth down on both side of it, but not in the crease. Does that make sense? I hope it does, I'm tired and maybe it was babble prone. Oh well.,
  • Grim
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    Grim polycounter lvl 17
    Thanks guys for the C&C it is helping me a lot. I found the pinch tool and have been messing around with it. I worked on the model for a while and think I see what you mean, I hope this is it or at least better.
    DragonZB6.jpg
  • stoofoo
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    stoofoo polycounter lvl 18
    10x better, bud. Great work.

    This does not mean i think you are done, yet. I just think that you just took a huge step in preventing this dragon from being sad about being out of shape. =)

    Keep at it, you are totally on the right track.
  • Xaltar
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    Xaltar polycounter lvl 17
    Nice, now you're on track.
    Its looking great smile.gif
  • Grim
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    Grim polycounter lvl 17
    Thanks a lot stoofoo for pointing me in the right direction, I didn't even know about the pinch tool. I have done some more work on the wing muscles, hind legs, neck and back. I started shaping the ribs and tail.
    You guys rock for helping the rest of us untalented fools. grin.gif
    DragonZB7.jpg
  • Xaltar
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    Xaltar polycounter lvl 17
    WOW, looking better and better dude, keep it up wink.gif
    I wish I could do all that, I just started learning about 2 months ago and I am teaching myself frown.gif I have been texturing for years but I wanted to have more controll over the way things look. Texturing that is going to be a LOT of fun laugh.gif

    mmm, maybe give the stomach a bit more bulge or arch the back a bit to get the lines from front to back flowing better, I will do a paint over if you need one, just let me know wink.gif
  • almighty_gir
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    almighty_gir ngon master
    i think you should seriously reconsidder the anatomy of the wing muscles.

    heres a pic i scanned in from my D&D book. it shows how you would need to place another set of deltoids and pectorals in order for the wings to function properly.

    scan0mc.jpg
  • Grim
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    Grim polycounter lvl 17
    Thanks for the post, but I am going to have to disagree on this one. Two reasons really one as I said in the original post I bought a book on how to draw dragons and this is the first dragon you learn to draw in it. I am modeling what someone else designed (even though the sketch was done by me) I didn't change a thing. The other reason is there are thousands of ways to draw dragons and their wings, this illustration shows the same style I have made, the one you posted is a very different design. You can't compare apples to oranges.
    finalskeleton.jpg
  • stoofoo
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    stoofoo polycounter lvl 18
    Let me be the first to "ROFL" at gir for posting DND manual for anatomy reference... hahaha. I want to kill you for that. I thought that after leaving turbine that would never happen again when i was working on a monster...orsomeone nearm e was. Please do not look at that drawing for anatomical reference. Thanks.
  • JordanW
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    JordanW polycounter lvl 19
    Gir, i dunno I think following the reference you posted would be a step in the wrong direction, it looks like the artist just put a bunch of big muscles to look cool, I definatly think that Grim should continue following the skeleton he is currently using as it is -MUCH- closer to typical wing skeletons
  • Wells
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    Wells polycounter lvl 18
    Well, I think the main point of his post was that currently the dragon doesn't have the muscles required for bringing the wings back up once they had been flapped.

    I think we can all agree he noticed the blatant differences in anatomy the two types of dragons have.
  • almighty_gir
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    almighty_gir ngon master
    i just wanted to point out the one error =/
  • Grim
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    Grim polycounter lvl 17
    No need for anyone to jump on the defensive. I did how ever look into this before I started and was able to find the muscle structure of a bird wing that was very close to the dragons wings and although my dragons muscles are off slightly from that diagram it is still pretty close. Now I am not saying I am right and others are wrong just pointing out that I have been using real animals muscle structure as much as I can.
    Thanks again everyone for your input.
  • Grim
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    Grim polycounter lvl 17
    I worked on the shoulders and the muscle refinment in general.
    DragonZB8.jpg
  • almighty_gir
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    almighty_gir ngon master
    of course you should follow anatomy as well as you possibly can, but dragons arent real and its open to speculation.

    the only thing i can really say, is that since a dragons wings (although primarily are for flying) have to be able to do a multitude of things, from shelter, or shielding from attack, to even small attacks of their own. i would imagine they would function very much like the forearm in terms of mobility.

    which means that they need their own biceps, triceps, deltoids etc. but while the deltoid pulls the wing up (i would assume the lat muscle on the back would be slightly different, to be used on two different deltoid muscles, the arm AND wing). the real power is in the downward movement of the wing.

    in order to move the bulk of the dragon off the ground, you would need some SERIOUS muscle, which is why i imagined there would be either a much larger, or an extra set of pectoral muscles which are intended for the wings alone.

    dunno, just kinda made sense to me like that.
  • stoofoo
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    stoofoo polycounter lvl 18
    Haha. I think the last sentence is sorta shining there. =) Nevernevernevernever post a d&d manual image. it's auto-discredidation.=P
  • almighty_gir
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    almighty_gir ngon master
    i like the pictures, i think they are pretty, and im a dragon fanatic....
  • Steakhouse
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    Steakhouse polycounter lvl 18
    Unless of course the dragon is an abomination of physics (which it is). This is where reading Terry Pratchet's Diskworld comes in handy. He posited the idea that everything evolves to take advantage of their environment (which is true), so why wouldn’t a dragon evolve to take advantage of magic? Being a creature of myth gives it a head start in this respect, allowing it to give itself assistance in take of, mid-flight, and the eventual landing. What this means is were you to remove any magical ability you would be left with an imposing, winged, and ultimately land locked creature with third degree burns in it's mouth.
  • Xaltar
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    Xaltar polycounter lvl 17
    LMAO, to true. Dragons are always held to be magical and in a lot of cases wizards or sorcerers in their own right. At the end of the day its all up to the imagination of the artist.
  • stoofoo
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    stoofoo polycounter lvl 18
    Jordan and I have gone to a consulting agency and have come up with some concepts from their think tank that i think you iwll find to be perfect anatomical reference. A lot of time and tax payer dollars went into this art, so pay attention.

    http://artpad.art.com/gallery/?j0gcte1iylh4
  • Wells
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    Wells polycounter lvl 18
    Frankly, I like to rely as little as possible on the "its fictional/magical, so my anatomy is fine" explaination of models.

    That being said, I think his beefed up wings are fine, they're to the point where they don't break the suspended belief that the model can fly. I'd like to see MUCH larger wing-span, but thats a personal taste.

    Overall, I think the body looks fine. The places that need some love are the head and feet. The front feet sort of noodle-bend over and don't look like they were made for walking on. The back feet also suffer from this, albeit from a much lesser degree. I think maybe its the lack of definition seperating the toes from the ankle? Perhaps a better shot of the feet is needed.

    The head just doesn't look on par with the rest of him. It still suffers from z-brush-itis; that globby play-doh look. You did a great job fixing that on the rest of him, its a shame the head didn't get the same. If you simply haven't gotten to that yet, then ignore this smile.gif

    Keep up the good job
  • IceWolve
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    IceWolve polycounter lvl 18
    I dont like the front paws/feet, to be honest, seems like it would hurt the wrists.

    I think you should take some artist freedom and fix the anatomy a bit. Make the front more like a dogs or cats paw. Where they are mainly on their fingers and toes like your hind feet are on the model.
  • Joseph Silverman
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    Joseph Silverman polycounter lvl 17
    [ QUOTE ]
    Let me be the first to "ROFL" at gir for posting DND manual for anatomy reference... Please do not look at that drawing for anatomical reference. Thanks.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    When did drawing from artwork lose all value? The picture almighty_gir posted is well drawn, clearly pretty thought out, makes enough sense to be believable on a fictional and traditionally fantastic creature, and is visually interesting. (As are the rest in the book, but them I'm starting to discredit myself.) laugh.gif
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