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Cartoon Marine :

It's for painting practice, i use mainly blurr pencil
in combination with colors variations.

It's for a game project, i don't have time to remake some Crysis looking laugh.gif
My job is not game making wink.gif so i can't waste all my spare time on 3D art , so i take the fastest and easy way for me :
Cartoon textures.

I will concentrate instead on gameplay, fun like the WII console crazy.gif

marinebz2.jpg
Shot at 2007-07-17

Replies

  • jgarland
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    It is indeed hard to offer advice and critiques to someone who can't take their own work seriously. Claiming that working on your art is a waste of your spare time just isn't a good attitude, and makes me wonder why you're here in the first place. You want to take the "fastest and easy way" by making your textures look stylized, but it just doesn't work like that. If you want something to look good, whether you intend for it to be realistic or not, you need to spend time practicing and honing your skills.

    There is no "easy road," and searching for one by cutting corners and making excuses about time or otherwise leaves you with poor workmanship and no sense of achievement. Successfully creating an attractive character has little to do with time, and instead has to do with the skill and dedication of the artist in question.

    People often seem to misunderstand the meaning of "cartoon." Cartoons don't look a certain way because the artist was horrible and didn't know what they were doing. They are meant to look that way, and comparing a cartoon to a realistic drawing, texture, or what have you, is like comparing apples to oranges. They are two different art forms, and both require dedication and a passion for what is being done. Your attitude, to me, makes it feel as though you have neither.

    I apologize if this comes off as abrasive, but these are the facts of the matter, and might serve as a rude awakening. Either you enjoy art as a hobby, or you don't. If not, then perhaps you should rethink why you're doing it.
  • ElysiumGX
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    ElysiumGX polycounter lvl 18
    Are you a programmer? If your job is not game making, and it's wasting your time, perhaps you shouldn't be involved in a game project. Many of us here don't have jobs in games, but we still enjoy spending any amount of spare time creating game assets.

    A character doesn't have to mimick the quality of today's highly detailed games to look great. A simple diffuse texture done by an artist with skill and knowledge of color and lighting is all that's needed to make a great looking character.

    So, keep practicing. If you want to. This looks half-assed. Even fun Wii games look nice. No excuses!
  • indian_boy
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    determination and a will to work and improve are the first step.

    unless you have those, even the polycount community can't help u!
  • Ghostscape
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    Ghostscape polycounter lvl 13
    [ QUOTE ]
    determination and a will to work and improve are the first step.

    unless you have those, even the polycount community can't help u!

    [/ QUOTE ]

    You don't need those things. All you need a your parent's checkbook, and I can help you.

    I can help you a lot.

    I'm not sure what you're expecting us to say if you're not putting effort into it yourself. Why should we put effort into it?
  • TheExpert
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    ElysiumGX :
    You are right : my job is already It software , and i want to make and finish a game : something playable.
    I want liek WII titles concentrate on gameplay and fun ,
    not last gen or realistic graphics (i'm too too bad
    in 3D art mad.gif)

    When i said no time to waste : FORGIVE ME PEOPLE smile.gif
    i wanted to say : no time to waste NOW in the next months,
    AND MAKE THE GAME.

    Caus some times, i put lot of time on some models and textures , and loose focus on the game ,and change my mind , and the game is abandonned : that's what i call
    Wasting time !

    I'm not 3D skilled at all frown.gif ,
    I admire and i'm very jaleous about all great things all people can do here , if i could do even 5% of their quality crazy.gif

    Well , it's just a simple texture cartoon on a model, i
    like a lot Zelda : Wind Walker , and want just to follow
    that style or perhaps orient into something like MArio Galaxy textures ??

    I'l try to post level screenshots also , sorry to have
    hurted the fabulous 3D artists here blush.gif
  • Rhinokey
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    Rhinokey polycounter lvl 18
    Wrong. theres not much difrence between art skill to make a good cartoonish game and a realistic next gen game. they both take skill just some in difrent areas, you just slapping some polys together and a smearly blurrly texture down and going "i don't want to take the time to learn to do this right so i'm trying to make this cartoony" is such a cheap excuse. this is not cartoony, its just half assed (you pretty much said so yourself.) RR1.jpg

    mario.jpg
    these are cartoony but also are good art. my point is.. good art will take time and effort.
    also you say you are not a good artist so you want to make something that looks more like zelda, every zelda game has had phenomanal art for the time they were made. i think the big issue here is you not respecting the fact that cartoony is also REAL art. not just next gen realistic shooters

    and like with anyone else, if you really want to learn, you can. it just takes effort.
  • Ghostscape
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    Ghostscape polycounter lvl 13
    If you send me lots of money I'll tell you you're improving smile.gif
  • TheExpert
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    Rhinokey :

    I think you are right smile.gif
    But I have used even more details than Zelda Wind Walker in my model !

    zelda_092002_5.jpg

    Another example :

    wiki_ss02_b.jpg

    In fact i think i should use less details and more plain colors and insist more in the polygons and perhaps original design , is what your mean ?

    I really understand now, the 2D art is perhaps more essential before going on.
    Thanks for your light smile.gif


    Ghostscape :

    Sorry , i don't have lot of money smile.gif , and here the state
    taxations take a lot from us ... frown.gif

    Ok my model is very bad, i must put lot more time
    in 2D design and study.
  • Rhinokey
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    Rhinokey polycounter lvl 18
    you may have put more details in.. but details are not what makes art, its skill and practice. lots of practice,
    i would not be suprised at all if the artist that did that zelda model for windwaker could creat phenomanal realistic styled art if he chose to. zelda did not look like that cause they decided they didnt have time or skill to make it realistic. it looks like that cause after months and maybe years of prototyping art styles, thats what they decided they wanted the game to look like.
  • Xenobond
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    Xenobond polycounter lvl 18
    Maybe you just want people to pat you on your head and say everything is fine.

    Maybe use MUCH smaller textures so you don't lose yourself in all the little details that you think you should put in. Then it'll force you to put less time into making the textures. Even more simple would to ditch the textures completely and do it all vertex colored. Then the only detail that you could focus on would be from whatever you put into the model in the first place.
  • Steve Schulze
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    Steve Schulze polycounter lvl 18
    All this philosophy of being an artist is well and good, but how about we give the fella some actual crits, as he asked for to begin with.

    Expert, do you have a concept you're working from? While it'll use up a little initial time, you'll find drawing out a quick sketch of what you want to do will save you time in the end.

    Without really having a clear idea of what you're attempting here, its difficult to crit. He has arms longer and legs shorter than a realistic human. His upper arms are really working, even allowing for cartoonish stylisation. Given that you're not an artist (or indeed even if you were an experienced one) it'd be well worth you grabbing some photographic reference of a real person to get the proportions right and work out what areas you can push for cartoonish effect without breaking the design. Once you get a handle of this stuff things will come together much more quickly and easily.
    With UVing, It looks like you've got varying scales of texel density. That means you've probably changed the size of some chunks of UV mesh while you were laying them out. While you've got a little lee way there, you need to try to keep all the UVs at the same scale. It makes laying them out a bit trickier, but you'll wind up with a better looking texture.
    Working out the design will help your texturing. One thing you should consider is light sourcing. Even on a simplified 3d cartoon character, you need shadows and highlights to push the forms. Generally its best to light from a source overhead for a start. Think about where the light would strike and cast shadows on your mesh as you do your texture.

    That should cover the basics I think. Keep at it.
  • The Umbrella Man
    [ QUOTE ]
    Rhinokey :

    I think you are right smile.gif
    But I have used even more details than Zelda Wind Walker in my model !


    [/ QUOTE ]

    You are kidding me right? If you are talking about polygons, then yes, congratulations on spending more details and being less efficient then the modeler who did the gorgeous models you pointed out above. The difference between the models in Zelda, and the model you posted, is the love and care put into the zelda concept ART, the design, the feel, the personality, everything is perfect about that model. When I see your model I just see generic lego looking model, with generic sci-fi body armor, with terrible texture, bad color theory, everything clashes, it's an eyesore.

    You can't just hop into art and proclaim, hi I'm new here, by the way I make cartoons better then you all. It doesn't work that way, whether you are making cartoons, or realistic art, it all takes the same kind of effort and time. Sorry but it does.

    Sorry if it seems like an attack, but you need a reality check.

    The model isn't that bad in reality, the proportions are off, but that's to be expected as you said you haven't spent alot of time on it, and you are probably working without a concept. I suggest you put a little bit of time into the concept, read some tutorials on how to do model sheets, then invest some time, a little at a time into learning proper modeling such as edge loops and so on. Anatomy studies wouldn't hurt either.

    The model just needs some tweeks, but as for the texture, I would start over. Cartoons have crisp clean lines in both the outline and the color, you have used the blurr tool here which makes it look less like a cartoon and more like an under detailed realistic attempt.

    Remeber to use crisp clean colors, not blurry. Things in life and cartoons are rarely blurry.

    [ QUOTE ]
    All this philosophy of being an artist is well and good, but how about we give the fella some actual crits, as he asked for to begin with.


    [/ QUOTE ]

    Hard to critique someone who thinks they are already better then people in the industry. Someone with the kinda defeatist attitude isn't looking for someone to critique their model they are looking for someone to just agree with what they say.
  • Rhinokey
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    Rhinokey polycounter lvl 18
    Jack, he never asked for crits to begin with, He posted the image and then said he couldnt waste time learning, so he was doing cartoon textures.

    Expert. why don't you find some artists to team up with if you want to make a game? or make some generic guys out of some cubes or spheres stacked together.wp4-1024.jpg get a fun game working with that. and i guarantee you will not have any problem finding artists to help you out.
  • Mark Dygert
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    Why do I get the feeling this guy is a troll...

    Chiming in on the whole realistic VS cartoon debate, I have to say it might actually take more talent to dream up and execute cartoon style over a realistic style.

    Expert,
    If you are going for a cartoon style character, go all the way, big head, hands & feet, tiny legs and arms. What you have is stuck between badly done realism and mock-toon. If you have trouble making 3D art, you might want to give him a helmet, they did it in Halo, Doom and a ton of other games, no shame is making it look the best you can. Sometimes that means knowing what you can't yet create and making the best of what you can.

    MoJokey brings up a really good point about using simple shapes to create characters. It would allow you to focus on what you might be better at, gameplay.
  • TheExpert
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    Vig:
    Yes i'm a troll sometimes, but i have avoid to show it too more wink.gif


    Thanks for all advices of all of you , who haven given some little usefull tips smile.gif
    Now i know how i must orient my work, caus all of you are right , i've done the model wihtout any reasearch and without references and 2D art drawing (just by ideas on my mind).

    I just wanted some fast critics to say : Very bad or cool :
    now i know it's very bad !

    i didn't want to make loose some time to all good people
    here , and i know a lot how time can be precious some times smile.gif

    Thanks !
  • HonkyPunch
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    HonkyPunch polycounter lvl 18
    Gee, all you need to do is throw a thick black outline and you've got yourself some
    "cel-shading"
  • Steve Schulze
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    Steve Schulze polycounter lvl 18
    [ QUOTE ]
    Why do I get the feeling this guy is a troll...

    [/ QUOTE ]Funny, I get the feeling the majority of other people are trolling because its been seen as the cool thing to do. We seem to get that a lot here.
  • HonkyPunch
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    HonkyPunch polycounter lvl 18
    I troll a lot, but never on my precious polycount!
  • John Warner
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    John Warner polycounter lvl 18
    [ QUOTE ]
    [ QUOTE ]
    Why do I get the feeling this guy is a troll...

    [/ QUOTE ]Funny, I get the feeling the majority of other people are trolling because its been seen as the cool thing to do. We seem to get that a lot here.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    .... what??
  • yeluis
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    yeluis polycounter lvl 17
    Just reading the way this guy writes makes me wonder if he even he is even an engineer. I'm almost certain its some teenager not having anything to do for summer vacation and decided to go pick a fight on the net. I dont think this is serious on any level at all guys.
  • Rhinokey
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    Rhinokey polycounter lvl 18
    i wouldnt say that, i would guess someone who is not a native english speaker wanting to make a game, but not wanting to "waste time" learning art. i don't see any need to be over harsh with him. just try and teach him whats up.
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