Thanks Firith! Those are all really great points. I really want to keep pushing my knowledge of anatomy, and my texture work in general definitely needs attention, so it's all well received. I'll keep pushing to improve in future projects, and thanks for the encouragement!
I barely noticed any difference in the ears tbh, I think you could push it way further. you should really look at some rat references and try to copy it. you can push the shapes for a more stylized look after that if you want too.
The elements are surely here, it is just something about her right now that pushes her towards an doll-like uncanny look. Dunno if you saw the feedback posted on slack but here is some suggestions to push her slightly more in the direction of Ilya Kuvshinovs fanart of Max.
-ivy needs some work its far too regular - lighting is weak push the highlights... its very dull considering the sun angle seams very straight down... -push the spec -roots are too saturated... and lack variation in tone... perhaps a vertex colour multiplier would help here
Bruce Lee character, quickly based out and 30 minutes of sculpting, using this to really push my anatomy sculpting (and cloth later when I add his baggy kung fu pants) Biker character work in progress, using this to really push my cloth fold sculpting abilities.
Good stuff so far. Here's a paintover I did. Basically, fix the back of the head, lower the ear, fix the neck a bit, maybe push out the top of the chest (where the clavical is) and push back the shoulders so they don't look so stiff. It's a super rough paintover but it might help.
Awesome design. The texture is good, but yeah, it could be pushed more. The top and bottom are too similar in brightness.. What if he was darker in the legs, and brighter near his face a ( good focal point.) Push the values.. and throw in some unexpected color too. Once again though.. awesome model and design.
Nice! Really getting good this, as for the latest update, try making the entire snout area a little longer and push her snout forward a little, not much, but just enough to make it look less like it was pushed inwards :P keep up the good work man, this is turning into a very interesting piece.
i was just thinking that why bother to export a cage to xnormal. Can't you just add a push modifier to the low poly in max - export - bake then remove the push in max? i guess that some people might edit the cage further, but you could add an edit poly on top to further refine. maybe I missed something important:/
I used to find it a bit hard at the beginning because frustration kept pushing me away from work and playing games instead, but I just kept pushing frustration back until it gave up on me :) Start VERY small, don't overwhelm yourself and power through it!