2D-UT character design

[Ninjas]

I don't know if anyone remembers me (I certainly remember a lot of you). I haven't posted much in the last 3 years, but I finally finished school (BS in econ) and got married. Now I am focusing on my art and have regular work doing freelance. One of the reasons that I haven't posted in so long is that I got so frustrated with the quality of my work that I thought I needed to take some time to improve. I remember once that I got so mad because nobody would post to my thread (good or bad comments) that I kind of went off. Bobo finally responded to a thread of mine to tell me that my work simply wasn't that good. Of course he was right. I still don't know if my work is any good, but I am pretty happy with this piece. I wanted to do a nice, detailed design so that I could make a normal map from it (mostly because I want to try out some of the normal map tools, maybe even zbrush if I can get a little more money together). I was reading Ror's thread that epic is looking for people, and while I'm stuck in Norman OK for the next couple years, I was inspired to do a UT design. Here it is. Comments welcome.

http://members.aol.com/wizzox/design2.jpg
Old Version (http://members.aol.com/wizzox/design1.jpg)

[Thegodzero]

Very nice work! The skin is a bit off and the angles of the body dont work out too well, but other all the peice is great. Id work on your skin painting one this guy but otherwise it a nice design. Good work.

[shotgun]

it really looks like you are seeing things in 3d.. which is remarkable. you are on the right track, i think, dont worry.. believe in yourself a little more /images/graemlins/smile.gif

and keep drawing.
pay attention to consistancy of perspective. like a finger on the pulse, its important to expand from the last "known" thing you have drawn in perspective, dont lose yourself on a single subjec (like the far shoe).

you should first sort out the angle of ground plane. you see, untypical with the rest of the drawing the bottom of the boots is sketchy... you didnt figuer it out. nail it dude, get to the bottom of it (har har) and youll automatically get your ground plane. its off because the last "known" thing was off..

on a different angle, since its a very a-symentical design, i think its hard to tell how things would look on the other side eh?

ye but anyways good job. keep drawing and post wtf are you scared of.. virtual ego?

[Weiser_Cain]

Not that I'm one to talk on any of this but I see some weird things going on in the anatomy and while I like parts of the design and the rendering there's a lack of 'pop' in the fella. He looks a little bored and despite the detail a little plain.
Keep trying and feel free to knock my next character design.

[Toomas]

Nice work.

Just some things i dont like: hes face is calm yet hes left hand is very nervous and the way the gun is placed in hes hand looks little odd (maybe because the grip is too thin or not aligned properly).

[Jeremy Lindstrom]

just as others have said, good stuff..

One thing that strikes me is the oxygen portion on his chest, It looks as if you wanted that in the center of his chest but it's actually right 3/4 of his chest instead of being centered, if this was what you were attempting it's spot on, although the mask should of been on the side as well.

Also the left hand looks huge for some reason, and the his right foot looks as if it needs to be stretched about 1/2 inch lower..and most people aren't used to seeing someone grip a gun with all 5 fingers, he has the trigger pulled on the pic making a fist with a gun in his hand... /images/graemlins/ooo.gif Normally, your trigger finger would never be that closed into a fist, usually use your tip of your finger to pull trigger but you have yours pulled inward into his palm.
Just remember, what they say about opinions.. /images/graemlins/smile.gif but great stuff! Looks great!

[Ninjas]

Thanks for all the great comments guys! I think they are all spot on. I struggled with trying to make the breastplate look centered and couldn't quite get it.
I especially appreciate the comments about the hands. Next time, I guess.
The good things is that while I definetly want to improve as a 2D artist, you guys seem to like the design, and most of the issues you'll have mentioned will be resolved in the 3d version automatically.
I think I like this piece enough to rework it one more time.

[poopinmymouth]

Looks good man. Like shotgun, I can see you are really thinking in 3d, which is good for resolving a desing that will be modeled.

I'm digging your color choices as well. His outfit design is pretty interesting as well. I could see him plug into UT fairly easily.

I agree with shotgun about the perspective issues. While he seems cohesive on the other fronts, (color, design, volume) the perspective problems are what's holding him back.

Good work man. I think you were before my time, but I hope you stick around this time!

[Kevin Johnstone]

Cool beans dude!

I dont know you, I dont remember you but I'll remember this concept and watch out for the model.

The boots kick arse and theres some good 3d, as long as you remember to flesh out some of the plainer areas and maintain focus on the medium details when normal mapping this sucker it's going to be one of the better designs we'll have seen around here for a while!

You ought to aim around 6-7k for the low poly.


Oh and the face is really generic and weak, why not consider some cool goggle type strap on with needless cool doohickeys that mirror the design motif of the boots, knee pads and chest piece and so on.

I think, when it comes to design, if you can come up with one cool thing, then repeat that motif in variation on the other areas, then you have a winner everytime.

Oh and again on the face, give the guy some attitude, he's got that Generation Y teenager expression of neither high nor low.

Looking forward to seeing how this one pans out.

r.

[peanut™]

Why do you even need people's opinion regarding your art.

[Kevin Johnstone]

peanut: usually fresh eyes help spot what we can no longer notice ourselves after staring at our work for too long.

Others opinions, if they are solid, are the best way to progress, more quickly.

r.

[peanut™]

True, true Rorsh.

What i was saying is the way this was phrased: good - bad comments make me feel bad so this is sad and i'll never post my art because Bobo himself didnt reply more than 2 lines.

I mean you basicly have more drawing skill than i'll ever dream of owning, im scared because its true. The concept if pushed a little could be on a game cover, whatever that means. Good work man you certainly don't need any of my critics, a little more confidence in yourself at most.

[Ninjas]

To be honest, that was three years ago. I was living in my parents basement, going to community college and working phone support. It wasn't a very happy time for me and I was hoping people would fawn over my crappy art so I could feel good about myself. I have done a lot of growing up since then. To answer your question Peanut, I don't have the same emotional 'need', but I still want to put together top notch work.
I think everybody had good comments for this piece, and I think it is ready for the portfolio now. I honestly just didn't see the problems before, but the changes make it much better. Thanks eveybody!
I didn't have a character in mind for the original picture, I was thinking 'blue team'. Now I am doing some portraits and thinking of some funny/cool character bios. I'll post 'em up later when I get a chance. I have too much work to do right now.

[Ninjas]

I got bogged down with some surprise work, so I didn't get these done until today.

I really liked the character bios from the original UT and decided to come up some of my own. I'll probably model one of these guy's faces for the 3D model. Let me know what y'all think.

http://members.aol.com/wizzox/johnny.jpg
Johnny Lanternjaw:

Johnny grew up in a small and very religious town on the agro-planet of New Oklahoma. Naturally handsome and a gifted athlete, Johnny was the star quarterback for his hometown high school football team. All the girls wanted to be with him, all the guys wanted to be him. He was on top of the world until a few lapses in judgement brought this world crashing down. Now Johnny could write a book called 'How To Ruin Your Life' and it would read like this.

Step one: When your dealer of performance enhancing drugs offers you a sample of methanphetmine, say 'yes'. Then habitually 'experiment' with meth at least 3 times a week thereafter.

Step two: When your high school sweetheart girlfriend passes out at her first 'alcohol party', rape her.

Step three: When your high school sweetheart girlfriend reveals that she is pregnant and refuses to get an abortion, indulge your quick temper and beat her and your unborn baby to death.

By following these 3 simple rules, Johnny landed himself in a Liandri Corp. managed maximum security prison. After a number of prison fights ended with only Johnny standing amongst pooled blood and ruined human beings, the prison managers began to take notice. It wasn't long after that that a deal was struck with the governor of New Oklahoma with the result being that if Johnny could fight his way through the Tournament and win, he would be a free man.

Since then, Johnny's trainers have turned his weaknesses into his strengths. His meth addiction was the perfect tool in motivating Johnny for his intense training and his hair trigger temper has been fine tuned for his tournament matches. Johnny looks forward to his freedom, saying "since God absolved me my sins, all I gots to do is win this tournament, and I'll be free and clear". When asked what he'll do if he wins, he responded "Well, I guess I want to go back home and settle down, find me a wife. I always just wanted to play football."

http://members.aol.com/wizzox/rico.jpg
Rico Suave

From the Dallas-Houston Metroplex of United North America (UNA), Rico was born to a single mother. She was trying to make ends meet by working in a maquiladora on products bound for China. Their home, along with 75,000 others, was in an abandoned government housing project. Eight 100 floor towers clustered around a park. The park was dominated by shanty shops, but there was one area nobody dared to touch; the soccer field.

Rico liked to play soccer, but what he liked even more was the soccer gear. Rico needed the best shoes, the finest logo covered, celebrity endorsed clothing. Like any good mother would, Mama Suave picked up the slack to give her child the best. She worked extra shifts at the factory while, she believed, Rico was at school. In reality, Rico had discovered on his own that the real education he needed could only be found in the streets. Rico and his childhood friends eventually joined a local gang and after completing the gang initiation of cutting off and bringing back the face of any random person, Rico didn't even wince when they tattooed the bottom of his tongue with their name, 'Vatos Locos'.

Rico rose through the ranks of the Vatos Locos and saw his childhood friends die one by one living the gang life, but Rico knew he was tougher than they were. The turning point came when his dear mother was crushed in a factory accident. She had been working 20 hours without a break and simply fell into a packaging machine. With nothing left to keep him in Dallas-Houston, and used to risking his life every day, Rico decided to try out for the Tournament.

As one of the brightest up-and-comers the Tournament has ever seen, Rico now has launched his own 'Viva Rico' line of sports clothing and accessories (now available at MasMart). When asked how it felt now that it was his name on one of the best selling shoes on the market, all he had to say was "Good". Rico looks forward to continuing has early successes and to being a strong roll-model for young kids still trying to get out of the inner city.

http://members.aol.com/wizzox/samson.jpg
Samson

It's hard to believe now, but just three years ago Samson was just another homeless person trying to drink himself to death. Nobody knows what his real name was. What we do know is that when offered the opportunity to sell himself to Liandri medical R&D he had only two requirements. First, they had to agree not to kill him on purpose, and secondly, that he was to receive a lifetime supply of his favorite beverage, Econico brand FreshMountain mouthwash.

Liandri Medical R&D was interested in stress testing their new military prosthetics. Originally Samson was fitted with only a bionic arm and sent to fight in the lower Tournament ranks. Due to his comparatively advanced age, and the irreversible neurological damage caused by too much alcohol, Samson predictably failed match after match, but each time his hideous wounds were expertly repaired by Liandri doctors and the parts of his body mutilated beyond recovery were replaced with cybernetics. That is when a funny thing happened. Samson started to win.

Samson's name comes from an incident that occurred after his first couple of Tournament wins. His incredible story was picked up by local news stations, and with so much exposure, the marketing department at Liandri ordered that he receive a much needed shave and haircut. Much of Samson's neck and head had already been destroyed and replaced, and he no longer retained the faculty of speech. Unable to protest in any other way, when the famous LA hairstylist arrived and started trimming his dreadlocked mat of hair, he reached up and crushed her head like a rotten tomato with his robot claw. Nobody has tried to give him a haircut since, and the fans say that is where strength comes from, just like the biblical Samson.

Even with most of his brain destroyed, and little or no cognitive skills beyond fighting, Samson still hasn't forgotten his favorite activity . Now he's living it up, and with his new bionic organs and artificially accelerated metabolism, he typically drink between 4 and 5 gallons of mouthwash each day.

[Ninjas]

I feel like a 'tard replying to my self twice in a row, but here is the story.

I was thinking about how damn hard it was going to be to model the original concept, and how long it had been since I did any low poly, So I decided to do this as a warm up. Get used to the tools etc. I saw a posting on the job boards of some guys doing an indie game, and figured I would do a version of their fairly generic main character to see if I can snag some work for next month.

http://members.aol.com/wizzox/Rabbit/rabbit1.jpg
One spot with raytraced shadows, One spot no shadow
2100 tris, normal mapped. No ZBrush yet. Just Max. PS and the Nvidia plugin

The seams need fixing, the back isn't finished and I still need to rig it, but I'll probably have that done no later than this weekend.

http://members.aol.com/wizzox/Rabbit/rabbit1wire.jpg

Wire

http://members.aol.com/wizzox/Rabbit/hat.jpg

I'm going to be doing some equipment also. Backpack, Feet wraps, belt, sword, etc. Aren't they ADORABLE! Anyway, comments on which on of these is best are very welcome. I'll probably do some more designs for the helmet before I decide on one.

[gauss]

good stuff. those character bios are frankly more than a little unseemly, but the bunny fellow definitely merits development. something to consider, though: would a bunny soldier enclose his ears in metal? many animals can swivel their ears to locate sounds (talk about positional audio!), so this guy would be giving up significant battlefield awareness if his ears wer completely enclosed. aesthetically, you might still keep a metal backing or clip on the ears, or maybe some sort of cowling for them, but enclosing them isn't the best solution. love the paint studies, keep posting more concepts of this guy's gear /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Ninjas]

The bios, well... Everything I have read about writing says, "go with what you know". After working at Wal-Mart here in small college town Oklahoma I could tell you real stories about people I know just as unseemly as those bios.
I've also become interested with the way the media will present awful, immoral people in a non-judgemental way.
Having reflected on it I don't think I would want to play as one of those characters. I think they would make great opponents though. I've come to dislike the shoulder pads on the original design also, so I think I'll end up doing one final version of it with them fixed.

More Bunny Helmets!

http://members.aol.com/wizzox/Rabbit/hat2.jpg
http://members.aol.com/wizzox/Rabbit/hat3.jpg

[FunkaDelicDass]

Cool stuff man. I like the variety of designs you're coming up with for armor and such. Nice to see someone taking their time exploring design.

[Sectaurs]

Hey. Really liking the new designs of the helmet.

[gauss]

ninjas: i agree, there is a lot of glossing over of unseemly characters. if you indeed do intend to make those character bios unsympathetic, then you've certainly succeeded at that.

and nice work on the continuing bunny studies! the amended helmet designs are as interesting as i hoped they would be. i'm a big fan of the second group, the way the metal fans out around the ears. decorative, but functional. it's considering the little things that makes a design really shine /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Faucet]

Totally awesome work!

I dig the bunnies! Well thought out and executed!

[Ninjas]

Thanks guys for all the encouragement!

I have to admit, I'm starting to get just a little worn out on bunny helmets. Here is the refined version. These are the final design drawings before I model. I'm also going to make removable jackalope horns for the helmet.

http://members.aol.com/wizzox/Rabbit/hat4.jpg

Here is a spin of the rigged bunny. There are a lot of things I would fix if it weren't for the fact that this is just practice. I am actually pretty happy with the rig.

Bunny Spin (2.6 mb) (http://members.aol.com/wizzox/Rabbit/spin.mov)

Sorry about this thread being so image intensive. when I get the chance, I'll go back and put in thumbnails for all the images.

Real work might get in the way of updating the bunny for the next few days.

[Sectaurs]

these helmets look nice, but my favorites are still the second set you posted.

[Ninjas]

I started on this guy yesterday morning. I trying to see how long it would take me to do a failry simple normal mapped character using my current techniques.

http://www.gnomesend.com/secret/renderComp.jpg