dominance war II - Dave_Hingley

[Dave_Hingley]

reserving my spot here. concepting....

[Dave_Hingley]

got a rough concept done... going to refine the armour as i build:

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/2605/shadowconceptsk0.th.jpg (http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=shadowconceptsk0.jpg)

might make a sniper rifle for him too

thoughts? comments?

[MoP]

Hmm, nice to see a concept up so early, but I'd try spending longer on the design phase - his armour is very basic and bland, as is the face design. There's nothing really that suggests an advanced or skilful assassin, it seems like a generic alien in bog-standard futuristic trooper armour.

Check out some interesting reference, maybe dig around on the internet or in a library for some pictures of historical armour, or examine other concept artists' works for inspiration.
There's a lot more you could be doing with the design here, and I think it's usually a good idea to get a solid set of shapes laid down on paper before you get to the modelling stage, otherwise you might find yourself reaching a block in the process.

Nice to have another guy on our (winning!) side though, keep up the good work! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[gauss]

hi there Dave, welcome to the big green. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

i'm going to echo MoP's sentiments, in addition to something i've been telling a lot of people today: sketch and thumbnail early and often, and try to avoid your first inclination when executing any idea. if you're drawing armor, the first thing that you'll think of is probably very close to the same sort of thing most everybody else is thinking of when they draw armor. that's why MoP is advocating looking up good reference--it breaks you out of drawing from the same old sources, repeating the same kind of formulaic or just generic design responses.
but don't worry--unlike a lot of modelers here, you look pretty confident with a pencil, so use it to your advantage. take your time, don't get married to your first idea, and explore your options. your entry will be all the better for the added consideration.

[Dave_Hingley]

thanks for the ideas guys will do some more reconcepting /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Dave_Hingley]

Thanks for the crits found it really useful.
so i went back and made some thumbnails.
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/2770/shadowthumbs1bg4.th.jpg (http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=shadowthumbs1bg4.jpg)
I started with various different head designs. I wanted to do something that emphasisied the temporal ridges as I think that a character with pronounced temporal ridges can look sinister
after trying a few ideas i found an image on my hard drive of some shells that i thought would make cool looking heads.

the head looked ok but it looked a little cute so i decided to change the porportions a bit.

the armour was thumbnailed over a couple of days trying out various combinations untill i had something i liked. i drew up a new version of my shadow with altered porportions:
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/8513/shadowthumbs2cs6.th.jpg (http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=shadowthumbs2cs6.jpg)

I was toying with the idea of spikes of bone that could shoot out of the wrist and the spike idea was used in the armour design.. but other people on the board have had similar ideas so not wanting to steal their thunder i altered the deign of the armour and added some new elements:
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/9098/shadowthumbs3ze0.th.jpg (http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=shadowthumbs3ze0.jpg)

Whilst drawing the shadow i began to think that a 5 fingered hand would not look so good so i am thinking of a 2 fingered hand ( 3 looks too cartoony) also was thinking of the legs... either a human leg in a boot or reverse knees with 2 or 3 toes like a raptor.

any thoughts? crits?

cheers

[buddy the designer]

Welcome to polycount, here's illustration of what Mop&Gauss said:

http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/6397/060202ix8.jpg

[gauss]

hey there dave! glad to see more drawings up. these are definitely an improvement, but you still need to keep yourself looser at this stage, don't bother with doing detailed close-ups of hands or what have you when you still need to decide larger issues. you might read what i posted in indian boy's thread, since i've told him much of what i'd probably say to you:
http://boards.polycount.net/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=179570&an=0&page=0#Post1 82191
i also recommend that quick thumbnailing exercise to you.

[Dave_Hingley]

ok took your advice and did loads of 1 minute thumbnails:
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/8725/shadowthumbs4ju0.th.jpg (http://img153.imageshack.us/my.php?image=shadowthumbs4ju0.jpg)

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/4733/shadowthumbs5mh4.th.jpg (http://img169.imageshack.us/my.php?image=shadowthumbs5mh4.jpg)

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/5008/shadowthumbs6vt0.th.jpg (http://img169.imageshack.us/my.php?image=shadowthumbs6vt0.jpg)


i found it pretty helpful. thanks gaus, there are some thumbs in there i think can definately be worked up into something thats cool

[Dave_Hingley]

based on the thumbnails i came up with these characters:

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/6972/shadowconcept2kd7.th.jpg (http://img300.imageshack.us/my.php?image=shadowconcept2kd7.jpg)

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/1782/shadowconcept3vt6.th.jpg (http://img300.imageshack.us/my.php?image=shadowconcept3vt6.jpg)

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/5780/s1030090gb7.th.jpg (http://img300.imageshack.us/my.php?image=s1030090gb7.jpg)

but i really like this character and will do this :

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/2604/shadowconcept5jq4.th.jpg (http://img300.imageshack.us/my.php?image=shadowconcept5jq4.jpg)

quite different from my original concept
/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[gauss]

good work dave! glad you took the time to develop through some different ideas. i think you're in a much, much better position overall now that you've taken care to iterate a little, so with maybe a few tweaks i think it's about time to get to modeling, eh? keep us updated!

[Dave_Hingley]

been building the basic form.
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/8236/model1wz1.th.jpg (http://img187.imageshack.us/my.php?image=model1wz1.jpg)
plan on using mudbox to make a bunch of normal maps. there are a few issues to be fixed: the back of the leg and neck needs looking at. but in the whole i am quite happy the way this is turning out.