Gothic Knight

[Marshal Banana]

I've started putting armor on that mesh that I made earlier. The design of the armor is inspired by Guts' Berserker armor from Berserk. Just the arms right now. The base mesh is 2078 polygons, the armor is 1484, and the total is 3786.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l43/Marshal_banana/gothknight1.jpg
critiques or comments?

[Heart Murmer]

Does he have feet?

Also the side profile is really static and linear, try and make it more dynamic. I scanned bridgeman's side profile of the human body for ya. Disregard his arm, I wouldn't model it like that. Also it doesn't have to be that dramatic, just don't make his body go straight down. Hope this helps.

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc187/Heart_Murmur/bridgeman.jpg

[Marshal Banana]

Thanks for that, Murmer. It's just a bit more dynamic, now.
The armor is now 3346 polygons, 5424 total.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l43/Marshal_banana/gothknight3.jpg
Something about him is bugging me, but I just can't place my finger on it. Any ideas?

[Baddcog]

He's really static/straight up and down still. Looks like he'd got a 2x4 up his spine.

[Marshal Banana]

I think I got it now:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l43/Marshal_banana/dynamesh.jpg

[Marshal Banana]

Now I'm done with the armor. It is 4150 polygons, 6228 total.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l43/Marshal_banana/gothknight4.jpg
Any critiques or comments on the design before I continue?

[Marshal Banana]

Here's his weapon
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l43/Marshal_banana/gothknight6.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l43/Marshal_banana/Grossemesser.jpg
Any critiques, comments, ideas, suggestions... anything? Come on, I'm beginning to feel a little ignored.

[JZak]

Hey Marshal Banana,

Your character looks as though you don't have any smoothing groups applied to it. That's why you're getting that harsh polygonal look to it. More importantly, I would do a search on the polycount boards on how to build a low poly character and start off with a better structure to your mesh. You have way too much polys than you need. Keep researching and practicing, you'll get it.

[artstream]

I wish I could do a paint over, but I'm away from my work station right now. But I'll try to help as much as I can with words.
He doesn't have a distinctive silhouette....Right now he looks pretty flat (this is before the armor mind you) and he doesn't have much definition. Alot of your poly flow is very linear, which isn't good for organic characters. Move some verts down on his torso and legs. His shoulders are too far back and his stomach too far forward, like he's arching his back. His head has a odd shape to it, especially in the side view. The top and sides of his head are way too flat. In the side view, he also doesn't have a neck--it goes right from chin to chest. Overall, this character has a very mechanical look to him from the poly flow and his flat silhouette. The armor makes it look a little bit better, but it still reads mechanical and less organic.

Couple of other things. Are you going to be animating this? If so, you need to fix alot of things about the joints. There aren't enough edge loops for proper deformation. Also, this character bears strong resemblance to the Judges from Final Fantasy 12....if you were using that as reference, make sure you give it credit. If you weren't,then check it out---it might help you go in the right direction. Keep up the work though---don't quit now.

[HonkyPunch]

Some serious posture there

[Marshal Banana]

JZak - I have the mesh set to that to prevent unsightly rendering errors that my program loves to display. What particular areas are in need of polygon reduction?

kaoticvisions - I still need to get him more organic, but I worked on it a bit. But does a basemesh really need to be very interesting? Thanks for the information on the Judges, they look very interesting.

Jimmies - what?

Made the pose less dynamic, added more edge loops in the elbows as per ancient-pig's basic deformation tutorial. I also added a face.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l43/Marshal_banana/basemesh5.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l43/Marshal_banana/baseface.jpg
I need some help with the polyflow of the neck and jaw, though. I don't think it's very good right now.

[artstream]

Looking better....what you will want to do though is move the vertices to follow the flow of the body. Example would be his back vertices---they could be moved down, and probably forward a bit more to give the crevice created from the shoulder blades. The verts could also be pulled back in his head to give a more round feel---it still reads as flat. You'll still need more edge loops around his pelvis for deformation. Back to the armor, since his cape is flowy, the verts should be flowy too---it's too linear.

And as for the basemesh being interesting.....it doesn't have to be (in theory), but the things you can learn from proper modeling will make it worth the extra time you put into it. Keep it up though.

[Legion]

A cool addition would be sort of a more royal or ceremonial look to him if you will, such as a tabard or other hanging pieces of cloth, just a suggestion. Good work so far, I will keep my eye on it.

[Marshal Banana]

Trying a version with less armor. The clipping will be fixed later.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l43/Marshal_banana/knight-1.jpg

[Marshal Banana]

Another version. I suppose he's not really a knight anymore.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l43/Marshal_banana/warrior4.jpg
I think there's something wrong with him on the side view, but I don't know what. Also, I wanted to add some asymmetry by removing one of the pauldrons and giving him a cape that hangs over the un-armored shoulder, but I don't know how to go about doing it.

[cholden]

Yes, there's something wron giwth the side view, and the front/back as well. I don't know where you get your proportions from, but reference, reference, reference!

He had a giant head and is a skeleton under those clothes. Remember, even if your character isn't that big of a dude, he's wearing a few layers of thick clothing AND armor. This stuff isn't painted on his skin it's layers on top of that.

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/411/warrio2gy4.jpg

And yes, all my character paintovers look like Telekinetic Frog.

[Marshal Banana]

Alright, so he needs to be bulkier?
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l43/Marshal_banana/warrior5.jpg
Which makes him look like the type to weild a really big axe
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l43/Marshal_banana/warrior6.jpg

[Marshal Banana]

Gave him some hair
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l43/Marshal_banana/warrior7.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l43/Marshal_banana/warrior9.jpg

[Marshal Banana]

Added a girdle
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l43/Marshal_banana/warrior12.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l43/Marshal_banana/warrior11.jpg
Should I give him some asymmetry?

[Marshal Banana]

Applied base textures to the body. I haven't started on the head yet.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l43/Marshal_banana/textures1.jpg
Anyone have anything to say about him so far?

[almighty_gir]

focus your edgeloops on the head, why do they end so suddenly and move into a grid? it really throws off what could be a good model.

you also need to look at a lot of your proportions, the head compared to the rest of the body, the legs are too thin, the forearms look too long because of where the gloves end (past the elbow). etc.

[Marshal Banana]

Shortened the arms, scaled down the head. I think the legs are fine as they are.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l43/Marshal_banana/mbwarrior1.jpg

Do the textures read as what they're labeled as in this picture?
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l43/Marshal_banana/warrior2.jpg

Gir, could you be more specific? What area of the head are you talking about? How should the edgeloops go?

[Dude]

The cloth texture wouldn't have that much weave detail for that distance unless it was really heavy weave. Even so, try scaling up the UV's or blurring the cloth texture a tad. Also highlights and shadows on your textures would add alot of life to them.

[Marshal Banana]

I reduced the size of the fabric weave, and added some details.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l43/Marshal_banana/mbwarrior3.jpg
Did I do alright on the metal?