Time to start another folio piece!
Wanted to do something a little different to what i usually do. So i've decided to go with a slightly stylised type of character. After doodling some thumbs and playing about in zbrush i've come to a shape that im pretty happy with.

As far as the sculpting goes, i want to aim for something like this,
Darksiders Weapon sculpt by Orb:


Here's my zsketch and a paint over of where i wanna go with it.

fleshing it out in dynamesh now. Would love to get some crits on silhouette / proportions at this stage please.

what up mate,side profile of the head is a bit weak in comparison to the body. You have a powerful body but i think you need to flesh out the head a bit. have a look at buffalo and antelope skulls, they have fairly thick skulls due to the size of their horns.your dudes horns would never stay attached in that side profile. Just my 2 cents.

Cheers for the fb martin, changed his head up in side view a bit.

More sculpt progress, bevels, bevels everywhere!

hes coming along- I think you're missing out on some fun shape opportunities like the serratus muscles and his belly would be a nice place to addd some shape contrast by softening the shapes there-keep it up!

Yea i'm still unsure as to what i wanna do with the serratus for now, which is why that area is just a flat panel for now. Trying to figure out a nice medium between hard edges and smoothness. I definately want to keep the arm muscles very tight edged and the back muscles, but everwhere else would be nice to have some smooth parts going.

Been looking at some of Josh Singh's work, he pulls that off really nicely:

http://joshsinghblog.blogspot.co.uk/

Alrighty another update, did some changes all over. Need to add in two teeth/tusks to go in the gaps in the lips i've sculpted.

last up for tonight, blocked in his loin cloth + buckle

Cool man! Keep going.

Hey Giles, I like the character you have here. I've seen you posting various characters on the forum, and you obviously have some skill. Your characters have interesting ideas, cool detail, and are technically sound. But I feel like they all lack a bit in the basic form. This is the same problem that I struggle with, and oddly enough it was a paintover that Josh did on a character of mine that really helped me focus in on that problem.

With a little bit of tweaking to the basic form I think you could turn a good character into a great character. Without an appealing basic form all the detail in the world won't help it. Josh's image you posted is a perfect example. Very simple detail, very appealing form. Really study the shapes that make up the characters you like.

Here is a quick paintover I did to highlight some simple area's I think you could push it a bit more.



Anyways, I hope it helps and doesn't come across the wrong way. Your one of the few people consistently posting work and I think with some honest critique you can really push things further. Goodluck!

hey skylebones, thanks a lot for the PO. Really need to consider the form of things more often, its something i overlook every time i do something :/ I like the changes you made to him and i'l get another wip posted up today with them added.

- who let the bots in? *sigh*

edit - who deleted the bots? *wooo*

Added in the shape changes, looks way better to me. Also thinking of giving him some kind of wrist guards/shackles to break up the arm a bit. I'm leaning towards either 1 or 2, not too fond of the chains and i think 4 covers up too much of the arm muscles.

Another up on this, blocked some more stuff in. Think it might be time to start going over everything and detailing/sharpening it all up.

Yeah, your piece has really improved after you listened to skylebones suggestions and the wrist brace is a cool addition.

Personally my only areas of concern is the lower back and that the legs have more detail that the rest of the body. I'd suggest toning them down a bit. As for the lower back I'd smooth out the lower selection and add an arch into the back to add a bit more to the silhouette.

As for your colour selection I cannot fault it. I'm loving it. Keep rockin' on with this one.

Cheers Di$array. The legs are still a complete mess which has been carved in with the damstandard brush - i need to decide what muscles/tendons to keep visable and then bevel/smooth them out like the rest of him. Looking at goat leg anatomy pics right now to try and figure it out.

lol

Well I find the front and side of the thighs to be fine. Its just the lower section. As you pointed out the goat refs should be a major help. Looking forward to the next update.

That's a good update. Love the wrist guards and the colors.

Thanks guys,

Another update. Added some detailing to his belt and a few minor tweaks here and there. Looked at anatomy for a while last night and i can't find any muscles to remove from the bottom of the leg without it making the leg look like it can't function properly. I may have to leave it how it is or just scrap the muscles there completely and have it looking really smooth instead, thoughts?

I like where this is going, very interesting character. Can't wait to see more!

You have all these nice little wrinkles and such on the back of the character and nothing similar on the front. I think you can push the knuckles/fingers a little more. But good progress so far. diggin it.

Alex - thanks man, lots more to come!

Wretchedgoat - Thanks. The hands were heavily WIP still in previous pics, i've gone ahead and added some detail to them now though. Will probably add circular wrinkles to the knee's and give him funny curly nipples to balance the back and front out.

Decided this guy is going to be some kind of magic user. Did a rough paint over to have an idea of what stuff to give him.


And here's the start of his magic book. (hexgram symbol... the demon isn't jewish as my friend thought...)




And a few minor tweaks to him - curly nips!... and knees..

Health and mana potions!


Also did a material test in marmoset. This is how i'm going to achieve a decent realtime glass effect. Obviously theres a bunch of tricks that can be done in UDK but i'd like to keep the rendering side of things in marmoset for this one.

omgomgomgomgomg ogogogogog

Looks awesome, love the polished/hardsurface look on organic models.
I can picture carvings into his horns that are subtle, but enhance his magical look and maybe even add similar designs to his belt and bracers. Just loose suggestions that popped up.

Can't wait to see where you go with this guy!