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Busts sculpts for boardgame pieces

UPDATE OVERVIEW TIL JAN-22-2014:
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Hi there!

This year I want to focus a bit more on my sculpting skills, I get the shapes correct mostly but aint that fast or detailed yet.

So being a fan of the boardgame legacy: testament of duke the grecy. I thought doing busts for all the player characters to then 3d print and use a pieces in the game.

Starting with the males... this is the artwork from the game:

legacy_duke_de_crecy_males.png

and my concept pawn:
bust_concept.png


And this is the first character after about 2 hrs, building the base and sculpting
male_wood_2hrs.png

I am using sculptris for this as that is a free tool I can use anytime anywhere out of my dropbox.

Any crits, tips/tricks and comments would be most welcome!

Replies

  • Stirls
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    Stirls polycounter lvl 8
    Hey! So I'm not sure if you can alter subdivision levels in sculptris, or whether you're stuck with a really high level of polygons. If you can make it a lower resolution, you will be benefitted greatly.

    If you start at a high level of subdivisions, you're left with a very.. blobby character. It's also harder to sculpt definitions this way.

    Now if you haven't already, I suggest having a look at some (in the least) basic anatomy. Draw your attention to the form of a skull and the facial muscles, and the limits to these muscles. One image I found so incredibly useful was this one of a head with all of the "extremeties" blocked out. If I find it, I'll upload a pic for you to see.

    One image will be difficult for you to draw reference from. Try and get some other angles or find images of people who look similar. This will make everything a whole lot easier. For example, the problem with the model you've developed is that he's lacking some depth. The eyes are forward when if you look at the ref, they should be pushed in a bit more to sit evenly behind the nose.

    Once your anatomy is down, you can start stylizing. The first and third character seem to have a very nice hard-edge aesthetic to them, which would come out so well in a 3D print.

    Good luck, friend! Looking forwards to watching your progress.
  • matsman
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    Hey Stirls thanks for the crits!

    Sculptris adds detail on the fly... so subdivision is a bit harder to control. So I have reduced as much as I dared to and will build from there a bit later in the day.

    Will grab some photoref when possible as well. Should have done that earlier. In the 3d sculpt... he looks somehow more slavic then I initially thought based on the image... so will look for that.

    Thanks!

    PS did you meant this image... (just found it when looking through google)
    male-planes-head_1.jpg
  • matsman
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    I started completely fresh to get a better anatomy going... also updated my ref with some viggo mortesen... he has those cheeklines and the chin... and the nose... more or less... anybody know a better celebrity for this one or the others??

    new ref_sheet:
    male_wood_ref.png

    and new start after 30 min:
    male_wood2_30min.png

    And another lunchbreak about 40 min.
    male_wood2_110min.png
  • Stirls
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    Stirls polycounter lvl 8
    It's much less blobby now. Nice work. However, the eyes are far too sunken in. The man in the reference isn't nearly as gaunt, I'd think.
  • matsman
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    Aaaand another lunchbreak in...

    I went directly for the eyes this time... and then moved around the face fixing proportions and lines. Put a bit of Anotonio Banderas in too... since someone here commented the guy in the art was spanish looking. And Antonio also has the somewhat angular face that fits and got a lot less gaudy the last few years.

    male_wood2_170min.png

    At the moment I think it is time for some mustache and hair... to see how well the proportions match... I think the distance between tip of the nose and the eyes is to big... but perhaps the missing hair throws me off.

    Any tips on getting a better likeness are appreciated.

    The blobbyness came from use a brush that was to small with a too low polygon count... I fixed that mostly by using a bigger brush size with more polygons in the beginning and setting dynamesh to off.
  • matsman
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    male_wood2_220min.png

    So I did another pass this weekend... still no more than an hour.
    It is still needing the mustache and some shuffling around with proportions... the head needs to be a bit wider, the chin a bit more forward and up (I think)

    And then I will do another pass fixing stuff and trying to get a little more angular style going...
  • matsman
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    few fixes and added the mustache... only had about 20 min... stuff came up... DURING LUNCH!! grmble grrr grmbl...

    male_wood2_250min.png
  • Joker_47
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    Joker_47 polycounter lvl 6
    Nice to see what with each post you making better results. Well but i think what this...
    matsman wrote: »
    male_wood2_220min.png

    ...was better than your last fixes (no offense :( ) probably it's all because of material, but i think it's because you smoothed his cheks when you created moustaches. Also i recommend to create hair and moustaches as separate model/object (if its possible in your application)
  • matsman
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    new update... he is starting to look like freddy mercury now... perhaps it is the mustache or perhaps a little more muscle definition needs to be added.
    male_wood2_280min.png

    Thanks Joker!
    that update was done from home... I have a little bit more in shaders and brush alpha's to work with there... However I hear you and added a little sharper angles back.

    Problem is you lose a little of that definition when you move stuff around. But shape of the head is really good I think... so probably will tackle the hair and then up the detail tomorrow.

    Separate hair and mustache is something I thought about... but I have two reasons for not doing it:
    1. Working with multiple objects in sculptris is not that great because I can't really lock or freeze something... because object selection happens with the sculpting tools.
    2. As this is going to be 3d printed, I have to worry about wall thickness and detail level. This way I am certain it is a consistend 3d printable surface... without having to worry about intersecting and small detail that has to be self supporting in the end.
  • matsman
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    male_wood2_320min.png

    And another update... more small tweaks to the face... also started on the clothing... a bit... he totally looks like a 60's movie character with that turtleneck

    next update I am going to up the detail... it is really bugging me now in places.
  • matsman
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    Had no possibility of actually working on this during breaks last few days... so here is the update!
    male_wood2_380min.png

    it was mostly mustache, neck fixes, some small tweaking, removing eyes (they became part of the brush somehow), moved the forehead forward a bit... that kind of stuff

    and since I had to move to max in order to remove the eyes, I did a quick preview render:
    bust_preview.png
  • matsman
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    new Update! Added eyebrows and more tweaks

    male_wood2_410min.png
  • matsman
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    So... I removed the symmetry and am working on the hair... still a bit struggling... I have really no good idea on what to do on the back of the head... but we'll see when we come to that.

    male_wood2_450min.png
  • matsman
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    Aaaand another update... changes aren't that visible... added a clasp, made the sash and worked more on the hair. Details are a bitch... can't wait to finish this and move on to the next.
    male_wood2_510min.png
  • matsman
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    So after a little while no updates... here is the start of the second head :) I really need to elongate the face a bit...
    male_black_3hrs.png
  • matsman
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    next update, face was more or less spot on, just needed to be looking down a bit more... :D jeah!
    male_black_4hrs.png
  • Prism
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    Good improvements, The hard angles make it a lot better. I do think you need to look more at the depth of the face. And the balance between soft/hard. In some places they are too soft like the chin, while the cut off from front to side is quite hard compared to the chin. If you make the style on those closer to each other i think that would pull it together.

    I think you can also check the depth of the faces, The eyeballs could go deeper into the face/eyesocket, the space from eyebrow to eye seems a bit shallow. I hope that helps.
  • matsman
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    Thanks Prism... I moved the eyes a bit backward and it is looking a lot better now... still need to work a bit more on the eyes.
    Do you think that is a thing with the first head as well? Because it could be a thing I get wrong more often. I have noticed that as well when I am just polymodelling.

    male_black_5half_hrs.png
    I did also lengthen the chin a little and did a bit of resculpting the clothing... and added the mustache, but that is obvious. It's starting to look right though!

    Points of action are getting some good ref for the frills, jacket style and tie as to get the right sort of folds there.
  • Ruz
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    Ruz polycount lvl 666
    showing some good improvement , last one is looking quite nice
  • matsman
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    Thanks Ruz!
    I still have some to do and then possibly the female variants :) so I expect to improve more.
    Any wisdom to share on getting even better? or faster?
  • matsman
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    another small update...
    male_black_6hrs.png
    found some pictures for applicable 17th century clothing... so it is clear what to do with the coat and neckpiece now! jeah!
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