Final Model: Lil' Goth Girl.


http://207.246.157.76/GothGirl/GothSpin.mp4

Build Info:




Alternate Pose.

Ok I went with the second one. Hope I chose right. Here is a status update. Still unsure with pushing it this "Disney" CG direction if I'm making it too detailed. Especially with the odd proportions of the cartoon.

(The Hair is a stand in fwiw)

I think the basic shapes on this model are going to need to be pushed if you want it to feel like the concept. The Vigg/Mikes suggestion starts to show this by really pushing the silhouette to give her the figure 8/ hoursglass shape present in the concept. The same can be said about the puffy cheeks and whatnot.

If I had to bring my own crit to the table, I would say to lean more towards a stylized approach rather than real. I feel there's a clash between the stylized body and real looking anatomical forms in the face, knees, and hands. But that's just my two cents.

Originally Posted by 3shold

If I had to bring my own crit to the table, I would say to lean more towards a stylized approach rather than real. I feel there's a clash between the stylized body and real looking anatomical forms in the face, knees, and hands. But that's just my two cents.

That'd be my suggestion too.

Is the character supposed to be a child or a little person? If you want her to look younger I'd soften the cheekbones and brow. The arms and legs are also looking quite muscular rather than flabby. It'd help to get yourself some good photo references of what an overweight child or young teen looks like.

Thanks for the feedback. I just don't know how to resolve it... I mean making it cartoonish on purpose. I have never been good at cartoons. I do have reference of fat girls, but I was focused on anatomy before the fat... Which I guess is also not helping with the disconcerting look.

I don't think that really makes a lot of sense and may be the primary reason why you're having so many problems getting a proper feel for this character. I'd suggest you add all of the landmarks the make up the characters appearance and then develop it from there.

In particular I'd suggest taking a look at the way the cheeks are structured - the way the shapes of cheekbones are softened and the naso-labial lines. I think if you can get that right on your sculpt you'll be a lot closer to getting what you're afte.r

One other thing that might help you work is to not use that terrible red wax shader. I usually work with matcap white with the colour switched to something slightly more neutral than the default colour. It gives a good sense of all of the details of your model and makes it far easier to work.

Here is a status update. I want to thank Stoofoo for hitting me on the thread enough to try to exaggerate.

Please tell me what fails or works.. I wanted to clean up the hair next, but if it needs more work before. So be it. Just let me know what you mean.

Hey, that's look much more appealing, Oxynary. Nice work.

Here is my suggestions.

Right now she has this nacho libre look going on.



But I think your aiming for the muffin top look. Drop the belt to hip level. Add some gravity to her rolls.



The location of your pony tails is bothering me because it's like right on top of her head. I'd go with pony tail location #2 it would enhance her silhouette and look more natural. If her poly tail was that high on her head her hair would be hitting her face all day. Cyberlocks are cool looking might consider adding some of that in her hair.

Goth girls don't really wear those kind of shorts, they'll either be short-shorts or pants. Go pleather not spandex if your aiming for that skin tight look.

Black finger nails add to the goth look.

Bar earing could add some visual interest.

i might sound like a broken record here, but its all about anatomy.

what you have right now tells me that the two main issues you have are general facial anatomy knowledge, and understanding of how fat accumulates on top of the anatomy.

after you get those two resolved, you have to exaggerate certain feature to make it stylized. for example, scale the eyes up, make the nose smaller, etc. also the big ears are not really working out.

keep in mind that stylization without solid anatomy never work well. all good stylization artists can also create very realistic models if they needed to.


EDIT


i actually found an old baby head bust that i sculpted a while ago, i tweaked some of the proportions to make it similar example to show you what i am talking about.

you can download a decimated version of the model here:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13288045/chubby_deci.zip
this model is not meant to represent your concept but only to show you how fat work on the face and when stylized.

here is a paintover with shots of the sample model:


some of the areas of focus:

concept. although you are working off of a concept it is ok to improve on it specially if the concept has some issues to begin with. for example, the ears on the concept are too big. unless she is supposed to be some sort of elf, the big ears dont work.

fat accumulation. right now you just scaled up certain areas without actually bulging it outward. for example, the crease that follows down the corner of the lips is too wide in your model. that would not happen when fat is pushing out from all around. she also appears to have a double chin which should work nicely to make her look fat.

curves. you need to make the silhouette more spherical in local areas. for example, think of the cheeks as a skin over a sphere shape pushing out from inside. same for the chin.

lips. when dealing with a chubby face like this the lips would rarely push out like that. only the edges of the lips should be prominent. right now it feels like her entire teeth set is pushing out her lips.

Thanks all, I should have posted this initially.



AlphaMeow, I would have to break from the characters layout a great amount to do what you ask. I thought she was wearing spandex but if you say that's in-appropriate. I will reference more to see if I can make it more apparent its pleather instead then. I assume most of that would be texture/spec though? If you have any suggestions on the mid detail of the hair I would love it, as that has been the most frustrating. Trying to model it looking less like sculpted hair versus cartoon/cg has been an uphill battle as to when its too much or not enough simplicity. Like, Do I need tighter bangs in the ponytails to match the main hair? Or are the larger shapes ok for it? (FWIW There was another character thats silhouette would have been like your showing, so having them both having that going on would seem to go against the idea of outline distinction.)

MM, My problem original was I was trying to do anatomy. Basically I was told with a cartoon character to throw it out the window and exaggerate or smooth it. I did have a roll at one point and was told by stoofoo it subtracted from the characters look even though the layout shows one. She didn't look cute nor like a kid anymore. HOWEVER! I appreciate your comment and will see if I can tweak a few things like the lips as you suggest without going too far from concept.

The ears may not work but that is the concept, the concern here is referencing the concept versus anatomy. I agree with your principle though, and I would have done such normally. But in this case, I'm not the stylization artist, I'm just the modeler.

I mean in comparison, at least the ears aren't like this.

Wanting to get any more opinions before I go into the finer details for clothing and such before calling the sculpt done and making the low poly. Any areas that don't work? Are eyes too close? Does having the spiked armband separate from the fishnet glove work or fail?

Anything that bugs ya with this "cartoon" kid?

Incorporated some of the suggestion of MM and AlphaMeow.

Actually, those ears from Jimmy Neutron are more anatomically correct than your ears are.

Okay, I'll add the conch and such.

Latest. Probably not as easy to see compared to last.


Ok I think I'm getting close to calling this done and moving unto the low poly. I am having some issues with folds. I can't figure out whats a good compromise for a stylized cartoon character and cloth. I see examples all over the place Where is the cut off of fold detail, or at least from what you see above where would you cut off?

Also does she look cute? With her makeup on I get comments shes kinda scary looking, but without and the above, does she read as a fat cute sassy little girl?

Hey all

Here is the latest.



I'm still working out the hair, so its not shaded at all yet. Any tips? Amy areas you would especially like to see improved at this point (sorry for the size, didn't realize it was so low rez).

Any last minute suggestions welcome.

So the shoutouts I need to give are.
Joe Pikop
Bart Wiltenburg
Charles III (mrhobo)
Erik Chadwick
Earthquake.