Realistic Link (Legend of Zelda fanart - WIP)
polycounter lvl 6
Final Result:
In this thread I am planning on making a game ready character based on Link from the Legend of Zelda, but doing it in a hyper-realistic style. I'll try to post as often as I can and any critiques or comments are welcome.
To start, here's all the references / mood boards I'm using. To start, here's the clothes reference and general feeling I'm going for for the character, based on Twilight Princess Link.
Next is the body reference. I wanted a body that was fit but not too muscular. This is mostly for proportions.
Finally, here's my head reference board. I wanted to base the head off of a real person to ground the character in reality. I might stray from it a bit, but this is the general feeling I'm going for with the head (minus any facial hair, just the head shape)
Some challenges I'm anticipating are the clothing and the hair. For the clothing, I'm going to use Marvelous Designer, and this will be my first time seriously using it on a full character. For the hair, I want to go for something detailed using cards, but I don't have much experience with hair so that will be a challenge.
Once again, comments and critiques welcome!
In this thread I am planning on making a game ready character based on Link from the Legend of Zelda, but doing it in a hyper-realistic style. I'll try to post as often as I can and any critiques or comments are welcome.
To start, here's all the references / mood boards I'm using. To start, here's the clothes reference and general feeling I'm going for for the character, based on Twilight Princess Link.
Next is the body reference. I wanted a body that was fit but not too muscular. This is mostly for proportions.
Finally, here's my head reference board. I wanted to base the head off of a real person to ground the character in reality. I might stray from it a bit, but this is the general feeling I'm going for with the head (minus any facial hair, just the head shape)
Some challenges I'm anticipating are the clothing and the hair. For the clothing, I'm going to use Marvelous Designer, and this will be my first time seriously using it on a full character. For the hair, I want to go for something detailed using cards, but I don't have much experience with hair so that will be a challenge.
Once again, comments and critiques welcome!
Replies
Also, here are the primary forms of the head.
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Now it's time for a much needed update (it's been a while)!
First of all, started moving into secondary forms in the face:
Also, made some progress with the clothing in Marvelous Designer
C&C welcome!
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I have decided based on the feedback I have gotten that I will change the head. Update coming soon.
Also here's the head in the context of the rest of the body and with the simple blocked out hair.
Next up I need to focus a lot more on the rest of the body, which is still untouched from last time.
Let me know what you think!
but the chainmail needs work, check this out : http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1115091&postcount=156
the download link to the requried plugin there doesn't work anymore though - but I found a site linking to that plugin : https://simonfuchs.wordpress.com/2014/08/17/tutorial-adding-detail-to-your-highpoly-objects-using-the-slideknit-script/
@AshuraDX - In this version I did improve the chainmail so it is actually linked, but now I think it looks too small and too uniform. I'm going to see if I can't get good results out of micromesh, and if not I'll try your technique. Thanks for the link!
DemonPrincess - Right now it is pretty hard to visualize the hair as being realistic, but once the cards are in and textured it will feel more real. The hair I think won't be 100% accurate to real life but will hopefully be convincing. I am planning on toning down the hair in some areas because right now I agree it feels too stylized. However, I'm still sticking to more or less a similar design because it is iconic for Link.
Thanks for all the feedback so far! If you have any critiques or comments feel free to voice them!
@apllana annd @ValXVI - Thanks for the support! The chainmail size is changed now although it's a little wird to look at without the alpha. I agree about the boots and in general the lumpiness, I'm going to try to fix this stuff but I gotta finish this in 2 weeks so I might not have time
@Brian "Panda" Choi: I agree about the wrinkles on the pants. I thought they looked strange but everyone I asked said they looked okay. I should have probably changed that earlier on.
His face looks off, kind of looks like a surfer guy.
The Green Cap/hat really looks odd, as Slosh said.
The rest of his outfit looks good.
Also is that supposed to be the Hero Bow? If so it looks off:
I think an easy-ish fix would be just to lower the entire hat on the head, so it fits a bit more snug.
Overall though, a VERY solid model.
@Slosh: I agree with what you're saying. I had some issues getting the hat to look proper and is one of the weakest parts of the character I think. Also I do wish that I stuck to one solid reference for the head and really went for a particular look, because right now it is a bit generic. I'm glad you liked it though, your work is inspirational so it's motivating to hear!
@Ventrucio: Yeah, the bow was kind of a last minute thing. Considering the time constraints I think it came out pretty well but it could definitely use improvement.
@3dReaper: I see what you mean about the look of the character but I wasn't going for an exact copy of Nintendo's version, this is sort of my own take. The bow was based on one from skyward sword, although the design was changed a bit.
@JacqueChoi: I couldn't have done it nearly as well without your feedback and demonstrations