**UPDATE** August 23rd







Texture




Hey everyone. Realize that I have like 3-4 projects going on and I should at least post one. I recently got my N64 hooked up and am playing some old games. One of which was an all time favorite Pokemon Snap!

So I thought it would be cool to do some Pokemon that I wished made it into the game and I think it would be really cool to even do an environment.

There are a few other people that I know that are interested and I hope they post.

I want to push proportions a bit just to make the silhouette more interesting but not straying to far off from their original drawings, just for uniformity among the different pokemon models. I would also like to push textures so that they aren't just base colors but with mixes of different hues and tints so that they are more complex.

I would greatly appreciate any crit and thoughts you may have and if you totally hate the work then let me know and I will do my best to make it super awesome. ;D

This is my reference sheet: The drawing in the bottom right is my front sketch to make a quick blockout and size.



And this my start of W.I.P. This is about 45 min in :/ so its really rough. I really only get 20-30 min at lunch to work on it, but I am going to try and work during spare time.)

Just a little update from the last couple days!




and this is the paintover of the last image of where I want to take the sculpt.



I would appreciate any ideas or critiques that you might have!

Coming along great man. I too miss this game, as well as gaming on my N64 and Gameboy Color :P Those were the days.


Blastoise is coming along pretty good. Now don't really take this as a crit, but imho I don't think these characters will ever really translate properly to a high poly 3D model, unless you implement some REALLY good shaders with cel art style, and the right colors.

We'll see what happens when you start texturing though, who knows it might turn out to be the next big thing for Pokemon :P

Good luck and keep going.

Hey man, first of all.. Pokemon snap is the freaking best. Second of all.. Blastoise is my favorite pokemon. Sooo you know i'm geeking out over this post

I think the blastoise is coming along pretty sweet, I think you nailed the head shape and if you can get it to the point of your paint over I think you will be in pretty good shape. The only question I have is how are you planning on doing the cannons? Because the hatches aren't open in the sculpt.

Hey guys a little quick update from todays lunch break.
Dark and Nash I promise to reply here soon ^__^ just busy at the moment.

Yea dude, keep it up. Give him some big bold details... Maybe not hyper realistic but somewhere between realism and cartoony would be rad.

@DaRkL3Ad3R
Yea I have some discussions with a few other artists on making 2D art translatable to 3D, and I think one solution to ease the transition is to keep bold shapes and lines, which is really all art for Pokemon is. I can add subtle detail in between the lines. Also I really think the texturing (whenever I get to it) is really going to help. I have a pretty good idea of what I want and I think you will like it ;)

@MindofNash
Im glad you are geeking out also! SO I am not alone haha.
So the cannons is going to be pretty tough. I kind of went into this not really planning ahead. I think my plane is to bring it back into maya and just make a separate mesh ( the folding shell + cannon) and just sculpt it into the shell. I am going to work hard at it until it looks right and awesome. This is Blastoise. I have to do him JUSTICE!

Hey guys, getting soo close to calling the main shapes down. So hopefully shortly I can make a really nice detail pass.

As of right now I do have the shell with the cannon separated and I am currently sculpting the inside so I can show yall tomorrow hopefully. And then I can do the cannon which will be the easiest thing so far.





Let me know what yall think!

very cool!

Hey polycount just updating where I am on this Blastoise. Would love any feedback, or concerns, or if anybody would like to contribute!

Highpoly sculpt around 90% done. There are lots of things I would like to add and possibly change but just have to keep on moving and going.


And this is the lowpoly mesh sitting at 5,758 tri's/ 3,113 Poly's

Great looking mesh so far Don't forget the two tiny teeth, they add a lot of personality
You might also take a look at how much UV space you're giving the tail, in the first lowpoly mesh shots it looks a little blurry, it stands out a bit when compared to the high-poly just above.

In any case this looks great, looking forward to seeing the textures on it

This brings back memory's

2 things that catch my eye:

-The water thingy's on the back, they don't really feel like they are a part of the body, in the original drawings, he has some holes/square things where they stick out.
It looks as if they are superglued on.

In case you were planning on doing this, and just haven't done it yet, then nevermind that :p

- His face seems to trend a bit to much towards a sort of wolf head, his nose/mouth seems to be to pointy.
Looking at your reference, the second row, second picture, the whole front seems much rounder to me.

Altough that might be just me, but I do feel like there is just "something" off about his face.

looking nice. I love warturtle/blastoids. so you going to do the other hundreds of pokemon too?

Like Joeriv siad, his cannons aren't at all like they're supposed to be.

@Skamberin: Hey Skam, thanks! Soooo here's the deal with the teeth, I wanted to eventually do the inside of the mouth at which point I would have the teeth as part of that mesh. As an alternative I painted it in and still looks pretty believable (which I can show in a bit) and wouldn't mind even adding 4 polys to add a tincy wincy bit of depth. I think I will add a bit more space to that tail. Thanks for the heads up!

@Joeriv and Hang10: You're right! It isn't part of the body. I probably should have made that clear. That shell piece that its attached too actually pops open, or "opens up" to what you see in most pictures of him. The cannons actually reside inside him and when the shell opens up his cannons come out. In the current pictures I have the shell closed, though it is a separate mesh with more geo inside. I will post some pics in a bit with it opened up! sorry about that.

@Coots7
Well Coots7 I would like to do a bunch of them, maybe not by the hundreds haha. I think for the sake of time I'm going to do easier ones. You are more than welcome to help me!

Looking good. I wonder if Nintendo will make a Pokemon Snap HD for the Wii U. It seems like it would fit.

Hey Guys just an update on the texture.
The Diffuse is still work in progress. I imagine I am about 75% done.I realize I still have alot of seems but I will fix those towards the end.

This is an image of straight diffuse out of maya with no spec/no normal's.




And this is the texture for this guy. I am texturing at 2048 but rendering at 1024.



Let me know what you guys think! Also I remembered to include the Shell opened and closed.

Awesome texturing! I love the feel of it. Can't wait to see the environments

if this was to be made for reals, take all of my money ;_;

Great job! It would be amazing to see a Venasaur and Charizard to go with this, oh and like every other first generation pokemon. Maybe Gold and Silver too. haha

Rad! favorite pokemon and you nailed it.

I had a complete nerdgasm when I saw this in WAYWO, you are totally doing the 'toise justice and I love the painterly texture style. It seems to work well with Pokémon

I might have a bash at a monster after I've finished my current environment project as I've been meaning to do one for a while.

Looks awesome and the diffuse looks great. My only issue with it is that it's too dark. A more saturated blue is what I think would be better.

@Mospheric: Thanks man. I can't wait either! Not sure what the environment will look like yet, but hopefully something that will fit the other pokemon! Currently there are some other artists I have been talking to..ahem..that will be doing some and hopefully they can post soon.

@Koochy: I would spend soooo much cash money

@Jaydon: you never know ;)

@Screwonhead: Thanks man! I really appreciate it. Its been a journey on doing this guy justice! He's my favorite too.

@SirCalalot: I would love to have more! Do it up!

@Hang10: Thanks man. Been really pusing myself with the diffuse. And I also Lightened him up and gave him more saturation. Tell me what you think.

Well I'm getting really really really close to call the diffuse done and what not. Here's an update! Also I am going to clean up the seam eventuallyyyyyyyyy. Probably in 3d coat soon

@chrisundrum:
work looks phenomenal man, texture really gives him life, great colour!
quick question about your work flow, you started the high poly scuplt in zbrush, finished that, then made the low poly from scratch in maya to look the same as the high poly from zbrush, then outputted the normal maps to the low poly? is this correct? your help would be much appreciated, keep up the good work