[WIP] First character ever

Polynaut · Sep 2012

MOST RECENT:

ORIGINAL POST:
Hey guys!

I'm working through the first character I've ever created and I wanted to get some feedback since I'm figuring it out as I go. Armandeo allowed me to use his concept from deviant art.

Here is the concept:

and the artist link - http://armandeo64.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d47yux4

Hi Res w/blockout color:

Lo Res w/normals - 20k tri:

UVs:

Any crits would be greatly appreciated! I'm still trying to figure out the best approach for the hair. I probably should have sculpted it in I guess?

Polynaut · Sep 2012

Small bump with a polypainted skin update (Still very WIP):

Using a skin painting tutorial from:
http://navate.com/

Crits would be very helpful!

David Wakelin · Sep 2012

It looks amazing so far.

I find it hard to believe it's your first character though! Maybe your first serious approach, but seeing as it's sculpted extremely well suggests your well aware of anatomy but not only that your baking is again done extremely well.

Don't get me wrong I'm not flaming your work, I just find it hard to believe that such a high standard of work could be done of a persons first ever approach.

Just my two cents, very nice though

I think the only piece that could use some work would be the folds on the trousers, their isn't enough to match the concept nor are they believable.

Goodjob

GrowlerProductions · Sep 2012

David's right, it's not impressive to say something's your first attempt when it's obvious that's a lie.

Polynaut · Sep 2012

Ouch.

Sorry, I didn't intend for that to come across as a lie. I've sculpted 1 head bust before, a jacket, an anatomy study that turned out crappy and a hand full of hard surface stuff for school inside zBrush. I didn't mean for it to sound like it was my first time opening zbrush.

This is the first character I've ever attempted all the way through. I've used zBrush for about 6 months total and been working in Maya for 2 1/2yrs. All school work.

David - I learned baking normals from (researching like crazy!) ..and all the hard surface stuff I was focusing on. But as I got closer to graduating (Dec. 2012), I decided that I wanted to do characters, so that is what I'm focusing on now. I appreciate the crit on the folds. I'm assuming your speaking mainly about the characters left leg? The way I sculpted the fold going up from the knee to the thigh? At least, that's what looks weird to me.

Again sorry for any confusion!

Polypaint update:

Any more crits would be awesome!

BradMyers82 · Sep 2012

lol, polycount is super serious business, don't let it happen again! J/k, haha.

It would have been better if you left the micro details like skin pores for the very end. You could have actually added some slight color variation when sculpting it in at the same time which gives a nice effect. Overall, he looks good though, I would push a lot more color into your polypaint though as he still looks very monotone.

Polynaut · Sep 2012

How do you delete a post?

Polynaut · Sep 2012

Brad - HA! I guess so. Thanks for the tip with the skin pores. That's why I posted my work here, because I'm looking for advice on character workflow..

Haven't really touched the polypaint today because I've been trying to figure the hair out. What do you guys think?

Polypaint bake to low res (Marmoset):

Anybody know a better ways to do the hair? I'm assuming I should texture hair on his face underneath those cards as well, correct? Looks so poopy to me.

Polynaut · Sep 2012

Scratched the hair for now.. I'll pick it back up later this week. I think I've got about 2 more days of texturing, but this is where I'm at now. Next, I'm going to bust out his throne and club because this guy is due Monday.

Crits would be awesome!

Bek · Sep 2012

Crown looked fucking boss with the metallic matcap. Going to give it a spec / gloss map for mamoset? Considering how grubby his guy looks I'd expect his pants to be equally grubby, dirt and stains etc. I like the base colours though, and the overall design of this dude. The skin detailing across his body seems a little uniform too. Otherwise it's looking great.

Polynaut · Sep 2012

Bek - Thanks for the crit! Very much appreciated. I was already thinking of adding more grime to the pants. I will have to take a look at breaking up the skin.. any suggestions? I'm at a loss.

Here's an update:

*EDIT* I haven't really touched a spec map yet.. just copied info from the crown over to give it a yellow spec instead of white. Everything else is 50% with cavity details.

Bek · Sep 2012

Perhaps some larger wrinkles around the belly? In Zbrush just start sculpting some stuff on a new layer, tracing around where wrinkles / folds might be and see if the result looks acceptable. Perhaps even a scar or two (making parts of the diffuse slightly brighter/whiter yellow, or reddish if they're new scars), or a boil. Although the reddish pock marks you have near the stomach work quite well at the moment. Just don't let the fine skin detail be too uniform.

TipsyMonk · Sep 2012

I would agree to add some wrinkles to the body. His face tells me that he is above middle-aged but his body doesn't. The body just seems a little too tight. Loosen up the skin. Also the belly-button look very dark for it's shape. I could see it being dark if he had more fat on his belly. Normally, with builds like this, the tissue on the belly-button sticks out and is more visible. I really like the direction this is going. Keep up the great work.

Polynaut · Sep 2012

Hey guys! Awesome observations and thanks for all the great tips on his skin. I haven't been able to get back into zBrush yet, because I'm trying to get everything to a 'finished' state before Monday (when he's due). But I will definitely go back and re-sculpt those details before he goes on my final portfolio.

Quick update:

Working on getting his skin to look good in Marmoset. I've been doing a lot of tweaking to my spec map as well as the skin shader. Let me know what you think. Not a final version by any means, but I think it's going in a good direction now.

Polynaut · Sep 2012

Started working on the hair and pose:

Crits welcomed.

woogity · Sep 2012

You might consider adding a little hue. saturation variation to the skin, perhaps a little countershading to break up a bit of the very monochrome skin. also adding some warmer pinkish tones in the face around the nose, cheeks and mouth, and some darker less saturated tones around the eyes could help make him feel more lifelike. Also, you should definitely make the candles and the cloak for the final render, they are very strong elements in his design.

finally, test something for me caus i am seeing a very low value range. If you could desaturate your diffuse and post it in here it would be easier to see, but it looks right now like you have a very narrow value range, creating more contrast will help make your details, like the patches on the pants and the gems in the crown pop a lot more.

-Woog

Polynaut · Sep 2012

Woogity - Thanks for the feedback! I'm planning on making the candles and cloak, but I didn't know how to handle the cloak for the t-pose, since I was planning on having him seated for my final shot. I think I'm just going to sculpt it in the seated position, what are you thoughts?

Desaturated:

Levels Adjustment:

Latest shot:

BradMyers82 · Sep 2012

nice job so far.

Often times in video games the hands and feet go pretty unnoticed. But since you are presenting this guy from this angle it really becomes one of the major focal points and because of this its probably the weakest area of this guy. That said, the feet look super low poly right now and very flat/unnatural. I hate to tell you to go back to sculpting and modify your low poly as well, but I think this character would really benefit a lot from this. Honestly it wasn't so obvious until I saw your most recent post. Also you might want to consider throwing an exra loop or two to make that cloth pop out a bit as well. Good work so far, keep going dude.

\edit one thing I was going to mention is, that it might be better to not even model the toes individually like that. The gaps between toes look too wide anyway and that is hurting it imo. If you needed to save on geo I would model the foot as one solid chunk without toes and try to model in some of that underlying bone structure you see in the concept.

Polynaut · Sep 2012

Brad - Thanks for the crits - I completely agree. Hands and feet are still a bit of a mystery to me. I'm trying to get better, but as you can see they are very bland and under sculpted. I will go back and resculpt those areas before I put him up on my portfolio.

I feel a bit rushed because I only get 1 week to sculpt the hires model. Here is the final that I turned in. Got an A+ in the class.

Thanks to everyone for the help!

[WIP] First character ever

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