Hey, I'm an aspiring character artist (environment and prop too) and am slated to graduate in December. I just started modeling characters and this will be my 4th to date, and second one using zbrush. Even though I go to school I'm more or less self taught.

This is an Ancient Mercenary type character currently at 9,520 tris. There are a few more things I have to add to the base mesh (including a weapon). Here is the wireframes and the WIP Texturing. Crits are welcome, since I am learning on my own any info is helpful.

"THIS IS THE LATEST UPDATE" - Weapons Added, Posed, Lit. C&C welcome!!!

where did the cloth come from? i dont see it on the base mesh

The cloth is the weird bit on his upper back in the side view. I'm guessing it's some sort of leather? The fine scratches on it are odd.
Think this guy could use more beefy arms.
I'm guessing that's a thigh plate on his right leg? It messes up the crotch area a bit.

Oh sorry, it actually wraps around the back of the head, not the front, that render is the backside of the shoulders/head. You can kind of see it on the base mesh from the side view.

Edits: Yes it is leather. Yeah his arms could be a bit beefier but I want him to overall be realistically proportioned. Yeah that's plate armor on his leg, do you think it will mess him up too much for animation?

his forearms look a bit short. and trying to keep realistic proportions doesn't mean he can't be a little stronger. his arms just look very weak to support a warrior lifestyle, let alone to match a body that can function in that armor.

ya your leg proportions are a little off, male humans are 7 and a half heads tall, and super heroes are 8

Alright I'll go in and lengthen the arms/legs a little and beef up the arms some. This guy was literaly modeled from a picture of my friend, but I didn't really take into account the whole artistic liberty and "ideal" figure.

You're completley right, if he were a real warrior he'd be strong and big enough to support this armor.

Hey, I reworked the proportions some and changed the leg plating so that it wouldn't mess with animation as much. Legs are longer, Arms are longer and beefier (they are slightly bent so they actually extend a few more inches).

So let me know what you think, anywhere I can improve edge loops, mainly on the body as the shoulders/head are separate objects.




And here is a screen capture of the high poly sculpt of the helmet so far

The high poly sculpt looks great! I love it.
However, I find that your character is too wide. The side view makes him looks fit and athletic, while the front view makes him look bulky/muscular.

Just my 2 cents! Terrific job nonetheless!

Hey just updated the WIP Sculpt at the top of the page, if anyone could crit it really quick before I move on that'd be great! On a side note It's 4 in the morning and I'm working on this instead of sleeping since I have class in 4 hours... I got good priorities

you're piling a load of detail into a base mesh that's not proportioned correctly- we've all been there man, but seeing as your small detail skills are good, you should sort out proportions to best show them off. I did what you're doing and got rightly spanked by MoP and poop for not getting the base mesh right!

~P~

Originally Posted by praxedes

you're piling a load of detail into a base mesh that's not proportioned correctly- we've all been there man, but seeing as your small detail skills are good, you should sort out proportions to best show them off. I did what you're doing and got rightly spanked by MoP and poop for not getting the base mesh right!

~P~

Hey, are my proportions off? That basemesh in the first post is outdated, I'll replace it, the newest is actually a few posts down, and I lengthened the arms and legs and made the arms a bit thicker.

So I'm a little confused, what needs changing? I even brought in a picture from an anatomy book as a picture plane and dropped horizontal planes in to make sure things lined up correctly. Had both my roomates look at it too and they said it was alright. So what is off?

Edit: After reviewing it with my roomate the only thing we can think of is that the legs might look a little short still specifically the thigh. This is because the crotch is lower than a "naked" person because the cloth sags there from his pants, also the kneecaps on his armor come up and over the kneecap obscuring the thigh. I could make it a little longer for artistic liberty, but even then his legs would then break an 8 head tall person.

okay, I saw the updated ikmages- I reckon that it's the armour design giving the impression of the proportions being out, in that the shoulder pads sit high and the helmet comes very far forward which gives the illusion that he is hunching his shoulders and sticking his head forward in a "no-neck" kind of way. Everything seems fairly okay from the front but looks really skewed in the 3/4 pose and pretty odd in the side pose. Take al ook at the helmet- maybe even put a helm on and photo yourself from the side. You'll find it sits much more evenly over the torso trunk and neck than this. It doesn't look like the centre of gravity sits at all well- very far forward, especially with the horns adding additional weight. Likewise, the shoulderpads ride oddly. I am not certain how they would move when the arm is flexed around and they feel high, like I said, and strangely "clamped to the chest very tightly. I'm no amrour expert by any means but physics says this is unbalanced! I can't view the third image; it comes up as broken on my comp for some reason, so cannot comment on the legs. I'd love to see the underlying torso and head mesh as the anatomical detail looks mighty fine, but the weight distribution of the armour really bothers me. Still loving the surface detail though!

~P~

Hey thanks praxedes that's a lot more clear as to what needs to be fixed/worked on. The shoulder armor does sit a little high so I can try to bring that down. I can also try to push the head a bit further back so the neck sits under it more. Even though it is fantasy it still should be grounded in reality. I really appreciate the time and critique, thanks again!

Hey Just a quick update, I started texturing him and I'm looking for crits, thanks!

Ooo nice!
I like all the metallic pieces! You should saturate and add more colour to the skin tough.
Looking great!

Hi!

Some of your small details are pretty good. The body though shows you are uncertain where everything goes, how they connect and what volume those things are. You can put in loads of work but if the base mesh that everything is built on isn't right then it wont matter what you put on top. Look at the work here in the pimp section and pick out the best, you will see that a lot of effort goes into the base figure.

The best way for you to proceed is to make a figure and show the underlying form so people can help you, then build.

There is no way to hide this anatomic stuff, no way at all.

Hey thanks for the replies, I'm going to take your advice. I know for a fact the base mesh body proportions are dead on (I've measured it out about 100x lol) but the sculpt I think is off, and the normal map didn't transfer well.

Luckily the chest/back and arms are separate subtools so I can go back in and resculpt them. I definately think the triceps need work, the area directly below the pecs and some parts of the back, I'll likely start from scratch and see if I can get better references.

Ignoring the muscle anatomy how is he coming along? Any comments on the texturing, I'll saturate the skin slightly more.

the legs and lower armor are awesome. great job. but even if you think his proportions are dead on, he's still pretty wonky looking. his shoulder armor and helm aren't helping at all, because they're pretty awkward. those shoulders up that high make him look super rigid and very tense. same with the hand position. just because you're scultping doesn't mean they can't look kind of relaxed. and i personally just don't really like the helm. but seriously man, whatever you change, that bottom half is rad. just throw that on top of whatever changes you make

also, his little gutguard is super weird. it's just kind of strange looking to leave his chest open like that. like "hey man lets guard everything but my heart and lungs." chest armor is pretty rad usually, too. especially since the chest is one of the strangest looking parts, you seem to be better at making armor than anatomy anyway . just how that gutguard is choking up against his chest makes for a very uncool (in my opinion) look.

also, maybe round out the legs a wee bit and rebake. they just look a little flat in the front.

Hey thanks for the crits! I'll try to make the gutstrap a look like it's less pressed up against him. I think I'll alter the shoulder armor some, It's too big and sits too high on his shoulders you're right. I think it is the major thing throwing off the look of him and his proportions.

So I'll shrink them and move them down some or just remodel a new set completley.

The hands are rigid just because I modeled them in that way, I'll pose the character later so he won't look like a statue lol.

The helmet still needs the leather wrap to go around it which isn't pictured here, it should significantly change the look of the helmet.


EDIT: UPDATE
Hey the below are some options I'm throwing around. There is the picture of the original, in the "options" I widened the gutstrap and pulled it further away from the body, I also added an edge loop so I could drop the chest down into the gutstrap instead of it running straight into the chest.

In all of the options I shrank the head slightly and raised it further up from the body. I also increased the length between his pecs/back to his neck area slightly.

Option 1 the shoulder armor just shrank slightly, and option 2 the shoulder armor is rotated a little bit, dropped lower and shrank even more, option 3 is the same as 2 but has not been shrunken as much.

Let me know what you think. Thanks!

Hey here is a really quick update. I tweaked the upper body and gutstrap. Altered the shoulder pads some, raised the neck/head up higher, added the cloth around the helmet and resculpted the upper body/arms to be more anatomically correct. I'll have more updates soon, and when I get the shoulders done I'll pose him and give him a weapon.

C&C welcome!


Also I'm thinking about giving him tattoos/woad type markings, yes or no?

This is more of a personal preference, but it looks too cluttered, theres too much going on in your textres to see any significant modelling.

Hey guys, this is the latest update. Added the weapons, pose, lit him, tweaked a few things... C&C welcome. So far I am pretty happy with him in comparison to my earlier WIPs, thanks so much for the critiques everyone it's invaluable! Wires and final polycount soon, and when I figure out UDK in-game renders.

Hey, as promised here are some pictures of the "final" (for now) model, wireframes and some realtime renders from marmoset (which I couldn't quite get to work like I wanted but good enough!)

C&C is welcome, though I doubt I'll make any major changes now.

I forgot to write down the final polycount, but this entire scene was just about 12k tris, 600 for each axe, and the character himself was something like 9k.