I'm lucky enough be in Haz's character course, so here's mah thread!
I've chosen to do a version of Dizzy from Guilty Gear X.
Like some of the others I'm gonna try and catalog the process and TOP-SECRET Haz advice and so on
[course threadz: Hazardous: Miku | almighty_gir: Rogue | MrSkullFace: Samus | YBourykina: Lady Mechanika | Briggs ]


Stage1: Round 1: 'Select your character!'

Haz introduced some criteria for us to choose our girl project for the next X weeks.
the basic idea is to take a well-known character/person and match some representation of her ~ 1:1

It's hard for me to articulate why this common task in itself might be a challenge haha.
I know some people who always work this way no problem, but I think we all do art for different reasons and with different goals/ideals in mind.

It's definitely not that I mind working from a concept, or that I think anyone should think the way I do, but it's just as important to me that someone on the team or that I personally have the freedom to make some decisions if necessary on the idea/design/style/etc as it is important to me for the final piece itself to be awesome. I definitely don't mean to compromise the concept, quite the opposite - Sometimes I feel that having some level of freedom can help allow you to extend the intent of the concept to counteract the natural progression that tends to dilute originally awesome ideas if it's rigidly reproduced. I think ideally each step of the process should take steps to expand upon the previous one... Ugh hopefully I explained my thoughts properly but I'm trying not to run on for thousands of lines of text before even starting on this character ahaha. Lemme know if that didn't make sense!

Anyway based on the course criteria, and what concepts I thought would individually benefit me most, I was super inspired by Dizzy. What drew me were the epic design, dynamic potential, and awesome contrast in character between Dizzy and her 2 opposing wings (1 angel, 1 reaper). The particular concept that inspired me most is – in a way - slightly unfinished to the whole character; she has no wings. That means I won't be making the wings for this course , BUT it also allows me the relief of artistic freedom in how to extend the concept if I have time to do so (and I intend to)

Stage1: Round 2: 'Scoutin for Resources'

I gathered as many images as I could and put together the most important ones into a refsheet - I wanted to combine a buncha images that help me with design, readability, style, personality,mood, and whatever personal goals that I hope to maintain throughout the process, but of course I have a bunch more that I'd go through as I narrow in on certain parts.

If anyone knows the original artist of this awesome concept id appreciate it

As for the artist. I'll put my money on...

Ishiwatari Daisuke.

Go crazy go!

WOOHOO! Two awesome threads to follow in one morning. Can't wait to see what you and Hazardous come up with ^^

Should be a good thread to follow and see what you come up with i understand and agree with you completely on the freedom bit with the character design. Currently doing a character myself for uni and they assigned someone from another class to be our art director and he knows exactly what he wants, down to the last damn pixel...not as fun as i thought it was gonna be but a nice challenge...Good luck!!!! look forward to seeing your progress

Num num num nom.

I'm ready. Bring it on.

If your studies are any clear indication of of what's to come with this project I honestly can't wait to see your progress mate.

if you record the process I may explode

ps. Thanks for some of your Maya scripts, I use them at work

I fkn loveee the guilty gear series..you HAVE to do the wings!

ohhh....sweet. As has been mentioned above I have high hopes for awesome from this mister bunnies after the quality of your warm up sculpts of late.

yes, another one up and running. sub'd

Pimpalicious Funk. Tear it up!

thanks a ton brohammers <3

Rens, thanks brosiah, i'll go crazy alright!
STRIKER, man me too and I hope to
hahah ceebee that's actually hella awesome to hear, well i wholly expect my name in the credits! hahah nah I'll try and record at least some portions of it, but I wouldn't want you to explode, that would most certainly break my heart <3



Stage1: Round 3: 'Visualize your opponent'

Haz suggested sketching multiple version of our characters to get a firm understanding of the design and/or address any troublesome areas and so on. I'm really not comfortable showing stuff like this, but I think it's a useful step as an explicit sanity check to your process of effectively breaking down a concept before starting in 3d and for getting a sense of the character itself. I started with front/side and re-sketches because I'm uncomfortable worrying about perspective, but in retrospect I think you'd gain way more by focusing on getting the posture/personality/dynamism down rather than very lifeless set of orthos. (does anyone even really use orthos anymore i wonder? I usually dont haha) Anyway I'll try and continue to sketch stuff out throughout the process

edit from original: I did some really quick tweakage to try and address the sleeves, maybe this works better Joe? Thanks a ton for the crits man, any more thoughts and I'm all ears

Interesting choice, I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for sure. As for who's responsible for that piece of art, I'm fairly certain it's not Ishiwatari, it definitely looks like fanart to me. Can't help you more than that though, I'm afraid...

Looking good I concept my characters in orthographics, partly due to my skill level (not being able to represent the features right in perspective) and partly due to the fact that i like to flesh out each silhouette thouroughly, if it works in the orthos sil wise then itll look awesome regardless

again looking good

Can't Wait! This is going to be great.

- BoBo

Can't help but find the tail slightly disturbing, never sure if it's attached or something trying to force its way in.

Love the style you're going for and seeing the fox girl earlier today I think you have a great chance of nailing the style in 3D.

Good luck and looking forward to seeing your progress.

dat underboob

Can't wait to see this man!

Funk Bun is here to kick some butt. Can't wait!

Looking forward to seeing updates, wooo! :O

Woahhh, pimp! Othos are clean and pleasantly painted, who says that art school didn't do you good!? Post more sketches! Just trace/gesture over the ones you've done already and don't like, and show us the new ones!
if I may jump in before you dash out of the realm where I can offer critique: There are a couple of key transitions/masses that I think you failed to capture in the drawings you've got here.

#1 is her waist! It has a distinct two point curve in the concepts, down her ribcage, which is super feminine and powerful and rad.
#2 is her sleeves! The white fabric is way thicker and the mass is way bigger than in your concept, and it creates this super cool sense of weight when it interacts with the undersleeve(??), I'm sure you'll catch that in your 3d
#3 is her knees! The anatomy is a lot more stylized in the figure and concepts than your drawings. The knee is a sharp disc with some muscles sortof around it, not a bland human woman's knee.

Lastly: Don't use 3d hands, you son of a bitch, that's cheating! :p

Originally Posted by Joseph Silverman

#1 is her waist! It has a distinct two point curve in the concepts, down her ribcage, which is super feminine and powerful and rad.
#2 is her sleeves! The white fabric is way thicker and the mass is way bigger than in your concept, and it creates this super cool sense of weight when it interacts with the undersleeve(??), I'm sure you'll catch that in your 3d
#3 is her knees! The anatomy is a lot more stylized in the figure and concepts than your drawings. The knee is a sharp disc with some muscles sortof around it, not a bland human woman's knee.

That's some solid advice man, did you go to art school by any chance? Was looking at some courses myself (Apologies for topic derailing)

Originally Posted by Joseph Silverman

Lastly: Don't use 3d hands, you son of a bitch, that's cheating! :p

LOL

Very cool stuff man. Can't wait to see the finished product for all of these course threads.

Subscribed ! Love the character you chose, I can't wait to see your next update