1. What kind of base mesh head do you use? I also really enjoy your sculpts. I still remember the woman soldier holding a rifle still from a while ago.
2. How long have you used Zbrush? I also use it myself (mainly for retopologizing exisiting models) but I was thinking of starting up a thread based on my progress.
3. AoB, do you think we'll be able to make a general 3D sculpt subtopic on the forums sometime?
4. Also: I think the structure of the face you have there is good, but to appear more feminine, I would round off the forehead a bit more and smooth out the nasal labial folds.
1. I'm using a base mesh created by the CGSculpt guys. I uploaded it here for anyone who wants it
That basemesh honestly isn't all that hot because it doesn't have proper edge loops from the nose to the mouth/chin area. I typically like to use a base mesh that's actually higher poly like in the 2-4K tri count that has perfect edge flow that doesn't need to be retopped, just reshaped on subdiv 1. Though, sometimes depending on object/character, it has to be retopped regardless and I'll start off with something more simple.
2. Speaking of retop, I don't like Zbrush for retopping because like most things Zbrush has no business having, it kind of sucks at times and is extremely limited. The best retop tool right now might be Topogun http://www.topogun.com/media/videos.htm
Another great retop/modeling tool is Max's WrapIt plugin, but it's still in beta. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-5XvqX8TQs&feature=related The awesome thing about WrapIt is it's just a Max plugin, so pretty much every hotkey and Max mod/tool can be used in junction with it. Very powerful tool that extends past just retopping meshes. I'm in the beta and it's awesome, but I can't use some of the functions properly because of another plug-in I have installed in Max that gives me Maya's viewport controls called Switcher made by dRaster. Max has a lot of like locked in code with the controls so the Switcher program just makes a few things not work. Switcher breaks some of the Pentools added in Max 2010 also, but I don't mind because I don't need either and rather it be easier for me to jump back and forth from Max and Maya because different studios and clients use either or.
I started messing with Zbrush back in 2007 but didn't really get into it until like late 2008.
3. A 3d thread would be cool if we have enough people here doing it.
4. Thanks for the tips. I'll keep those noted on my next sculpt. I'd go back and work on her, but these are just practice exercises I'm doing prepping for two bigger project ideas I have in mind. I might use some of these heads I sculpted in another idea I have though and if so then I'll go back and touch them up.
Y'know I tried using TopoGun a few times. I guess I need to read up on some tutorials, but I couldn't really sink my teeth in long enough to use it. I still find I can retopologize just fine in Zbrush, but it does seem like a useful tool.
Also, that WrapIt video is damn sexy. I've been using Max for two years so that'd be incredibly useful.
Also, I hate to be that guy but blender has had a retopo tool that like for awhile now (I want to say years). Seriously, Blender's retopo tools and uv tools are pretty great. (In fact, Roadkill, a popular UV unwrapper is based off of the blender UV unwrap code)
LittleBoots on
Tofu wrote: Here be Littleboots, destroyer of threads and master of drunkposting.
Tried doing something a bit different from my normal whatever, ended up being really annoying because it feels like it took way, way too much time for what resulted.
Started out with a rough 3d mockup to get the perspective right, printed that out, traced it on a lightbox to get a hand-drawn look, scanned and photoshop colored it. For whatever reason, whenever I try to do stuff semi-clean- not lifeless and mechanical but not sloppy Ashley Wood either- I can never pull it off and make it look good. I'm so fucking sick of being able to get to a point where it looks like it's 90% "there", but I can never, no matter how much time I spend, get that next 10% to work in the way it needs to in order to look good. :x
Probably should have taken the 3d version to a finish instead, probably would have been easier and looked better at the end of the day.
For whatever reason, whenever I try to do stuff semi-clean- not lifeless and mechanical but not sloppy Ashley Wood either- I can never pull it off and make it look good. I'm so fucking sick of being able to get to a point where it looks like it's 90% "there", but I can never, no matter how much time I spend, get that next 10% to work in the way it needs to in order to look good. :x
Bacon, for all that whining, this does look good. It reminds me of Okami, and all of the art in that game was beautiful.
But if you want it to look more finished, you could add textures.
Also, I don't understand that shadow next to the stove. Or is it a spill from that bucket? That is a bucket, right? You might want to clear that up.
Tried doing something a bit different from my normal whatever, ended up being really annoying because it feels like it took way, way too much time for what resulted.
Started out with a rough 3d mockup to get the perspective right, printed that out, traced it on a lightbox to get a hand-drawn look, scanned and photoshop colored it. For whatever reason, whenever I try to do stuff semi-clean- not lifeless and mechanical but not sloppy Ashley Wood either- I can never pull it off and make it look good. I'm so fucking sick of being able to get to a point where it looks like it's 90% "there", but I can never, no matter how much time I spend, get that next 10% to work in the way it needs to in order to look good. :x
Probably should have taken the 3d version to a finish instead, probably would have been easier and looked better at the end of the day.
also Mister Leg your flying words are very cool but feel rather stiff.
There are some heavy flaws around her midsection, hips, and upper legs, so I'm not proceeding until I do a few studies of those areas, which I'm doing now.
My lines are...a lot lighter in reality than they appear to be on that scan.
Yeah, a few. He seems to be happy with this so far.
Luckily I'm not. I've done some more on it, and I'm getting ready to scan it in again. I'll shorten up the torso a bit. It's that oversized head. It's throwing off my proportions something fierce.
I dunno what to say about that crotch. I did what what I could with the reference I could find.
I cant seem to get as much exaggeration in the thigh as I would like. I want them to be a bit meatier. More voluptuous, I suppose. I clearly have more work to do in various places here, most notably (in my eyes) her hand...which is so squared off that she looks like she could punch out a tyrannosaurus, her arm, her belly, and her upper legs/crotch area.
Nice job with the controlled pencil strokes on the turban, cake.
bombardier on
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NakedZerglingA more apocalyptic post apocalypse Portland OregonRegistered Userregular
edited June 2010
So i saw an image like this on concept art and totally tried to replicate it because it was so awesome. I can't seem to find the original to post but it was close to this. I lengthened the chin a bunch.
Thanks dudes- after some distance it's probably not as horrible as I made out, it's just frustrating how far it ended up falling short of what I had in my head.
I think you've got a good start, but there are a couple things that stand out to me:
Drawover spoilered:
-The distance between the shoulders versus the distance between the hips: for a classical masculine form, you want the shoulders to be roughly as wide or wider than the hips, to create a sort of buff, top heavy look. On a female, you generally want the hips wider than the shoulders, giving a more voluptuous look. On yours, you've made the shoulders wider than the hips.
-Construction- it feels like you may not be drawing the forms out as much as you should, especially in the midsection area, where it feels very contoury. I find it really helpful to look at the butt/abs/obliques as one solid, kind of smoothed-out gumdrop shaped form, drawing across from one side of the obliques to the other, and across the bottom of the buttcheeks (cyan area in drawover). Then, I get a nice distinct hourglass shape when I intersect that gumdrop shape with the egg shape of the ribcage (orange shape in drawover)- you've sorta got an hourglass shape going on, but you don't have a clean, simple statement of form going along with it, weakening the read. Some subtle indication of the iliac crests of the pelvis might as help create a more solid, substantial feel in that area.
-Simplification- this is something I figured out by doing copies of Gil Elvgren pinups- you look at one of his paintings and at first blush it appears pretty realistic- but when you break it down into construction, you realize that it looks good because the shapes he's using are in fact, very very simple, and that any indication of musculature is usually handled with some subtle indications of tone, and almost never something that's done in contour- because you want the emphasis being on the sort of feminine gracefulness of the character, not her muscle mass like you might if you were trying to do a Frazetta Tarzan or something.
So when I look at the arm holding the paperclip, I'm seeing a bunch of details that end up working against you- you're showing off the form of the deltoid, and the bicep, and the tricep, and it's great you've done your anatomy homework, but this ends up working against the overall graceful sweep of the arm. When you go to tone, knowing that information will be useful, but it doesn't need to be so emphasized in the linework. Similarly, the lower legs have a similar problem- there's a lot of effort trying to get the anatomy right, but it ends up spoiling the read of the contour, by having too much going on. Reducing it down to "stretched sphere + tapered cylinder" and leaving it at that makes it look more confident and graceful.
Also the thigh on the front leg could probably stand to have a more obvious taper from the pelvis down to the knee, and a sharper, more obvious turn at the knee. And the head is probably pretty large if you're going for realistic proportions, but I'm guessing you're not.
e: I was actually going for the simple pinup look. I saw an artist on deviantart named Kinkei. She does the really cartoonish, sweepy flash pinups, and I was really trying to play with that idea, although clearly not enough. I was trying to do something a little more realistically proportioned. I was going to redo the arms in my coloring to get rid of that harsh contour, but with all the stuff you pointed out, I'm questioning whether I shouldn't just start over.
I'm glad this is for a family member. Otherwise I would be the worst artist ever.
As for the way I drew her torso/hips/crotch...wow that whole area is fucked. I guess I know what I'm going to do today, huh?
ee: You know what, I'm gonna try to correct some of that stuff.
Just mucking around tonight with some modelling, compositing and animation to see what I could do in some areas I havnt tried before. Never tried compositing in Maya before, Its kinda cool Gosh... Yet again only 3 hours sleep tonight... so much to do gah
I'll need to move those wings I guess. I'd always intended for her to look like she's hovering. The forward movement of her legs here does that I think, though I won't say I did it on purpose.
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NakedZerglingA more apocalyptic post apocalypse Portland OregonRegistered Userregular
I'll need to move those wings I guess. I'd always intended for her to look like she's hovering. The forward movement of her legs here does that I think, though I won't say I did it on purpose.
The crop at the top is not good. You don't want to chop the top of her head off. You need to re-do it with the whole figure.
Right. The drawing is on bristol and it's too big for my scanner. When I actually go to color it, if I ever do, I'll widen the canvas and draw that stuff back in. No worries.
And also I'll keep in mind for the future not to draw stuff bigger than my scanner.
So i saw an image like this on concept art and totally tried to replicate it because it was so awesome. I can't seem to find the original to post but it was close to this. I lengthened the chin a bunch.
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Pretty shitty excuse, but I just feel so bad using other peoples photos for ref.
Ah, now we get to the heart of the (subject) matter.
nothing special, I was listening to this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJPM-XRm5Uc and that is what came from it.
But now that I know they're saying "carnival" not "carnivore" this picture makes no sense...
Also the picture is fail. The background looks like it was done in MS paint....
Tofu wrote: Here be Littleboots, destroyer of threads and master of drunkposting.
Also, I hate to be that guy but blender has had a retopo tool that like for awhile now (I want to say years). Seriously, Blender's retopo tools and uv tools are pretty great. (In fact, Roadkill, a popular UV unwrapper is based off of the blender UV unwrap code)
Tofu wrote: Here be Littleboots, destroyer of threads and master of drunkposting.
Started out with a rough 3d mockup to get the perspective right, printed that out, traced it on a lightbox to get a hand-drawn look, scanned and photoshop colored it. For whatever reason, whenever I try to do stuff semi-clean- not lifeless and mechanical but not sloppy Ashley Wood either- I can never pull it off and make it look good. I'm so fucking sick of being able to get to a point where it looks like it's 90% "there", but I can never, no matter how much time I spend, get that next 10% to work in the way it needs to in order to look good. :x
Probably should have taken the 3d version to a finish instead, probably would have been easier and looked better at the end of the day.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOSlGOF2LC8
totally getting a point and click adventure vibe from it
artistjeffc.tumblr.com http://www.etsy.com/shop/artistjeffc
On a side note there should be more movies about Nazi Zombies.
Bacon, for all that whining, this does look good. It reminds me of Okami, and all of the art in that game was beautiful.
But if you want it to look more finished, you could add textures.
also Mister Leg your flying words are very cool but feel rather stiff.
3DS: 0447-9966-6178
There are some heavy flaws around her midsection, hips, and upper legs, so I'm not proceeding until I do a few studies of those areas, which I'm doing now.
My lines are...a lot lighter in reality than they appear to be on that scan.
Did you do many thumbnails before hand?
Luckily I'm not. I've done some more on it, and I'm getting ready to scan it in again. I'll shorten up the torso a bit. It's that oversized head. It's throwing off my proportions something fierce.
I dunno what to say about that crotch. I did what what I could with the reference I could find.
I cant seem to get as much exaggeration in the thigh as I would like. I want them to be a bit meatier. More voluptuous, I suppose. I clearly have more work to do in various places here, most notably (in my eyes) her hand...which is so squared off that she looks like she could punch out a tyrannosaurus, her arm, her belly, and her upper legs/crotch area.
Spoilered for the sake of reducing clutter
I actually really dig this pick. Like the tone, and color comp's.
I'm just curious as to what 3d program you used to make that mock up?
@Fedora: The mockup was done in Maya.
I think you've got a good start, but there are a couple things that stand out to me:
Drawover spoilered:
-The distance between the shoulders versus the distance between the hips: for a classical masculine form, you want the shoulders to be roughly as wide or wider than the hips, to create a sort of buff, top heavy look. On a female, you generally want the hips wider than the shoulders, giving a more voluptuous look. On yours, you've made the shoulders wider than the hips.
-Construction- it feels like you may not be drawing the forms out as much as you should, especially in the midsection area, where it feels very contoury. I find it really helpful to look at the butt/abs/obliques as one solid, kind of smoothed-out gumdrop shaped form, drawing across from one side of the obliques to the other, and across the bottom of the buttcheeks (cyan area in drawover). Then, I get a nice distinct hourglass shape when I intersect that gumdrop shape with the egg shape of the ribcage (orange shape in drawover)- you've sorta got an hourglass shape going on, but you don't have a clean, simple statement of form going along with it, weakening the read. Some subtle indication of the iliac crests of the pelvis might as help create a more solid, substantial feel in that area.
-Simplification- this is something I figured out by doing copies of Gil Elvgren pinups- you look at one of his paintings and at first blush it appears pretty realistic- but when you break it down into construction, you realize that it looks good because the shapes he's using are in fact, very very simple, and that any indication of musculature is usually handled with some subtle indications of tone, and almost never something that's done in contour- because you want the emphasis being on the sort of feminine gracefulness of the character, not her muscle mass like you might if you were trying to do a Frazetta Tarzan or something.
So when I look at the arm holding the paperclip, I'm seeing a bunch of details that end up working against you- you're showing off the form of the deltoid, and the bicep, and the tricep, and it's great you've done your anatomy homework, but this ends up working against the overall graceful sweep of the arm. When you go to tone, knowing that information will be useful, but it doesn't need to be so emphasized in the linework. Similarly, the lower legs have a similar problem- there's a lot of effort trying to get the anatomy right, but it ends up spoiling the read of the contour, by having too much going on. Reducing it down to "stretched sphere + tapered cylinder" and leaving it at that makes it look more confident and graceful.
Also the thigh on the front leg could probably stand to have a more obvious taper from the pelvis down to the knee, and a sharper, more obvious turn at the knee. And the head is probably pretty large if you're going for realistic proportions, but I'm guessing you're not.
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artistjeffc.tumblr.com http://www.etsy.com/shop/artistjeffc
So badass
Koch: Nice color scheme
e: I was actually going for the simple pinup look. I saw an artist on deviantart named Kinkei. She does the really cartoonish, sweepy flash pinups, and I was really trying to play with that idea, although clearly not enough. I was trying to do something a little more realistically proportioned. I was going to redo the arms in my coloring to get rid of that harsh contour, but with all the stuff you pointed out, I'm questioning whether I shouldn't just start over.
I'm glad this is for a family member. Otherwise I would be the worst artist ever.
As for the way I drew her torso/hips/crotch...wow that whole area is fucked. I guess I know what I'm going to do today, huh?
ee: You know what, I'm gonna try to correct some of that stuff.
Also thanks moly, i smoothed some of the camera movements out in the last version, wont upload it until I find some good music though
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je3GWkmxju8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv0yjB0Jpng
I'll need to move those wings I guess. I'd always intended for her to look like she's hovering. The forward movement of her legs here does that I think, though I won't say I did it on purpose.
The crop at the top is not good. You don't want to chop the top of her head off. You need to re-do it with the whole figure.
Not sure about the color scheme so far, but DURP DURP. It goes.
And also I'll keep in mind for the future not to draw stuff bigger than my scanner.
Prox, this turned out awesome.