Still Kicking - Project Updates

Still alive, just an art hiatus due to burn out, moving, new job, etc etc.

The sculpting projects are temporarily on hold but I have plans for finishing them. My new desk is set up and ready now but then Steam Sale happened so you know...

In the mean-time there has been a "class" going on periodically at work. A concept art class with the assignment of taking an old video game character and updating it for Gen4 platforms/ games.

I picked Carmen Sandiego and decided to give her a tech-noir revamp. This will allow me to incorporate technological additions like robotics and cyber-themed aesthetics (hard surface, out of my comfort zone) and still keep her iconic red trench and hat combo. I found without those pieces, the ability of people to recognize her became non-existent. She's also a semi vague educational game icon, so hard enough to get recognition!

"Cybernetically enhanced thief and charismatic con artist, with dangerously high levels of self-confidence and a flair for the dramatic."
"Motivated by the thrill, non-lethal, prideful.."

Carmen Sandiego Revamp Pinterest 

Process doodles that span more time than I care to admit (hey, we work at work!)

So eventually this class will evolve into environment concept and industrial concept, and I'm hoping to use those to create a little cake-slice environment/pedestal and have a better design for her robotic parts. With all of that planned out fully she'll be modeled in ZBrush and finished. Eventually :)

Extra Notes on Deep One

Got a nice critique from friend-Tony as he passed by!

-Look at pin fish for fin reference

-He wants me to take a better look at the hind limbs of animals like deer, to better render that bone structure in the legs.

-Put more stress on the legs/toes, and spread the toes for balance.
-Straighten legs a little, make her less stubby and more graceful (probably will become obvious when looking at deer)

-Look at the quads of swimmers, especially, but also skaters to better design that musculature.

-Some of the finesse or expression got lost from the face in the sculpting process, try to bring that back... I'll fiddle with this, I did want to make her more creature and less anime-cute but expression is important.

-Weeki Wachee mermaids for pose ideas ;)

Organic Modeling FINAL week!

Sadly the day has come to say goodbye to my class. While I need a break from homework I will miss having classmates again -- I remembered I love the feeling of working on art alongside others. I'll have to remember to leave a glowing review of the class, the Mold3D team, and Gio Nakpil of course. The only criticism I could have would be to critique harder, tough love, go for it I can take it! But that's not much of a criticism :)

Here is the current status of the Femme-Deep One. Pretty happy with her progress, although I will be making some changes to her features, adding details, and finalizing as I can find time. I rarely put that finishing touch on projects and I really think this creature and the ogre deserve that time and care.

I also threw her into a couple low-res poses to get feedback on that before it was too late:

Gio's final critiques:
------------------------------------------------------
I had doubts on my choice of back spines, his input:
"Instead of spines, go with a more aquatic-fish-vibe. More fin-like
Spines are too grotesque for the overall gracefulness of the creature
Echo the fins on her hips"

Likes the naturalistic stance from the concept art
Always twist more (refering to the swimming pose), exaggerate the bends and twists to enhance personality and movement

"With the swimming pose, creating a coral reef, under water reef, a moray eel pet, for a base would be stunning!"
------------------------------------------------------

I have trouble posing and controlling the multiple subtools involved in this design, so that will be another challenge to learn from~

Organic Modeling week 9

Week 9 kicks off a new project for me -- I could have either continued with the ogre or used the last two sessions with Gio to start from scratch and see what I've learned with a new concept.

The ogre will get more love later but time to put the skills to the test and build a new character from a sphere~

 I chose this lady: http://douzen.deviantart.com/art/Deep-one-340095834

Notes from Gio to apply to Week 10:
-------------------------------------------------
-Make the head smaller and elongate neck slightly

-Likes how I handle forms, likes the subtlety; "keen eye for it" ( :) !)

-Pull tentacle-horns out more, the concept is pretty expressive
-More chin

-Follow through with the ridges more; follow through and blend to suggest structure underneath the skin

-For week 10 either pose her or continue on with the detail!
-------------------------------------------------

Organic Modeling week 8

Week 8! Final structured week. The next two weeks are up to us. I'll be starting a new project, but will finish the surface detail of the ogre eventually. I plan to also check his topology and maybe get into texture...we'll see.

The chosen pose:

Gio's Feedback

----------------------------------------

"Looking good" - he likes that right side scapula-back area (!)

"Strong, clean, there is good weight to the forms; good twist in waist"

"Keep in mind: with anything bearing weight to amp up the forms (example the weight bearing legs).

Show more flex in the muscles, more stress from supporting the upper body"

----------------------------------------

I asked for which of these concepts would be the best to work on for the next two weeks. Gio likes 1 and 5 best, which works because so did I, and leans towards 5 since it is more fully rendered. I will probably make some alterations to the design (as I noted in the image). "Creature of the deep" it is then.~

Organic Modeling week 7

Week 7!
Poses! Did what I could with limited time but I will always regret not putting the ogre in one final pin-up pose...

Anyway, what I turned in:

(we were to turn in the lowest subdivision for the sake of critique)

(Higher subdivision details projected on, but by no means adjusted post posing!)

And Gio's feedback:
----------------------------------
"Crawling pose - he may be a bit too low - bring him up from the surface; more gorilla less slink."        Me: Maybe redo the crawl all together, I can do better :D

"Standing pose - like this one a lot. Play up the twist in the torso and neck more" (see images)

"Leaping/Hulk - needs some shoulder raising, lifting up all the muscles and forms riding on top. Looks more powerful that way. Break up the arm symmetry. Pose feet more - curled in, cupping. Exaggerate back bend and motion."

Standing and Leaping pose are the winners - but the standing is a "beautiful, classic monster pose -- nice movement to it as you turn".
-------------------------------------

Screenshots of Gio's tweaks in action:

For week 8, I'll be applying Gio's critiques to the standing pose (most likely) and re-applying the previous week's teachings to the newly posed muscles and other forms in Motion~

Organic Modeling week 6

Week 6 Surface detailing!
Minimal, if any, use of alpha map for surface detail. I didn't finish but I got good coverage on the head and face, and the majority of the torso. The arms and legs didn't make it in time, next week ;)

Here's some feedback from Gio to apply for week 7 or week 8, depending on how the class progresses:
------------------------------------
"Certain parts feel a little too square and grid-like -- like in the cheeks-
Think of how the cheek forms insert under the eye; extending the fan-like shapes and avoiding creating lines that are too parallel from eachother, too tik tak toe (neck, cheeks, etc).

Nice organic leathery feel."
------------------------------------

Organic Modeling week 5

Made it through Week 5!! Half way point...whew. Work, gym, homework, bed is getting rough!

So week 5 is Tertiary shapes - shapes built off of the secondary forms and adding interest and detail to the surface. These shapes are still ruled by the forms built below them so are not surface detail like pores, etc.

I addressed the feedback from the previous week and though the ogre is still very much Gio's design - I've been trying to fiddle with the horns, the feet, and proportions.

Notes from Gio for week 5: (paraphrased :) ! )

"-Body is working nicely.
-Readability in the face being hurt by the upper lip/maw area details. Shapes on the nose are too repetitive. Breaking this up will help get rid of the horizontal lines that cut through the face.
-Chin getting too busy.
-Horns feel too mechanical - work towards making them more organic. Think about how that vague horn spine blends into the skull/skin."

Organic Modeling week 4

Week is all about secondary forms - building on the primary shapes and adding the more structural detail.
Some feedback:

Feedback for week 4
----------------------
"Looking a lot like his video, pretty one-to-one.
Getting the concepts
Nice naturalistic look to it

Extra compression fold under neck, so the gap isn't so large. Like a water balloon beign squeezed out the sides.
Extend the head fold a bit around the neck/skull"
--------------------
So good and bad, it basically looks like his ogre -- I will be taking some extra time next week to TRY to add some personal detail. We'll see how it goes.

I'm still pretty excited to be doing an ogre at all since I never do any beast or creature. But I want to do more :)

Organic Modeling Week 3

So Week 3 begins the start of working on a particular character from concept. Our options were to A) follow along with Gio, our teacher, with his ogre design, B) to find another artist's concept and follow that, or C) create our own concept.

I chose to follow along with the ogre...but I'm a bit self conscious about that after seeing how many others chose a separate concept. I do like the ogre, and I hope to do my best to add a personal touch to it - in the end.

Anyway, Week 3 was to "block out" the primary forms of the concept - avoiding secondary detailed shapes.

Organic Modeling Week 2

Week 2 feedback! Our task was to create a tentacle to practice "water balloon" form. A way to learn the weight and flex of muscles in general (as opposed to specific humanoid anatomy).



Feedback:
----------------------------------------------
-Fluid and dynamic pose - flow and gesture
He loves my pose (squeeeee "One of the more successful poses..."!!)

-My concerns about overly smoothing the details are noticeable but looks natural.
-Needs to be a little more descriptive with some of the "water balloons", like at connecting points, for example (pinch points).
-Lost some definition with the smoothing.

Organic Modeling Week 1

First week of the Mastering Organic Modeling class!

Gio Nakpil has a great personality for teaching - chill but clear in message.
The first assignment was a "doing things the hard way" kind of project: Turning a zSphere into a cube, turning that cube back into a Sphere, and then pulling a Cube out of that Sphere. Catch was to only use ClayBuildup, hPolish, DamStandard, and Move (and Smooth of course) brushes. Masking was ok...I used a touch of LazyMouse (hopefully that was also ok ;) )

Squircle? Sphube? Sphox?

Basically reworking the surface over and over again until the desired effect is achieved. The only stopping point I could find was that I just had to - otherwise I'd still be working on it. Mildly lumpy but still good, yeah.

Franny-pants Done

Gonna call Franziska done for now! The Organic Modeling class starts up tomorrow and it gets what's left of my attention o__o

I might have to give her a better background but...not now.

Link to the original concept artist: http://doozigitis.deviantart.com/art/Unfoolishly-Fabulous-540517484

Franziska, nearly there

More progress on this character, going to call the sculpt finished unless I spot some glaring issues. Going to try some simple poly painting and rendering then be done with it.

Class on Organic Modeling starts soon!!

Progress on Franziska

Franziska von Karma is a lawyer with a whip :D

Progress on her: closer to concept in proportions and pose (still difficult to completely replicate the 2D), a whip, and terrible proxy hair for later use with curveTubes!

Art Break to Art Things

Taking a break from retopologizing and UVing the Warrior dude to do some for-fun pieces.

Working on a sculpt based off of this concept: http://doozigitis.deviantart.com/art/Unfoolishly-Fabulous-540517484

Apparently she is a character from Ace Attorney. Not familiar with the series but this helped fill in some blanks on design details. :)