My homework thread for the August 2018 Class
Week 1
Week 2 Submission
Because my head and eyes hurt, and I can't figure out how to save the bloody UV unwrap map, here's my submission.
I was in a dark place the beginning of last week, listening to depressing music, and this piece was on my list. Every single lyric in that piece resonates with me so very deeply. I didn't have the happiest or smoothest upbringing. but music and art have always been my refuge; it has always made me pull through despite what I'm feeling or thinking. My go-to outlet has always been music and art, so with those feelings of last week I put in them front of you now despite some bumps with 2.8. There are things I still want to add, things to tweak, but I can't work with a headache and eye strain right now.
Sorry if some details get lost; still figuring out the lighting situation in Eevee.
Week 3 Submission
I did this a while ago, and I think the decimate modifier left some funky geometry. Oh well.
Did the primitives. The hardest is probably the cone.
No hair, but some piercings. Not loving the ears, but I guess I should do some ear studies, then. Not loving the eye work either, but practice will help.
silentheart00 It already looks a lot like Kilyn, and it's verrryyy smooth which is not easy to achieve, you did great!! Hope you finish it after class and post pics in your poly book 😊😊
ssmurfmier1985 I will. Deciding how to do the hair. Sculpt it, hair cards, or hair system? I'm leaning towards hair cards because I want to understand the game dev side of things better. I will definitely retopo this as well for practice.
Debating what I should do for Week 4. Maybe I'll tackle that stylized sculpt of Kilyn again.
Week 4 WIP 1
Getting basic forms in. The Skin modifier caused me a bit of trouble for an hour, but now I got it sorted.
silentheart00 Hey it looks good to me man. With the ears I'd say they stick out too much but considering this is a fantasy character with non-realistic ears you can easily get away with that. Looks like you're continuing to make the full character so I'm really looking forward to seeing that!
thecabbagedetective ssmurfmier1985 Thanks! I'm taking another whack at the Stylized version of Kilyn since I don't think I finished that one. Maybe I'll actually finish it or get close to finishing it this week.
silentheart00 Awesome progress on your character bust! It looks abnormally smooth and polished for a sculpture...anyone who's spent time sculpting knows how hard that is to do.
The ears feel too far back on the head along with the jawline also feeling too far backward. The corners of the mouth could use more indentation. But apart from that it looks really really nice.
A+ in my book. Great job this week 👏
@theluthier Yeah, I think the ears are too far back as well, which was influenced by the jawline. I'll fix that when I get the chance.
silentheart00 I just would like to join to the perception, that your models are so smooth.
I would be interested in what is the secret of that, where is the balance between of the smoothness / vertex count / slight deforming of the shape by smoothing, and how to achieve so perfectly
csehz Yeah, I only had a few hundred thousand verts for the head sculpt, so I'm wondering how people are getting millions of verts, but maybe that's just their workflow. I think I might've also turned on smooth shading at some point, so maybe that's affecting the overall perceived smoothness. Who knows.
Week 4 WIP 2
Today is a day where I wonder why I even bother trying. Might as well put that to some use, but I don't feel like I'm progressing in any way when all I get is "Good work!" I feel like I'm just spinning my tires and guessing what's good and what's bad. I want deep digging critiques. Nitpick my work to the bone. I want to know where my skills stand and how I can keep refining them.
So?
silentheart00 Do you have a reference pic or concept to show us what style/shape/look you're trying to achieve? The full picture. So we can nitpick what needs work 😉
ssmurfmier1985 Sure.
I'm aiming for something like this, based heavily on fashion proportions, so 9 heads tall, very exaggerated hips, waist, legs. There's a specific name for this style but it is eluding me right now.
The turnaround to get me started.
silentheart00 So for techniques and stuff I don't feel I have enough experience to give you any advice, but here are my thoughts on your work so far in regards to the proportions. Hope you can read it, wrote it with my mouse, if not just say so then I will type it out.
And for the record I do think your sculpt does look good, it's a great starting point for what you're trying to achieve and its very smooth. Also the details like on the neck are in my opinion very well modeled.
So. Just wanted to say that to you 😊
ssmurfmier1985 The neck does look long, doesn't it? Maybe the traps need more definition. I was also trying to get some ribcage definition in the front, but maybe I overdid it a touch. And yeah, the bust area needs more attention. Thanks for the critique!
silentheart00 Be careful with the traps, they are one of the best ways to make a character look too muscular. Imo just move the head down. May be a case of the model looks better with a shorter neck than the 2D. Then again the long neck might just be the style you are going for, I think only you will be able to judge that. in the end.
The rib-cage you are trying to define seems really flat and low. From the centre the rib cage needs to start just a few inches below the breasts and then curve downwards as they go out, reaching the lowest point at the sides. If you imagine that your character has well defined abs, try make the ribs hug the top of the abs and curl around a little bit
