Character Design

yeah, the only thing at all that speaks barbarian is the inclusion of fur. Id add more "barbaric" ellements like perhaps tattoos or a meaty axe (instead of a sword) or a bulkier frame or whatever you think incorporates "barbarianism."

Nice drawing. Few comments:
1. More hair, especially around the thighs, forearm, chest, facial area (like 5 day stubble). I understand if you didn't add more hair if you wanted the clean design look, that's cool. With the leg armour, I could see barbarians just wacking odd-shaped pieces of metal together which are strapped with thin leather (like the gladiator lace-up-the-legs material). Overall, very cool :)

awesome man i like the simple style - but id like to add, if being a barbarian was his job - id picture him to be alot beefier in the chest arms and neck, paticularly the chest. and although an axe like moony said would be nice - i think some form of mace would be better - or a morning star of sorts.

Then again i am thinking more gladatorial barbarianism [:)] overall i like him - i just think if i were to face him in an arena i would probably breathe a sigh of relief as he doesnt look as big as some of the others.... [:P]

just going to point out one thing that took my eye as soon as I looked at it.. just something on the design.

On the left arm at the shoulder there is a lovely bit of metal there.. I'm guessing the guy who made the armor at the "Barbarian Camp" didn't know much about fighting or the need to move your arm/s when your fighting.

I hope your getting my point now that the way that left shoulder bit of armor was made. There is no way that guy is going to move his arm around unless he wants to seriously hurt his arm.. and with the fact that they are Barbarians there armor probably has jagged edges and not the cleanes armor... sure hope he has taken his tetnis shot.

either way looks cool, just try to get more into your characters minds when you draw them [:)] eg. would they realy wear armor so thick. anywhoo.. I better stop going on you won't read it

Have a good one and keep it up!

I also think that tattoos and an a change of weaponry are in demand for a bararian. You could give him an axe or a way oversized sword. Huge weapons are the latest craze in america :)

But it looks cool apart from that

Hi John, great pic and neatly presented :D

But I agree with snowflake in that the shoulder armour and it's functionality is a bit limited. If this is concept art to be modelled in 3d, I don't know how his arm would move. You've done a very clear drawing for the modellers to work from, though there could be a bit more thought in the design which would save the modellers a whole lot of headaches later on.

You marker rendering and presentation skills are really great though, keep it up!

Hey what brand markers do you use? Ive got some Copic brand ones and they arent that great. Got any advice/tips when using them?
I havent read all of the above comments so sorry if this has been said. He could use some little detials/design in the armour he has, as its just plain metal sheets.
:)

Hmmmmm, the armour was intended to be leather with metal plates...So the shoulder armour is leather (apart from the small metal plate on the side), the cupped shoulder guard has limited freedom to lever up/down from the studs at the base. The arm strap is more of a chafe(sp?) guard rather than a solid attachment point for the armour overlapping it... does that explain the armour design? A little decoration on the metal would look good, eh. This character will (fingers crossed) be done as a 3D model, so if this doesn't make sense speak up!

I couldn't bring myself to do a stereotype barb. and didn't want the character to look oafish in any way. I wanted him to look quick and skillful. More hair on arms and legs wouldn't have gone astray. He has about 1 week of growth on has face but some of these details didn't come up on the scan :(

Makk, have you asked about the markers before?! pay attention this time ;)
Letraset markers (using pantone ink). They were the most expensive ones I could find, but they are refillable and have changable felt tips, and come with 3 different tips as standard. I only have 2 markers- 20% and 50% warm gray. I use them on standard bond/copy paper, all pics are about A4. ( I could probably post this info in a more relevant section with some wip expamles if people would like?)

Asked questions, I have. ;)
Hhhmm, Copic are the only ones around here. I think they are pretty cruddy, only two tips (thick, thin) and they are not refillible. but I must not blame my tools.
Some wip examples, hell anything! would be really cool. Im struggling with these things.

not refillable doesn't sound good (potentially very expensive)once they dry up try pulling the tip out of one. If it comes out and fits back in snugly you could refill it anyway [:D]

Before I purchased any markers I browsed My Zhu site and found it a good starting point for materials and technique/process:

http://69.44.60.9/artbyfeng.com/studio.html

I will try to remember to do some WIPs with the next marker illustration I do and post the process up.

nice character john. I agree with some of the other guys that maybe you could make the weapon more aggresive.
And copics are refillable. It costs about $14 bucks for one colour refil at my uni store!!!! i need more money centrelink!

Okay, finally managed to to a Mk II version. This is just a rough pencil sketch, but I think has a much better balance in character. Addresses a good number of the comments on Mk I above too. Plug away with comments as I intend to do it as a final pen + marker pic for my folio and want it to be real good.

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/simages2/258_character_warrior_v2L.jpg[/img]

the only thing that gets me about that is the detail on the chest pad and shoulder strap, looks kinda spacy and unescacary (sp?). Otherwise great stuff :D

fair comment moony - it does look out of era - the hard sharp edges make it look futuristic where the scraggly hair and fur / cloth parts are the complete opposite.

Good to see some left handed warriors about tho!! [:D]

yeah, should be leather or fur

axe could probably be a little more crude too, for a barbarian

needs cool tatoos! :)

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/simages2/25_human_warriorL.jpg[/img]

Wasn't sure whether to start a new post for this or just continue on, but here it is anyway, makes sense.

This was great fun to get John to design a warrior and then for me to take it and model it, I suggest to all up and coming modellers to get in touch with a concept artist and ask them for a few pics.

I did change things a little like removed the metal plates from his loin cloth and I'm still undecided on his shoulder guard.

Poly count (unoptimised): roughly 4100 with his sword.

All feedback welcome, I should post a wire version too.

I should probably clear this up too, he's meant more to be a warrior than a barbarian.

wires!! Lookin good though [:)] I know it is still to be optimized, but i would like to see a bit more definition at that polycount.

I hope your gunna be texturing him [:D]

your guys a lot slimmer then any of johns drawings, need to be more bulky! :P
still its a cool model :)

Agree with denz 100%, at 4100 theres so little definition - however it does look like a good start so far man :)

I've been looking forward to seeing this [:D] I will see if i can get some more variations on armour details for the shoulder. Might give you some ideas/direction on what to do for that area.
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okay here are some quick sketches for armour variations, focusing on the shoulder area. Bit roughish but should serve the purpose

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/simages2/258_armour_variations.jpg[/img]

those are really nice - i like what you got going there JohnN tis always good to create vision with concept. especially when trying to decide on the best possible attire for a game character etc. good job ! [:D]

Phew! Man, I'm gonna have trouble keeping up with all these changes, some great variations there though, love them.

Following earlier suggestions I've added a lot more definition to the character.

[img]http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~cmcmurr/images/human_WIP26.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~cmcmurr/images/human_WIP27.jpg[/img]

And a wire!

[img]http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~cmcmurr/images/human_WIP28.jpg[/img]

All right. Now the sword weighs in at 440 polys so that makes the original post roughly 3650 tri polys. The latest post with more definition is roughly 3800 tri-polys. This is still unoptimised as I'm waiting for some feedback on his look from the edge of valour crew. I think that when I optimise I should get the count down to around 3500 tri's, is that a more reasonable count for how he looks?

That looks a lot better, especially in the arms. But still with 3800 tri's i think there could be a bit more defintition, other than that from a visual aspect, he's looking quite a treat ;)

yup he looks a bit better for sure [:)] ive spotted a couple of 5 sided pollies on the back of his hand tho ! bad bad wiz! [:D] cant wait to see that textured!!

Ok, optimisation is complete, the model below now weighs in at exactly 3500 tri's.

Hazard: What's the big issue with 5 sided poly's? I can't see any problems so long as the edges are turned the right way. Texturing will be underway after I spend an afternoon unwrapping the bugger, but I'll probably create a hi-res version of him first for the purposes of making a normal map.

Bullet: Cheers mate, it was a treat working on him!

[img]http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~cmcmurr/images/human_comp.jpg[/img]

The all important wires!

[img]http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~cmcmurr/images/human_wire.jpg[/img]

Looking nice Wizned [:)] He has alot better overall shape now I think, and better definition, with less polies! Not too much I can crit except maybe the hands look a little bit small. Maybe its just a personal thing, but i think bigger hands would make him look stronger.

I don't wana hijack you thread, but what you said about 5 sided polies was interesting since I'm unsure aswell. I see alot of high poly models with 5 sided polies. Maybe its a game thing?

great stuff, should be good to see how you interprate johns tonal work into a texture

wiz & denz - ask the code guys [:P] its quite a long drawn out topic, but if your really trying to go for best optimised / tri-stripped models, 5 sided pollies are bad. if you really want to get into why they are bad - get yourself a tri-stripping program, that displays model information that an engine must calculate in order to redraw the model sucessfully.

Have a look at the differences in output - youll see why most coders prefer you keep to either singular tris, or quads. - But its not my area of expertise, google is your friend [:P]

Something most institues DONT teach is the nitty gritty stuff just like this.

comming along well [:)]
Wis, if you become stuck on colours and textures let me know and I will do some colour roughs with notes on what I think might work well.