Sumea Modeller Challenge

This is the face of my character. The brief stated that a character had to be believable and realistic. I don't know what the defining line of believable and not believable. I think i need a second opinion about a character with robotic prosthetics. Any one please chime in.

He was his father’s son, his father’s protégé. They called him the Prodigy, a brilliant young doctor/engineer working in the field of prosthetic research. Born physically frail he helped hundreds of soldiers return to normal lives after war. He never hated his father for his frail form but he declined any type of prosthetics for his own use, claiming that they were better needed else where.
Secretly he believed that to add prosthetics to himself was an affront against God who had made him this way. One day after completing a complicated surgery that left him mentally drained he was abducted by terrorists. The ransom demands were sent to his father.
25% of the company’s liquid assists in return for the boy. The father refused to pay so the terrorists kept sending incentives. At first it was just his left little pinky, then a middle finger and eventually the whole hand.
Videos of the boy being tortured and raped were sent to the father over a period of two years. The terrorists finally deciding that the father wasn’t going to pay up, they tried to kill the boy. He fought to save his life and ended up on the run. They sent the dogs after him; they could smell the meat from open wounds. The dogs found him and mauled his face. A passing police officer saw the whole thing and saved the young doctor.
Rushed to his fathers hospital he underwent major reconstruction with the most advanced robotic prosthetics money could buy. He awoke months later, almost completely healed from the surgery. He could feel the coldness inside of him as he saw the machines he had once helped create. Jumping from the bed he ran to the mirror in the bathroom and studied the monstrosity he had become.
His entire left are, his left leg from just above the knee and the left half of his face had been replaced with… metal.
A nurse, hearing his cries of anguish and frustration ran into the room to try and sedate him. He tore her apart with his bare hands. Covered in blood of the innocent, he vowed that the people who did this to him would pay.
Running into the street he disappeared into the night.
He eventually slowed to a walk; he heard a gentle sound that he had not heard in an age. The soft sound of a violin from a simple busker girl. He had once played the violin, back when he was a boy. He had thought that the gentle and sensuous voice complemented his own frail shortcomings. He approached the girl.
When she saw his she stopped playing and stared. The stare became a cry; the cry became a scream; the scream became silence as his metal claw crushed the life from her. The instrument had dropped to the ground, making a melodious ‘thunk.’ Picking up the instrument he began to play a song of mourning for the life he had taken. Taking a fold of sheet music from the girls stand, he sealed it with a bloody kiss and let it fall to the body.
Police sirens rang in the distance. It was time to leave. To exact his toll. The madness swept through him as he descended into the sewers under the city.
Realising he still held the girls blood covered violin, he began to play again. The madness and the blood lust abated for now. He could think clearly while playing.
He had once been a gentle soul, a caring doctors and a devoted son. They had turned him into something else entirely.
He needed to kill again. Revenge needed to be take on the people who did this to him. Revenge needed to be taken for the people who couldn't take it for themselves. He would to to them what they did to others. The Gangsters; the Mobsters, the Triads and the Rapists. Anyone who enjoyed hurting others would be hurt by him. No one ever feared the frail, good natured doctor. He would give them a reason to be afraid now.
He continued to play.
He was once known as the Prodigy, now he would be known as The Sadist.

I'm going to throw out the prosthetic idea altogether. If you read the story, It will stay the same apart from the removal of fingers and hands and the reconstruction with robotics. They justs put him back together and hoped for the best. Still trying to work out the costume but he will have a violin that he carries around and plays after he has killed some one. It won't be a weapon, just a trademark. His calling card is a folded piece of sheet music with a bloody kiss on it.
He is also missing an ear.

Some one ate his left eye so now he has a smiley one that doubles as a small grenade.

Hahaha! sweeeet :)

Oops, I forgot to log in on the last post :P

Love the story, I can really picture your character already.

Best of luck in the challenge Robbie!

This is the proposed concept for the main body. I'm thinking of adding something, it seems a bit empty as it is.

I was also toying with the idea of the costume being some blood soaked scrubs and an apron.

I think I'm going to work the crazy doctor angle. seems to suit him better. If anyone has any idea as to what colour scrubs he should be wearing please tell me.
The little blue doodad around the neck area is a surgical mask. and the object in his pocket is a scalpel.
I kind of this with the apron makes him look like he is wearing a dress?...
(yes i am aware that apron only has 1 p in it. It's late leave me alone.)

i think id leave the apron off, he looks good with just the scrubs and the coat.

id prolly go with the navy colour or the lighter blue or a green, check the TV show scrubs i think the surgeons all wear a green one...either way a slightly lighter colour so you can add blood stains =)

I burnt my hand today at work so i can't compleat any of the concept art I have been working on but i want to share a revelation with you all about the current line of character concepts emerging. Most of us (myself included) have created in concept something that is not a super villain. Most of the characters i see are in opinion, anti-villains.
**dramatic pause**
Typically in litriture a villain is the antagonist who foils the hero's plans and commits themed crimes. This line represents the Joker. A man who just wants to do what he dose to see what will happen. For the most part they are bent on one goal and will not stop until they are stopped or they achieve there ends.
Anti-villains are considered the antagonists of the story due to their ruthless and evil actions, despite the sympathetic qualities or good intentions that they possess. They are the far more complex characters. Like Two-face, a man trying to rid the world of corruption one bad cop at a time by the only medium he still sees as fair, his coin.

Honestly i like the ideas that I'm reading but i wonder are we hold true to the idea of a "super villain."
It is a small detail but i would still like to hear peoples opinions about it. :)

i agree but with no super powers, and being plausable theres only so far you can go, add in mutations or special powers and i think we'd see some very different ideas

This is the costume i have decided on for the Sadist. The final will probably have blood stains on it but I'm still deciding.

character 1 is an identity thief who assumes the identity of his victims. His facial features are burnt back providing an ideal base to construct a wide variety of fake features over the top. Calling card... something identity related or possibly an item connected to how he acquired his disfigurements.

character 2 is a sort of 'leader of the pack'. He trains stray (and some not so stray) dogs across the city and uses them as an army of sorts. Current back-story I'm considering is a military animal trainer . potential calling card: dog related (collar, dog whistle, dog tags, choke chain. military related (medal, dog tags of the military kind.)

Still early days with both concepts, I'll flesh out some more back story along the way as I develop the visuals

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image at actual size

wow realy nice drawings man. when i first saw them thought the 1 and 2 were speech bubbles :P

yeam man nice drawings, what do you use?

some more thinking-sketching. I'm working up the 'dog pack leader' so see what eventuates.

TopLeft: came out a little too 'shaggy dog' for a super villain.
TopRight: if I can keep the type of head but make him more dog-ish I'd be happy.

Centre: bad-ass punk hair

BottomLeft: WW2 or American civil war style coat mixed with street bum. I'm liking this direction in general.

BottomRight: Attack Dog Training Suit style. not working for me yet... don't know how it could be improved but has nice armour quality.

Thanks for the comments Rolgun & Jiksen, both sketches posted are pencil on paper. It's been ages since I have drawn in my sketchbook!

looking good man, i like the mullethawk ;)

Love what you've done with the bottom left and right figures

Beautiful sketches, and awesome, awesome character designs. I think when it comes to good character design, challengers need to come up with something unique, has plenty of *character*, and is just aesthetically pleasing (the way everything fits together). Anyway, love the concepts!

thanks for words and flattering feedback, here is the next small progression in the character design. I think I'll settle on these general characteristics and progress to some colour and smaller design details next.

Finally made it onto the computer to continue refining (reconsidering?) this character... I have started to question where the design was going and have looked back to an earlier design as a possible variation.

I like character '1A' but think '2' matches my original intent better. Any points of view would be helpful with deciding what to proceed with.
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They all look really good but if it was up to personal taste I would say you could do a mixture of 2 of them

For example what I would say dude no.2 with maybe the boots and jacket from 1A would look pretty cool.

By the way also awesome work so far and nice concepts.

Looking forward to seeing what you can put out here sebp along with what i can learn from you over the next few months

hey seb was wondering if you would be back this year, nice to see you again =) look forward to seeing you leet new skillz..... and hopefully learning them for myself lol =)

Will be interesting to see what you come up with here Seb, lot of room to move with this one. I'm just hoping to keep up. :)

MJR

some images I hope[IMG]http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/ff360/sebastian_perri/head.jpg[/IMG]

http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/ff360/sebastian_perri/head.jpg

about 6 hours work

Yeah, that's looking great!

Super Villain Name: Radio Bird man
Bird man is an Air wave vandal a noisy obnoxious twit. Through the use of multiple speakers stitched into his cloths and a petrol powered amplifier / jet pack strapped to his back, Bird man is able to shake buildings to there foundations when the volume dial is set to 11.

Calling card: Transistor radio with a bloodied ear tapped to it.

Eats: Red lentil Dahl, vegan jelly snakes.
Drives: jet pack and a sweet as EH Holden ute with a loud shouty engine.
Hobbies: Listening to live bands and his transistor radio through a skin colored glass ear piece.
Age; 55
H8s: tv

Some concepts sketches

looking good seb, the jet pack looks sweet =)

Thanks kit11 geting there with the idea

thats looking really sweet seb! great job!

tanks!

Lol now theres a sound system worth having =)

nice concept cant wait to see the modeling =)

Looking good so far seb

i really need to make a start on mine soon =(

Lookin pretty sweet there seb, although something doesnt seem quite right. The arms and chest dont seem to fit together. It might be that the arms are too thin, or the chest is to thick. It depends on how buff you want your guy to be. The arms seem to be closer to your concept but your chest and neck seem like your other beefy characters. Also i find that the clavicle tends to arch slightly downwards instead of in a strait line. It also tends to form a neat line for the start of the deltoid :)
good example:
http://www.photoshoptalent.com/images/contests/leaf%20drops/infosteps/f…

Modelling already wow man your a quick one.

Awesome work so far Seb, you have made an excellent start. I see your getting pretty good with your normal mapping skills and your sculpts are becoming better and better :D keep up the good work.

Thanks virus I use mud box for the high polygon sculpts, it makes me a bit of freak, it would seem most people prefer Z brush I find the pick up and go with mud box instantly satisfying. I must admit the Z brush models looks really good and tend to have heaps more detail then Mud box models.

Cheers for the advise Tee Jay, I so often get to carried away with the muscles they just get bigger and bigger as I go along. I think I will try shifting my initial focus on revealing skeletal parts of the figure first then add muscle detail. You are absolutely right, the collar bone is all wrong. I reckon I have a some good reference, I purposely picked Iggy pop cose' he likes getting his shirt off and he is wrinkly and he has nasty looking vains, I will have to pay more attention to my reference.

yeah that seems to be some pretty good reference for your model, it fits perfectly

Noice. :)

Ahh, you have some awesome references to draw from here!

Ok, so ive gone with a IT guy.

Name: Buck L. Andrews

Occupation: Simulation Programmer

Buck is an extremely gifted programmer, after spending years in isolation developing a world simulator for the goverment, he has slowly turned hostile towards the government, he belives he is the smartest human on the planet, and thus he is a god. Buck has now focussed his efforts on gotham, believing once he gains control of gotham and its resources, he will be in prime position to take on the government. Buck has usually relied on hired help to get the ground work done (rigging with explosives, dealing with nameless security guards ect) while he commands from his desk chair, however, he has developed a distaste for thugs, and has discovered that he is well capable fo doing the wet work, providing he has a bigger gun then everyone else.

Buck will be dressed in a buttoned up t-shirt, with a faint striped pattern, he will be wearing black suit pants, he wears glasses.

we will carry an assault rifle similar to an m4 with lots of shiny, shooty bits attacthed to it.

His calling card will be a message fo hatred written in binary.

"I have discovered something, in the past, who ever had the brawn, had the power... now days you dont need brawn, all you need is a brain and the balls to back it up. Thankfully my brain is enormous, oh and just quietly, so are my balls" - Buck Andrews

Lol sounds great, should be an interesting contrast between the weedy guy and the massive gun =)

look forward to seeing some concepts

So heres a quick concept

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29266021@N02/2734681766/

lol I like the sound of the calling card. Written all in binary what a classic.

Good work on the concept so far looks pretty good, cant wait to see more.

haha, you must dress well for the killing!

Nice idea. I like your written description.

hey hey havent checked the forums recently, so i hope my idea isnt tooo similar to anyone else, but i had to ideas,
1. a sercurity guard gone postal, cause he couldn't make it to the police forces because of mental instability (bit cleche i know)

2. or a cab driver, as a self proclaimed vigilanti, where he believes its his duty to clean up the streets from all of the low lifes, and such. but then has become addicted to killing, and the thrill of it..... and slowly builds up the chain of inportance and carefully selects his victims n what not.....

anyway feedback would be great guys, in the mean time i might do some rough drafts of the characters, good luck all!!

Should probably watch taxi driver.

good movie

hmm... thanks, ill have a look

hmmm, if i followed on with my taxi driver idea is that breaking the rules ??

the taxi driver should kill them by driving the taxi really badly whilse there inside. like death proof.

I need drawings Now! Give us a look.
I like your idea!

got a few silluettes done. number 1 is "BBQ" a chicken farmer who lost his nut when he found out they were being eaten. Now torches chicken selling restraunts.
nuimber 2 is Chiv, the kitchen hand. Havn't decided on a weapon yet. thinking some kitchen impliment (knifes too obvious) maybe an oven?
C&C welcome. And suggestion!

man you love your flame throwing dudes. it looks cool, i prefer the first picture though case he looks like he could run from someone, but the second one he needs to hall around a slop bucket. also i don't know if the first one has a mask or not, but i like the mask on the second guy so you might wanna shove that on the first dude.

Not to bad with your sillouette work there Jono. im looking forward to a bit of a Dom War rematch

hehe i know the feeling, this should be intresting comp

Nice Work Jono. I like the dude on the left.
__________________________________
My Portfolio www.mitchellplatt.com

Heh, I was given the opinion that I should make the larger man a delicate pastry/cake chef with a floral shirt and such, the flamethrower for lighting candles. I think it's a pretty cool idea! Buuuut I need to work out detail for the characters, so far there's not tho much too them. Then again dirt and such can fill out detail.

Sorry for the crappy link presentation (I'm sure there is is neater way to show them) on reading pastry/cake chef and flame-thrower I thought of how Brulee is made with a mini flame torch. Links are to a few images of the process. thought it might help trigger off some more ideas for ya.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_c2DtbZ9yqVs/R9yZP67j7eI/AAAAAAAAAYI/dLfhEaltU…
http://kitchenemporium.com/kitchenemporium/images/bj53343r.jpg

Hey thanks, wasn't actually sure how to implement a flamethrower in but I think you just gave that to me (SWEET BONUS!!!). A little too clean though so I might have to work up a home made one, but thanks for the post.

Well it's been ages since I was on this forum, thought I posted some more of my concepts up, but apparently not. Well for an update I started modeling today, and this is the result of about an hours work (includes tweaking) also ignore the tongue, its a place holder and without much emotion the tongue looks out of place!

I'll be moving into zbrush for some test high poly heads, but probably wont Zbrush for the final until the whole character is finished in low poly. :P

geez i've been modelling for hours and mine doesn't even look like crash test dummy

show us your z brush skills.

Funny story that! had a zbrushed head at school on a trial copy of zbrush. Then Tristan came over to show me some of the "features" of Zbrush and it crashed. So I started on completing the low poly model instead. I have a completed 4000 tri naked model now. I'm going to render him and concept clothing and accessories. Also probably post an image.

I still like your model Jono, and I lol at the zbruish crashing :P and it's not my fault the trial is so old and unstable you should've saved ^^.

ARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH

Well heres the low poly character before Zbrushing! has some of the minor accessories, mainly put in for me to see where to divide the model up for exporting. I've gone for the pastry chef character, but I've exaggerated his upper body further for a 'gorilla' feel. Sort of to detach him from the 'Ideal' pastry chef. still working on Ideas for the flamethrower, but I'll focus on the weapon later.

* oh and Tristan, I know it's not your fault, but it's a damn funny coincidence! :P

Cool! Love it :)

Due to popular demand (by Seb) I dabbled in Zbrush for a bit... soooooo much fun! :P well heres a 400,000 poly version of my characters head. I probably wont be using this head, which is why I didn't go into the finest details and I still don't know all the functions of Zbrush, but I'm getting there.

on that note, if anyone knows how to import multiple objects into the zbrush scene as sub tools so they can show up in the viewport at the same time, I would be grateful for that info!*

*Looks up tut's in vain!

Just for fun I was trying a colour concept in Zbrush, something _CAD_ showed me (cheers) so heres the face with a simple texture (make note this is my first time so It's not that good!) But I'd like to know if the face with the smoke is too much. and suggestions for change are welcome.

Also the metal thing on his head is the ends of the strap for the Goggles, which are a separate mesh. Just testing whether it should be done as a normal or as geometry, if I make it more subtle I think I'd go with normal.

Looking good Jono, watch the pinch tool(im guessing thats what you used) around the mouth its giving off a bit of an unnatural feel.. well unless thats what your going for.

to get in more subtools, start Zbrush import the next part eg torso and arms then go load tool load your head, then underneath the subtools option should be the APPEND option and yea you should be clever enough to work from there man

I'll try that out, thanks for the tips. I sharpened the edges using the flatten tool, the model is practically the way I want it, I'm going for blocky, sharp edges. I'll probably square out the nose and eyebrows even more.

Well I haven't been back on here in a while. I have however been keeping up with the model. I'm not gonna post cause I'm lazy and not that happy with it. I have entirely Zbrushed the model...

HOWEVER when designing the weapon I ended up re-designing the accessories and personality, so have moved back a few steps soooo... back to Zbrushing the new Improved model.

well heres a taste of the new model. well the concept anyway.

I've done a quick unwrap and texture theme. crit welcome.

Hey... was thinking up ideas for my initial concept, and it was getting hard to think up something cool without making it overly complicated, so i though i would try a new approach.

After a bit of brainstorming in the car on the way to work today, I had an idea for concept number 2: The Parking Inspector.

Physically, he's your average overweight, grubby, cranky parking inspector (is there any other kind?) ;-) After years in his job, he's finally cracked and gotten sick to death of so many people violoating the laws of the road and common sense, and decided it's up to him to dish out some justice.

Calling card would likely be a death certificate made out to the victim, left on the windscreen of their parked vehicle. He may or not kill all of his victims - i may try and give him some warped 'values' system whereby he kills people for parking illegally in handicapped spaces, etc., but for 'lesser evils' he just lobs off their gear-changing hand, accelerator foot, or something like that.

There may be more concepts coming, but the more i think on this one the more i like it. I need to spend more time on photoshop, so i can get something of decent enough quality that I can put up here. Will try not to make it take too long.

What are your plans on making this character stand out, rather than as some fat guy with a parking inspector outfit?

This is the first sketch of my yet unnamed villain. He is some kind of horribly diseased man who's evil-doing involves spreading new contagions to "cure" the healthy. I like the idea but I'm not happy with this concept since it so far has a quality that is too "contrived" and so far does not actually look decrepit enough, also I am yet to figure out what his calling card should be.

Suggestions?...

looks kinda cool, maybe his calling card could be the IV drip, he has to replace the bag after any sort of strenuous activity.... ie contaminating a water supply or what ever he does =)

Here is a more detailed picture for the face, I'm quite proud of it since i usually don't draw people, also I suppose I have decided that is look is going to be the right one since the only other contender is a Baron Harkonnen look-alike and well I like this one.

edit: Oh yes and by the way yes I forgot to put eyelashes on

I haven't modelled in two years. I don't even know what i'm doing. what a great way to waste $20,000 of my parents money

are you going to AIE or are you buying all your software... Cause if you are, nobody buys if your training, we share our 3d software. if you want a legit version of max get yourself a student license its about $100 (not sure exact price)for a year. I'm guessing but maybe autodesk do the same with Maya now as well.

I graduated from A.I.E. in 2006

One thing I'd like to know though is which first: normal model or game model? I've seen the pros and cons of doing either, but I really have had such little experience in making a normal map, (also it was a non-organic device)Which do you guys who make good normal mapped models prefer?

Also, does anyone else think my dude has such a generic outfit? I mean black trenchcoat, pants, and a fedora?

for normal mapping you have two options, mudbox, or zbrush. mudbox is easier to use while zbrush is better but harder. Also when using these programs i highly recommend a graphics tablet.

yeah i have a graphics tablet, but it sure damn feels weird since i now have a widescreen display with a 6x8 tablet

I have now named my Villain. He he shall now be known henceforth as: "The Patient"

I think he was referring to the course fees.

Try mapping your tablet to a section of your screen, I think it might be the only way to make your tablet usable with the widescreen.

oh no its fully usable, don't worry. I'm just crap

ok here's my next big dilemma, I'm trying to model now but now i'm confused again. do we make a head or body first? and how in the hell would one make his coat? I don't even know where to start!

Well me personally im a head guy :D. i like to start there and move down, i find that nailing the head is something i like to do before anything else, as for the coat im not really sure as i will be having the same problem later on, my advice would be to model his entire body first without the coat and then do it after that.

Just my 2 cents mate, keep the good stuff coming(i love the story behind this dude by the way :)

I agree with _CAD_ I also start with the head first as it is usually the piece that takes the most time to model as it is usually the hardest.

In terms of modelling the coat, what has been said by _CAD_ is probably to most plausible approach and alot easier than modelling it as a piece that was modelled from the head. I dont know how much sense I have made here but I hope it does.

Thanksguys, I'm totally working on the head right now since even though I don't think i'll finish this I really would like to dabble some more in the zbrush and the head is always the fun one with that. In regards to the coat.. i'll get there eventually

Love to see how your head model is progressing Mr Snacuum.

give me a bit, I'm still working on the main mesh. I wanted a half-optimised mesh to import into zbrush so since i'm quite green to it and don't know how to "sculpt" one from scratch.

UPDATE----

Well were not seeing anything new right now since 3dsmax has decided to dick me around. I'm using 2009 and when I put my viewport backgrounds in I all of a sudden lose my selection region. I can still select things as if it was still there but I can't see the box I would use to do so. Madness!

Here is a new pic so as to look like I'm doing something. As you can see, I'm nowhere! I think I should officially bow out of the competition time-wise, since although I want to finish it, there's no way I can by the deadline.

You say that when a good 70% of the people havent even started modeling XD Not to mention the few who have yet to concept.
I think there is still plenty of time left.

Man I'm no where near texturing, that takes me longer than everything.

--edit--

Oh yeah, not to mention the fact that the 70% not medelling yet may also not finish.

What is this? What the *** is this? I don't know what I'm doing, I've lost control. Why did I even think I could do this? I should've taken the hint when all the elite students were given jobs and everyone else and me were left in the dust. I won't finish this, comp ends in november right? model,unwrap,normal,texture,rig,and post production in six weeks? I can't do that. I mean just look at the crap I've produced. That won't get me my dream job, nothing will, the games industry is nothing but a boys club and if you're not top-notch like i'm not then they'll just give your work to some outsourced dude in india. I've failed everyone.

Man if you could only have seen my initial models when I was in school. Look i wasn't offered a job when i was in school but then worked on my folio out of school and didnt play a single game Untill I got hired. I applied in early Dec and I received 3 job offers within 3 weeks of applying. Right at this moment in time alot of the games companies are not hiring too many artists. but in a couple of months they usually start hiring again. I suggest work hard at your folio make sure you have 5 or 6 pieces that show a range of models and textures. EG characters, creatures, objects, vehicles, environments, levels and some concept work. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

here are the dates...

STARTING DATE: Wednesday, 23rd of July, 2008.
CLOSING DATE: Tuesday, 16th of December, Midnight. Yes, 4 and a half months Total
thats still almost 2 more months.
You still have plenty of time.

Also just because you don't get a job at certain companies now, it might be that there not looking for that Type of artist. Find what your good at and stick with that. Keep applying, keep updating your folio and sending it out. Even us artists in the industry have to do it otherwise we will lose our jobs to the young and upcoming artists that are learning all the new techniques eg ZBrush Mudbox. We are all always learning and constantly bettering ourselves.

Keep persevering and you will get there.

"didnt play a single game Untill I got hired"

gee why don't i just kill myself already? Playing games is the only thing that gives me joy anymore.

"Find what your good at and stick with that. Keep applying"

I'm not good at any of it, even my teacher at AIE said I was just an 'all-rounder' I mean look at that model, I can't even get a face right, it's a puzzle with no solution to me. It looks like nothing more than a bunch of lines and dots. All I get is 'it'll be all right' and there's no proof.

There's no teachers and no colleagues any more. I'm going to be stuck at my dead-end of a job and never even come close to naive dreams of 'making the greatest game of all time.'

Im with kookiemunster, you cant quit now.

In my opinion the important thing is that you finish cause it will be valuable practice..now if you dont finish by the deadline thats no big deal its just a competition, and you use competitions to further your abilities and get advice from other artists, remember they're just supposed to be fun. Also if your having trouble with something the biggest advice i can give is ask people for their help and opinion, i know a few of the people in this competition and they would be more than happy to offer advice and help to anyone who needs it.

With the teachers at AIE saying your just an all-rounder, so-what. (i mean no disrespect to the teachers of AIE as im a student there myself and think they do a great job) but what they say isnt 100% concrete, i was actaully told to pursue a certain direction of art but chose not to, what you need to do is choose what you want to do and work at it, and then work at it some more pick what your passionate about (from what i can see your better than some character artists ive seen). you wont become the greatest overnight though.

With the problems u think your having with the face i suggest checking out other peoples models, check out the way they do theirs....reference in my opinion the best tool an artist can use :)

Well i hope you'll continue going at it i wanna see the final result and remember if your having a problem just ask im pretty sure the tsumea community will jump in with some friendly advice.

CAD

hey ya, just keep at it, try finding differnt tutorials on the net, i see you making the head from planes, i have tried that way and failed miserably i find starting from a box easier but thats just me. check out

http://3dsmax-expert.blogspot.com/2008/05/for-max-and-maya-swordmaster-…

the swordmaster it might help

I'm thankful for the support you guys give me. I have been dealing with depression for a very long time. I currently work at a harvey norman, which is dreadful. The thing is I don't actually enjoy this really, I all I know is that I don't want to do anything else. I want out of where I am and to be in the industry. I had friends once which I don't now, many of them work in the industry and now have forgotten about me. I suppose I find it so hard because I want so badly to be like them but I can't seem to get any closer, I mean what I have done is just not good enough.

and I've tried box-modelling and it just doesn't work for me, I can't separate the edgeloops and i usually 'forget' one of the axis as I model. And in regards to reference, damn it is so hard to find, I've been all over but I can only find one measly pic here and there, the likes of 3d.sk hoards them all.

Unfortunately nobody will pay me just to play games.

Kit, _CAD_, and Kookiemunster have provided some great advice, and I want to add some more encouragement. I can tell you're getting pretty frustrated, and I feel for you because we all go through moments of doubt like this.

Here's the thing, this challenge is a tough one. Normal mapping isn't a walk in the park, so it's ok to come across difficulties. Everyone can be an exceptional character modeller, but it requires time and practise, practise, and more practise. Consider this just another chance for you to hone your skills. Don't worry if you don't complete this challenge, just don't quit just yet. Take this opportunity to work on something.

If you find that character modelling isn't your forte, that's fine, there are certainly other avenues you can try. Perhaps try your hand on environment, architecture, vehicle modelling, low polygon modelling etc and see what you're more complacent at.

You say you haven't modelled in two years which I find a bit concerning. Why did you stop?

For all the reasons I've stated above. I was depressed and unemployed, (even less of a reason to stop.) Every time I tried to start again I saw an insurmountable task, I was so upset and confused that I just stopped and played games. When I did I was happy and forgot about my problems.

Why am I so worried about not completing this on time? Because it send a horrible message to all the developers I'm begging for mercy: That I can't complete work by a deadline.

Find one of those Hideo Kojima's, Peter Molyneux's, or Cliffy B's who went through this. You won't find any because they were all geniuses or fell into the industry by being born at the right time.

--EDIT--

Now what's going on? My normals appear to be confused. I have tried to reset its smoothing groups but it doesn't help. Happens the most when I add/delete geometry.

Okay don't worry i figured it out. I used the reset function in the 'edit normals' modifier.

yeh sorry guys I have not posted anything yet as I am still currently working on the comicon challenge @ gameartisans, I will make a start soon hopefully :)

oh k. I hope this style is in the guidelines. I basically drew her up at UNI.

Im not really 100% sure yet what her story or calling card can be yet, but here is just an idea on a possible story and see what everyone thinks.

IMO I am leaning toward making her a hacker, who previously worked as a software programmer for a cyber corporation but got fired. As revenge she became a hacker which lead to her infiltrating her previous cyber corp and any other company or business affiliated with it. So in short her revenge is to destroy the computer mainframes of those companies to possibly take money and drive the corporation out of business.

I'm thinking maybe a calling card for here is a CD that plays a taunting message 'Your mainframe has been infiltrated by(havent given her a name yet).

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb64/dark_virus_2007/Tsumea/Picture4…

I know the picture is hard to read, but what I was trying to achieve is sort of a matrix like style character(leather trenchcoat, sunglasses, whatever)
crits and comments always welcome.

Yeah the idea is very similar to Neffy's entry. She has a cyber hacker chic happening. Although yours looks like a totally different style.

The concept sketch looks plausible to me.

Sweet virus, i think shes a little top heavy though :)

Kookiemunster - Yeah I know thats why I really want to try and come up with another idea, I might build on her concept and see I can come up with an another idea for her.

_CAD_ - lol yeh I did notice that a bit :), it was something I just whipped up during class with out references(I know u can tell alot lols) so I will be making another version soon :P

I want to see more

dont worry ill be posting something soon with the story as well.

Soz what I was meant to say was thatI will post the new concepts soon but I have a bit of UNI work I have to attend to, im thinking maybe on the weekend I might be able to add something.

This is the possible story i'm probably going to go with, it is a bit cliche' but I think it is a much more original idea than the one I had before as I realised that alot of people already had the idea to do a hacker, that I decided to change my idea and make something a bit more original. IT may not make alot of sense (I hope some of it does), but it is just a small backstory about her. So yeh I have also scrapped the original concept but I may still use some features from it.

Name:Havent figured one out yet.
Type of character: Bionic Infiltrator
Sex: Female
Calling Card: Detonator

BACK STORY:
A horrible incident involving some employees(and CEO) from a corrupt major corporation has turned her into what she never thought shed become. Her father who was pretending to work for them as an online distributor of a various new range illegal drugs and other illegal distributions of other things this company takes part in, who in theory is an undercover commisioner working for the government who were trying to take the corrupt company down.

The company eventually found out her father was sending information to the government about what was going on and was eventually killed. After that the corporation track down her family and had killed the rest of them. She managed to survive but her legs and other parts of her body were severly damaged.

She is half human due to the amputation they had to do due to her damaged limbs and arms. In this case she has prosphetic arms and leg with mechanical apparatuses that enhance various traits. For example increased strenth from her mechanical limbs allow her to fall from greater hieights. She is now out ofr revenge on the company that killed her family. She carries 2 weapons rifle and sidearm(in case sshe comes in contact with security guards) and as well as her detonation mines to take down the company.

Her calling card is a detonator which she tends to leave behind after the deed is done.

I hope this can fit the brief, whether she is a heroin or villain is a bit in the grey area as she is more of a vigilante type who is seeking revenge for the deaths of her family, but keeps a peaceful side inside of her of the memories she had before her incident.

Proportions are a bit well wierd at the moment but I will fix that later down the track.

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb64/dark_virus_2007/Tsumea/characte…

Oh I almost forgot that red thing on her head is going to be some sorf of mask to hide her face.

nice, its starting to look pretty good, keep it up

3 ideas that ive come up with;

Pig sticker: he hates corrupt cops, uses sharp objects to butcher the corpses of his victims and his calling card is a police badge.

Hounder: old bikey gang leader enfuriated by the negligence on today's roads and kills anyone caught disobeying the laws of the roads (his laws not the governments). Calling card is a metal nut or bolt.

Violin Girl: Rogue doctor stuffed up in an operation on her to fix her ears. She now takes revenge on doctors who stuff up in practice using her violin and bow as weapons. Her calling card is a scratch the shape of a music note on the offender.

Just using words to discribe the characters before actually hitting the silouettes and concepts.
Atm im stearing towards the Violin Girl who i will give a better name then that soon =)

Out of the three i had posted i decided to expand on the Violin Girl.
And as silly Violin Girl sounds after saying it so much its stuck in my head so thats gonna be her name xD =)

Since you're doing a ballerina outfit, I hope you do it justice! Those things are pretty fancy and very detailed! Are you modelling based on that profile you posted up? Those legs need to be a bit more shapely! Why don't you use a female figure to profile from some place like www.fineart.sk or are you going for an anime look?

Hey sorry but its not actually a ballerina outfit Souri >_< its meant to be more of a mini 18th century dress, like the ones with the metal frame thing and shes also wearing a corset.
Concerning the profile pic; i made that as a first sketch at a basic silhouette. I wont be modelling from that but i do appreciate that link that you posted :)

Violin Girl

Real Name: Iris Mavric
Age: 31yrs
Height: 178cm
Weight: 67kg

Physical Description: Slim build, hair stylised; blond, hazel eyes, . Wears clothes fashioned in the style of the 18th century England; ie. Corset. Wears a feather fascinator, black stockings and black sandel high heal shoes.

Bio:
Iris Mavric lost her mind during an operation to save her hearing from a strange ringing. After a performance she complained of ringing sounds whenever she was not playing an instrument. She did not realise this and before she could tell anyone her family invested in a rogue doctor to try and heal her, he did the exact opposite. For a full decade she called the Arkham asylum home until a breakout occurred where she fled with another inmate. The constant ringing in her ears was cured when her inmate stole a violin and used his previous skills as a metal worker to fashion new strings for her.

With the new strings Iris was able to play the violin and think as clearly as an insane person could and decided to hunt down the rogue doctor who ruined her life. Her inmate protested and while attempting to throw away the violin Iris used the bow to slice his throat clean open. She took the violin back and left the metal worker to his death. Iris tracked down the rogue doctor and using her violin entranced him into a nearby park and slit his throat before carving a music note into his shoulder. She now hunts and kills all doctors who have made a mistake in the operating theatre; good or bad...

I reckon old bikie would have been sweet!

oh well good luck man

sounds great and having the violin made of metal could bring some interesting designs to the instrument

I certainly looked at him but ive been keen to do a female character lately so since bikie aint a chick then hes ruled out xD

i intend to stick to what a violin should look like but with hopefully some subtle changes like a longer bow or different body patterns

I dont actually know how to get link photos form my journal to here to ill continue to use photobucket.

I give you 'Twiddle and Flow'

As the title says, i have remade my villain. I sorta jumped the gun and was really keen for doing the violin girl but i decided to pull back and do a few other concepts and this one i drew up i find would be fun to play with and really interesting to animate =)

thats an intresting and unique design you got happening there. it wouldnt hurt to flesh it out some more, possibly even stylising comic feel could sweeten it even more

hi i just created an account and i saw this competition and his my villians that sketch up.

Guy with gun controls liquids.
the girl controls lighting
and the final guy controls air

Links:
http://fc04.deviantart.com/fs31/f/2008/230/2/7/Villian_Ideas_by_Archang…

and to my deviantart page:
http://archangeljin.deviantart.com/

for starters did you read the guidelines/theme for the competition? second of all your meant to be start your own thread not post your work in other peoples :S

Cool I like that the characters are intertwined, perhaps even Siamese twins?

I like this idea more then the Violin Girl. Heaps good!

Argh! im jealous of all the work everyone is already putting up:)

im a bit stretched atm to get to work on this but i finished a previous comp entered another one so as soon as i wrap up the comicon challenge i will be in this, crunchen out concepts and some killer models ASAP

Yeh, 4 months is plenty of time, even for beginners! That means there's no excuse for not finishing!

It's always been about the quality of the work rather than finishing in a shorter deadline, so I'm hoping to see some really cool stuff.

Ok so im not dead, i have actually been working i sorta got into a creative slump after doing the comicon challenge at gameartisans, but i have some concepts now and hopefully will be able to crunch out some decent work.

This is Just some early head sketches:
(The image hosting here is really strange so this is the link to the higher res: http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/__CAD__/Update1.jpg)

Here is the Second Update, just screwing around getting the creative juices a flowing :)

Link to Hi res: http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/__CAD__/Update2.jpg

Update 3

These two characters go by the alias of smoke & mirror, assasins and bank robbers for hire. (Note: i have a backstory for all the characters created im just not going to post them till i have decided which one im doing)

Link to Hi-Res: http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/__CAD__/Update3.jpg

Update 4

Link to Hi Res: http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/__CAD__/Update4.jpg

Good to see u kicking in some concepts love the look of your designs keep it up. I like the first set alot but then again the all look awesome.

It looks like your planning on making 2 characters as a team if not correct?

Nah, Smoke and mirror are a duo but i just couldnt be stuffed putting the last two on individual sheets :)it was late and i was tired :).

as a side note Your comicon entry looked sweet in the end as well man good stuff

thanks man your final comicon was really top notch as well had a very unique style to it :D

Thanks Mate, so its on? a comicon rematch :D:D:D.

Update 5

Zbrushed Up the head of pitbull cause im most attached to that character out of the ones ive done.

Link to hi res: http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/__CAD__/Update5.jpg

wow thats great very nice

Thanx Kit 'preciated.

oh its on now..... nice work so far :P. Defenitely alot of character in this guy CAD, i love the expression on his face really does capture his character :D Nice work so far.

I gotta get onto mineas well, been a bit busy lately though :(

That looks heaps sick Cad!!!!!! Certainly give Mike Tyson a run for his empty bank account.

Update 6

Link to Hi Res: http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/__CAD__/Update6.jpg

its looking nice but... i think you need to broaden and raise the pecs.

Thanx Jiksen,

i've progressed quite a bit but in my next update i will try to fix up the pecs

wow thats looking great

Thanx kit.

Update 7

The sculpt is getting there i got to fix up some screwups im only just noticing now, but yea anymore you guys can pick up on let me no, C&C is always more than welcome.

Oh yea and hopefully i fixed up the pecs like jiksen pointed out earlier.

Link to hi-res: http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/__CAD__/Update7.jpg

*crys for epic*

Ok i finished my re-topo work on the low poly, and to cure some boredom today i just did a 30 min throwaway texture for the head, let me know wat you guys think.

P.S. please ignore the giant obvious seam

link to hi-res: http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/__CAD__/Update8.jpg

hehe i just keep saying it "WOW" everytime you post a pic =)

are you going for a mauri look or just a general tat on the face........ oh and by the way theres a big seam lol =)

hey CAD thats some top notch sculpting you have there. Im a mud box person myself, havent had time to learn Zbrush, and mudbox was closer to the traditional 3d programs that I know.

Anyway thats enough of a tangent. Love your stuff, can't wait to see this guy textured up. Looking forward to the money shot.

Thanx Kookie

yea i started in mudbox when i first started sculpting a while ago. tried Zbrush (failed the first time :) then came back to it and worked out the crappy shortcuts and stuff and sorta just got used to it, im planning on trying out the new mudbox 'pparently its supposed to be good so ill have to give it a look gotta try and make sure i can use both.

Thanx kit

lol stupid seam. yea i dont know wat i was going for with that tat, i just sorta threw it on it killed some time, this entire texture i will be getting rid of anyway, ill hopefully revisit the tattoo but we'll see as we go

wow this is turning out really well, i like ur style!

Update 9

ok so unwrapped and texturing and its taking me a while i originnally did one pass but my heart wasnt in it so it looked like shit, so i left it for a weekend played force unleashed and came back with a fresh head and this is where im at. still got a lot to do i know there are seams in areas but i will get to painting them out a little later. ive also got to model his weapon and texture it but i will get to that (and the calling card) after ive got the bulk of him done.

as usual C&C is always helpful

link to hi res: http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp26/__CAD__/Update9.jpg

Looking pretty sweet to me =)

Im keen for another women in a huge dress!

Trying for something a bit creepy this time around.

The Tailor

Very good, can't wait to see the next sketch.

Good work mitch keep it up bro:P

I only just realised how badly the forums cropped the image.

Oh well, Ill do more work on the character this weekend I think. Been a bit busy.
___________________________________
My Portfolio www.mitchellplatt.com

Needs a nice big pair of scissors!

just some rough ideas i've sketched down. my main idea was either hitmen for mafia, or just genral killers.

cool nice start =) i always find it hard to come up with differnt ideas, if i get 1 at all its a mirical lol

The first and last one speak to me, but I'm not sure what direction the middle one could be taken. My mind doesn't picture an immediate relationship between the two objects, the guitar and the sword. The first, an engineer or mechanic with a pyromaniac flair sounds like fun. The last looks like a Gothic fashion salon girl. Kinda classy and commits crime with style. A lot of messed up gore could follow that one in the vein of crime thrillers like bone collector or something.

yeah the middle one the guitar bag was more an inconspicuous way to store weapons, instead of just carrying them around in plain sight

Hehe fair enough, just my comment regarding not picturing a relationship was aimed at for example - The joker and his depiction has a relationship between his look, how he acts and his calling card - the joker from the deck.

Catwoman's suit is themed directly at cats.

The riddler at puzzles and questions.

mr.freeze at cold science.

two face, his occupation and physical look + his calling card so to speak the coin of two heads. I just wasn't picking up much between what he looked like he does and his 'method'. Yet the other two seemed pretty clear as to what they'd likely be at. Just something to ponder

more of a random fun idea that will probably go no further then this sketch. Evil pretty boy in a monkey suit XD

Great concept silhouettes as usual, Tejay.

I'am liking the rocker Idea!

so i've been slowly working on the designs but have yet to come up with one i am over joyed with. i have decided to go with my musician design because of how unique i can make the design. He possibly a she (still not sure) works as a hitman for the mafia. he/she specialises in parties. disguised as a band memeber to enter and the guitar bag to store their weapons. As for a past i was thinking he/she went to the mafia for help in taking their musical career further and got stuck in a contract that now makes them kill to repay the ever growing debt.

i'm still not over all happy with the design yet, i like parts from each rough, but i still want to play around with it alot further. I am also still trying to nut out the sword design which i would like to have some attributes of a guitar.

First one strikes me most to being a musician for his top half whereas the pants of the 3rd feel more to me than the 1st ones.

2nd ones clothes do nothing for me sadly, since i like ur concepts a lot :)

thanks tolch i'll keep that in mind for the next few concepts. the biggest problem i had with the first one was i want a jacket with sleeves. but there is still much design to be done. hopefully i can pull somethin good out of the first and last two images

Give us some more pics, they're looking great. I like your attention to the details like the hands.

there should be more soon, i am just trying to finish my pirate off by this weekend so i can focus more on this comp...and well the newely starting unearthly challenge

I'm still workin on the comp <_< just been busy. With finishing a big school project and trying to finish a personal project for my demo reel, i've just not managed to spend as much time concepting as i have wanted. Not to mention i am entering the unearthly challenge and i dont want to let my team mate down.

Anyways this is my design so far. I've been playing with colours atm. Although i still have plans to add more detail. As for story i need to properly write it out one day soon. But the rough idea is he is a ideticle twin of a rockstar. He was raised by the mafia after birth and all record of his exsistanced was erased. During his brothers gigs he carries out the mafias work. With no matching fingerprints and hundreds of people seeing his brother at his performances they cant keep him in jail. I'm thinking of calling them the pheonix brothers. Since they keeping getting out of jail, like a pheonix is reborn after death.

been playing with the design further. still want to add detail on a few more things but i am starting to get more pleased with the design.

He looks like he has motor bike gear on, is that what you have been using as reference? I like the phoenix pattern on the back of the jacket.

yeah, i stumbled onto some motorbike gear and decided it fitted pretty well and gave it a bit of a different look to normal. i'm trying to work on finalising the design at the moment. Hopefully i will have something new to post soon.

so i've finalised my concept now, the next stage is modeling.

Wow nice work Tejay. I really like his 'axe', very interesting design I wanna see more keep those updates coming :D.

thanks, i'm upto modeling now, and hope to finish the base mesh soon to have some zbrush fun :P

so i've started modeling the base mesh, this is my progress so far...

so far the mesh is only 7940 tris.

I think the proportions are a bit incorrect - legs are way too long. The head is generally a bit too small also, although that might be a design choice so the character looks more bulkier. Muscle definition on his upper body could do with some more refinement - check out some references on how muscle segments meet each other on shoulders, elbows, arms etc. Use references!! Making great looking muscles can make all the difference in your model.

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/TENP/PO251~Muscle-Art-Post…

Then again, perhaps you're going for a cartoony sort of muscley character?

Thanks for the advice souri, much appreciated. The model is still in early stages and i decided not to define most of the muscles since they would be covered in clothes anyway. As for the head i was trying to go for a more bulky feel then my concept, i just couldnt seem to draw the anatomy the way i had imagined. The legs are being fixed now, thanks for pointing that out, i can sometimes over look that. With my style i would like to try and make it more realistic, to try something a little different from normal.
Another render should be up soon.

making some progress, would appreciate any critque, will update with other views later

i've finaly made a start on the sculpt, all critique is welcome.

more to come soon...

I think you should move his ears and eyes up just a tiny bit. Great muscle detail.

Very nice hes way hardcore =)

thanks for the comments guys, thanks vlad for the surgestion, i'll give it a try :). More is coming soon

He's starting to look awesome! His facial proportions could possibly use the adjustments mentioned, but they actually add character like this.

Over the half way mark in sculpting now. I hate hands by the way...they smell.
I plan to mirror the pants which is why they are only half done.
All critique is welcome as always. I've also made the changes to the eyes and ears on the head, but i will show that when the high poly is finished.

Nothing more to add really just that I'm going with some sort of maniac fetish/burlesque hooker that goes around murdering Johns, possibly with a meat cleaver or a machette. Dont know about calling card yet.

Will have a concept up either tonight or tomorrow.

Well finally I got a character going. Her name is "Nobody".
She's a sociopath assassin. She works for fun and profit for her own mysterious ends. Nobody is skilled in martial arts, acrobatics and is highly intelligent. She wields a talon shaped blade on a bone handle. Her costume is made of various scraps of leather stitched together. Her calling card is a little sculpture of a bird claw gripping a human skull.

I just traced over some woman this time and a bird skull, nothing particularly skillful, now I can get on with the modeling.

I have to say its one of the more unique designs so far. Nice work.

Cool idea Mr Scott the stitching will be allot of fun to normal map. The character mask reminds me of a American Indian mask.

^Thanks guys

looks pretty cool man, she gonna have weapons?

Wow that looks very nice I really like the idea hope to see more. Defintely a very uniques tyle you have for her keep it up.

Well I just uninstalled 3d coat to update to a newer version, little did I know that when installing the new version it deleted everything in the folder I was installing it to, that includes my work. Never had an app do that to me before, XSI, Photoshop, Silo all installed into the old folder without deleting anything. Now I have to start the sculpting and painting process all over again, luckily I at least have a mid range model to work from.

^The above post was me by the way

Hideous! I'm surprised (shocked) the program didn't make a big note of that fact before the install. I hate redoing lost work, so I'm feeling for ya.

this is just my initial thoughts for the arms dealer, may still get changed and is yet to be coloured but oh well =)

http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m213/brad_11/BT%20sumea%20comp%2008%…

Instead of a business card your guy could use one of those bullet casings on his belt as a calling card?

Your idea+concept gives me the impression that he has many guns tucked away under that coat; always prepared for anything you might say =)

i've been thinking a lil more bout the calling card and seeing some of the questions in the main topic, can be any size and i might even have the weapons case as the calling card =) or yeah a shell casing with his name and a number or something

so far i've got an armsdealer, prehaps with a calling card of a weapons case, i figure he might like to give product demonstrations to potential clients =), so just leaves the empty case behind.... likes to blow stuff up, hence why his own personal weapon of choice is a M79 CAW grenade launcher (think terminater 2 near the end) and i think ill try position a nice explosion in the background of the final pic.

Not neccessarily a killer him self but definately likes to blow stuff up, and supplys others with the means to do their own killing.

Calling Card, What about a box of detonators. I just like the word Detonator sounds so tough.

hey kit, hows the progress going?

atm its not going real well, had a project for school i had to do recently took up a huge slab of my time, but hopefully now i should be able to actually start, and hopefully finish.

mudboxing a head atm, its my 1st time using mudbox so its not bad considering, ill post up a pic soon.

this is the head, its my 1st time using mudbox so im quite happy with the result, and its made from scratch, mainly because i used it for a project at school aswell, but also just so i could learn a bit more about mudbox and have heaps of practice, the body ill work up from a base mesh.

hopefully the mesh isnt to screwed from what i did to the cube in mudbox to go over a low poly head =)

http://www.tsumea.com/journal/kit11/211008/mudbox-wip-head

[IMG]http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m213/brad_11/BT%20sumea%20comp%2008%…]

pretty impressive for your first mudbox attempt, keep it up!

thanx

hovering laptop =D

I think Ive made her too gothic punk and she needs a bit more cyber girl in her.

Hehe, neat character :D

maybe some goggles or something a bit more futuristic, like a wrist band thing that has a 3D display screen come from it

Pretty ingenious calling card, actually! Very appropriate and fits her criminal activity perfectly.

its kinda similar to ghost in the shell :(

Not that similar to GITS - if you want to un-goth her a bit keep the tall boots but stick some sneaker-like designs on them. Maybe some patch cords in her hair (hehe... I is an old-skool William Gibson cyberpunk ;))?

thats relieving :3 I thought the concept was similar to the laughing man even tho I only sorta saw 1 or so episodes. I really like the patch cord idea I might try incorporate it into her outfit :D Thanks !!

A paint test for the face :)

trying to get a bit of scribbling in before i start playing wow each night

Haha, tell me about it... darn warcraft. I like this new drawing! Is that dreadlocks?

I like the 2nd face that uve put forward for your girl, really feels like an Aztec paint scheme with those straight lines.
Its taken you away from the goth feel which i find it used a lot these days or mistaken for emo >_>

the colours fit as well since a quick search on wiki shows they used turquoise a lot. Oh and a lot of gold according to El Dorado =D

Keep up with the ideas, your heading in a direction im interested in seeing.

Sevendust: I got hooked on the triple xp deal ! paying twice and duel boxing oh my :(
no dreads or if there are they are fake, quite alot of image searching reaveled these peeps like to hang plastic, ribbons, ropes and tubey things in there hair !


Anonymous: I wasnt really going for aztec, more circit board tats she has a dragonfly tag/user name so i sampled colorus from this breed of them http://www.gustavjensen.com/blog/images/20070715091718_pict3945_01.jpg
^_^

pretty happy with the outfit now going to go with this and change as I go if I dont like something.

attention level dropping XD

your designs lookin pretty sweet neffy, keep it up!

I adore her! She's absolutely beautiful, and the outfit! *swoon*

I understand the hair now, very neat.

P.s, on the Warcraft note. Triple XP had me caught up for awhile there too.. I was levelling one of my boyfriend's characters and his friend's.. it's so sweet - and addictive. I wanted to dual box an account so I could finish some of my chars, but I know I really should be doing something better with my time (like this challenge, hehe). Besides, I have too many characters as it is... over 3 years I've clocked up 6 70's and 4 60's, so I have my hands full with them as it is. Bad thing about wow is you're never happy with what you've got, always need more.... *insert dorky bliz employee cackling and snorting*

Thank you !!!

6 70s THATS INSANE lol ! you must have like one of each class 0.0 Ive only got 1 70 (Troll hunter), then 2 60s (Warlock, hunter)and now 3 lvl 40s (hunter, shamman, warlock) XD big hunter fan !! I love pets and totems are so cute especially cause its a draenie !

I have said this to you before love your work.Your designs are great.

Glad you are enjoying yourself at redtribe.. I was worried about you after that rocky start.

Anyway I believe you know who I am. Keep up the good work.

Also not sure about the fishnets might make her look too skanky.

Love the tats though. You could almost make them indented scar tats with your normal mapping.

see you around

Hey how are you....Just wondering were your at with you entry.

Anyway happy Birthday as well.

Thankyou :)

Ill be picking my entry up after I finish Unearthly challenge.

I like your design Neffy :) I'm a big fan of that style of clothing, and I love the circuit board tat on her face.

Wow Neffy that is looking great, I like the style you went with it very cool. The circuit board tattoo on her face looks cool as well:P cant wait to see more.

Also good luck with Unearthly challenge, I was gonna join it but I am not very good at environment art :(.

Ive started working on my model during lunch :P

here is a base mesh

Any anatomical errors you can see let me know ! that would be super cool.

Atm I don't really like her hips and the chest still feels a bit funny but its getting closer (p.s she has a "bra" on, can you tell or do they look not bra supported?) =/

I like it so far, im not 100% sure but i think that the legs may be a tad short, theres just something abou t the proportions in the legs thats a little off-putting and in your concept it looks like she is a lot thinner through the midsection and has wider hips,but its still early in modelling so im looking forward to seeing more

P.S. can we see a wire frame :)

Yea the legs are being difficult haha XD

Wire frame this time just for you :P

oh and its at umm 2500ish tris now i think 0.o

Update on my progress

oh wait ... shit >_<

Thank you, nice layout of polygons very clean, looking forward to more.

lols

haha nice work neffy XD, i'm stuck with the same problem

So did you actually go into work on the Friday. I know quiet a few people within the games industry were sick or took there RDO or there time in lui. I am actually staying away from mmo for a couple of months. Catching up on quiet a few games I haven't got round to playing.... Since the time WoW stole my soul. Anyway your model yeah not going to comment as yet because its still in the meshing out stage of proportions unless they are the proportions your going with.

I went to the midnight launch ^_^ Ive slacked off tho only lvl 72

Very neat topology with a nice amount of tris, can't wait to see the rest.

Geuss i cant get feedback without a picture so here it is. It is a bit rough and it doesnt have and feet or hands but im happy with it for my first ever start of a model. Comments on improvements and suggestions would be most appreciated. Oh and i know i have no concept arts that isnt to say i didnt do any it is just very crap and i am probally the only person who can accually see something in it.
 
Thanks Racoon

unreal concept, definitely freaky that will turn out really cool

dang, that looks good to meee! great work.

thanks guys

a bit of an update..

Whaa thats heaps good. what have you used to create the goat head model mask thingy?

the fur is really good!

Wow, quite an intricate goat head. Looking nice

thats so fricking awsome.

Cool weapons mitch. concepts looking nice, good to see another female character.

Start scribbling Tejay! which god are you going to do?

not entirely sure yet i'm still in the research phasebut i'll be looking into it more during my days off school





-considering the theme and that they must be ready to kick butt, i'm probably gonna do a cross between, Ares the god of war and Hephaestus,who was god of fire and the forge... or so says wikipedia.

so my thoughts after that is a heavy armored character, probably more bulk then i'm used to doing, and lots of metal armor, maybe a mace or axe for a weapon, probably two handers.Tejay2007-08-01 04:06:51

cool idea! perhaps a few more polys then normal to!

well i thought i should submit something, even though its very rough, the left arm is going to be heavily armored and hard to move, but the circle on his hand/ gantlet is going to be a sheild, since his weapon is two handed it will be small and attached to the armor while the right arm retains all movements.

(still in planning stage though)

looking good!!!

finished concept coloured, not too sure about the tatoo on the face makes my toon seem more like kratos, but i just liked the idea...yeah but the tatoo on his art is of phi, the golden ratio, i thought it would be a good symbol for a warrior, symbolising someone that is balaced in mental and physical strenght

Hey Tejay, nice concept buddy. Keep up the great work!

thankyou

awsome, the costume is looking great

ok heres some of the pics ive done, as u can see im not a fantastic drawer
 

 
but u get the general idea
 
oh and by the way im going for sort of an ares guy, lots of weapons to be carried around aswell =)

hey kit11, great start! i always find busting out some really small black and white quick thumbnail drawings in potato shop is a great way to start a character concept. It helps to quickly get some traction in moving your design forward.



Here is an example --> Character thumbnails



Keep up the good work!Killa Dee2007-07-30 19:25:27

Hey kit,

     Good to see that you still keen to give it a crack. The elements that you have got in the sketch are looking good. I’d try and combine them to form the whole figure. Killer d’s thumb nail link is has some great ideas on it too!

just an update ive started making the body, having a lil trouble getting a pic of a head to model from =( but heres the body so far
 

cool g

looking really good for your first attempt at a character, mine first was far far worse



Also good to see your giving it a go, only one way to improve and a challenge like this really helps.

Looking good man. Post a wire frame so we can see how the mesh is flowing. Keep up the good work.

ok heres a pic of the wire frame so far, some bits are pretty messy specially the feet and bum, may still redo the feet yet.
 

Hey cool,

I recon you need to remove the triangle from around the top edge of the knees, press backspace on a slected edge.

Link up some of the lines in the butt with the cut tool to get rid some of the triangles there too.



Looking good, Nice abs



seb

ok heres a craptastic pic of the basic pose i'm ganna try get my guy to look like
 

 
 
yes i reliesed his hand is wrong way but u know u get that =)
 
the general idea is that hes jumped off Mt. Olympus, and b4 he lands hes ganna cut someone in half =)... may still give him a few more weaps.... god of war must be prepared for all situations hehekit112007-08-13 05:12:21

he looks like he could slice three people in half!

Nice work. I did the course in Canberra nice place really good teachers there man. Nice start on the model my first wasn't nearly that good. Hell it's probably better than mine right now...

Sry buddy your way to late.... Only 3 months left..



I saw your prize winning skate board, super amazing impressive work. Sebp 4 prime minister!Killa Dee2007-07-29 19:20:16

hey bloke!



$2000 smackers for an old skateboard anit’ bad!



     I checked out your picks on this forum awesome stuff very prolific.

I case you have not noticed I have not been in one these challenges before so this time it gonna’ happen.



Looking forward to seeing what happens

pezzo

sebp2007-07-29 19:25:31

2k thats crazy mad.

Concept started I was thinking of the tough guy the immortals from 300 had chained up kind of a giant horrible mouth thick neck.



I am Kind of keen on three gods at the mo



Hades



Poseidon



Apollo



Not sure which direction I will take at the mo











sebp2007-08-21 00:23:08

sweet! solid start love the eyes very mean looking. Hades and Poseidon got claimed already not that it means you cant do them. Apollo or Atlas would be cool, or a giant Cyclopes with a big club in 1 hand and a decapitated peasant in the other! Killa Dee2007-07-30 17:11:26

first concept

I am doing Poseidon,

                   here's my 2nd concepts progession so far.

haha! thats awesome, great stuff. Love the progression shots.

That looks great, cant wait to see it as a 3d model =)

I was thinking that the hook could be an anchor or a whaling harpoon with a dead whales head stuck on it!



some colour





Back and side designs should iron out the costume ...umm I mean super tough armor!sebp2007-07-31 19:29:30

lookin cool man

Cheers hunter I ve got the backview coming!

[IMG]



Back viewsebp2007-08-09 18:43:20

solid concept work! some fish scales on the armour could add some extra bling... i love the hook! your anchor idea would also look rad, this is gonna be fully sick..     Killa Dee2007-08-10 03:17:59

da back



I gonna start modeling now!

yay

Hey cheers killer d. scale idea is heaps cool.

I was also add some critters hiding in between his armour layers, maybe some crabs in his undies 2

sweet!

The concept idea is coming along sweet, love the design. I hope you're going to use some anatomy references when you model, and heck, it would probably be worth doing this with hero proportions.

Cheers Souri,

            I have a sweet anatomy book Burne Hogarth Dynamic Figure Drawing it is heaps good for getting proportions right. I really should do a front back and side drawing.

I think I want to try get the character to look more gigantic like 3 or four times the size of a normal human, a bit like the Xerxes from 300.

Poseidon was Zeus brother both had a huge stature, from what I could find out and basically and old grump.



Hopefully I can get all of this across.

Got some dirty roughs that describe the modeling technique I use ala Paul Steed. basicly build each bit of the model really quickly and attach them together.



The bridge function of edit poly is my best friend so is the cut tool















I find spining the body helps get the arm length better proportioned. I still have heaps to do.

Hey Seb, long time no anything. Sweet concept, and I love the idea of having him crawling with little ocean critters. The hook is a nice touch, maybe you could make it a broken anchor with just one prong like wreckage from a ship or something.

Cool Bunny like the chor idea heaps good!

[QUOTE=sebp] The bridge function of edit poly is my best friend so is the cut tool [/QUOTE]



both very excellent tools. 20 minutes your a 3d ninja, keep up the great work where is the hook?

Killa Dee2007-08-15 02:18:10

Spent the weekend doing some more. I am at 5500 triangles.

fine tuning now only got hundred or so polys left

solid work the alpha look great, don't worry about the polys you can borrow some of mine i've got heaps.   

Hey I sent you a post . cheers for the kind words killa.

I remembered the last time I normal mapped a character the BUM Tricepts and the Bum Calfs didnt map to good, so I think I am going to rework those araes and get some toe detail happening. I would mind giveing the model a chain mail mini skirt to, I recon that would be heaps pretty

Seb! how goes it?

If you want to save some triangles you could drop the detail on the ear and the side of his head since that area is covered by hair.



where'd his hook and trident go?

Hey Shika,

Trident is still there, but I am going to dump the hook idea for now. I may be able to add it once I have messed around with the model some more. It is not so spectacular, but I will add it to the next update later today.



Hope all is well