View Full Version : Scared silly entry by Peter Butler
Ok I've had a few ideas floating about in my head.
I liked the idea of putting monsters in everyday situations. So I've had a few ideas based on that. One was just a stupid little sketch of two witches in a cafe, really really ugly, looking like they've lived for hundreds of years, with wrinkles as thick as the bark off an oak tree.
One's smoking a fag and the other one says "you know smokings really bad for your teeth and skin"
The other idea I've had was another trick or treat one. And although I like the idea I'm kind of put off because so many other people are having great treat and treat ideas. But anyway the idea is to have three scary looking monsters with costumes that seem to have just been placed in a hurry. Maybe one has a really cheap mask tied awkwadly to the side of their face and the elastic has wrapped across their eye and nose. They're all trying to look as cute as possible at the person who's opend the door to them. Of course they're monsters so they'll look bloody awful.
But the person is oblivious to this and is going "ooohhh your costumes are amazing, have some treats" you can see they're arm and hand reaching out of the door full of treats. Maybe one of the monsters has a huge grin fully of teeth at the sight of the persons arm.
It's only when you look closer you realise that there's a leg and maybe some other remains of the original trick or treaters who had the unpleasent misfortune of running into the monsters before they got up the drive. Maybe one of the monsters could also have a shoe hanging by the lace in their mouth just to emphasise it.
Sorry for the waffle and the bad spelling. Would like your opinions on this.
Pete B
-WOODY-
10-01-07, 05:54 PM
I like the first idea just becuase I like things simple and to the point. The second idea is good too, but I don't know how difficult it would be to pull off. It seems that the more indepth the plot line, the harder it is to portray that in a scene so everyone gets it and without the scene becoming too cluttered and complicated.
I guess that's just me, you may not have any problem putting that all together in a way that's hard to interpret. My scene is probably "overly simple" so take my oppinion with a grain of salt hehe.
Bingo_Jackson
10-01-07, 06:01 PM
.
One's smoking a fag and the other one says...
As you're probably aware, this expression has an entirely different connotation depending which side of the pond you're on. Either way, it conjures an interesting mental image, and I look forward to your entry ;)
Good Luck!
dustbin1_uk
10-02-07, 01:53 AM
I like both ideas alot, but the first one I think made me laugh more when I pictured it in my head. :D
Best of luck!
Ha ha I totally forgot about the different interpretation of the word fag. Interesting idea though, don't think it would be very politically correct :)
I guess it could be zombies and have one saying "you know that's bad for you r health"
I'm still on the fence at the moment. I drew up a quick sketch of the trick or treat one last night and hopefully I'll have some better idea by tomorrow.
Thanks for the comments
Pete B
soulreaver
10-02-07, 05:29 AM
Great Ideas..Cant wait to see in action.:)
threetails
10-02-07, 02:00 PM
neet idea's i like the second one, its more challanging to pull off but it has alot of flavour.
Blaine91555
10-02-07, 10:13 PM
Coming up with an idea is a painful process.
I do like the first one but I've just got the second one stuck in my head now. I'm hoping that the three monsters expressions will sell it. Have them trying to look cute but failing miserably. I've really got to get on with this soon otherwise I won't hit the deadline. I'm going to try mocking it up at lunch.
Many thanks for all your feedback, it's really inspiring and motivating.
Pete B
sirquadalot
10-04-07, 07:57 AM
Richard Nixon masks or just random human masks....would be really cute...(and I mean cute in the good way):D
Well I was thinking it would be the masks they stole of the poor victims. So probably the usual cheep plastic masks you get in your local shop, but put on in a real hurry so they're not actually covering they're faces at all. Maybe one could also be munching away on the candy they stole.
I've done a few sketches and I'm happy with two of the characters but I'm still trying to nail the third one. I want him to have a really mischievous look because he's hiding some body part behind his back.
I want to have this done by tomorrow so I can get on and start modeling over the weekend. I'm even thinking of taking a couple of days of work to get some of this done.
Pete B
Guiescob
10-07-07, 09:23 PM
Hi.
Both ideas are great, but i prefer the second.
Good Luck
Eddie Ellis
10-08-07, 12:33 PM
hey man, i know what your saying about the amount of trick or treat idea's but then it is a Halloween type cc... personally i like both idea's.
idea 1 your could have Say Draculla in a fitting room but can only see the clothes, but i think someone is doing something simular... you evan madussa frozrn solid at looking at her reflection
idea 2... is cool and funny and personally my fav
Thanks for the replies guys. Sorry it's taken a while to get going on this.
Here's some of my initial sketches. The last image is where I'm at with the characters. I'm happy with two of them which I'll start modelling now but still working on the third one. The one with the cone head, he's going to be the leader of the pack the one with the plans.
Sorry about the quality, I don't have a scanner so had to take them with my phone camera.
DSC00242.JPG
DSC00241.JPG
DSC00243.JPG
DSC00244.JPG
Pete B
Ok here's a quick test render of the first monster. I haven't thought of a name for him yet. This is pre_Z-brush. I want to add lots of creases in his cloak and some detail into his face abd hands.
Oh he's also missing his wings and a few other bits. I'll hopefully have him wrapped up this weekend. I'm thinking I'm going to need all of them wrapped up by next weekend so I can spend the remaing time setting the scene and lighting it.
Pete B
Big_grin_monster.jpg
Ok managed to get quite a bit done today on this little guy. I'm hoping ot finish of the fine details tomorrow and maybe even have him textured. Need to get on with the other characters otherwise I'll never get this done.
Pete B
zbrsushtest01.jpg
zbrsushtest02.jpg
Harmonic
10-13-07, 08:49 PM
:lol: That's Fantastic! Good progress :tu:
Hey thanks Harmonic. I've been checking out your work and you've got an amazing amount of stuff done.
Here's an update, unfortunately it doens't really look much different to the last pic I posted...except I discovered some of the new really cool shaders that Zbrush 3 has to offer. I did spend a lot of today adding all the finer details some of which you can't see because they're in HD mode. I think I'm just about done with sculpting him now. I've still got to finish his foot but I really need to get on and texture him.
Pete B
zbrsushtest03.jpg
This is taking forever! Ok well I've got his face textured...well the colour map anyway. And his coatume. Just need to do his feet, hands, mask, urm yeah I think thats' it.
Really sorry for the slow process, but I am loving doing it, especially using the cavity brush .
face_closeup.jpg
inkskin
10-15-07, 11:13 PM
Great concept, and I love this monster. Looking forward to watching your progress. :tu:
Hey thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it.
Well I've finally textured him in Zbrush and I've been trying to get him set up for rendering in an external package but I'm having a complete nightmare trying to import UV's into the base mesh. At the moment I've textured him using Polypaint. I've UV's the base mesh in another package but when I try and import that base mesh back into zbrush I just get screwed UV's. Sorry you probably didn't need to know all that.
Anyway here's where I'm at. I'm meant to be doing abother two charaters but to be honest I think I'll stick to just another one otherwsie I'll never get it done.
Many thanks
Pete B
zbrsushtest04.jpg
XSI Apprentice
10-16-07, 08:45 PM
Hey, both ideas sound pretty good, i think either would be pretty cool to do and setup, i can picture with idea 1, having normal people around looking at these two ugly old witches while they are talking etc, and maybe a lady with a pram or somethign quickly running away from them covering her childs eyes, i would love to see in idea 2 one of the monsters looking at the arm/leg with drool hanging out :D hehe
Ok haven't posted for a whle, finally got some more time so I've now comleted the first monster and I'm onto my second. Realy need to get a move on.
Here's a very basic mesh of the new monster. As you can see he's only half a monster at the moment and hasn't got much character. Hoping to get a lot done tomorrow so Ill have an update then. I also have some background stuff done but I left it at work so will have to post it later.
Pete B
textured02 copy.jpg
rompy_test.jpg
XSI Apprentice
10-23-07, 08:21 PM
That looks pretty cool, nice looking character :), cant wait for the final piece :D
dustbin1_uk
10-24-07, 01:36 AM
Hah! that character looks great! I love the expression on his face! He's cute cause he knows he's ungly. Fantastic work.:tu:
\Hey thanks for the comments guys. I need your opinion on this next monster. I spent today getting the basic model done. I was just ready for bed when I thought something about him just didn't look right. I thnk it's because I've made his body too human like and so in a way his face just looks like a person wearing a mask, which of course confuses the whole point of the gag. So I done a quick mock up using transpose to see what he'd look like with small legs and I think it works better, what do you think?
There' also a close up of his face, I'm trying to get the "I'm really cute, honest!" look.
Forgot to add, ignore the arm pose, I've put them like that so I can use the mirror tool. In the final piece his arms will be crossed behind his back.
Pete B
rompy01.jpg
rompy02.jpg
rompy03.jpg
Harmonic
10-24-07, 10:42 PM
I like his face allot, :tu: but I think it would definitely help to exaggerate his proportions, maybe make his legs shorter, and make hip really wide and thick, it would fit his face.
nightwoodwolf
10-25-07, 01:15 AM
your first little monster is really cool .. a little creature with scary and silly expression ... keep the good work :tu:
threetails
10-26-07, 01:49 PM
good looking characters, my only thought is like your first one make the rest very expressive. really nice so far.
Blaine91555
10-26-07, 07:59 PM
Funny Characters. I love the expressions.
Hey thankyou so much for your replies.
Here is a few updates. I've been working on his expression now. Trying to get the "I'm cute, but actually when you're not looking I'm going to eat you " look. What do you guys think?
Oh also I posed him. At first I was going to just tilt his head but then I thought I'd go the full hog and give the cute little girl pose. I'm not sure if it's taking it too far, again you're comments are really appreciated.
I've also posted another render of the first character, just with better lighting which will hopefully be closer to the final piece.
I can't believe how long this is taking. I think I've worked harder on this when I'm at work :)
close_up.jpg
full_body.jpg
full_body_rear.jpg
rakijak.jpg
Forgot to say, he's not going to be naked. I've made some costume for him. The idea being is he's nicked one of the trick or treaters skeleton costumes, you know the ones that are just black t-shirts and trouser but with a a skeleton painted on. Well he's nicked those to try and blend in but of course he's a bit bulky so they're going to be really tight and ripped. I used the mesh extraction tool for that, which works great.
Pete B
garyhanna
10-26-07, 11:34 PM
Great work. I think your are real close with want you want with his expression. You might want to put a hint more "devious" into it, though. Maybe the eye brows need to play a big role in this.
I love the little guys look.
I like so much your work. The characters are funny, lovely and montrous in the same time! :tu::D
Thanks Gary, Wol. I agree with the devious look. I was playing around last night...well four in the morning and did have it looking a lot more severe but I thought it may be a bot much and so went for a real subtle look so the viewer may even think he's imagining what the monsters thinking. But I think you're right, it needs to be more obvious.
Pete B
Well only four more days to go. Although it's gone really fast I have to say these last few weeks have been some of the most intense of my life. I don't think I've been to bed any early then 1:30 within the last 3 weeks. I was hoping to get loads done this weekend but instead ended up only getting probably around a days worth of actual work done. One thing this competition has made me realise is that my computer really is on it's last legs.
I was overjoyed when I managed to get my mesh up to 10 million. Unfortunetly my excitment soon evaporated after I'd had to detail the horns on my second character for the sixth time in a row due to zbrush crashing out. It took around 35 mins a time to detail them so I found myself in a catch22 situation. To save I was having to go down to level 1 but this was a great gamble as it did have a tendancy to cause Zbrush to crash. So it was a case of, do I do lots of little bits of work and save often or try and get as much done in one hit before saving.
Thankfully after hours of stressful work and a lot of swearing I managed to finish the horns on his head, yes they really did take 3 hours of my life away :(
By the end of Saturday night I was shatterd and was also amazed to discover that zbrushing can be damaging to your health. I'd somehow managed to create a hard blister on my finger, see picture attached. I also don't think it's very good for relationships, my girlfriend came round and had to sit and watch TV all night because I was doing this. I did promise we'd go out next weekend for a meal...Mcdonalds, I don't think she saw the funny side.
I've now finally got the second character textured. I actually spent around an hour contemplating if I should paint him blue or red. I decided on blue, really just to be different, there's so many red monsters these days. I guess if I change my mind I can always change the saturation in photoshop.
I'm quite pleased with how the T-shirts come out. I was worried I wouldn't get it to work but I think I've nailed it.
So now I've just got his gum, teeth and ripped trousers to go. I did chuckle at the thought of him standing there at the door with just his willy hanging out. Just the thought of him being considerate enough to steal a T-shirt but just totally forgetting pants really appealed to my sense of humor, but I don't think it would really be appropiate for this competition.
So after tomorrow I'm going to somehow have to knock up a background. I've got a few bits done which I'll hopefully show tomorrow, but for now I think I'm going to have an early night and go to bed now, after all it's only 2:30 am ;)
Sorry for the long post and bad spelling.
Pete B
hand_closeup.jpg
rompy_colour.jpg
Rompy_headclose.jpg
Rompy_behind.jpg
T-shirt_alpha.jpg
tshirt_tear.jpg
soar_finger.jpg
t_shirt.jpg
Wow I really did waffle a load of old rubbish last night. Sorry sbout that.
I'm nearly done on the second character now, just a few niggly bits, his eyes aren't working right at the moment although it does give him a very mad look. I'm hoping to also have a few other bits done tonight like some limns of their victims and maybe a bt of blood and guts.
I'm having real problems with my computer, I'm spending more time watching the hour glass then actually getting any work done. Sometimes it's taking me up to 15 seconds just ot move an object. I think now is the time for the quad core :)
Anyway here's some pics of how I done the trousers. I've also attached a pic of the two of them together. I really hope I can get the rest done but as every hour passes it's looking less and less lightly :(
trousers.jpg
trouser_stitching.jpg
together.jpg
I think you are on the right way!! ;)
animastur
10-31-07, 10:28 AM
Good work. Keep it out!
Hey thanks for the replies guys. I'm working on the scenery at the moment and a few props. I'll post some stuff up in a couple of hours as I'm at work at the moment :(
I've noticed that a lot of people have posted up their work flow and a lot more on their progression. The reaso I haven't is simply because I've been too busy trying to get it done to actually stop :). I promise I'll post some stuff up soon though including where I'm going with the actual scenery.
Many thanks for your support.
Pete B
XSI Apprentice
10-31-07, 02:56 PM
Wow, thats looking really sweet, those monsters are so cool and well done, love the ripped shirt/shorts, looks good :D cant wait for the final
Ok sorry i didn't post earlier. I have a lot more things now but this whole project has ended up on about 3 different machines so for now I'll just have to show you the stuff I've got here at home. I'll post the other stuff up tomorrow... second to last day.
Here's some body parts and guts. The idea being that the big blue monster (Rompy) is holding the leg behind his back so the woman can't see.
There's also a render of some guts. I'm not sure if this is abit sick or not so I don't know if to put it in the scene. But if I do it will be in the background.
There's also a shoe which is going to be haning out of Rakijak's (The little one) mouth by the shoe laces that have got caught around his teeth.
I've also made some background houses. These were going to be more of a "if I get time" thing but I got into a situation where I couldn't finish any other bits at this moment in time so I thought I'd have a go at making these. I'm glad I did, I really enjoyed making them. As much as I love Zbrush it's sometimes nice to do a bit of box modelling :)
And that's about it for now. I have the main scene at work with a few other props. I'll post them up sometime tomorrow.
Time for bed...again! These days are gone too fast :)
Pete B
guts.jpg
Leg_bone.jpg
shoe.jpg
house01.jpg
house02.jpg
nightwoodwolf
11-01-07, 02:41 AM
those images look good ... good luck :tu:
Thanks Nightwoodwolf I'll post some more up later today.
Pete B
dustbin1_uk
11-01-07, 06:04 AM
Ewwww! Like the guts! The monsters are looking great!
Sneakpeak at the layout of the scene.
scenetest01.jpg
dustbin1_uk
11-01-07, 03:36 PM
I can see this is going to be awsome fizzy, the bikes and the torn up body parts are worng and funny at the same time.
You doing and all nighter to get this done?
Hey Dustbin. I've just finished one of the monsters, he's rendering now and I have the background ready to go. Still need to add a final touch to the little guy and then it's just rending them out.
Need sleep now. I'm stil at work and people are going to start coming in soon. I really need sleep though so might just see if I can get few hours before coming back in for work . Not sure they'll pleased to know why I didn't get any sleep :)
Pete B
Ok, well I left this rendering at 7 this morning but the guy who's machine I was using (he's the only one with a copy of Modo 301) had to stop it when he came in as he needed to get on with work. So this is the first character almost done. Going to render the rest of him in a bit.
Then obvioulsy the others tonight.
Pete B
Rompy_finalpart1_cropped.jpg
dustbin1_uk
11-02-07, 08:03 AM
Hahaha I love how cute he's trying to look, while holding a torn apart limb behind his back!
Hey thanks Dustbin1. I;m actually quite pleased with his expression. It's suprising what a difference it makes when you add eyes. Even though in the sculpt I had spheres to represent them you never really know what emotion they're going to bring.
I'm a bit worried that it might be a little too twisted, what do you reckon?
I'm getting worried I'm not going to get it done in time. I can't start till about 7 tonight as that's when the other guy leaves work. While I'm waiting about I'll post up a lot of the props I made, something to keep me busy.
Hey good work on the tilers by the way, glad you added the reflection and shadows, really connects the whole scene. So you all done now watching from the side lines as some of us struggle to finish :)
Pete B
dustbin1_uk
11-02-07, 08:39 AM
Trouble is my sense of humour is already quite twisted, as you can tell from my entry. So I find this whole concept really funny.
Possibly the kids bikes are little too far, people can get funny about it sometimes.
Keep the limb behind his back. That's funny!
I did thik that which is why they're more mountain bikes as I was thinking along the lines of those annoying teenagers you get who throw eggs.
I have actually got a pumpkin basket with sweets spilt across the drive which I guess is probably going against this line of thought so maybe I should replace it with some eggs as if the kids were going to throw them befor egetting eating...so in a way the monsters have done the woman a favour...well in till they eat her that is.
I really don't know I really just want to go with it as it is. I wish everyone had my twisted sense of humour :(
Pete B
dustbin1_uk
11-02-07, 10:36 AM
Fizzy, here's the best advice I could give:
MAKE WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY! NOT OTHERS!
If you worry about it appealing to others, then it looses your style and sense of humour. I made you paranoid about the bikes. I still think it's a great concept and certainly will fit the competition, and the trick or treat basket is a god idea.
I was worried people would get offeneded at my entry at first, but then I thought, what the hell, I'm doing this for me and the sillyness of the comp, and I no don't regret it.
If you cut bits out to keep people happy you'll regret it later!
honestly keep it as is, in my opinion it's all good. :D :tu:
Cheers I really appreciate your feedback.
The way I see it is art is art and if it creates different reactions to different people then I guess it's done it's job. Like someone here just told me. How the person reacts says more about them then the work itself.
Pete B
dustbin1_uk
11-02-07, 02:35 PM
That's the spirit, and I fully agree. Now back to it! <whip crack>!!! ;)
Sorry, I'm just iching to see this one complete, if you work so far is anything to go by it's going to be a good'n!! :tu:
Well I don't know if you're still up Dustbin but I'm almost done. I wanted to post some more bits and pieces but the computer is too busy rendering.
It's been a really hard slog. There's been moments of fear, joy and quite alot of swearing but I'm really glad I entered this competition. It's weird as I'm sure Zbrush and many other sites run these competitions a lot so it's probably true of all of them but I really felt a great community spirit on this one.
I just think it's really funny thinking of all of us all around the world rushing to get this finished.
I should have my final piece up in the next hour or so. I don't actually knwo how I've kept going today, I think I've had about 3 hours sleep in the last 48 hours. I have a feeling this weekend is going to be a nice relaxing one...well except for all the fireworks.
Pete B
Right well while I'm waiting for it to render some final bits out I thought instead of looking aimlessly at the screen I'd use this time to do something constructive so I thought I'd just post up some stuff to show how I done some of the things in my scene...not that you've actually seen it yet.
Anyway so here goes.
First of all here's some pics of some leaves I made for the drive way. All they are are a flat plane with some textures and normal maps on.
leaves.jpg
Here is a one of the trees in the near background. Again all it is is a flat plane with a colour, diffuse and normal map on.
tree_colour.jpg
tree_normal.jpg
Here you can see one of the houses that's in the background. I just made a simple mesh , took a photo of a house, if they saw they probably wondered why the hell I was taking pictures of their house...but anyway I took a picture and pretty much planner mapped it straight on. I had to correct a few bits in photoshop but I wasn't too bothered as it's in the background.
Oh and also there's a pic of the illumination map which lit up the windows.
house_shaded.jpg
house_ref.jpg
house_textured.jpg
house_lumi.jpg
And here's a bike. I tried to keep it pretty simple as again it's in the background. Theres actually two bikes in the scene, I didn't have time to make a whole new one so I cheated and just changed the colour, well maybe they were such good friends they just had to have the same bike!
I only put one simple texture on the tyres so that they would catch the light better. Apart from that it was just basic shaders.
Pete B
bike.jpg
dustbin1_uk
11-18-07, 02:38 AM
Hey Fizzy, why not post your final image here now the forums are unlocked again. This was great work and deserves to be shown off. :D
Hey Dustbin. I didn't realise that these forms were open again. Yeah I'll post it up now. I'm really glad Pixologic have opened these up again it means everyone can chat about they're experience.
I am actually going to refine this mage and put some stuff I just didn't have time to. But for now here's the final Scared silyl entry,
Pete B
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