Scared Silly Entry by Geoff Priest

[Marsyas]

Hi folks. :)

Finally thought of something I might like to do:

A little witch who has conjured something unexpected from her cauldron.

The sketch is pretty muddy but it's enough for me to begin.

sketch2.jpg

[-WOODY-]

Have you figured out what software you're going to use yet? I'm trying to strictly keep with ZBrush with using Photoshop for compositing. That would probably be more of a challenge than this contest itself lol.

[Marsyas]

Starting to block in the scene...

wip1.jpg

Hi, -WOODY-: I'll likely stick with ZBrush and Photoshop too. You're right about it being a challenge though--I'd love to have a ground plane and some multiple views to set up my scene...

[Harmonic]

Hey Marsyas, good start. :tu: Is the unexpected something in the cauldron a good looking wizard?

[chemkid]

Marsyas - cool idea and good-looking start!

a cauldron is a cool object to model, i like the idea of lots-o-bubbles inside!

have fun and good luck,

chem!

[dustbin1_uk]

Ho! You work FAST!!!!

Looking good so far! Best of luck!

[hitch]

hey good start, can't see much from the sketch but i like the idea of the cauldren being so big that you need a ladder, looks like it will make a real good composition

[threetails]

you move fast.... nice concept. i like the way you set up your scene and i can't wait to see what the unexpected "thing" is.

[Marsyas]

Started working on the 'creature' today, and tried a rough placement. I'd forgotten how fun zspheres can be! Especially for skeletons.

wip2.jpg

Harmonic: That would be funny! The witch will be very young though--I'm aiming a bit for 'cute'. And I want something that will put a scared expression on her face.

chemkid: Thanks!

dustbin1_uk: Thanks! I think I'm actually kinda slow, hehe (that was a long, late night...)

hitch: Thanks! It's big for the witch cuz she's just gonna be a little girl. ;)

threetails: Thank you! The 'thing' is just a ghoulie, as you can see. I'll be fleshing it up a bit though to give it personality.

[duckstab]

Really coming along cant wait for some high resi images :D

[dustbin1_uk]

Heh! your doing better than me at the moment. I hate working two jobs! :cry:

I like the floating frame you've got there, good idea!

[Marsyas]

Started the witch and her grimoire, which she drops out of fright:

Cracked open good ole' ZBrush 2 for the book. Probably spent way too much time making it from zspheres but it was a nice challenge.

wip3.jpg

duckstab: Thanks! Probably gonna be a while before any hi-res stuff. Just gonna keep slowly chipping away...

dustbin1_uk: Some pro will probably come along and blow us all out of the water, hehe. ;) I've lost enough contests to stop worrying about winning or losing. :) The frame was easy--I just sized a plane to the right dimensions, divided it until the outer polygons were the right width for a border, and then hid all the inner polygons.

[ravioli_rancher]

Marsyas,

Inspiring work. Your book modeling with Zsphere, and camera safe plane are awesome ideas. Thanks for sharing some of your dark ZBrush secrets. :lol:

And imagine if all the Z Beta Testers decided to take the month off and enter. That might be bad news for everyone else. Or make everyone just a bit more determined.

Hopefully a few will join in a Non-Competitive thread, like Auricks.

Anyway, amazing progress, and continued success on all things ZBrush. :cool:

[piz]

Hi Marsyas! I missed your very cool start on this Contest... Bravo! :cool: :tu:

[Harmonic]

Looken good. The book made of zspheres is fantastic, :tu: I would have never thought that.

[chemkid]

the book is very cool. thanks for the idea!!

chem!

[dustbin1_uk]

No crits to offer! this is looking fantastic so far! :tu: :D :tu:

[Marsyas]

Some more stuff: cauldron handle, owl, and a bunch of rocks.

The rocks were a bit of a chore to place. I wish you could use the regular gyro to place subtools--sometimes the transpose line is just too slow to use for little things.

Z2 again for the cauldron handle. Z3 does funny things when you use symmetry on more than one axis when using zspheres.

wip4.jpg

ravioli_rancher: Thanks! Hehe, I wouldn't mind the pros jumping in... make things fun. ;)

piz: Thanks, piz!

Harmonic: Thanks! It was quite a challenge.

chemkid: Thank you!

dustbin1_uk: Thanks!

[marcus_civis]

Great work. There's some lovely zsphere work there - I especially like the book and the cauldron handle.

On moving small subtools with Transpose: you can drag out an action line so that it is quite large - adjust it by click+dragging on the orange ring. Then scale the whole of your model down to quickly move the object over a large distance and scale up for the fine adjustments.

[Crazy Horse]

Great!:tu:

Excellent modeling going on here! I will keeping an eye on this!

P

[Intervain]

:tu: got me inspired! Really like the book idea! Keep it up :D

[Brutikong]

Great work so far.. I'm going to have to learn zspheres better. You make it look easy..

[Marsyas]

Some fire and grass... Noticed late that this whole scene is a fire hazard... ;) So I cut back on the grass...

Z2 again for the grass clumps. You can have multiple zspheres inside one connecting mesh in Z2. Also I drew out the multiple zspheres really quick by using radial symmetry.

wip5.jpg

marcus_civis: Thanks! I was mostly thinking about placing objects from one viewpoint. The gyro is so easy to place objects along all axes without tumbling your view. Also it's easy to constrain along axes, rotate around the object's pivot point (would be great for eyes), and snap to the surface of other objects. A 'snapshot' feature would also be cool (probably could do now with a simple 'clone, append' macro). I think the gyro would be an awesome addition to subtools.

Crazy horse: Thanks!

Intervain: Thank you!

Brutikong: Thanks! It's not SO easy... I do wrack my brain sometimes. ;)

[piz]

I love the composition and also... you are a Master of ZSpheres!
Bravo Marsyas!

:tu: ;)

[dustbin1_uk]

That's it! you're gonna have to do a ZSphere tutorial now! Serves you right for doing so well! ;):tu:

[Mr Vinck]

:eek: :tu: Great work and realy good zspheres's work... thank you;)

[-WOODY-]

Your modeling is looking really good. The way you created that book is very cool. I never would have thought to create it that way using ZSpheres.

[Marsyas]

Been wrestling with the background. The perspective won't really allow a horizon and moon unless I cheat quite a bit, so I tried out some 'walled-in' compositions (which I'd already gotten used to considering I had a plane in the background).

Eventually settled on some big rocks (perhaps they were standing stones once...) and added some fog for a night effect.

wip6a.jpg

Some other variations I tried: (ditched the cave idea pretty quick because I thought it felt too closed-in.)

wip6b.jpg

piz: Thank you! I had a lot of practice with zspheres in Z2...

dustbin1_uk: Haha, I'll try to make some zscripts for some of the stuff I made--You can find some old Z2 zscripts a little ways down in this thread: (http://www.pixolator.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=38188) I doubt they'll work in Z3 though.

Mr Vinck: Thanks!

-WOODY-: Thank you!

[Disco Stu]

thats a really nice workflow u have :tu: nice work

[piz]

I think is Excellent! :D
For my personal taste the best is wip6a ;)

[Slosh]

You are really making progress on this, Marsyas. I love all the detail!

[Rory_L]

I too love this image. I like the Lego-esque styling.

Have you tried a composition where the creature has turned its head to face the witch and is looming over her a bit more? It might raise the suspense a touch.

Cheers,

R

[Marsyas]

Finally getting to the fun stuff--Sculpting! :D

Starting on the 'Horsehead' ghoul, much more work to go:

wip7.jpg

Disco Stu: Thank you! I wanted to discipline myself, blocking everything in first.

piz: Thank you!

Slosh: Thanks! Finally getting to the real detail...

Rory_L: Thank you! You're right--I've only blocked things in at the moment, final poses yet to come.

[piz]

Very well done Marsyas! I can't wait! I want see the continuation... :D :tu:

[animastur]

Very good work, and very instructive. Good work of zspheres in the book.
:tu: :) :tu:

--------------
My entry here (http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=51919)

[dustbin1_uk]

What are those sticks hanging from the eyes? is that to help point them?

[Marsyas]

More work on Mr. Happy...

I'm trying to decide how much detail I want to add... I can easily foresee this guy taking too much time...

wip8.jpg

Btw, he's supposed to look sorta 'happy' rather than menacing--though the witch is afraid of him, he thinks the witch is his mother...

piz: Thanks, piz!

animastur: Thank you!

dustbin1_uk: Those sticks are actually just extra mesh for later on--one of his eyes will be dangling out... I made a little zscript in Z2 awhile back which shows how you can pose zsphere eyes, though: http://209.132.96.165/zbc/showthread.php?p=303365#post303365 ...dunno if it'll work in Z3...

[Marsyas]

Work on his hands a lot: (too much...)

At least I'll have learned a lot about skeletal anatomy in case I don't finish on time. ;)

wip9.jpg

[piz]

Another very good reference in my personal Marsyas folder! ;) :tu:

[dustbin1_uk]

Hahah! I just ran that script and it made a knotted mess of zsheres on the screen. Still I'll check out the rest of that thread to see what to do.

[Marsyas]

More work on Horsey...

I sculpted a 'normal' proportioned pelvis then stylized it to fit the character. Vertebrae are also more complex than I made but I'm omitting/stylizing stuff. Especially stuff that won't be seen. ;)

wip10.jpg

piz: Thanks! Just don't use it as 'accurate' reference. ;)

dustbin1_uk: Doh! I can try to remake it in Z3...

[piz]

Insane quantity of work here! Very nice! :D :tu:

[stumpf]

I like this thread. Great use of zSphere's and clean modeling
and also a good presentation. Keep it up.

Cheers

Ralf Stumpf

[Bimm the Stone]

Amazingly clean model Marsyas, I'm impressed. :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu:

Bimm

[Dondemaker]

Blimey! You're reinventing the anatomy class over here! Great stuff, keep it up.
Jason

[Jason Belec]

Wonderful work and concept so far. ;)

[froyd]

You are the master of ZSpheres, your zifs always inspired me! I like the concept and the parts are coming our very well. My favs are the book and the sceleton, the skull looks so great!

froyd

[Marsyas]

Some more pieces... Never finish as many as I'd like.

wip11.jpg

piz: Thanks! Lots of free time... ;) Still takes me long hours to do this stuff.

stumpf: Thanks! Means a lot coming from you.

Bimm the Stone: Thank you!

Dondemaker: And the effort is wearing me down. ;) Thanks!

Jason Belec: Thank you!

froyd: Thanks! What's a 'zif'? ;)

[skulll_monster]

number of vertebras and ribs are not true !

[piz]

Fantastic and very clean skeleton sculpt! :tu:
Marsyas...! You know... as your habitual very High Quality Standard. ;) :tu:

[slashpot]

Bloody hell! This is quite brilliant! Your innovative use of Zspheres is quite incredible. Between you and Marc Boulay I think theres nothing that can't be made with these little red wonders!

Very, very clever!:cool: :tu:

[sirquadalot]

Your Zsphere work is amazing Marsyas! Very cool!

[-WOODY-]

That's looking great! Pretty cool job.

Just remember, to save on time so you can finish your entry, only concentrate modeling and detail on areas that you can see. Example, if the final pose of the skeleton is a front view, then don't worry about modeing or detailing the back portion of the skeleton because no one will see it.

Unless you just want to be able to use the skeleton for something else later on.

Good luck

[KOSOVA]

Looking realy good. I like the way you did skeleton.

[Slosh]

Zif is a term I made up when zspheres first came out. I found that typing the word "zsphere" was not a quick thing for me to do with the "Z" and the "S" being located so closely together and my pinky is not very coordinated. So, I shortened the name to "zif" and it caught on...I don't think most people even know where the term came from, it just seems like it's been around since the beginning (which it has been, since I was a beta tester for the version of ZBrush where zspheres were introduced).

The most satisfying thing for me was when I read a post where Pixolator himself called it a zif and someone wrote a plugin with Zif in the title...I'm not looking for anything out of this, just want people to know where it started.

[Marsyas]

More bits... Just need to work on the neck vertebrae a bit and then I can try posing him.

wip12.jpg

skulll_monster: Yes! I'm aiming for slightly cartoony though. Thinking about adding the cartilage to the ribs...

piz: Thank you!

slashpot: Thank you! Zspheres can be quite fun.

sirquadalot: Thank you!

-WOODY-: Thanks! You're right--I let myself get carried away a lot. (Like all perfectionists, I'm not a very good one. ;) )

KOSOVA: Thank you!

Slosh: Ha! Nice bit of history to know. :)

[piz]

Amazing study of bones! Very cool Geoff! :tu: :cool:

[smeagol]

good start ! i like your process and your presentation ! :tu:
can you tell me if there is some way to grab document
with alpha ( or trasparent backround ) ?
or this is render in zbrush ?

thanks

[fishadder]

Really nice work on those bones there, can't wait to see this finished!

Keep on Z-ing

:o)
fishadder

[reminator]

I can't believe you did the teeth in zspheres, that's dedication :)

[Marsyas]

I decided to shape the ribcage a bit more naturally.

The neck is based partly on horse anatomy but very stylized.

wip13.jpg

piz: Thank you!

smeagol: These are just ZBrush renders. I turn 'Document>Range' to '0' which coincidentally turns the background the same color as the forum background. My renders are slightly darker because I 'shadowbox' them by turning up 'Render>Preview Shadows>Backshadow'.

fishadder: Thank you!

reminator: Hehe, I do get carried away...

[piz]

Go ahead Man! I'm following you with delight! :tu: :cool:

[LittleDedder]

looking great!

[sirquadalot]

Pretty cool...really like what I am seeing.

[elarcano]

Hey Geoff,

I got to say: I really love the horse/man skeleton :tu: Very cool and inteligent use of zspheres!
And the preview scene is as good as well :tu:

PS.
Again... horse/man skeleton... very very clean and good modeling ;)

[Marsyas]

Got started on the Little Witch. (Gonna hold off on posing Horsey.)

I'm using Local Symmetry on the arms because they'll eventually overlap but I need one out of the way while sculpting. That's why her left arm is displaced.

wip14.jpg

piz: Thanks, piz!

LittleDedder: Thanks!

sirquadalot: Thank you!

elarcano: Thanks much!

[Harmonic]

She is really cute, Great facial expression! :tu: Can't wait to see how this is going to come together!

[piz]

Very, very good! I like so much how you organize your projects and tools! Bravo! ;) :tu:

[dustbin1_uk]

Nice....... simply nothing else to say, just very nice work.
:tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu:

[migusan76]

This is really coming along great! I think it would awesome to make the horseman have like rotting flesh. Can't wait to see the shading and texturing on this one.....

[Brutikong]

There is another entry in this contest.. I forget which one.. the artist has a pretty sweet bone material. If someone knows who it was or if you know you should ask him for the zmt file.

[Marsyas]

Jumped back to Horsey for a bit to do some detail/color testing. I'll probably brighten his teeth later...

wip15.jpg

Harmonic: Thanks!

piz: Thank you!

dustbin1_uk: Thanks!

migusan76: Thank you! I originally intended to but I might not have enough time...

Brutikong: Thanks! I enjoy making my own mats though.

[AngelJ]

Marsyas,

Love the concept, way your composing this one so far and how your working your zbrush images. Very sweet!! :tu: :tu: Keep up the great work!!

[elarcano]

Good updates man!

Cool mat, looks very good for details ;)

Keep them coming :tu:

PS.
Again... you gotta love Horsey:D

[piz]

Again very well done Buddy! :D

[MSMBrush]

grtae and clean modling loveing it :) :D :b2: :b2: :tu: :tu:

[ravioli_rancher]

Marsyas,

Your technique and sculpting are amazing. The horse-head skeleton is brilliant.

Did you use subtools with Zspheres to build it? Is each bone a separate subtool? Each tooth? Unholy cow that must be over 200 subtools. :eek:

Awesome! :cool: :tu:

[LittleDedder]

this keeps looking better and better.

[John Strieder]

Cute little Witch ;-)

[Marsyas]

More work on the Witch. (Been rushing--feel like I'm running out of time. ;P)

wip16.jpg

AngelJ: Thank you!
elarcano: Thank you!
piz: Thank you!
MSMBrush: Thanks!
ravioli_rancher: Yes, Zspheres ftw! ;) But no subtools when making--just one big zsphere model. Thank you!
LittleDedder: Thanks!
John Strieder: Thank you!

[dustbin1_uk]

This is really nice! been looking at these models in easter chocolate for so long, and was amazed then. Now I think I can see this one being on my top 3 list.

I don't know what it is but the little witches arm (her left) seems to look a little dislocated Maybe move the end near the elbow back bit.

I am very inspired by this and would love to sit with you an learn all about your workflow and technique.

Very well done!

[piz]

Very nice painting work ... and I love her expression! ;) :tu:

[Atwooki]

Hi Marsyas

This is coming together just beautifully - really great use of Zifs and well thought out use of SubTools also - Loving the progress on this one :tu: :tu:
Your texturing's starting to look spot-on, too :)

Will the fire beneath the cauldron have smouldering embers or fire? SMOKE!! Now there's a challenge ;)

cheers - wonderful work!

Chris

[Rory_L]

Haven't said anything in a while, because there was nothing but "Me too!" to say; its all great!

Just one thing though: the eyes are out of focus. Tweak them to point towards each other just a bit. After all, the focus of her attention is very close.

Cheers,

R

[Marsyas]

More work on various items.

The log was a real pain to paint--kept layering colors using different cavity masks to try to get the right effect. The bark was sculpted with an alpha from a photo of tree bark I took years ago. I'm fearing the tree in the background now...

The liquid in the cauldron probably won't be quite that bright, but it will be a light source in the final image.

wip17.jpg

dustbin1_uk: Thanks! Coloring is probably my favorite part. Just takes a while to get there... You're probably right about the arm. Partly because the sleeve doesn't tunnel back properly.

piz: Thank you!

Atwooki: Thanks! Yes the fire will be quite a challenge. I'll probably make a separater render pass for it.

Rory_L: Thanks! You're right about the eyes--I'll be tweaking everything after I merge all the tools together.

[piz]

All the pieces of the Puzzle are reaching the right position... eh? :D :tu:

[-WOODY-]

Your modeling and painting are comng along prettty good. One thing though, I don't know if it's because you're not finished or not, but do you think it might make things look better by blackening up the ends of the logs and rocks a bit to show soot?

It just seems a bit too clean or unless the fire was just started.

[Dondemaker]

Coming on very, very nicely. It looks like you're almost ready to start putting everything together - looking forward to it.

[garyhanna]

Great work Geoff.

The stylization of the girl is beautiful! Very rich yet clean and simple. Keep up the amazing work.

-Gary



Gary's Scared Silly Entry (showthread.php?t=52227)

[Marsyas]

I played around with lighting to get a sense of where I'm going. Lots of bits still missing and unfinished.

Also, I'm already using all 8 lights! Definitely need many render passes for this one...

wip18.jpg

piz: Slowly but surely. ;)

-WOODY-: Thanks! Yes, good point, I'll be touching up on everything after i have everything in place/in one tool.

Dondemaker: Thank you!

garyhanna: Thanks!

[It's Alive!]

I really like this one! Can't wait to see the end result. Great documentation on how each piece was made as well.

[Blaine91555]

Awesome work:tu:

"Lots of free time" - I'm so jealous!

Great scene this should be wonderful.

[ThaoLe]

this is comming along very well. well done..

[piz]

Really nice light test Buddy... I think it will be a very cool setup in final version, I love the green light source from the witch's cauldron ;) :tu:

[alonso varela]

I like so much! :)
Great work!

[Marsyas]

Dem bones... Turned out less stylized than the skull. I was experimenting with details a lot--something I usually skipped in the past. I don't think the difference will really matter in the final illustration though, considering size and lighting (as you can see in the additional scene test below).

wip19a.jpg

wip19b.jpg

Btw, anyone else stop receiving thread updates in their email?

It's Alive!: Thank you!
Blaine91555: Thanks!
ThaoLe: Thank you!
piz: Thanks, piz!
alonso varela: Thanks!

[-WOODY-]

That's some great modeling and the scene looks great. Just a suggestion: If you're dandy at Photoshop, it might be easier to paint in the flames for the cauldren rather than model it which is VERY tricky.


BTW, the green ooze in the pot looks strangely delicious! It reminds me of some kind of mint pudding lol. Of coarse I've never tasted mint pudding or have seen it available at my local grocery store or thought to ask someone privately if such a thing exists, but if it did then that's what it would look like. :)

[piz]

It's totally Wicked, Awsome Test! Very, Very Good Buddy!:tu: :cool: :tu:

Also... yes, I received regularly the update of your thread on my account...
Have you noticed that some emails are missed? :(

I think you should contact some people like Aurick...

Again Very nice Wip Marsyas!

[dustbin1_uk]

Very, very nice work!

[Rory_L]

Lovely bones and great pose!

Thought of having any green drips hanging off the hips or ribs?

I think fairly realistic flames could be achieved all just in ZB, without recourse to PShop, if you use the smudge tool.

R

[Marsyas]

Some work on the background elements and another test.

wip20a.jpg

wip20b.jpg

-WOODY-: Ha, thank you! I'll definitely be touching things up in Photoshop. I'm gonna -try- to do some of the flames in ZBrush but might not succeed.

piz: Thank you! I stopped receiving updates to all the threads I'm subscribed to a few days ago for some reason. Changing my email seemed to fix it though.

dustbin1_uk: Thank you!

Rory_L: Thanks! Yes, I'm gonna try to add some drips, maybe down the sides of the cauldron too. Gonna give the flames a go too.

[LittleDedder]

This is looking great

[piz]

Very Good Geoff! Very nice the shadows... they seem work well... I have some problem with the Z shadows but I will improve this thing...I hope ;)

Anyway very nice work!:tu: :cool: :tu:

[dustbin1_uk]

Great work! 5* so far.... wait a moment.... Where's the book? ;)

reminds me I need to work on my scene soon as well as my characters.

[Marsyas]

Work on the grimoire and ladder.

I was originally gonna fill the book with a horse skull and pagan symbols, but then I thought, maybe she wanted a pony...

wip21.jpg

The book took much time... I filled in the thick areas with more pages but kept the general shape. The designs were scribbled in Photoshop and used as alphas in Projection Master. The colors probably seem strange but I felt compelled to color it that way. I wanted an old, stained fabric cover like I used to remember. It's a bit girly looking too which I find fitting.

As for the ladder, it should probably be on fire... ;)

LittleDedder: Thank you!

piz: Thanks! I've turned off 'Zmode' for most of my shadows. They're inaccurate but with a high ray count and aperture they blur out so you can't really tell. ;)

dusbin1_uk: Thank you! The book was a pain. ;)

[threetails]

fantastic work. the lighting is very well done, your modeling is superb.

[piz]

Marsyas, I really love the care that you use for the details of your project. :D :tu:

[John Strieder]

Yeah, it's becoming better and better! :tu:

[dustbin1_uk]

The pain was worth it, that book looks cool and the idea that she wanted a pony fits really well! Well done!

[-WOODY-]

That's some excellent modeling Marsyas. I like the way you made and textured your book. Only one crit I have is the camera angle. No matter how good the models look, it's the scene, lighting, and render that will make or break a piece.

So far ( without naming names ) I've seen some great modeling and texturing done, but the final scene rendering was such a drawback for me and I thought it took away from such great potential. Think of your scene as a movie and you are the director watching. Think of what's most important in your scene and then to direct and focus your attention on that. Visualize in your mind different camera angles, like for instance the horse. The horse is tall even sitting in the pot. You can use camera angles and perspective to enhance that. He is the main focus of surprise in the girl. Maybe have a camera showing the perspective of just behind or off to the side and slightly behind the horse's head looking down toward the girl at her face from the horse's point of view. You could then use lighting as well to keep the focus on those 2 characters and the book and wouldn't even have to worry too much about creating an elaborate background. I'm just saying this as an example.

Good job though, keep it up :tu:

[Marsyas]

Some work on the Owl.

All those feathers wore me out so probly no color tonight. :p
Joe Lee's tut for feathers came in useful: http://www.zbrush.info/docs/index.php/Tutorial:_Bird_of_Prey
I kept it pretty cartoony though.

wip22.jpg

threetails: Thank you!
piz: Thanks! I've been putting extra effort--I usually skip details.
John Strieder: Thank you!
dustbin1_uk: Thank you!
-WOODY-: Thanks! I agree about the importance of the render. I'm actually aiming for something simple and classic (hence the square format). I like small vignettes where you can explore the scene. You're definitely right if I wanted to 'jazz' things up though. Also, I think I'll need a simple angle to capture the expression of every character (Horsey will be more than just an item of horror when I'm done).

[monstermaker]

Very impressive use of ZSpheres, Something that I have never mastered.
I like this piece ,it is very similar to one that I did for the October Shadows art show.

I tried to pack as many Halloween things into one image kind of like you did. I'll probably post it on ZBC but I promised the guy who put on the show that I wouldn't post it until the web gallery for the show was up.
I'm looking forward to seeing this finished. I appreciate all of the work that you put into it.

[piz]

Dear Marsyas!
I continue to look at your work again and again... You are very careful and meticulous... I really esteem your skills! Your mood is very neat!
B R A V O ! :D :tu:

[Plakkie]

Oh man, that owl! Nice, simple, and strong! :tu: :tu:

[threetails]

Still kicking it i see. The owl is great, are your test renders all in ZB, they are very clean.

[Dondemaker]

It's all coming on very well. I especially like the book and the idea that she really wanted a pony - that's really sweet and gives whole extra meaning to the piece.

[Marsyas]

More work on the Owl. He's not amused by what he sees. ;)

wip23b.jpg

monstermaker: Wow! Thanks, monstermaker, it's an honor. :) Your Halloween piece sounds really cool; I can't wait to see it.

piz: Thanks, piz! :D

Plakkie: Thanks you!

threetails: Thank you! Yes, all renders are ZBrush renders.

Dondemaker: Thank you!

[piz]

... in other words he's dejected for the Abominable Rite that he must attend, brrrr...!:lol:
Very cool Buddy! :cool: :tu:

[skinnybonez]

who-hoooooo...that owl is great!

nice work. you should have a bunch of politicians doing some insane ritual around it with that 'what the f*** are you doing look'....ie...bohemian grove. :D

[Blaine91555]

Love that owl:tu: It is coming along very well.

[-WOODY-]

That's a pretty cute little owl. It kinda reminds me of a little acorn. Feathers and hair are always tough to do, but you pulled it off well.

[voodoomonkey]

Hey that's really cool stuff .:D
Awesome job.
Cheers
Cesar Dacol Jr.
Aka, The Voodoo Monkey

[Plakkie]

That owl is a thing on it's own; would love to have him sit on my shoulder!

[fizzy]

Wow this scene is look lovely. I think the lttle girls expression is spot on and the detail in the Skeleton, yoiu could probably use that in a medical book or something :)


Pete B

[Marsyas]

A test with most items in place. Had to do a lot of reposing and shuffling things around.

I think I ended up reinforcing the second interpretation I had intended. (I wanted the viewer to think the witch was either a) afraid of her creation, or b) afraid her creation was falling apart.) I thought it was funnier to have Horsey looking at the Owl instead of the Witch, so I think it's easier to tell he isn't a threat to the witch now.

wip24.jpg

piz: Hehe, thanks! :D
skinnybonez: Haha, thank you!
Blaine91555: Thank you!
-WOODY-: Thanks! Painting with cavity masks makes me feel like I'm painting miniatures again... applying washes and drybrushing.
voodoomonkey: Thanks, voodoomonkey!
Plakkie: Haha, thank you!
fizzy: Thank you!

[-WOODY-]

LOL, that's funny. The owl looks like he's thinking, "what thu...... I think I'd rather be somewhere else right now".

I like the render and lighting and the colors look great.

[piz]

Very good Buddy!
This is an effective dress rehearsal, yeah! :cool: :tu:

[John Strieder]

I like it, but ... i would put the hanging eye back in the Skull ... just my personal taste ;)

[LittleDedder]

Great work!


I tend to find the eye very distracting as well.

[Plakkie]

Really like the composition so far. The way the skelehorse is lifting itself from the chauldron is brilliant! :tu: :tu:
As the owl (my favorite :D ) has a role to play now I feel his expression could be pushed some more; like Woody said, he must be thinking: "What thu...". Don't know what would work; maybe bent him a bit away from the horse, or change the open/close scale of the eyes, or change the pupil size for one eye, or make the eyes bulge just a little...
Looking at the picture again I've get the impression that the chauldron, taking up a reasonable part of the image, is less detailed (/textured) then the rest of the objects.
The loose eye is such a great detail. Right now it seems to be looking at the book, trying to understand how it came into being, or: how he should look if everything had gone well... Maybe you could make this point really strong by rotating the eye just so that it really looked at the picture?

I'm much in awe with your modeling and visual storytelling skills; these observations are just from humble me trying to contribute two small cents. :)

[Dondemaker]

Looking really good, but I thought I'd add my comments about the eye. My first impression was negative - the rest of the horse is all holding together very well and the eye dangling so far down looked out of place. On the other hand, after reading Plakkie's message, I also like the way it's looking at the pony in the book as though he's thinking "so that's what I'm supposed to be?". On balance though I think I would either put it back in it's socket or somehow find a way to make it look less distracting. In your final image people won't have the benefit of Plakkie's comments and it's first impressions that count. Just my thoughts, you're the boss.
Jason

[AngelJ]

Marsyas,

Kudos my friend very well done indeed. Love the sculpt and elements you put into this work. With the new editions of the dangling eye and what not I took a bit more time to actually look at the scene respectively and have some food for thought.

The dangling eye is somewhat interesting and a bit as has been said distracting in a manner of speaking but also what came to me initially upon seeing it is that the eyes are the only organic piece of flesh like substance on the creature which to me seems a tad out of place, but hey its magic so yeah I suppose that compensates for it. However, it could be also that my personal preference is when I thought it had no eyes at all, just open skull sockets would be more fitting.


Also, the owl seems a bit obscure at this point with the current lighting. Maybe either bringing him closer to the horse head on the branch to be at a better compositional position or maybe add a "glow" coming from the cauldron that helps to bring him out a bit more.

Lastly, at first I thought the alignment of the pelvis was bugging me but I think its the left femur being shown that is doing it to me. When I place pen or object to block out most of the left femur it seems the skeletal critter is more appealing to me and helps the position of him using the aid of that left leg to help him rise out of the cauldron.

As I said take it with a grain of salt for this is truly a wonderful piece. I just try to give feedback when I can especially since I know I enjoy getting it myself. Keep up the great work!! :tu: :tu:

[Rory_L]

Though understanding the comments in favour of the eye, I have to say it is grisly and gruesome and does not fit the rest of the picture's tone. It's like if something from Resident Evil had gatecrashed Monsters Inc.

That aside, lovely!

R

[Marsyas]

Thanks for all the crits, everyone. I tried out a bunch of the suggestions and ended up making a lot of changes.

Basically, with the eye gone, something felt missing, so I punched up the expressions.

wip25a.jpg

Also, I did a quick mist/smoke test in Photoshop. I'll probably tone it down though.

wip25b.jpg

-WOODY-: Thanks! Definitely want it to be funny. :)
piz: Thank you!
John Strieder: Thanks for your opinion! You weren't the only one.
LittleDedder: Thank you!
Plakkie: Thanks for all the comments, Plakkie! I tried to push the Owl some more but I probably could have gone further. I might wait to dirty up the cauldron more in Photoshop. Glad you liked the eye. Sadly, I decided to snip it (for now). ;)
Dondemaker: Thanks for your opinion, Dondemaker. I tried a long time to make the eye work but eventually gave up.
AngelJ: Thanks for all the crits, AngelJ. I originally planned to put more meat on Horsey but that turned out to be too ambitious. I kept the eyes because I wanted him to be more expressive. I'll be bringing the owl out more in post, along with enhancing everything in general. Thanks for the femur suggestion. Not sure I did what you were suggesting, but fooling around with him more helped make things more dynamic, I think.
Rory_L: Thanks, Rory_L! I probably should have integrated the eye sooner (I planned it in the sketches but I guess it's too grisly for the style I ended up with).

[AngelJ]

Marsyas,

You have the heart and talent of a true artist. Love the changes and I firmly believe they help convey what you want for this type of piece. However, as much as I am enjoying your piece, give yourself big kudos for examining the suggestions made by your zbc friends and putting the suggestions to the test to see if it helps your goal. Regardless if you choose to go with the suggestions or not doesn't matter what matters is you gave it good food for thought and tried em out yourself. Means you have heart and mind of a someone always willing to do more to get more, that type of open mindedness is a valuable trait to have my friend!!

Love the scene and what your doing adding some light mist, expression on horse is great! So many great entries but as I've said on others this one is right up with the best of them!! :tu: :tu:

[piz]

Hi Marsyas!

I think that the addition of fog effects is cool and give realism to the scene... only one thing (but I know this isn't the definitive version yet... ;))... I don't know if is right that the fog/smoke affects the luminosity of the flames... I think that the flames behind should generate some kind of addictive effect.

Anyway I really like this project! :cool: :tu:

[dustbin1_uk]

This is fantastic! I really like this image and i think it could definately be a prize winner.

The green fog on this makes a massive difference, it makes the whole scene look less 'sterile'.

I think the only thing that this seems to need is maybe some small amounts of rotting flesh on the bones. nothing too much, maybe just some staining on the bones instead. It's just that he looks a little too clean and making him a bit more decomposed might make him seem a little more scary. just my opinion.

Anyhow, top image, I am very impressed!

[Rory_L]

It's all nice and cohesive now. All the elements belong in this world.

Love the owl's expression.

R

[sirquadalot]

I absolutely love the book's detail as well as the skeleton!. As far as needing Photoshop, to do the fog, and fire, after you get your models dropped onto the canvas, trying baking the layer you want the effect on, select the highlighterII brush and set the modifier to main. Then pick a red color and overlap a few strokes. This also translates to fog as well. Just remember to start dark and go light.

[Marsyas]

Hi, folks. :)

This is probably my final, though I haven't submitted yet. I might tweak it more but I think some blanks should always be left for the viewer to fill. ;)

I was gonna try to make the fire look more realistic but I kinda like the cartooniness of it (maybe they're just light bulbs...)

final_a.jpg

Here's an uncropped version and a closeup:

final_c.jpg

final_b.jpg

The final uncropped image is 4000x4000 pixels, about the largest ZBrush would let me draw the entire tool as a whole so I could maintain perspective. All modeling and rendering was done in ZBrush with post work done in Photoshop. I was surprised to find that the final scene almost hit 50 million polys.

The renders I used to create the final image appear below:

wip26a.jpg

wip26b.jpg

wip26c.jpg

wip26d.jpg

wip26f.jpg

And here are the base meshes:

wip26e.jpg

Thanks to everyone who dropped by; it really helped me slog through. I'm especially indebted to those who took the time to critique my work as it often caused me to reexamine everything.

AngelJ: Thank you for the kind words and helpful advice!

piz: Thanks, piz! You were right about the smoke.

dustbin1_uk: Thank you! I originally planned more 'flesh' but that proved a bit too ambitious. ;) Rotting flesh might have proved too 'gruesome' too considering some were turned off by the dangling eye.

Rory_L: Thank you!

sirquadalot: Thank you! It would have been cool to play with ZBrush's 2D elements but since I rendered as large as I could, it was easier to manage in Photoshop.

[dustbin1_uk]

I tell you what, it's so hard to choose a winner with so many great entires. you have worked so hard on this and it's paid off. I take my hat off to you and say with frank admiration, I hope to be as good as you one day.

Well done. :D

[sasquatchpoacher]

congrats! great job.

[LittleDedder]

nice work

[-WOODY-]

You really did a great job on your scene marsyas. The steam coming off of the pot helps to bring things to life.

As far as this challenge goes, my 3 main worries were ( or still are )

You, sasquatchpoacher, and stumpf.

This challenge has brought out some really great pieces and it's fun to see everyone's ideas come to life.

Good luck.

[stumpf]

Hello Geoff,

I really like your image. Good luck for you!

Cheers

Ralf Stumpf

[marcus_civis]

Excellent work! Well done and good luck!

[animastur]

Excelent work!. I learned a lot from this. :tu:
Good luck!

[piz]

Awsome Work Buddy! Good Luck! :tu: ;) :tu:

[Plakkie]

Bravo! The whole idea of the scene comes across really well. You can feel some sympathy for the girl and you cannot but laugh at that skelehorse! It was great reading your thoughts while creating this image, very inspirational. A brilliant addition to this wonderful contest. :tu: :tu: :tu:

[AngelJ]

Marsyas,


Loving it!! Great job and boy your hard work sure paid off!! I do my best to give back what I can to the forum and feedback I know is usually greatly appreciated. Glad I could be of assistance, and thank you for such a lovely work of artistic dislay. I will be watching for more of you work, drop me a pm anytime!! :tu: :tu:

[cinnamonstix]

I really like this image. There's such a sweetness about it and also silly. I'm glad you made the flame cartoony--it makes the scene that more special. It's extremley cute and I love the expressions on all of the characters. Good luck!!

[boozy floozie]

Nice narrative wonderfully done - good luck.

[Marsyas]

Thanks, everyone! :)

Now that I'm finally 'done', I can relax and take time to detail some of my techniques (I was usually bleary-eyed by the time I posted my WIPs, leaving me just enough strength to reciprocate comments and little else). So here's a little tut on how I usually start painting a model:

Having painted fantasy miniatures as a kid, I'm used to a traditional workflow for painting models. To simulate how I used to paint, I apply 'tints', 'washes' and 'drybrushing' by using 'FillObject' and 'Mask By Cavity', as detailed in the examples below.

cavitypainttut1.jpg

cavitypainttut2.jpg

cavitypainttut3.jpg

As shown in the examples, the great thing is that you can apply the cavity mask at lower subdivision levels to affect larger areas of the model.

You can also paint color directly with the brushes while a cavity mask is applied to work in extra detail where you want it.

If you find 'Mask By Cavity' doesn't target a specific range of cavities you're aiming for, you can fiddle with the 'CavityMask' options in the Brush controls. I actually rarely use the 'Brush>CavityMask' options though because they don't seem to work with 'FillObject'.

--------

dustbin1_uk: Thank you! I'm just glad I'm done. :) Time to relax...
sasquatchpoacher: Thank you!
LittleDedder: Thank you!
-WOODY-: Thanks, -WOODY-! But after seeing some of the great final pieces, I'm not so sure I'm even a 'worry' anymore... ;) I'm glad I finished though. Good luck to you too!
stumpf: Thank you, stumpf! And Good luck to you too!
marcus_civis: Thank you!
animastur: Thanks, I'm glad! :)
piz: Thanks, piz!
Plakkie: Thank you very much, Plakkie!
AngelJ: Thanks again, AngelJ!
cinnamonstix: Thank you! Glad you like it.
boozy floozie: Thanks, boozy! Nice to hear from you.

[Sebcesoir]

Very ncie picture, very nice technic...

really great job....:tu: :tu: :tu:

[piz]

Tnx a lot Buddy! Your explanations about Cavity Mask is very useful for me!!! Great Technique! ;)

[dustbin1_uk]

Sweet! even at the end I am learning stuff! Well done and cheers!

[Plakkie]

What a cool and usefull traditional technique! Thanks for learning us this, it will certainly come in handy. :tu: :tu:

[Dondemaker]

Marsyas, I think in the end it came out very well indeed. Nice work and best of luck to you.
Jason

[Atwooki]

Excellent work and wonderful tutorials, Marsyas :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu:

I'd personally liked to have seen your composition more heavily cropped (to more like image 3 from Post #140),
but the technical brilliance of all you've achieved and shared here EASILY overrides any quibbles on that topic ;)

Your texturing is top-notch also.

Thanks for sharing, and best of luck :)

Chris