Scared Silly Entry by Steven Wood

[-WOODY-]

Well, I guess I'll throw mat hat into the ring unless Rick Baker throws his in then I'll humbly withdraw mine...

Description:
This is a little child pumkin who I'll call "LiL' Punky" who's celebrating his first halloween. His costume is made to look like a can of pumpkin pie mix. Before he goes out trick or treating, he's getting into the spirit of things by running around scaring all of his family and friends by running and jumping about.

Software used:
I'm going to try and keep this to ZBrush and Photoshop for compositing only. I'm not great with working with ZPhere's, but I'll try my best with this one and hopefully get it done on time.

Here's just a quick color sketch below which is a rough idea of what I'd like to do.

Best of luck to eveyone.

[Harmonic]

Woody this is hilarious :lol: and you sketch is fantastic, you must be a cartoonist? You better not bow out if Rick Backer inters though, because I want to see the finished product!

[Nemoriko]

cool sketch :lol:
Great fun! I like this style.

good luck :tu: :tu: :tu:

[chemkid]

i really like the sketch. so funny!!

chem!

[dustbin1_uk]

Lil' pumkin! Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

Nice! Like the idea! :tu: :D :tu:
Best of luck to ya!

[threetails]

this idea is great, nice style with the perspectives, that will translate great into the image and the lighting. good luck.

[-WOODY-]

Thanks guys for the imput. Hopefully I'll be able to model this thing at least half as good as my sketch.

Here's my attempt at ZSphere'n. Right now I'm just working on the basic parts. I like to keep things separate because it makes it easier to model and texture. When I'm done I'll assemble everything together.

This is lil' punky that I'm starting with. I like to create my mesh at a low poly becuase it makes it easier to make broad changes and adjustments.

I also may re-use this to create my adult pumpkin people, not sure yet on that one.

[Morbius]

Woody this is hilarious :lol: and you sketch is fantastic, you must be a cartoonist? You better not bow out if Rick Backer inters though, because I want to see the finished product!

Yes! Great sketch, Woody! Looking forward to seeing this whole thing sculpted and rendered out. Just too cool. And if you're NOT a cartoonist, I'd be amazed!

Also, I certainly hope Rick Baker - MonsterMaker has time to join in. I'd imagine this is a pretty busy time of the year for him professionally and personally. Imagine all his friends? "Hey Rick, can you make me up to look like this!?", etc.,etc. I bet it drives him crazy!

I doubt very much if he's hurting for a Wacom tablet anyway, but I sure hope he can join in.

[-WOODY-]

Well thanks for the incouragement Morbius. Yes I do a LOT of cartooning where I work, but I'd rather get into more serious illustrative work. Every time I try to do someting serious and painterly it ends up looking like a CARTOON DAGNABBIT!

It's ruined me lol.

Really, I'd like to see Rick Baker join up as well to be honest, but he probably already has a Cintiq the size of his living room anyway hehe.

[Morbius]

Well thanks for the incouragement Morbius. Yes I do a LOT of cartooning where I work, but I'd rather get into more serious illustrative work. Every time I try to do someting serious and painterly it ends up looking like a CARTOON DAGNABBIT!

It's ruined me lol.

Really, I'd like to see Rick Baker join up as well to be honest, but he probably already has a Cintiq the size of his living room anyway hehe.

Well, you're awfully talented!! I wonder how many, if any, sci-fi/horror book covers have been rendered with ZBrush. Seems like it's exactly the right tool for some awesome illustration work. Can't wait to see what you come up with.

I'll be lucky if I can learn enough soon enough to carve a decent pumpkin! :)

[ravioli_rancher]

Woody,

You've heard it a lot already, but, wow, that's an amazing sketch. Great pose and solid composition. Just be careful when you start the texturing not to make every pumpkin the same orange. Give a few of them mold, fungus, and other signs of prolonged oxidation. :lol:

Where can we see more of your cartoons?

Good luck on the ongoing sillyness!

[Blaine91555]

Cool concept :tu: Nice drawing.

[duckstab]

Really Like your concept think the cartoony styles will dominate this challange
best of luck

[Marsyas]

Hah! Great sketch. Looks fun! :tu:

[Effulgent3d]

Really amazed at some peoples sketches for this comp. some really good preliminary work and talent. I would love to see the aforementioned R.Baker join in as well as its always an inspiration to see the best really push the limits, just hope I dont embarass myself with my sketches lol.

With all those pumpkin heads in the view are you going to spotlight\highlight the central composition and maybe have the rest more in the shadows or?
Just with all that orangey going on in one mass could detract from the image.

[-WOODY-]

Thanks guys.

Since I'm going to composite this in Photoshop, it should be fairly easy to adjust color, brightness, saturation, etc to set the background pumpkins apart enough from Lil' punky so as to not detract from him.

The lighting that I have in mind should help as well. I'm thinking of more or less a spot light in the center of the scene to illuminate Lil Punky starting from a low angle upward. When lighting from below a character like the background pumpkins, it should give an erie, scary, kind of feel to convey fear in the pumpkins and would help as well to set them apart.

[nightwoodwolf]

LiL' Punky funny name :) i like the idea

wanna see the finshed project, good luck :tu:

[DMerchen]

This is a great idea and sketch to go with it. Very funny concept!

[-WOODY-]

I finally got Lil' Punky's halloween costume made up. I'm still not sure if I want it to be a real can that he's using as an outfit or an outfit made up to look like a real can which would allow me to bend and warp it like clothe.

Anyway, I even made up little jingle for my new canned pumpkin pie mix.

"I'd walk the land and pay a grand just for a taste of Woody's brand"

Woody's brand pumpkin pie mix mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. :p

Buy some today!

[Disco Stu]

really looking forward for results if u get the comic look from the sketch into the third dimensions this is gonna look real nice

[Seavannah]

cute, funny, and love the concept art. can't wait to see him finished.

[-WOODY-]

Thanks guys, I'm tryin.

Here's a final test fit for Lil' Punky for this evening. I've went ahead and done some warping and tweaking to the can and finished off the head. Still lots of tweaking to do.

punky test fit.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('71278','punky test fit.jpg',1,0))

[nightwoodwolf]

Lil' Punky starting to look goog ... good luck :tu:

[-WOODY-]

After a bit more tweaking, warping, sizing, etc, I'm fairly happy with the pose after modeling his body. I'm still not sure about color though. I'll try different variations till I'm happy with it.

lil punky pose.jpg

[Lucky_1]

Looks awesome already !

Lucky

[Disco Stu]

really nice work! i agree on the colours u should definitly tryout a few. post them abndwell give tips!

[piz]

Ha ha ha... Very Fun! :tu: :lol:

[Marsyas]

Ha! Love the expression. That can label is super clean too. :tu:

[soulreaver]

:lol: Very nice expression, & gr8 idea. reminds me of Transformers:lol:

[Harmonic]

Really funny! :lol: I agree different colors could probably be better.

[-WOODY-]

Thanks guys, and yes I did work with the colors a little. As you can see, I've finally got Lil' Punky completed. I wish I had more time to go back and detail everything out further, but since I'm working a lot of overtime at work and time is swinging by, I'll have to keep things basic until I have all of my assets completed.

If I have the time I'll go back and detail eveything out better.
Lil Punky Final.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%2771894%27,%27Lil%20Punky%20Final.jpg%27,1,0%29)

[Harmonic]

O My God, that is so funny :lol: great work!

[Marsyas]

Haha, really cool. Great work! :tu:

[piz]

Very Nice ;)

[dustbin1_uk]

I really want some pumkin pie....... Mmmmmmm........ mmmmmmmm......... Mmmmm?....... eh?........ oh right! sorry!

That pumpkin dude is looking great! the colours are much better, can't wait to see it finished. :tu: :tu: :tu:

[Slosh]

I've been watching this post since day one, Woody, and have waited to comment because I don't know what to say. The character is absolutely well done. He is very dynamic and colorful...makes me think about old video games for some reason...like he's the character and he gobbles up candy treats as you progress through the levels. I really like you style and the skill you show with colors and posing. :tu: :tu: :tu:

[-WOODY-]

Thanks everybody, and thankyou Slosh.
That means a lot coming from an experienced modeler like yourself.

I've always loved and have been facinated by 3D modeling, but never could afford the "good" software to get into it. I'm still a hobbyist and novice and have always wished that I had gotten into character modeling long ago and perhaps make a career out of it.

Now that I'm at the age to afford the tools I'm going to enjoy it the best I can while I can still see and my aching back holds up lol.

Best of luck to everybody!

[Jason Belec]

Excellent work Woody, love the character and the concept thus far! ;)

[KOSOVA]

Looking great. I like the concept sketch a lot. The point of view is working realy good and I hope you stay true to it in your final Composition.

[-WOODY-]

Jason Belec: Thanks Jason, I appreciate that.
KOSOVA: Thanks to you too KOSOVA, I'm trying my best to keep to the "feel" of the sketch. Not always easy to translate 2D to 3D and keep the same look and feel.

This is just a quick update showing the 3 adult pumpkin heads that will be in the background. I created these a little differently than I did Lil' Punky cause I'm trying to save on time and keeping my ram manageable.
Lil' Punky was created using the extract mesh function which looks good, but it sticks you with a high mesh count.

3 pumpkin render.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%2772061%27,%273%20pumpkin%20render.jpg%27,1,0%29)

[nightwoodwolf]

cool pumpkin heads

[Marsyas]

Great heads! Looks like you're sticking to the feel of your sketch very well.

[-WOODY-]

Thanks guys, but to be honest, I'm not really happy with them. We're almost halfway through to the end of the competition so I'm trying my best to cut corners just to get it done.

My latest snippet of an update just shows the adult hands that I've been workiing on. I took a basic set of hands created in ZBrush then posed and detailed them in 3 various poses of expression to show amazement, surprise, and fear. I'll start work on the adult bodies after this using the base body mesh of Lil' Punky.

hands.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('72119','hands.jpg',1,0))

[dustbin1_uk]

Don't be so hard on yourself you doing better than me at the moment! ;)

Maybe the pumkins just need not be so....urm.....realistic...... ah..... how to explain this.....

Maybe add some expression features like creases around the mouths and furrows between the eyebrows....... or am I just being daft?

[fizzy]

I think the hands are spot on. Reckon your final piece will be pretty damn good.

Pete B

[fishadder]

Top Stuff!

Especially loving the hands! I'm doing hands at the moment and finding it pretty tricky and yours make me feel worse! lol!

Can't believe we're halfway through as well!!! time is just evaporating!

Keep on Z-ing it's looking great!
:)
Fishadder

[-WOODY-]

Don't be so hard on yourself you doing better than me at the moment! ;)

Maybe the pumkins just need not be so....urm.....realistic...... ah..... how to explain this.....

Maybe add some expression features like creases around the mouths and furrows between the eyebrows....... or am I just being daft?I've thought of that, but wasn't sure what style of pumpkin to create. Since Lil' Punky is more of a traditional carved pumpkin, I guess I'll have to keep with the present style I have now. If there's still enough time for me to tweak things, then maybe I'll try that with both the background pumpkins and Lil' Punky.

fizzy, fishadder
Thanks. Since they're cartoon hands I was able to get by with a lot more than if I were to try and model something more realisticly.
Even if I made a mistake I could say, "It's a cartoon hand so it's supposed to be like that" lol.

[garyhanna]

Nice work, Woody!

Great style to your whole design.



-Gary


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

[-WOODY-]

Thanks garyhanna

Here is my first background adult. I'm keeping it simple for now just to get them all done. At this point, time is creeping by pretty fast so I'm still not sure if I have enough time to tweak things like I would like to do.

first adult.jpg (http://javascript%3cb%3e%3c/b%3E:zb_insimg('72995','first%20adult.jpg',1,0))

[-WOODY-]

Second one down and one to go.

second adult.jpg (http://javascript%3cb%3e%3c/b%3E:zb_insimg('73002','second%20adult.jpg',1,0))

[-WOODY-]

Welp, this is the final one. Now onto detailing the ground, grass, and background.

third adult.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('73011','third adult.jpg',1,0))

[fishadder]

Nice one mate!

Loving the wrinkles on the clothing especially where they twist and turn, really gives movement to a still image and will look great in the final piece!

How D'you do that!?

:)
Keep on Z-ing

Fishadder

[Jason Belec]

Wonderful looking characters... ;)

[LittleDedder]

Love the characters

[-WOODY-]

Nice one mate!

Loving the wrinkles on the clothing especially where they twist and turn, really gives movement to a still image and will look great in the final piece!

How D'you do that!?Thanks fishadder
It helps to have drawing books that shows how to draw clothing and in how it flows on the body. These wrinkles are in no way accurate, but time isn't allowing me to be as thorough as I'd like to be.
You can also find various tut's on the internet that can walk you through the basics. Just keep in mind the tension points on the body of where the wrinkle starts to where it ends.
It helps to also think of clothing as a wet paper towel. Imagine how it would hang on the body and the weight of the water in the towel pulling downward on the towel between the 2 or more tension points. What I mean by tension points is this: The 2 or more points at which the cloth is pulled at the tightest strength then flowing in straight or cured lines in between, ie., the bottom of the buttocks to the knee, the shoulder to the elbow, the elbow to the wrist, the chest to the hips or waist, the knee to the ankle, etc.
The type of cloth also has a lot to do with it too. If it's fine clothe like silk or cotton, then you would create your wrinkles to be sharper and more defined. It it's thicker cloth like a sweatshirt, heavy wool, etc, then the wrinkles would be heavier, softer, and more rounded.

LittleDedder: Thanks LittleDedder, I'd also like to create something a little more realistic. Seems everything I do looks like a cartoon.
Jason Belec: Thanks, and hopefully "winning" characters hehe.

[Ariane]

I love the "cartoony" style of your drawing and yet of your modelling!
You've managed it very well in 3D, postures are very dynamic too, great job! :)

[dustbin1_uk]

I take it back about the expression lines, this looks awsome! I am very impressed with the clothing and I now understand what the hands were for!

Very well done! :D:tu:

[-WOODY-]

Ariane: Thanks, I appreciate that. Interpreting 2D to 3D is always very challenging. It forces you to see depth and various other areas of your model that one would not normally think about when drawing.

dustbin1_uk: Thanks again. Creative critisism is always appreciated. Now I too know what the hands are for lol.

Below is a VERY rough render of the scene so far. I've added fog only to separate the background from the foreground so it's easier to the eye to figure out.
Final scene rendering always is the toughest thing for me to do so it's best if I start piddling with it early. Things to experiment with are lighting setups, color, and background in which I will probably do in Photoshop.
If time allows I'll also add smaller details like rocks and pebbles.

fina render.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%2773158%27,%27fina%20render.jpg%27,1,0%29)

[stumpf]

Great work so far. Good luck for the final render.

Cheers

Ralf Stumpf

[Harmonic]

That is looking great! I am really likening it, :tu: I do like the composition and camera angle in you sketch better. I would definity tweak that a bit in your final.

[Marsyas]

Looking very cool! I like the scale of the grass. Perhaps the scale of the background pumpkins might be enhanced by having the fog decrease towards their feet?

[-WOODY-]

stumpf:
Thanks stumpf and same to you as well! Great modeling on your little skeleton in the wooden car.

Harmonic:
Thanks Harmonic and I did just that by changing Lil' Punky's angle and size.

Marsyas:
Thanks Marsysas. I'm not sure if I'll use any fog in the final render or not, but I had it in the first render temporarily to make it easier to separate the foreground from the backround so it didn't look so busy.

Latest update:
As you can see, I'm now working on the foreground with Lil' Punky. I've touched up the grass in ZBrush by painting in some variation using RGB only mode. I've also added some small rocks and painted in the ground a little bit more to show some variation.

final render 2.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%2773291%27,%27final%20render%202.jpg%27,1,0%29)

[monstermaker]

This piece is a lot of fun I'm looking forward to the finished version.
It's is a good thing that that hack Rick Baker didn't throw his hat into the ring too so you didn't withdraw.
As I have mentioned to some of the others ,this would be great in the October Shadows art show, Maybe next year.

[-WOODY-]

........WOW

THE MAN has posted and I don't know what to say. I have always admired your works, style and imagination and to recieve a favorable critique from you is really flattering. I'm speechless

Of coarse you know I was only kidding about you entering. I would be really curious to see what you would have come up with for this contest.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and post.

[monstermaker]

WOODY It is more like THE OLD MAN .
I have a piece that I did for the October Shadows show that I was going to post on ZBC once the show finished and the on line gallery was up. It would have fit in well for this contest, I did it about a month before this contest started.
They keep telling me that the web site will have the gallery up and running any day now , but they have been saying that for about a week and a half now.
When it's up and running you can check out my stuff and a bunch of cool artwork here
www.creaturefeatures.com
If you go there now all you won't see much except for the artist bios and some last years work. It was a cool event this year with lots of great Halloween images.

[nightwoodwolf]

i like how you made the grass ... keep it up :tu:

[Marsyas]

Looking good! And monstermaker stopped by... Lucky dog! ;)

[threetails]

this is a crisp looking image, and the perspective is great. i still have trouble setting up the fog in my images, you seem to have that under control, well done.

[-WOODY-]

Thanks guys for the cudo's

Just continuing to tweak this -n- that and fussing here and there and doing a little zigging and zagging and tweaking with the lights, color, and shading.

Hopefully I'll be happy with it enough to submit my final render soon.

final render tweaks.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('73763','final render tweaks.jpg',1,0))

[sasquatchpoacher]

Starting to look very polished.

[Rick Hanson]

Love the whole concept and style.:cool:

[Blaine91555]

This keeps looking better :tu: :tu: I really like the perspective.

[voodoomonkey]

Hey that's really cool. :D
Neat Idea.
Cheers
Cesar Dacol Jr.
Aka, The Voodoo Monkey

[Marsyas]

I like the ladybug, nice touch! :tu:

[-WOODY-]

Thanks again guys, much appreciated.

I've just been taking a break from my final render tweaking cause I tend to agonize over it to make a turntable video of Lil' Punky.
I know that sometimes the video acts a little oddly, but go ahead and watch it anyway....you know you want to hehe.

Tried to embed video, but didn't work ( html not on )

Here's the link Lil' Punky turntable (http://www.veoh.com/videos/v13833479wgDDChs)

[adrock]

Nice lookin pumpkin........

[50'sKID]

That's a funny concept, Woody. Keep going with it. 50.

[-WOODY-]

Steven Wood

Scared silly entry

Title: "Lil' Punky's first Halloween

Final render size: 2000 x 2500 px

Programs used: ZBrush
for: Modeling, texturing, scene creation, and rendering

Photoshop
for: Compositing, color adjustment, backdrop painting and effects

Story:
This is about Lil Punky and his first ever Halloween. To get into the spirit of things before he goes out for the evening for trick or treating, he is running and jumping about in his Halloween costume trying to scare his family and friends. The most scariest thing to pumpkin people is Pumpkin pie mix. What a fitting costume for his first ever Halloween celebration.


This was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun to do. I also learned quite a few things and I hope that everyone else who participated in this contest learned a few things as well.

Good luck to all
-WOODY-

final render for forum.jpg

[stumpf]

Hello Woody,

it's a very nice picture you created for the contest.
Good luck for you!

Cheers and Happy Halloween

Ralf Stumpf

[ThaoLe]

hehheeh its funny.... its very job you have here Wooddy and yes.. we all learned great deal with this contest.

good luck bro.
Thao Le

[AngelJ]

Woody,

You should be proud, kudos to you, like so many other entries this has turned out sooo well.. going to be some tuff decisions for folks to make. Like this one from the start.. nice execution. Hope to see more :tu: :tu: soon!

[sasquatchpoacher]

Great job! Dead on with your concept.

[-WOODY-]

Thanks guys and gals, I appreciate that. I got tired of staring at the final render wondering what else I could do with it so I just went ahead and posted what I have.
I'm still not completely happy with it, but I suppose we'll all say that about our own work.

[KOSOVA]

Hello Woody,

Very nice image...You captured the attitude of Lil Punky very good.
Good luck to you.

[Harmonic]

Really funny image WOODY! Gota love little Punky in the pie costume :lol: It seem weird to me that the background character are lit so different from Punky.

[LittleDedder]

Great work all along

[dustbin1_uk]

WOODY! This is fantastic! I'd love to have this as a poster in my study! You've done an amazing job well done!

[fizzy]

I love the composition on this, really jumps out at you.



Pete B

[Marsyas]

Great work, -WOODY-! I like how the backround pumpkins are crammed together in fear.

[fishadder]

Hey Woody!

Well done on this I love the dynamic camera angle and attitude of this piece and very nice colours too.

It came out great!

It's certainly been a monster of a competition

Good stuff, good luck and as always...

Keep on Z-ing!
:)
Fishadder

[-WOODY-]

Thanks again folks

Now it's hard to keep my mind on things because here recently the company I work for is going through tough times because my job is tourism related. Gas prices has a lot to do with it...
It would be a bummer to win then find out I just lost my job lol. Ah well, I don't want to be a kill-joy on things

Good luck to all.