Action Hero - The Silence

[MonteCristo]

TheSilence.jpg

1652...





The King has been Dead for 3 years, and Cromwell has England, Ireland and Scotland under his command...

The royalist, James Shaw, often wondered why tales of adventure and daring were almost exclusively crafted around the rich and powerful. Later in life he would come to wish things had remained that way. When Charles I was executed, James took to the highways of England and, like many of his compatriots, became a Knight of the Road, stealing from Cromwell's purse, occasionally giving it to the poor -- usually humble inn-keepers, or hard-up wenches in possession of a loose-fitting blouse and an ample bosom to match. Certainly, Shaw's was a roguish, hand-to-mouth kind of existence.

His woes began on Christmas night in 1651, when he cried the immortal words "Stand and Deliver" to a solitary rider approaching him beneath the spire of St Jude's.
"If it is in your mind to rob the hapless traveller, mark him well."Lucifer smiled, "He may be your undoing".
James neither believed in the Devil, nor was he impressed by the single silver coin that sat overly warm in the palm of his hand. A feeble bounty, to be sure. With a groan, he shot the impudent stranger and left his body for the crows.

Days later, upon an inauspicious stretch of road, James was caught by a particularly intolerant patrol of Roundheads, whereupon he was hanged from the bough of a copper beech . He awoke the next day, still hanging, apparently immune to death, though evidently not to pain. At length, a passing friar cut him down.
His throat crushed and his voice stolen for ever, James could barely thank the man. Nevertheless he took this meeting as a sign from above and resolved to find salvation... of a type at least... Salvation's path is difficult one to tread to those with a wayward step.

[SolidSnakexxx]

Interesting way for the hero to lose his voice.......from hanging by the neck... Your character design's very strong..your sketch is great.... can't wait for your ZBrush model :)....

Oh...I like is:--->"..or if they were particularly pretty and in possession of both a loose-fitting blouse and an ample bosom.." :o

[Jharford]

Gripping story and great presentation. Can't wait to see those qualities mirrored in the sculpting. :tu:

[gregoconn]

I really like the detail of your hero. IT will be nice to see how you pan this out in zbrush.

[Captain Sensible]

Ah very cool! Really nice sketch and a well thought out story. I'm sure your sculpt will be as impressive. Keep it up! :)

[Gordon Robb]

Fantastic concept sketch. adn cool looking character too.

[sazar26]

great concept and story but the your design looks like a concept from fable 2 from the weapons to the costume \, you mght wanna change it up a bit.....

[Slosh]

I really like the way you presented the back story and the poster to go along with it. I wish I could write with that kind of mystique. I look forward to seeing your work.

[Ustos]

don't u take part in creating Fable2 ?
design wondeful..

[Lucky_1]

Awesome sketch !
keep it up.

[ray----]

Im really dissapointed that i cant watch the film :lol: . Such a griping backstory, it draws you in. I cant wait to see your renders.

[montyband]

Why cant i register at cgchain.com registration form seams like not working?!

[MonteCristo]

montyband - Sorted. Works fine on my side. Check your PM... :)

Thanks very much for all the kind comments all. Guess I got carried away with the presentation a bit, but what can I say? I was having too much fun. Really pleased that you all liked the writing, too, as I consider this to be my true vocation, so I care just as much about how this goes over as I do the art. Still the sketch itself could use a bit of polish, but... nah. :lol:

The design, strangely isn't inspired by Fable 2 at all, although I love that game, I was a Plunkett and Macleane fan before that + Brotherhood of the Wolf. The 17C period and 18C have always fascinated me, particularly in a sense of aesthetics. I agree that the costume could do with fine-tuning, but to be honest, I have my starting point, and I have much more capacity in ZBrush to alter and experiement than I do in a painting programme. That's why I love it so much!

[Flack]

Very nice back-story. The 2d art work is well done too, I wish I had those skills. Judging by your Laura Croft sculpt it looks as if you'll be a major player in the contest. Good luck and can't wait to see more updates!

[GoK]

This is really looking great, I love the Idea of the noose and the sinister look he has. Loving the bucket too :tu:

Awsome!

[Bingo_Jackson]

Great cover concept. There should be a separate award for pre viz presentation in this challenge. So many creative presentations.

[MonteCristo]

Thanks Flack and GoK.

Bingo - I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't spend more than an evening coming up with the concept. This coming January I will lose 2 weeks due to a trip to the states, so I have to work at speed now. I'm really glad they didn't do anything for pre-viz. If they had, I would probably have obsessed too much and not complete the piece itself (same thing happened in DW3, so when I lost a week, I really fell short of the quality bar I was aiming for).

[MINTY]

Really like the concept and the story behind the character mate. Top stuff! Looking forward to seeing more of this chap soon.:tu:

[maxinkuk]

This is tremendously impressive. You can draw, write and think up very good stories.
Yours is my favourite entry so far. Bravo.

[Captain Cartesian]

Great thought put into this character! I am looking forward to seeing character designs/costumes from this time period. I love the concept. Keep it up!

[squeige]

Extremely profesional looking concept art, lets see the sculpts! :)

[MonteCristo]

So just made a couple of updates to the story -- little things mainly and an additional touch at the end to flesh this guy's motivation out a bit. Next post will be an update, I promise.

MINTY - Thanks very much mate. Look forward to seeing Righteous fleshed out also. :)

maxinkuk - I do appreciate that, particularly coming from a talented artist such as yourself. I'll try to make sure I keep stuff to a worthy standard as I go on.

Captain Cartesian - Good to know I'm not the only one with a penchant for this era.

squeige - Sculpts will be coming just as soon as I can, though no internet at home (recently moved), so may be in a week or so. I suspect this'll be quite quiet around here for a little bit anyway for obvious reasons.


Merry Xmas all!

[spaceboy412]

i can't wait to see this finished, and i know you can do it cause you did some great speed sculpts on the 3dtotal boards. nice concept, i'm glad someone else decided to do something in the past.

[squeige]

No worries, not rushing you hehe, just adding excitement! :)

[jp_smith]

Very cool idea, I'm looking forward to seeing how this works out. :)

[bryzol]

Realy fantastic visualisation of your concept! With your abilitys in scoulpting, you are going to be one of candidates to win this contest! I can't wait to see some uptade to this thread!

[dustbin1_uk]

WOW!!!!!!!!!

I really am blown away by some of the talent here!!!

Amazing concept!!

[MonteCristo]

Hey all,

Finally got an internet connection at the new flat, so hopefully I can start being a bit more proactive in this contest! :lol:

Thanks for all the fantastic comments everyone. I find that kind of support really motivates me. You Rock. :cool:

So as promised here's the first update. Still early days yet, but I'm pretty happy with how it's working out so far. So much to do, but it's working out pretty speedily, and I have a new computer!!! So hopefully can get really stuck into this now. Oh yeah, I'm rethinking the layout of the costume as I think the initial desing didn't offer enough opportunity to get the guy's personality across. Hopefully, this should be more like it. :)

Silence_rs07_1a.jpg

Silence_rs07_1c.jpg

Silence_rs07_1d.jpg

Thanks again all!

[joe55]

love the mask/noose !!!!!! great idea

[SolidSnakexxx]

Wow, really cool progress. I also one who likes the hat and the mask./. He looks like a really twisted version of zorro..... Great expression on his face as well :tu:

[dustbin1_uk]

YEAH! I was wondering when the update would come!!

GREAT START!!! :D

[maxinkuk]

A great mug! And great details all round, I love those hair. Fabulous work so far.

[robbiestyle]

loving the hair! the back especially. may have to hit you up for some tips when I get to mine :) nice work as usual!

r

[skullbeast]

Fantastic back story and he's looking sweet! The hair is great, and I love the noose.

It may just be me, but If you nudge the exposure in photoshop a little, the renderings will appear a little brighter and more colorful.

Great work all in all! I look forward to more updates. :tu: :tu: :tu:

[aiman]

welcome to the competition.

[Flack]

Looking really good monte, keep up the good work.

[MonteCristo]

Hey all, thanks again for the kind comments. :tu:

Skullbeast - Yeah, I just checked this on my wife's laptop and it does look a bit desaturated. I'm still faffing about with my computer. Looks like I need to calibrate those monitors. :)

[Teyon]

Monte! Had no idea you were in on this. :) This is coming along swimmingly.

[jtruthnick]

This is awesome. Love the sketch and what ya got so far. looking forward to more!

[threetails]

like were this is going. period hero, reminds me of the opening of Brotherhood of the wolf. cool. its the hat.

[3dzeiro]

nice paint and model!!! :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu:

[Mysfyt]

Your character certainly has a lot of character! Great expression, and I think hair is excellent.

[Agostinuke]

This is my first comment in this contest, you're pulling me out of my peaceful silence! Great entry so far, I'd like to see more though, please. :tu:

[MonteCristo]

(Double Post. Clearing out this one.)
(http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27123670%27,%27Silence.jpg%27,1, 0%29)

[MonteCristo]

Just noticed I need to post an update, in order to keep this thread live. Problem is I'm in the States visiting in-laws, so I don't have any good kit to work with. Was hoping to blitz this when I get back as there will still be 2 weeks left, which should be enough time. Will see...

Anyway, this update is merely a proportions update. Just getting most of the subtools in place, giving them their appropriate scales before working on each on ein isolation. Not that exciting, but hopefully you can see where it's going.

Damn I hate not having my computer to work with. You can probably tell I had to change the format of the image to jpeg in MSPaint. Honestly, how have they not managed to improve their compression in this...?

BTW, I came up with a mental way of creating the hand basemeshes, which I'm looking forward to showing you when I get back. So funny, so simple, totally worked, and much easier than ZSpheres. More when I get back.

Silence.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27123671%27,%27Silence.jpg%27,1, 0%29)

[SOLcreator]

Love what you've got so far. Good job with the presentation, very professional look (pleases my designer sensibilities ;) )

I look forward to more,
***9788; SOL

[wethand]

this looks awesome! and i love the colors! keep coming

[Captain Sensible]

Looking really good! Great character. Looking forward to your hand basemesh technique :tu:

[aurick]

Please note that the rules require that your entry be updated at least once per week. If no updates have been made on this entry within the next 48 hours I'm going to have to disqualify it.

[MonteCristo]

Fair enough Aurick. I'm going to give tomorrow night a last try at hitting this thing, if not then I'll drop a note to quit the competition. SO hard to get "Me" time these days. :rolleyes:

[dustbin1_uk]

SO hard to get "Me" time these days Seconded! :cry:

[MonteCristo]

Ok, here's the first attack on the pose. You 'll need to imagine it's well sculpted at the moment. Go on.. try to imagine that....

There ya go. :)

Now picture a large rifle...

Good. :lol:


Pose1.jpg

[Disco Stu]

gosh damm!!! thats one heck of a rifle u got there :eek:
the folds on his cape are looking very nice :cool: :tu:
i guess the pose is the "leaping away form hughe bear" one? :D

[MonteCristo]

Now that's the kind of imagination I was hoping for.... ;)

[bryzol]

The head looks very good! I hope you will finish him...

[MonteCristo]

Thanks Bryzol. Loving your entry at the moment.

Here's an update with the rifle, so you don't have to imagine it anymore. Thought it'd be fun to make a rifle out of a 10 pounder cannon. :lol:

Still need to add a bit of detail, but it's heading in the right direction.


Cannon.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('126622','Cannon.jpg',1,0))

[bryzol]

Unique design. Very nice :tu:

[SolidSnakexxx]

Design of the rifle's top notch..and unique.... :tu: The paint work on the character's nicely done as well :cool:

[VitorFerreira]

Hey Monte, nice to see a familiar face around :D

This is really screaming your name, from the concept, presentations to modeling style. Love it! Hope you can finish this one time.

[MonteCristo]

Bryzol -- Big fan of your piece. Really excited to see the final. Such a clean sculpt.

SollidSnake -- Thank you very much Snake. Looking forward to seeing your final too.

Vitor -- 'Ello mate. Yup it sure is a small world when you're into CG huh? Thanks for popping by. :lol:

Anyway, here's the day's labours. Basically working my way down the body now adding details -- starting with the head. Added a more action type expression. And decided to return the mask from earlier endeavours as it helps to tie him in with the superhero theme.

Toodles!


Pose2.jpg

[- FoOD -]

Original character and details are looking good.........and I want to thank you for your matcaps they have been great:D:tu:

[KrakenCMT]

Really great entry! Nice action portrayed! The one thing that stands out for me right now is the corners of his mouth. They seem a bit too rounded or something.

[adroit.jr]

Love the character.

[SolidSnakexxx]

Nice update...I just love the idea of rope around his neck since the conceptual of this entry...Very unique idea.. :tu:

[MonteCristo]

FoOD -- THanks very much. I'm so glad you've found the matcaps useful. As soon as this comp's done I'll get around to updating those with some new ones. :rolleyes:

Kraken -- THanks for the comment. Noted, will take a look at that before I wrap it up...

Adroit.jr -- Good! :D

Snake -- You've been a star throughout this comp. How you find the time is beyond me.
Here's a medal from me. I just done invented it ---> [:b1::b3::idea::b3::b1:]
hehe.


Well, my baby is still awake, so consequently so am I. Figured I may as well post an update... Starting to think I may actually finish this in time. :)

Pose4.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27127190%27,%27Pose4.jpg%27,1,0% 29)

[SolidSnakexxx]

MonteCristo, I really like your texturing style....it's not super realistic per say but very beautiful.....don't know whether it's because of the tint you chose....but ....well chosen! :) And I just love reading posts.....I earn a lot form just observing....great works such as yours. :tu:

[petekasim]

What the....?!?


Another top class entry that I totally missed, I wonder how many more of these there are?

I love the stylized approach and the texturing is just beautiful, well done :tu: I personally like the rounded mouth, gives him a comical apprearance that I think works well with the expression and the overall style, even if it is perhaps strange. Go with your gut :)

Best of luck these last couple of days!

[monstermaker]

Yeah where do these keep coming from? Nice Job!

[markrulz]

Very very nice. I also missed this one, and I thought I had spotted all the top ones. Glad I'm not a judge.

Is that his belly hanging over his sash? :P

[Harmonic]

Wow that is looking incredible, great character!

[MonteCristo]

SolidSnakexxx -- Actually, if I was to liken my texturing style to anything I would compare it to lead miniature painting (LMP). That's where I cut my teeth ( I don't understand that expression) back when I was 13. ZBrush let's you paint in the exact same way. So my advice to other artists would be to gen up on how that's done. There are good resources on LMP particularly through mags like White Dwarf. I used to colour a lot of 2d back in the day too, so that was helpfl, but then it was all the same theory as LMP. This was the last thing I painted back in DW3:

http://forums.3dtotal.com/showpost.php?p=611900&postcount=69

Never finished it. Judging from your Mantis Man, you approach things in a pretty similar way to me. :)

Anyhoo. Thanks for dropping by again.


petekasim -- :rolleyes: Yup, I guess that's what happens when you have a comp this big and no ratings or thumbnails. Can totally understand the ratings. But would sure be nice to have thumbs that are updateable next year. Just to be able to put a face to each of all the names. And there were so may threads this year! Not surprising that so many got overlooked until now. It's been hard keeping up with them all.

Anyway, I think my gut falls halfway between what Kraken was saying and leaving it. I'll do a tweak I think. I do appreciate the advice though.

monstermaker -- Cheers mayne.

markrulz -- Yup that's the dude's belly. Or it will be when I sculpt it. This guy drinks too much ale not to be a bit paunchy. Anyway, he needs a bit of weight to put behind those punches.

Harmonic -- Thank you! :lol:

[MonteCristo]

Last update before the finale.


Pose5.jpg

[wethand]

wow!
the texturing looks awesome!
really like it!
and the pose is cool, too.

[SolidSnakexxx]

Nice update there MonteCristo...I like the stand idea as well, while it's quite minimal it serves the model real well. :tu:

[Harmonic]

Really great, love the pose, shooting down of his post, really original. :tu: :tu: :tu:

[MonteCristo]

42 Million Points later...

EVERY ELEMENT OF THE MODEL YOU SEE BELOW WAS CREATED ENTIRELY IN ZBRUSH. WHEW! Can I sleep now?

Good Luck to all!



Final1_sm.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27128342%27,%27Final1_sm.jpg%27, 1,0%29)

Final2_sm.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27128354%27,%27Final2_sm.jpg%27, 1,0%29)
Final3_sm.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27128357%27,%27Final3_sm.jpg%27, 1,0%29)
Final4_sm.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27128361%27,%27Final4_sm.jpg%27, 1,0%29)
Final5_sm.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27128364%27,%27Final5_sm.jpg%27, 1,0%29)
Final6_sm.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27128367%27,%27Final6_sm.jpg%27, 1,0%29)
Final7_sm.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27128368%27,%27Final7_sm.jpg%27, 1,0%29)


Transpose Movie:

2Dzk7LYE-fQ

Turntable Movie:

kHCOIxEO5hA

[Harmonic]

Truly fantastic work MonteCristo. I personally thought this was one of the most well done and original entries in the contest. The final images look incredible!

:tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu:

[jtruthnick]

I too am a little surprised this didn't make it into the finals. Great original character Monte! final renders are a little dark though, lot of detail lost. maybe that's a contributing factor? great stuff though!

[MonteCristo]

Thanks guys. Yes, it's a bit of a sore point. I checked these on 1 computer and 2 laptops at home, and all looked fine. Then I got into work and saw how dark they were :/. Then my videos got compression trashed on YouTube. Truly awful.

Unfortunately I don't have enough "me-time" to do these competitions. Much as I'd love to, I just can't. :cry: So be it.

Cheers all.

[bryzol]

And I like this render so dark. I also think that no detail is lost becouse of that.
The only thing that might be a reason that you didn't get to the final is to low activity in posting WIPs.
(the best way to get quite good quality on youtube is to upload files with 320/240px so they don't resize it - but what do I know, my movie sucks too ;) )

[Hamilcar]

Hey MonteCristo: Don't worry about not making it to the finals. This is great work! There are quite a few of us who put a lot of work into this and were hoping to make the top ten. I think your weak point on this is the gun, But really it's great work so :tu::tu:

[petekasim]

Just saw your DWIII entry at 3dtotal (well, it's done by a MonteCristo and looks like your style at any rate)

Your texture work is amazing, really inspiring stuff. The Silence was a definate top ten contender in my books, but the competition was incredibly stiff wasn't it? I personally nearly dropped with exhaustion.

Well, onto DWIV, see you there?