Action Hero - Breath of Dawn

[slickytom]

Artist Name : Tom Stanton

Hero Name : Breath of Dawn


Background:
When a priest sinned by having an affair with a witch, the child Breath of Dawn was born. Fearing that word of his secret affair would be exposed he tried to get rid of the child by dropping it off from the highest mountain cliff into the ocean. The priest ashamed for what he had done, went into hiding, abandoning everything. The witch quickly found the child had somehow survived the fall but his eye sight and hearing were impaired from the ocean water. As time went on the witch tried to unlock her child's senses by casting a spell with a crow's feather. His vision improved, he could see details and distances far greater than any human, however during daylight he was blind. His hearing improved so great that he could actually hear others thoughts, however large wings of a crow formed out of his back. He quickly realized this were gifts and uses them to try and find his father. Swearing that he will never abandon anyone who needs help, he spends his time from dusk till dawn fighting thieves and villains who bring corruption to his village.

powers:
ability to fly
ability to hear the thoughts inside someone's mind
quick reflexes and agility

weakness:
blind during the day.
mortal (can be killed)

BreathOfDawn_sketch_v04.jpg

[wethand]

hi.
this could be so cool in 3d!
but i don't know if thats really a superhero... maybe you should ask an admin.

[sazar26]

cool idea. I think your character seems like a hero

[SolidSnakexxx]

The wings themselves would be fun to sculpt.. Loo forward to this good heart...feathered hero :)

[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.

[slickytom]

k, a small update. I think WetHand was right ... my character didnt seem to be much of a superHero (more like a bible story haha) so changed the background story in my original post, I will post new images soon. With this direction its easier to flesh out the character design.

[slickytom]

pencil drawing of concept
BreathOfDawn_sketch_v5.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('123340','BreathOfDawn_sketc h_v5.jpg',1,0))

[SolidSnakexxx]

Nice concept sketch...He's indeed one cool looking angel. :)

[slickytom]

Thanks SolidSnakexxx! I've got a long way to go. Here's another update.
breathofDawn_v02.jpg

[SolidSnakexxx]

That's pretty awesome base you have so far... Look forward to the wings and stuff ;)

[Twitchmonkey]

I like the sculpt, but I'm not sure I like it for this character. Standing at nearly 9 heads tall and having a very bulky physique doesn't really say dexterous or capable of flight to me. The muscle layout is great and I think you're looking good if you want to take this character in a powerhouse direction, but it just doesn't seem to jive with your story or concepts. Luckily those changes are fairly easy to make if you should decide to. Anyway, nice model and happy sculpting.

[slickytom]

Here's just some rough sketches using the deco brush with standard textures that come with zbrush. I need to brush up on my wing anatomy, but it was fun to quickly paint these in 2.5d.

Thanks for the tip Twitchmonkey. I'll tone back the muscles a bit. Your right... it was getting too powerhouse like. Had a little too much fun with sculpting on the mass.

wings4.jpg

[Twitchmonkey]

Liking the wings, here are some of my favorites:

1.jpg

[gregoconn]

Another winged hero. Fantastic. I love watching people build wings in Zbrush, it's quite hard and something I've not taken on yet! Best of luck!

[slickytom]

small update...still working on proportions and muscle size.
breathofDawn_v03.jpg

[slickytom]

small update
breathofDawn_v04.jpg

[Audiodoc]

Looking great, reminds me of Thor, but way cooler :tu:

[kogen]

Yeah great anatomy so far. Reminds me a bit on one of my former classmates but a bit more muscular.
The sculpting is cool, but the colors need a change ;)

Cheers "ko'gen".

[luis2008]

nice. i like the front view of his hair. keep it up

[slickytom]

Thanks for your comments guys. I'm starting to to block in the main ideas, wings, armor...etc
Also, the bg story needs a revisit ... so i'll be working on that too.

breathofDawn_v05.jpg

[maxinkuk]

Oooooh! He's like a god really. That's an impressive pair of wings. Nice, really nice.:tu::tu:

[SolidSnakexxx]

I like the size of the wing span...very massive and impressive. Keep up the good stuff :)

[slickytom]

maxinkuk - hehe, thanks alot for your approval.
SolidSnakexxx - Thanks Solid. I really appreciate your support.

Here's another update... I'm trying to get the musclulature of this guy finished and ready for retopologizing. So all you anatomy experts feel free to give me some pointers... if anything looks off feel free to critique it.

breathofDawn_v06.jpg

[snoopalu]

whoa.... hes gonna have trouble getting through doors. ^^

[slickytom]

Snoopalu- hahaha. That would be funny to see. Maybe he'll have to have retractable wings (if thats even possible)

Here's a quick breakdown of how I'm choosing to retopologize this model.
I really like using zsphere's to create a basic mesh for sculpting and to also use as a foundation for the retopology process. (I hope someone finds this useful.)
1. zsphere's (intersection res = 100, Membrane curve = 0, Minimal child = off, minimal parent = on)
2. The generated zsphere mesh.
3. Hide parts of the model to extrude new edge loops (ctrl + e).
4. The result of the new extruded polys.
5. Smooth out the model and use the nudge tool and move tool to redistribute the flow of polys while trying to maintain the overall shape.
6. Hiding polys around chest area for another extrude edge loop (ctrl + e)
7. The result of the new extruded polys.
8. Extruded edge loops for the fingers.

From here I would then either sculpt on it or use it as a base topology for a model thats ready for retopolgizing. In the beginning step, it may be a good idea to experiment with the sphere placement. I found that by moving the zsphere back just a little bit could give different edge flows when previewing the generated mesh. Also, I should note that zspheres that act as magnets can also give you control over the way the flow of polys are generated. (i like to use one or two magnets in the shoulder area).

I'll try and post more images tomorrow.

breathofDawn_v07.jpg

[SolidSnakexxx]

Cool work flow and quite efficient way to get the base you want. Thank you for sharing us your process.:)

[Harmonic]

Hey, very cool zsphere work flow! So many different ways to go about it.

This guy is really starting to come together. I like the wings you have blocked in. I look forward to see how you progress with them. :tu:

[slickytom]

Here's one a approach I made for modeling a feather.
Control + 1 lets you repeat your last action (stroke)... so i used that to get the distance the same between edge loops (control + e).

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[slickytom]

Hey guys, I think this is the easiest way to model wings... use the insert mesh brush. I modeled some feathers and just brushed them onto the surface of the wing arm.
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[SolidSnakexxx]

Wow, that vid's really awesome for creating the wings,...thank you for sharing with us. :tu:

[slickytom]

wow. Thanks SolidSnakexxx! Here's another update... man i've got alot to do still. where did the time go?!
BofD_back_v01.jpg
BofD_front_v01.jpg

[slickytom]

sculpting update, slowly getting there:
BofD_torso_v01.jpg
BofD_legs_v01.jpg

[Twitchmonkey]

The musculature is great, but a few things bother me. The vastus mediali look almost doubled and too pronounced, overpowering the knees. The infraspinatus and teres major also seem like they should move away laterally from the midline, not superiorly as they appear to be now. I also see this in some other details of the back. I believe that the muscles of the back typically flow in a similar fashion. Also, the lateral aspect of the tibia seems excessively prominent in comparison to the medial. I apologize if my anatomical terms are incorrect or excessive, they just seem like the best way to explain my input. I may also be wrong in terms of anatomical knowledge, as I am no expert, these things simply appear to be incorrect from my understanding. Other than those things, it is looking great.

[Sankar]

i like the wings a lot,maybe his back shoud be bigger,but is just the way i see it:)

[a i r]

The wings(allthough not finished) and the head are flawless!
I like the method you used for creating wings and feather.
And i agre with Twitchmonkey that there is something off with some of the muscles...
Anyway, looking forward on the final!!!
Regards!

[slickytom]

Twitchmonkey- Thanks so much for the great info. I havent heard the words in a while, need to brush up on the areas (no pun intended). I looked at some reference... I tried to fix those areas, feel free to correct it. Thanks again.

Sankar- I think your right. THe back should be a little bigger to hold those kinda wings. I'm starting to think the overall muscles are too big. So if i tone the rest of the body down a bit and maybe get the back a little more bigger it will help. not sure if i'll have time tho.


a i r- Hey thanks air! I'm glad you like the video. I just found something out cool while doing the wings... you can have a plane as a subtool then click and drag feathers out in a straight fashion...even if your not on the subtool of the plane! It's like its regarded as pixols maybe. Thanks again.

Here's an update attempting to fix the areas ya mentioned, (opps running late to work... )




BofD_legs_v02.jpg

[Twitchmonkey]

Good progress. The main problem I see is that the muscles don't seem to be properly layered. If I recall correctly, the teres major and infraspinatus are deeper muscles, covered by the trapezius and lats. They are still visible, as you have shown, but yours appear to bulge over more superficial muscles. I see the same sort of thing happening in the legs. The biceps femori sort of disappear under the vastus laterali and vastus mediali, whereas I believe they should be partially covered, giving the biceps femori greater prominence. You've certainly addressed the issues I had previously though, which I think have helped the sculpt. Nice work.

[slickytom]

worked on eyes... used poly paint with radial symmetry. I may use a regular shader like the glass to get the specular better.
Also started to pose the model. I'm thinking I'll pose it and then model the the clothes on last. Hope to get that update out by wed.
BofD_eyes_v01.jpg

[Twitchmonkey]

In terms of basic coloration, the eye is looking great, but the material is a bit flat. Prosthetix seems to have achieved a great eyeball effect in Zbrush in his cyclops thread, if he decides to post his material(s), you may want to go with those. Powerful eyes are definitely something you're going to want if you can manage it.

[wethand]

wow... :tu: :tu: :tu:

i love angels, and this one is looking awesome so far!

[slickytom]

Twitchmonkey - Thanks for the tip Twitchmonkey. You are right, the eyes are gonna need more work ands thanks for the info on Prosthetix's eyes. Those are awesome. That helps alot.

wethand - Thanks dude! I really appreciate it.

Im finally getting around to posing this guy. Good thing its so easy in to do this in zbrush. Here are some ideas for the pose (created this pose guy from just zspheres) , tell me which ones ya like...

dawn_poses_v03.jpg

[Twitchmonkey]

I like the third pose, sort of a Led Zeppelin version Icarus feel. More noble and less defeated though.

[JUPITER]

I like the 7th. from left 2 right,The wing's are great ae well as your char!! ;)

[slickytom]

Thanks TwitchMonkey and Jupiter! I like those poses too. If I have time I will do that pose too. I think Im gonna go with this one for now ..
dawn_final_pose_v01.jpg

And the transpose vid... im adding clothes he's posed.

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[slickytom]

A close up... (need to really fix up these hands, and would to get detail on the feathers)


dawn_final_pose_v03.jpg

[SolidSnakexxx]

Nice update...like the pose....man...he's got really massive wing set! ;)

[- FoOD -]

Coming together very nicely :D:tu:

[slickytom]

getting there... another update. Hopefully i can get some time tomorrow to finish it.
BofD_close_to_final.jpg

[SolidSnakexxx]

Nice pose for the character.... :cool: just a tad bit on the wings...seems like some feather have odd orientation...

[slickytom]

Here is my final entry... I was Last to sign up for this contest, and I'm probably last to finish by the deadline. Thanks so much to everyone involved in the contest! And I'd like to thank my girlfriend Renae for being so supportive (and letting me skip out on a few house hold chores, love you!)

Here's my rendered image (sky created using the deco brush with its default texture loaded)
dawn_final_pose_v02.jpg

TurnTable 1
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TurnTable2
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Transpose
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