Weekly Sketch Group (Topic#2-Ocean Dwelling Monster)

[Dribble]

The topic of this week's zSketch challenge is...
"Ocean Dwelling Monster"
I'm thinking a little less like a snork and more like a sea-beast but this is completely up for interpretation.

The Deadline For This Topic Is:
Wednesday, March 25th
Post any work you are doing on the topic and please feel welcome to give constructive criticism to anyone who asks for it.

Please feel free to suggest topics, I'll check all of these posts and keep a list from now on.

[spaceboy412]

um, still working on a side project, but heres my quick 10min, all zbrush, lol.
i just thought what is in the sea thats scary, so i thought teeth, tentacles eyes oh and blood always need the blood :lol:

my fav is the lower right but figured i would share the few.
sea4.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27133495%27,%27sea4.jpg%27,1,0%2 9)

[MR.Q01]

WOW............................................... ...................:o:lol: GOOD job

[troy1617]

hey space simple and effective i like the upper left and the lower right.
it will be interesting to see what comes out of this since its such a simple sketch. ;)

i hope i get some time for this..

[Dribble]

Scanning some sketches tonight or tomorrow.

I really want to get better at sculpting...

[SFGfx]

Alright, completely missed the first one (way too much stuff going on). But I am in on this one.

[Dribble]

Some quick sketches...I had dinosaurs in mind...



UPDATE: Added the basic model I made from the sketches too...

[Dribble]

Another update...

Went a little overboard with the skin texture...

[spaceboy412]

dribble, its a nice start, i think you leapt a little too far, much of the forms need refinement before you start detailing, once you divide your model so much it becomes harder for your basic blocking of shapes to look good without blobbing(not that you have that going on yet)
the fins could be a little thinner and enter the body with a small node/joint.
where are the eyes?
i like it though don't get me wrong. interesting that you chose a swampy type of ocean. some debris in your final image will help.
lastly what is going on in the neck? is that a zsphere skinning issue?

[Dribble]

Thanks! Any advice is more than appreciated, I'm mainly doing this to get my skill level up.
I was actually thinking the same thing in regards to jumping to far ahead. I ended up making the bottom jaw by using the "snake hook" tool which I don't think was the right thing to do. The polygons came out looking really stretched out.
I did the same thing with the teeth and ended up getting the same result.

I'm gonna take your advice and take another crack at it...

Still have five days or so left.

[Dribble]

Oh yeah! It was a zsphere issue with the neck. I don't completely understand them yet.
I'm still pretty unfamiliar with zbrush...

I can't quite figure out how to make eyes either. Any advice?? Tutorial links?

[3Point14]

some tiny glass fishies......:cool:

primitive-fish.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27133897%27,%27primitive-fish.jpg%27,1,0%29)

[spaceboy412]

dribble, just make a polysphere and append it, then scale/move with transpose.

pride, very cool, is this a zbrush render?

[troy1617]

hey Dribble not bad the basic concept is there. its looking good. i think the most important advice i can offer would be always try to get your basic shapes and silhouette blocked out at the lowest subdivision you can it will make for a stronger foundation when you go to add details later. i look forward to your future progress. ;)

hey pride really like the abstract feel to your render :)

hey space looking forward to what you come up with from that sketch... ;)

basic block out....
wsg odm fish basic v1.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27133909%27,%27wsg%20odm%20fish% 20basic%20v1.jpg%27,1,0%29)

[spaceboy412]

wow real nice one troy, is that unified skinning? most people never use it, but for you and me its okay;)
i love the detail and the little bits coming off, i would say go at the fins with flatten or subclay a bit to thin them out, could even do with masking and transpose move.
pose it, create a scene with some fog etc!

i'm going to be really disappointed if prides fish are not a zbrush render...:confused:

um i think my sketch is all i'm going to be able to contribute to this challenge, sometimes that kind of thing is enough for me anyway.
my fav ocean dwelling monster btw is godzilla :tu:

[3Point14]

Sorry....Mental Ray. I can't get Zbrush renderer to do what I want. I just use what I know to do transparent stuff. :)

fish-octo.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:zb_insimg%28%27133924%27,%27fish-octo.jpg%27,1,0%29)

[troy1617]

thanks space.. yeah its unified skinning seems to be the only way i like using zspheres it really works good and then i just assign different polygroups to the mesh and it gets good results... ;)
yeah im thinking about doing a whole bunch of different ones if i can get the time. yeah i noticed the fins also they look really stiff i will see what i can do..

yeah im disapointed i was thinking gell shader if it was with layer transparency..

yeah i think im the same way doesnt seem like i ever finish in time.. yeah godzilla would have of been a good one for this...

hey pride regardless even if its not zbrush still a pretty cool effect... :D

start of fish 2....
fish basic 2.1.jpg (javascript:zb_insimg('133937','fish%20basic%202.1 .jpg',1,0))

[skullbeast]

troy1617 - cool fishies! :tu: :tu:

[spaceboy412]

awesome troy, don't forget to add to our sketchbook thread.;)
EDIT:
i don't normally do this, but i'm so disgusted with my model that i'm removing it.

[Dribble]

Wow, great stuff guys! I wish I could figure out how to get my models to look that good.
I'm still working on mine here and there. Not much time to post anything due to work though.

[troy1617]

thanks skullbeast have really been liking your traditional style in your sketches and the work you did for the contest.... :)


thanks space i hope they are recognizable.. will try to add something soon.. ;)
sorry i missed your piece to bad you took it down would have of liked to see what it was..

hey Dribble i agree its good to see more people contributing to these. really the only advice i can give is practice, practice and try new things that you normally wouldn't and try to work with reference or a clear concept all and all i think it really comes down to is how dedicated you are to learning and applying what you learn.. also don't get discouraged with where you are in relation to other people because you will only keep on improving... ;)

[Dribble]

Thanks Troy! I'm very determined to learn and I'm sure I'll keep improving while I'm hosting these weekly challenges (which I could still use more topics for, btw).
I'm going to try to take all of the criticism to heart and try to make this an actual skill instead of just a hobby.

I actually liked what space had, I thought the idea was pretty interesting.

[Dribble]

Here's the base-mesh for this time around on my sea monster...

It's at subdivision one, and the fins are zspheres that i've added as subtools.

I took Space's advice and added joints onto the fins also and it does look quite a bit better already.

Does this look like a decent starting place? Any other tips from here?

[Dribble]

Worked on this most of the day!
I think It is a massive improvement.

I'm going to spend the rest of my time building debris for the water as suggested!

Thanks guys! The help was excellent!

Seamonster Render 2.jpg
Seamonster Render 4.jpg
Seamonster Render 3.jpg
Seamonster No Fog.jpg

[troy1617]

hey dribble looking better then before your low poly seems to be working better for you then before and you seem to be understanding subtools also which i also good.. now the only advice i can give is try to sculpt as much detail and main forms as you can on each subdivision this will give you a strong foundation and then subdivide your mesh when you cant do much more on that level. this is important in the fact that it helps keep down the blobby form look which happens when stepping up to fast in subdivision. its also good that your dedicated to want to improve that will help you that much more in improving your skill set....;)

[Dribble]

Yeah I'm still having a little trouble knowing when to switch subdivision levels still but I think one of my main issues was not knowing that I could add extra clay after I had already started a sculpt.
Man, that helped out tons...

Gonna pay more attention to when I divide from now on.
Hopefully it shows on the next topic...