Club Safari Characters- - Samson on page 2

[DMerchen]

I have been working on this a bit. Nothing terribly groundbreaking here, just fun basically. This is Nicki, a Koala bear from my comic strip called Club Safari. I submitted this comic strip a while back for syndication but was turned down by several syndicates. Oh well, try, try again. I hope you enjoy this character though and he brings a smile to your face. When things settle down I will have to post some of the originals. Enjoy!!
http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200307/user_image-1058305360fcr.jpg

[PusGhetty]

Reaching for the stars!!
Nicely done imagery... good luck on your future submissions!
Best regards,
Michael

[Frenchy Pilou]

Star seems in butter !
It's for that the koala catch them :D
Pilou

[andreseloy]

Very nice and delicate
Congratulations

[DMerchen]

Thanks for the responses. It's always nice to know something you produce is looked at and enjoyed! Now I forgot to ask my question concerning this picture. When I create a ZSphere model and then skin it, can't I use the unified skin and then adaptive skin that model? I know somewhere it has been discussed about using the two skinning methods to achieve a lower poly count. If anyone has any ideas or know this procedure please let me know. Thanks, and thanks for viewing again! :) :)

[Ron Harris]

I believe you can do that. Lonnie would be a good one to ask directly about that though. (my guru) Cut bear. I hope that you do continue to plug away at getting a character submitted and accepted. I bet you were pretty close with this one. :tu: :tu: :tu:

[WingedOne]

I like the character and the fiber work on him. I also like what you did with the stars as well.

Nice job. :tu: :)

As to your question, you can't create an adaptive skin from a unified skin, but you can create a unified skin from an adaptive skin. Maybe this would help?

[drjjwow]

very cute image... and hes a really cool character.

[DMerchen]

Ron! Where in the heck have you been?! Summertime keeping you busy? Thanks for the responses, and WO thanks for the tip on the skinning. Too bad the adaptive skin looked terrible for this one. I still have to get the set up down. Thanks again!

[DMerchen]

Baxter here is the second character from my comic strip Club Safari. Poor Baxter never could get it quite right. He never could get a tree to fall for him no matter how hard he would work at it. Some called it weird, others like Mick said he was in perfect balance with the world. To this Baxter would ask, "What is balance?" What?! You don't know who Mick is? Well, stay tuned and you shall meet him...

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200307/user_image-1058961818ead.jpg

Oops, forgot the details. All Zbrush except a slight bit of blurring and copyright. Thanks again WingedOne for the tips on the grass. Thanks to Mentat for helping WO with the grass who helped me. :D

[juandel]

these are very well-modelled characters placed into a great world, D! :tu: :tu: :tu: they remind me of walt kellys pogo, which since many years has been a fav of mine... extremely cute! i am in awe of baxters background-tree, too - an overall great project! best of lucks!

- juandel

[andreseloy]

I really love this kind of picture and your comments.Its make me smile spontaneously. Very very nice.
Congratulations.

[kokoro]

very cute characters. i like how they resemble and yet are different personalities.

[DMerchen]

Thanks for the responses and compliments. I am fairly attached to these characters. I just can't seem to let them go, so any project I can use them in I try. Just to keep them alive and kicking. Mick is on his way! Hopefully moving into our house this week won't interfere too much! Ha! Ha! :) Thanks again!

[DMerchen]

Well, here he is finally. Mick the Panda. He is the philosopher of the group and you have just caught him in the act of remembering he is a bear. Mick reminds himself he is a bear, and "Why in the world am I gnawing on this Bamboo?!!" Samson wouldn't care though, he'll eat anything. Who is Samson? Stick around and you will see. Any guesses as to Samson's character? I am looking for some feedback on this one. The black was a little more difficult to work with, so I had to improvise a bit. 121 please.

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200308/user_image-1060233755fwh.jpg

Thanks for taking a look.

[andreseloy]

DMERCHEN, i like a lot¡¡¡¡ This is a refreshing post...i see it and makes me feel happy, and everytime i have near me my little child 3 years old that when he saw it,say mami mami looks¡¡¡
Congratulations¡¡¡¡

[DeeVee]

These are all great images! my fovorite however is the one with the beaver, Congratulations, and thanks for sharing these images.

[filament9]

Hi D. I have to tell you, these images are quite wonderful to view. As it was already said, "refreshing." Just sitting here, I find a lot of joy in looking at them. Very well done.

[WingedOne]

I love all of your Club Safari characters. I hope they find a home in print someday.

Anyway, when working with black, rather than making something black, what I do is make it a dark gray rather than black. It'll still be dark enough that the viewer would perceive it as black, but it interacts with light better than pure black would.

Keep up the good work. :tu:

[The Namek]

Love them all Dmerchen , but I couldnt help but notice that in 2 of the images the tree casts a shadow onto the clouds/sky.
Forgot to use flat material ? :p

[DMerchen]

Thanks for all of the kind feedback.
Namek: I saw that too, but I kind of like it. It was like they were on a stage set instead of outside. Kind of like a production of Club Safari characters. Please enlighten me on the flat material though. You use the flat material on the background and it doesn't take shadows? Please help me out. Thanks again.

PS. Notice you can see it in the star picture too. That is what started me on the stage thing. Just thought it looked a little different but good. Thanks.

[juandel]

melikes that stage-effect, too, Dave! is right: the flat mat doesnt react to any light/shadow (or change of them, once a layer is baked and its rgb+shading changed into flatmat).

my thoughts about mick:

have you tried

:b3: to brighten the grass to get more grass/bw of panda contrast

:b3: to apply black-eyes (maybe just invert textures ;)) to get more of that panda-mask look (http://images.google.com/images?q=panda&ie=ISO-8859-1&hl=de)

:b3: to create a more typical background vegetation (bamboo-grove instead of tree) for the given location (prob. Mick has eaten all of it, though :D)

yet? probably yes :)

mereallyloves this thread, thank you so much for sharing! btw, i think that Samson might be a lion :)

- juandel

[kokoro]

the panda is really cute. i prefer slightly your first version with the longer black hair. - to simulate black you could choose a very dark grey with just a very slight hint of blue. this gives a little more "brightness" to your "black". though, one has to be very carefully with that, for that the printer later does not print a blue bear...

[elery1]

Cool images. I noticed that on the pics with trees, when shadows are turned on, the trees seem to be casting shadows onto the sky. If you paint your sky with flat color this won't happen and you sceen will have more depth.

Keep submitting your comic! Be persistant!

Shaun

[Mahlikus The Black]

This is all awesome stuff Dave. Modeling, lighting, fiberbrush, its good seeing you advancing so well. Keep it coming buddy! :tu:

PS- I was told to tell you that My wife wants a fuzzy cuddly critter to squeeze the hell out of...lol. ;)

[TVeyes]

They are all great, definetely continue with this series, they look sweet. :tu: I prefer the first one for some reason.

[DMerchen]

Well, finally after a long wait...he is here. Meet Samson! Juandel, you were correct! Samson here is the outgoing one of the group which can lead to trouble most of the time. As you can see he does try to be helpful where he can such as taking a bite out of this sign to "correct" it. Yep, Samson here is quite the opposite of his good friend Percy. Percy? Well, you will get to meet him next. :D
http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200308/user_image-1061991326nmj.jpg

Thanks for taking the time to check these characters out. Sorry they have taken a while to produce. They have been put on slight hold due to house repairs. :D Thanks again for the feedback, and I hope you enjoy!

[Astral]

WoW!
great Idea and Great rendering!

[DMerchen]

Thanks for the compliment Astral. These have been a joy to produce and I am considering what Ron said concerning these characters and Nickelodeon. You never know until you try, so I might just try and put together a nice presentation with these characters. Thanks again for the compliments all of you.

[juandel]

ha! there he is! fabulose, Dave! cant wait for Percy (but have no idea what he will be :D )

- juandel

[Grub]

Excellent character work, Dave- not to mention cute. :) I wonder if Percy is a pig or maybe a penguin... :D

[DMerchen]

Thanks Grub for the compliment. Hopefully Percy will arrive shortly, but the work load on this house might not permit it to happen. Crossing my fingers! :D

[Stonecutter]

:tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: !!!
I have NO idea how I missed these! They are all perfect in style, and wonderful in execution, Dave! These DESERVE to be the matrix for a fantastic childrens' book...(That 'adults' like me would also love! :D :cool: )

[Ron Harris]

Loven' em' Dave. I have found it very difficult to do smily happy characters like you have created. Did you just doodle around in zbrush till they just happen or did you start out with a sketch or did you have something specific in your mind's eye when you set about creating? Very kewl work...I hope you don't give up on these coz they are very appealing. :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu:

[DMerchen]

Thanks for the compliment Stonecutter. It is very much appreciated. :D

Ron, I have drawn and drawn these characters until I actually feel they are a part of me. I think they represent all of the different aspects of me actually. As you look at them, there is the free spirited Koala, the philosophying (spelling?) Panda, the over zealous lion, the confused beaver. These are all a little bit of me. I have four more characters to go, but I hope you see the traits from them too. So, I know these characters very well, and I would like to see them move on from just this. I don't want them to end, and I am having a difficult time letting them go simply because I think they could actually be enjoyable to children and adults. I just need to figure out how to use them. Thanks to you I am considering putting together some stuff to present to Nickelodeon. It might be worth a shot. Thanks again to everyone for checking these characters out.

[everphoenix]

Thanks for the compliment Stonecutter. It is very much appreciated. :D

Ron, I have drawn and drawn these characters until I actually feel they are a part of me. I think they represent all of the different aspects of me actually. As you look at them, there is the free spirited Koala, the philosophying (spelling?) Panda, the over zealous lion, the confused beaver. These are all a little bit of me. I have four more characters to go, but I hope you see the traits from them too. So, I know these characters very well, and I would like to see them move on from just this. I don't want them to end, and I am having a difficult time letting them go simply because I think they could actually be enjoyable to children and adults. I just need to figure out how to use them. Thanks to you I am considering putting together some stuff to present to Nickelodeon. It might be worth a shot. Thanks again to everyone for checking these characters out.

the characters seem pretty cool, surprising that noone was interested in them. worth a shot trying nickelodeon, got nothing to lose and more to gain. good luck, it could make a cool 3d animation childrens show. :)