Young African (WIP)

[Nalrac]

Hey everyone. I'm reposting this WIP in it's own thread because the MNC Portraits challenge is officially over. Although, it continues to be near the top of the active posts. Hmmmm, strange. :) I guess people like that chllenge enough to break the rules.

This fellow is a member of an African tribe. He will eventually be in a full scene with African landscape and animals. I hope to have Z2 by that time however. 1.55 is still sufficient though, don't get me wrong. I mean, if you can't use 1.55 your sure can't use Z2. So, I might as well work with what I have untill then. 121 is definately welcome. The skin on the second picture uses the ColorizerTriShader and textures are AUV.

>>

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200406/user_image-1088018461ehi.jpg

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200406/user_image-1088018534erq.jpg

[Sleeperservice]

That is a seriously good head! Love the modelling, the texture & material are really outstanding. My only observations are that the ears look as though they need a little more work and that you should do proper eyes.

But still really good.

Sleeper

[Rafael Hernandez]

Good going so far Nalrac. The only suggestion that I would give you at this stage is to work a bit on the definition of the ears. Other than that you are doing great.

[BazC]

Nice job, love the texturing!

[Aztec...soljA]

Hi, Nice tesxture test! and nice modeling too!
Keep that unique way of making Zart alright.Later man

[willog]

Just wondered ifr you have a reference image as it looksw as though the head is a little too lacking in depth what I mean is a bit short in front to back.
I may be wrong but that is what it looks to me, the modeling is really great and so is thew texturing but I do have a problem with the dimensions of the head.
Anyways hope you don't mind the crit but I do also wish I could model as well as this :)

[Nalrac]

Hey everyone. Thanks for the awesome replies!! :tu:

Sleeper & Rafael: Thanks for the feedback on the ears. I will defnately work on those some more. And eyes are next. ;)

Baz & Astec: Thanks for the kind comments!! You help inspire me. :cool:

willog: I think you may be refering to his small neck. That causes the head to appear more narrow. I wanted him to have a very thin neck. His cranium, by my measurements, is really close to realistic. I would be happy to supply you with a reference pic but, unfortunately, I very rarely use one. This was from memory so I don't by any means expect perfection. Just near perfection. ;) Thank you for being so observant though. And BTW, I'm not that great of a modeller, but thanks for the encouragement none the less.

Updates coming soon.

Adam

[Nalrac]

See. I said updates coming soon. And I meant it.

Here it is. As discussed above the ears have been detailed and the eyes have been added. Next, eyebrows and lashes. Not sure how I want to approach those.

Here ya go.

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200406/user_image-1088141289rmq.jpg

[Rafael Hernandez]

Those ears are much improved. Keep those updates coming.

[Nalrac]

OK....Progress.

I've been tweaking the skin a little at a time. I think it's about where it needs to be. I took some mental pictures of a friend of mine tonight and it really helped :)

The cloak/wrap that he has around his neck is a modified cylinder. I used a custom texture of my own design.

Please disregard the eyebrows. I'm going to tackle those later. Probably last ;)

121 Welcome.

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200407/user_image-1089003687qkl.jpg

[aminuts]

he's looking really good Nalrac! I think the shape of the eyebrows is good....but you know where ya wanna go so take your time.

I can't wait to see how you light him and set him in your vision.....I believe you are heading for the top shelf with this one.

only thing i'd suggest is the upper lip needs something...some lines...cracks.....its too smooth and plastic looking while the lower lip is fantastic.

the material you chose for the cloth is awesome. Keep up the good work!

[Dickie]

Nalrac, this piece is getting better and better. From the first post in the portrait competition, I knew this was gonna be special...: )

I'm whipping up a special skin shader for you. It's made especially for black skin. I was always fascinated in reproducing black skin tones in a character as black skin has more range than other races of skin.

I set up the shader so that it will reveal your wonderful paint job and add an extra depth to your skintones. Give her a shot. If ya don't like it, you can always go back to what you have...: )

I'm also giving you a lighting rig that works well with it. The main light is white qith a tiny bit of blue in it and the fill is a warm tone.

Make sure shadows are enabled in your render
setting and away you go.

Let me know if ya like it...Just make sure you back up your original first...; )


Dickie

AfricanSkinShader.ZIP (http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200407/user_file-1089007888jhr.zip)

[Nalrac]

Aminuts - Thanks for your kind comments. I see what you mean on the upper lip. Thanks for pointing that out.

Dickie - Dude, you're awesome. I appreciate your contribution so much. The only problem is that I'm using 1.55 :( Mac guy here. You can still help me though by giving me some feedback into what areas I may need to improve. If you have a rendering of the shader that you made for me you can post it and I will try and duplicate it. Thanks again.

Adam

[Dickie]

Nalrac, it's a pleasure... :) My shader is
a quad shader. I might be able to convert it into a trishader if 1.55 reads those. What about lights? Are 1.55's light settings compatable? If they are, i just remade the light rig with classic 3 point lighting.
I'm enclosing a render of my shader for you. It uses cavity shading to add purple to the indentations of the model. I find this helps offset the warm colors inherent in the shaders
and adds realisim to the black skin tones.
This shader gets a lot of it's color from your already existing painting/texture.

Dickie

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200407/user_image-1089074781zpw.jpg

[Nalrac]

Hello everyone.

First, I would like to point out what a gentleman Dickie is for his hard work in contributing to my insanity (and my art, too ;) ).

Dickie - Thanks for that render. I think he's a little more sweaty than what I was going for but it helped me a lot. I was able to pin point problem areas in my TriShader. To answer your questions, as far as I know Z2 add 1.55 are pretty incompatible as far as Materials go. I couldn't open the lights either, so oh well.

Anyway, here is my next update. I know it's a small step in looks but the shader I used in the last image didn't allow much of the underlying color to bleed through. So I reworked the whole mess. I also made a lighting adjustment.

And per aminuts request I did add a little bumpyness to the upper lip. It isn't in a poisition to show them very well so I may just deal with the way it is now.

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200407/user_image-1089177421tlz.jpg

[Eidan]

Please Dickie post your shader! TNX :D

[aminuts]

Nalrac....the lip is perfect hehehe ..it only needed a little something and I believe ya found it. He looks great! You can almost reach out and touch him! :D

[Nalrac]

Okay! Thank you for all of the kind comments everyone. And thanks for sticking with me through this project. I think I'm going to leave it alone with this final composition.

Let me know what you think. Sorry about the quality. I had to dumb it down a bit to get it bellow 200k.

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200407/user_image-1089640783ojc.jpg

[Aztec...soljA]

Nice to see a complete scene!
U know when u see projects (*NOT COMPLETE PROJECTS*) U tell them if they could make a complete scene, and that's it... they never finish them but u friend this is a really good composition. :tu: :tu:

[spinalwrap]

whoa! im loving the amount of detail

[Ron Harris]

the cloth, arm texture and the throat are my favorite parts of the image..very very splendid detailing....and yes you are of the few that have completed an image. I am of the majority that doesnt...lol....kudos
ron

[Dickie]

He came out beautifully, Bro! I am Sooo digging the tribal scarring on the arm. The skin tones are sweet...the hair came out very nice too...Gorgeous pic...Excellent work!

Dickie

[Frenchy Pilou]

Cool black faces here :cool: :tu:
Pilou

[Nalrac]

Hey! You guys are great!

Aztec & Ron - Thank you for you kind and much appreciated comments. I rarely ever finish anything so this was a real acomplishment for me. The anxiety to get onto a new project just kills me sometimes.

spinalwrap - Thanks. I can't wait to get Z2 so I can model those details into the mesh. Whoo Hoo!!

Ron - Thanks for pointing out specifics about what you like. That really helps me to know what techniques work best.

Dickie - Dude, thanks so much for your contribution! You encourage me! From a professional like yourself your comments mean a lot.

Frenchy - As always, Thanks for your much needed presence. ;)

Talk with you all soon.