Originally Posted by dapharmer
hey polaroid.. i like the new piece but since you asked for some critiques i'll try to give some :)
the head fur.. it doesnt fit for a lioness BUT for a human lioness character its fine.. IF .. you run with it.
sometimes the best design ideas come while you're working and not from your original plans... in this case i'm guessing you were goign for anthropormousized lioness... but in the efforts of your design i think you came up with a slightly different theme that you havent maybe even realized yet. make her a socialite.. or runway model... same body design but if you really want the whole idea to come together thing of the pose.. the hair on the head looks like one of those gaudy fancy fur hats you may see a model wearing during a runway stint. come up with a pose for your model where she's strutting, head tilted up looking away from the camera showing her attitude.. And then after you pose.. step back.. take a good look at what you have now and build on it.. forget symetricality.. just make what works to you..
you have the talent with zbrush but it's easy to get caught up with one thing and lose track of the reasons behind the model as a whole.. you wanted to give her fur... when you did were you asking for this particular model what purpose does the fur serve other then decoration.. if it's a prominent part of your design then there should be reasons for it to be part of the anatomy. continue with that same line of thinking when working out jewlery and clothing.. is she and african lioness? then give her a bit of an african attitude.. longer neck maybe.. hand carved looking jewlery pieces. yadda yadda yadda.
or take her in a whole different direction.. make her a big puffy coat and give her the full on eskimo treatment.. polar lioness ;) .. either way.. doesnt matter the direction you choose, what matters is the choosing of a direction. if you find you keep getting to the same point with models and then leaving for the next thing .. when that happens to me i see it as i ran out of steam on my ideas for the first thing...thats why on my alien girl before i even bagan working on her body i had her backstory in my head i knew what her goals in life were.. what the purpose of the peices of her body were.. and i ran with that so that at every design step i would question if it fit with the story i saw for her in my head. Other then the guardian mdoel from big trouble in little china that i made.. this was the first time i had ever even considered working a story out for the model in my head.. usually i would just have an idea for something i wanted to see..with no reasons just wanted to try to design it.. and i could but then i get to that point where i say..
"ok so i did this.. what next.. do i try to add more detail or do i make soemthing new.. do i even know what detail i need to have.. wow.. more detail is gonna suck.. screw it ill do something new" if that sounds familiar to you then yeah.. take my advice.. create the story with the model even if your never gonna tell that story to anyone. it gives everything thats part of your drawing a little more substance and that comes out in the best models out there that you see