Elfquest Sculpting Odyssee

[piz]

Good Plakkie! Now he has the boots! Do you think to add some environment to this guy? Ciao!

[Plakkie]

Yeah, I'd like to do a bit of environment around him... He will be leaning on a tree, with eyes gleaming in the shades... That kinda' lighting will have to be done outside Zbrush I guess... One day I'll torture LW with this heavyweight model and some displacements... but that's still a long way away.
Ciao amigo!

[dustbin1_uk]

Every time I poke my head into this thread I find something new to learn. I REALLY need to get to grips with topology.

I've been watching this come to life over the last couple of weeks and I have to say I'm loving the whole process.

It's probably been asked before, but what material is that your using for the skin?

[Plakkie]

Hi Mark! Glad you're enjoying the ride! I'm loving it too. The technical part of Topology isn't that hard. For me it's making a clean flow and getting all the ends connected that's making it difficult. To see how it can improve your models, just look at some of Stumpf's work.
As for the skin: indeed it was asked before, but I'm grateful enough to again give credits to... Ralf Stumpf! You can find it in this thread at post #98.

After the last conversations with Piz I decided to see how Lightwave would deal with my current model. To my big surprise the first tests were not that bad. Even without displacement I could still get some detail out of it. Maybe it will be do-able afteral. But: ThaoLe has proved much can be achieved inside Zbrush too concerning Lighting and rendering, so we'll see how it goes.

[Rastaman]

Hi Plakkie,


just some thoughts where the body could need some work if you intend a realistic human anatomy:





Area 1 does not exist in real anatomy, meaning the distance there is too big between the bottom-line of the M.pectoralis and the epigastical-angle.

Area 2: This area is too horizontal. The male-ribs have only a slight angle there, but the muscles over them have a more vertical angle from the M.lat.dorsi to the abdominal area.

Area 3: OK, a taste thing, but he could need some meet there. He is an elf-warrior.

Cheers,

Ralf

[piz]

Great test in LW!!! Very good Plakkie!

[dorkati]

I"m a newbie even if I have ZBrush for a long time, but couldn"t use it on my old notebook well.
Just try to learn and it was good to follow your steps

Just wondering...what about with this project? This thread is quiet for a long time....maybe continued in another thread?

Next step please

What about with his lips finally? He can speak?

[richardpini]

WHOA! Where has this site/thread been and why haven't I found it sooner than this? This is great-looking stuff you are doing!

[Gareee]

YIKES! RUN!!! It's the Pinis!

[richardpini]

Thbtptpptttt!

Seriously, this is about the best rendering of an EQ character I've seen. What's the status of this? Is it still in progress? As someone pointed out, the thread's been quiet.

[Gareee]

Odds are the holidays kicked in, and that slowed down fun worktime. Been here, done that!

So.. wasn't there supposed to have been some elfquest animated movie or something by now? I recall reading about development several times over the years.

(Ex GF was a huge EQ fan, and I still have the wave dancers books.)

[richardpini]

There's supposed to have been an Elfquest movie a few times over the years. Ever the bridesmaid...

However, the latest news (as of July) is that Warner Bros. took the license, and there's already a director and producer on board. We've never got anywhere near this point before, so there's a lot more optimism.

There's a forum on the Elfquest web site all about it here:

http://www.elfquest.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=41

[DragoCG]

I would love to see an ElfQuest movie. That would definitely score big at the box office. It would be really cool if they did it using the new 3D technology too!

[Plakkie]

Breaking the long silence... crack!

Lately, with all the new plugin's from those generous Pixologic guys, I've found myself opening my Elfquest Ztool again, looking at it and thinking it hasn't deserved being left unfinished. I've come a long way on this model (my first serious model). With 3D-printing becoming easier maybe I should make the best of it and have it printed...
I just looked up this old thread and what do I see?! Richard Pini (co-creator of the Elfquest series) has made a comment, and a nice one too!
Thanks a lot Richard, nice to hear from you, and it's an honour. Over the last year I've collected albums 1 to 20 (my favourites), the little collection is almost complete. (still missing no. 14 in Dutch. Seems to be rare)
Elfquest still captures my imagination (I secretly howl at a full moon when nobody's watching ) and I hear it looks like there really is going to be an EQ movie. It must be such a thrilling experience for you and Wendy! My heart already hurts that I'll only participate as an excited audience member.
Having made a few amateur movies I know how hard it is to get on screen the spirit and mood of the ideas that are in your head, or on paper. I wish you luck, courage and wisdom in working with the moviemakers and studio.

Personally, my mental version of an Elfquest movie has always been as a 3D animation. It would be so cool to see 3D used in a major movie not in a cartoon-like style, but something with the grace of and atmosphere of some Japanese animation masters. A combination of beauty, action and real human drama. I've read somewhere that the proposed EQ movie will be live-action? Will be great to see how they will pull it off! Whatever style it will be, as long as it's true to the spirit of the story it will rock!

Well, thát does it! If I can take the time to write such a long post I can take the time to work some more on Cutter! Stay tuned for new updates. I hope the wonderful ZCentral members are again willing to accept my long posts, slow progress, and asking for advice.

I stopped working on this model because posing the heavy geometry proved só frustrating. Since then, Zbrush has become better and better, so I'll try again. With the new Decimation Master exporting a workable model to Lightwave isn't a problem. Now I'll have to see what's best: posing in Lightwave, or in Zbrush.
I'm going for a pose I've seen drawn on the back of one of the EQ comics.



Cutter is leaning casually against a tree looking friendly but dangerous at the same time. If I could capture that I would be completly happy.
Hear goes...

[Rastaman]

Go for it, Plakkie.

I will also reopen my Jana-model again in the next few weeks.
Had familiar problems as you had.