Action Hero- Jimmy Roach

[Crotalis]

Artist name- Jason Mullin


Character - Jimmy Roach "the Whatever Man"

Note: Aurick, I'm pretty sure I've made it in just under the deadline, but if I'm too late please let me kknow and I'll edit my title to a "non-entry".

Character Synopsis:

Taken from the documentry: "Jimmy Roach; Story of the Whatever Man"

You know that guy you sometimes see in the movies? The one who walks into a convenience store at 3:00 in the afternoon in his boxers and helps himself to a slurpee while the clerk is screaming about the "No shirt, no shoes..." sign? The guy who casually flips a couple pennies onto the counter on his way out? That's Jimmy. He's a man who just doesn't care. About anything. It's not that he's a bad man...he's just extremely....ambivalent to certain societal norms. If there's not a good reason for a rule (and Jimmy is the only person fit to judge that), then why should he be held to that rule? He tends to obey the major laws for the most part, but if he feels that slurpee is only worth five cents, then that's what he's going to pay.

The subject of "Super Powers" comes up often around Jimmy. Of course "Super Heroes" don't really exist (do they?), but Jimmy does seem to be extrordinarily lucky. Many believe his "luck" comes from not caring enough to be afraid of things the rest of us would tremble at. For example, who could forget the first time we all saw Jimmy? The night a strange homeless man apparently named "the Roach" walked into a five alarm fire and took the elevator up seven floors to rescue a baby that the firemen were unable to reach from the outside. Who could forget seeing a man emerge from the front door covered in tatoos and wearing nothing but combat boots, white Mickey Mouse boxers with red suspenders and sporting wild purple hair carrying a crying baby in his arms. Equally memorable was his quote in response to a reporter's question about why he took such a risk, "I was just trying to sleep in the alley behind the building and the baby was keeping me up." His thick Brittish accent was somewhat of a surprise given that part of LA, but many believe that quote sums him up best. That was the last "full" interview he ever gave. Since then he's he's been in quite a lot of trouble, and whenever he's asked about it he just gives the same response- "Whatever."

End qoute.

From the documentarian's journal:

While I don't believe in :"Super Heroes" I do have to say Jimmy has to be the closest thing to it. Since we started following him two of our crew have died in tragic circumstances and thousands of dollars of equipment have been destroyed and yet he always comes out untouched. Like that shooting at the Pogo (I've always made a point of avoiding those seedy little Ska clubs on the city outskirts). One minute we're all sitting around listing to music and watching the rats scurry across the floor and the next minute two men kick the door in and start shooting. Of course the police said it was a revenge hit on the owner for a drug deal gone bad, but that's the third time something like this has happened since we started filming. It's apparently completely unrelated to Jimmy, but he's always right there in the middle of it. That night he managed to kill one of the gunmen with a chair leg (I still have nightmares about it). Jimmy was the only person in the club to not take even a single minor wound. Twenty five people...and he's the only one unhurt....If he does have super powers I'd say they revolve around luck. Extrordinary luck (both good and bad). Or maybe he just doesn't care......








Here's what I've got so far. Two very loose/quick sketches done in Sketchbook Pro and Painter and one quick "sketch" in Zbrush. I used the blue line sketch as a template for the Z sketch. I wasn't exactly happy with where the 2D was going so I just jumped into the 3D to get a better feel. I whited out the eyes in the Z sketch because I'm not sure how to handle them yet. The idea so far is to create a character with a Punk Rock sort of feel. Lots of tatoos and a flashy hair style. I'm going for a tall lanky kind of body. That's it so far. On to the Zspheres!

[aurick]

There are still a couple days left for new entries. You're fine.

[JR_Rossi]

Cool Punk Hero. I like it. Can´t wait to see your work in progress.

[SolidSnakexxx]

Looking like a cool/fun character...Punk hero.... Look forwardto more stuff from you. And BTW, Happy New Year 2009!

[Moni-Poroni]

I like his fresh hairstyle...especially on the right hand side...
that´ll be fun to sculpt...

I´m looking forwad to see this punk in action
Best wishes

[Crotalis]

Thanks for the info Aurick.


To Jr and SolidSnake:

Thanks fo rthe comments guys! This is a new style for me in terms of both the subject matter as well as the art style itself (the sketch on the left is how I typically draw while the painted sketch on the right is an attempt at stylization) so it's good to see that it's communicating.


To Moni:

Thanks for the commenty on the hair. That's actually something I'm still a little unsure about. It's definately not going to be perfectly straight like in the Zsketch, but I'm still sort of deciding exactly how to work it. I'm leaning towards the painted sketch for the large "mohawk" sections, and the Zsketch for the buzzed area around the rest of the skull. Any suggestions would be appreciated!


Happy New Year to all!

[Moni-Poroni]

Yes I totally agree with you..the hair shouldn´t be perfectly straight...that might look a little bit boring...don´t get me wrong...
but there´s so much potential in his hair...
I would be sad if it would be just perfectly straight^^
Some wild style would be great

and the buzzed area around the rest of the skull rocks

[Crotalis]

Thanks for the comments on the hair Moni! Much appreciated!


Ok, so today's update is all about the zspheres. I have to say that thanks to Wayne Robson's book, I'm really starting to appreciate these little buggers! Also, special thanks to Bingo_Jackson as the hands here were inspired by his Bingjack maneuver! I'm happy with the base mesh so far, but I was really hoping to be able to do the tall "mohawk" sections of his hair as part of the original base mesh, and I'm just not sure that's going to be possible. If anyone could take a look at the images I've posted and let me know if they have any advice, I'd be eternallt gratefull.

Specifically, I had to add a third sphere to the top of the head to keep stretching down which worked well, but as you can see, I can't seem to keep the two sections circled in red from tangling with each other at the base. Not a huge deal if it's not doable, I was just hoping to avoid blending the hair as a subtool.

[Moni-Poroni]

Nice update crotalis
I love how you´re working with the attractor spheres

[Crotalis]

Thanks Moni. Attractor spheres are my new favorite thing in Zbrush right now! They've really helped me make good use of Zspheres. If you're clever about it, I've found that you can cut out a lot of early work with the move brush just by using the attractors to get a better initial volume.

[Crotalis]

Today's update:



It's slowly coming together. This is the first time I've tried to do something like this using just Zspheres and it's proving to be more tricky than I expected! The back is coming along nice IMO, and I'm going to leave it alone for now to bring some other areas up to speed. The hands especially are killing me!



Over-all I think he may be a little long in the limbs.

[Moni-Poroni]

Hey Crotalis

Nice update...the mesh seems to bee good
and i love the muscles on he back
But it looks like the arms are a little bit too long...??
BTW-I´ve problems with the proportions of the arms too...
and with everything else

Kind regards

[Crotalis]

Thanks for the comments Moni! With this contest gettin gso full, critiques are getting hard to come by! I agree with you that the general limb proportions were off in that last update. I've adjusted for this week, but They still appear slightly off.


For today's update:

Just some proportion tweaks and blocking in of the head. I also need to adjust the shape of the skull. Also, there is an image with a red circle around the chest region. I'm thinking that area needs to be brought in more so that it doesn't stick out quite as far. I REALLY need to catch up here! I'm planning on locking myself in the apartment this weekend so that I can make some more serious progress. As alway, comments welcome!

[SolidSnakexxx]

Hey there,Crotalis, I think what you have so far is quite a good progress... Also when I start my Zession, I normally lock myself away from other social beings too..that way I can fully focus on the screen. While there are some proportion needs to be altered for the model, I think overall shape is there. I have mentioned this site (Someone suggested it on another hero thread) http://www.reybustos.com/03ra/ra.html and I think it can be quite a big help for pin down areas you want to improve. Look forward to your next update, man.

[Crotalis]

Thanks Solid! I appreciate the link! I'm so use to starting from a base mesh and havin a bi-ped guide that this method (starting with zspheres and no guide) is REALLY exposing my weaknesses! If nothing else, this will have been worth i for that alone! I will take a look at that link now.....And begin my seclusion!lol