Action Hero - Shakti, The Dark Mother (Nudity)

[petekasim]

Phew! Had to have a break this weekend, had a rotten two-day hangover and so I'm a bit behind in my schedule

Drakelot, gordon-v, Lucky_1, jeffmeckley, fluxist8070, animastur, wethand, spimmy, FoOD, thanks to all of you for the encouragement, it really means a lot!

ravioli_rancher, your idea of doing an uprooted tree is an excellent one! Depending on how things go, I think I may well end up using your suggestion... many thanks!

Here's another sketch I did just tweaking the overall balance, trying to adjust the composition so Shakti remains the focal point. Whether I use the guy or an uprooted tree remains to be seen.



And here is some rough blocking out in 3D, just playing with the forms and trying to achieve a pleasing balance. The floating guy and the terrain is only a placeholder

[Lucky_1]

Great update Pete!

upupup !

[petekasim]

Cheers Lucky!

Here's some of the transpose work I did to achieve the pose. I didn't record the entire tweaking process, that would have been a seriously long video, I tell ya



And here's an image of the post-transpose sculpt, I'm only just getting started though, there's loads to fix at this stage

C&C exceedingly welcome!

[wethand]

that pose is really nice!!!
are you going to add this dragon-magic-thing she shoots?

really nice pose!

[petekasim]

wethand, I believe this is what you were referring to...


I basically used zshpheres to plot the tentacles path around. Sculpting all the details on these things is gonna be a job and a half! I certainly don't make things easy for myself.

At this stage the bloke there is still placeholder, I'm becoming more and more convinced that I should change him into an uprooted tree, as per ravioli_rancher's advice. Cheers again rav!

C&C at this stage would be fantastic

[Gohanf22]

looking good pete. i cant wait to see it textured. looking forward to your next update. glad to see someone is doing good here exception of myself.

[KrakenCMT]

Beautiful action! It almost looks like she's dancing too!

[wethand]

ah, nice update!!!
this magic thing is very nice!
like it how complex it is! nice progress! keep it coming!

[Harmonic]

That's what I have been waiting for! That is looking great. I really like the rhythm, lines and composition you have going there.

[bryzol]

I love the pose... It's like some strange kind of dance... The anatomy of movement looks great.
I am not shure about this second figure, it seems to take attention from your main character and as I see it is "flying" I think there is something in rules tab about it... You better check it out.
Anyway I love the screen from 10:48 PM - the pose is awesome, the body looks sexy!
Oh - I found a little problem with left knee-cap - it is streched unnaturaly...
I hope it will help. Keep it that way!

[maxinkuk]

Excellent composition! It'll end up as a very scary piece.
I find a bit strange the way she bends her back though, I think that the pose would be more convincing if she'd be carving inwardly, this looks a bit like a dancing pose now rather than a fighting action pose. I don't think that that would be compromising the overall feel of the sculpt.

[industripop]

great fluid motion! like a menacing dance of some sort. love the sculpting and the pose. it feels as if her head should be looking at the enemy though. maybe adding eyeballs will help the feel of that. good stuff man!

[Teyon]

Very cool pose. Her face comes off a little older than her body would suggest it should. I think it's the cheek area. Anyway, like where you're going with it.

[petekasim]

Hey guys

Gohanf22, hey thanks for the comment, but seriously, don't get yourself down! I've been beating myself up for years over my art, and I still do. It feels like a constant struggle, and that's what art is - if you're finding it easy then you're doing something wrong!

It's the restlessness and self-punishment that gets you through and helps you improve. A masochistic pursuit, I know, but worthwhile if you love your craft. Just keep going and make sure you're enjoying it! Otherwise, what's the point?

KrakenCMT, wethand, Harmonic, heartfelt thanks, your words mean a lot

bryzol, thanks for the input. The second character is something I'm deliberating over. Structurally I think it should be sound though, it's not free-floating but being held by the tentacles. Thanks for pointing out the knee, I'll pay due attention to that when I do the next pass

maxinuk, thank you for the continued input. As far as the dance thing goes, that was actually my intention. I watched a lot of Bollywood films when researching the character, and I wanted to capture something of the grace of hindu dance with the pose, blurring the line betwen fighting and showmanship.

industripop, thanks, I am going to add eyes looking in that direction, but I think you're right, the head could also be tilted a bit further towards her target

Teyon, yeah, you're the second person to say her face looks a bit old! I threw it together quickly with little thought, I'm going to totally redesign her face.

My update is a quick paint-over exploring costume. I wanted something tribal looking that shows off her anatomy, but also includes traditional Hindu elements such as the jewellery and gypsy headwear.

Always feel privileged to know what you guys think

[Captain Sensible]

Wow that's some seriously nice work!

The pose is awesome. It works really well. It's gonna look great I just know it.

Keeping my eye on this one now!