Barghest

[jonnybravo]

This is the model i'll be entering in this years dominance war. I thought i should post it here too since this is the best place to get criticism on your models just cause many of the best digital sculptors out there are posting here.

still have to get the same level of detail on the rest of the muscles of the body as on the front upper legs. Before you ask, i made those groove's in between muscles so exagerated because this character wont have much skin on it. The muscles will be exposed, i want it to look like it was skinned. In some places i'll make the bones show up too.





it's the first time i'm trying to make a model with such enlarged muscles. It's a little tough to get the exact look i'm going for. I'm using the Ellenberger & Baum "Atlas of Animal Anatomy for Artists" for references.
I still need to detail the head and the paws, and after that i'll add some horns and other detail to make it more menacing.

Any C&C is very much apreciated

[jonnybravo]

update
i still have the lower legs and the head to detail (and enlarge the paws)....at the moment they're barely sketched

[jonnybravo]

teeth added...also a rough start on the spine. Still no update on the lower legs

[Morph Division]

another bull, how many can we sacrifice?

[dustinbrown]

It's fantastic that you're using anatomy reference for this. My only comment is that I'm not getting the sense that this animal's muscles have insertion points or are overlapping like they should in nature. They currently look more like puzzle pieces that are just stuck onto him.

What brushes are you using?

-Dustin

[jonnybravo]

mostly the standard brush....and clay and inflate here an there...the thing is....if a run a quick smooth on the spaces between the muscles they immediately start to look better....but i wanted to mantain those accentuated grooves between the muscles because at the end most of the body of this animal won't be covered by skin...and so the muscles will be exposed...so i figured the spaces between them must be accentuated. Even so, i'm aware that they're looking odd, and i shall make another detail pass at them cause this won't do. You're right for pointing this out, thanks for the reply . Any tips are welcomed. I haven't really modelled any muscles up until now so it's an important learnig process for me

[dustinbrown]

Clay Tubes brush works very well for this sort of work. Also, if you know that muscle A is partially tucked under muscle B, then don't stop creating muscle A at the point where muscle B overlaps. Rather, sculpt all of muscle A, then sculpt muscle B on top of it. It's an additive process. This should give you a more organic result.

Also, don't get too crazy with the smooth brush or you're likely obliterate many of the happy accidents in the process that break things up nicely. Over smoothing tends to mute (for lack of a better word) a sculpt, almost like if you had a vivid black and white Ansel Adams photograph and applied Gaussian Blur to it in Photoshop.

-Dustin

[jonnybravo]

dustinbrown your advices made so much sence that i smoothed out all the muscles on the upper arm and neck and restarted the process and sure enough....it looks much better....and much closer to the result i'm looking for.

It's not perfect yet but i feel i'm getting the hang of it. Thanks a million for the advices, they will surelly make a big difference in the final look of this model. I eagerly await any other comments and/or advices from you and the other forum members

[gegrazion_1]

Very nice sculpt, i do think that he needs to look more weighted, he just looks too stiff at the moment, keep up the good work


http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=68972

[mxhaunted]

Looking food so far. I find you get a more natural finish if you use photo refference over drawn anatomy ref. Also, as pointed out, the clay and clay tube brush can give you some nice natural finishes.

Also, your model reminded me of this little dog:

http://blogmuscle.files.wordpress.co.../07/wendy1.png
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/.../12dog-600.jpg
http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/200...07_468x255.jpg
http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/200...07_468x288.jpg

[jonnybravo]

gegrazion_1 you're absolutely right...i'm gonna try and take care of that stiffness to the best of my abilities.

mxhaunted thanks m8. I'll try and fallow your advice and mix in some photographic references.

restructured most of the muscles with the clay tubes brush. Probably not really enough for an update but i'm forced to take a break of this project for a few days and i wanted to post the latest progress until i get back on it



ps: can i post thumbnails instead of full sized images?....i want to edit my previous posts and put thumbnails instead of the images cause this post is getting cluttered. I'll try and search the forum for answers on this.

[jonnybravo]

update....lower legs detailed and claws added






edit: i searched the forum and i still didn't find out how can i post clickable thumbnails instead of the full sized images....maybe someone can help me out

[Mind Symbion]

Nice sculpt dude!
Agree with Dustin Brown, don't smooth it too much!
And don't forget to enable the perspective view by pressing "P", It will correct the proportions.

[nerveink]

hey dude. how can i put this nicely.....your model needs a lot of work mate.
i dont know exactly what style or look your going for but the anatomy of this creature is looking not good. i just see a bunch of lumps of meat with no begining or end attachment. it just looks like slabs of meat laid on top of each other. mucles are attached to bones and each muscle has a "counter muscle".
on the bottom view that shows the stomach mucles, the six pack abruptly goes to the inner leg muscles. theres no pelvic area.this guy has no reproductive organs..it takes away from the realism..


i presume you have been using the clay brushes to form the muscles??? the clay brushes are probably the best brushes for creating muscle details, but it seems as though you got a little bit carried away. best advice i could give you is gather as much refrence material as you can and study, study study. try to mimic some details from the refrence you gather. it will help to train your eyes


hope i helped/

all the best mate.

[Aberrant]

First off, good work! Second, Dustin Brown knows whats up, he's like the Oracle :-P

Looking forward to seeing more progress.