I am a Los Angeles Film School Animation student. This is my final project for the Character Creation Class with Bobby Milly and my second full character sculpt after taking Digital Sculpting with Paul Gaboury. The concept is loosely based off Sun Wukong , The Monkey King. Thank you Paul and Bobby for your instruction and critique in class. Any feedback would be awesome, thank you.
LOVE IT…Totally different and unique style than what is considered as accepted and standard by SOME around here …Very refreshing and based on actual myth…which gives it…
from me…
Damien
Great job. Keep working in ZBrush. I see a future. 
Paul
Here are a couple of detail shots using some multipass rendering.
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nice! it made me think of Monkey Island and monkeys with 3 heads…
Initially when i first made this I was a bit rushed for a class deadline. I’ve since retopologized the model so that It will animate well and I’m working on a resculpt in t-pose. Any suggestions would be great. ( also flushing out the concept a little better than the first time around)
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id lose the texture all together. if it isnt perfect, then it only subtracts from the model. you dont want it to look rushed. you dont want to have any excuses, right. the model should stand on its own. take it slow. gather alot of reference. your off to a good start. i mean, for a rused project you did great. but if you want to rework it… take your time. start from the lowest subdevision level and find your base proportions. dont move on until u are entirely content with them. keep looking at your reference. as far as retopo goes… you seemed to have managed before, but those 6 sided stars i see… id lose those. they are always a big hassle for me. i try to make it a point to get rid of all 6 sideds. zbrush doesnt like them and they pucker too much. but, not a huge deal. id say, keep going up through your subdivision levels slowly, only moving up once youve squeezed every single thing out of the level your on. and go all the way. go as detailed as you can. in the end, the detail really gets the finish right. but the proportion is just as crucial. if your a student, then you have alot of work in training your eye for realism. not to say you dont have that talent. im saying, its always a key when getting a job. from places ive applied to, they really look for someone who can capture real life before characiturish conceptualization. because, its more viable. if you can do the former, then you can do the latter… but not necisarily the other way around. realism takes alot more work… but also lends realism to the cartoonish approach. always have reference. reference reference reference. its key… to your final product and to your training. all of the best. the best of the best always use hundreds of pictures of reference. u can never have enough.
and dont be afraid to be bold in your strokes. be just as subtractive as you are addative. and use a miriad of brushes. clay tubes, clay, move, standard, and displace are my brushes of choice… but everyone has their own favs. but those are biggies. and smooth the hell out of your model. make bold choices then smooth it back, then bold then smooth. so you can understand what these brushes can do. when your in the higher levels of your model, i like to trim or trace out the creaces, edges, wrinkles, etc… and then model slowly up from those boundaries. like, where a muscle will join another, ill cut into that line, and then add to each side to define the muscles. same for wrinkles. its easier to see where your going if you cut your guides, i guess. lie, the forehead wrinkles… lets say, cut three scores paralel to eachother on the brow. then smooth. then use clay or clay tubes to add slightly inbeween each score, so you give it the fleshy feel. then use pintch on the creases just to define them. ull see what i mean once you play with it. ull catch on in no time. but dont be scared. zbrush is intimidating. but youll get it with practice. your doing great so far.
and remember this… it only takes one perfect model to get a job. so, as much time as you have to spend on one, dont let it deter you. get that one as right as you can imagine it. and once you reach the level of your one perfect model, the rest will be easy.
EXCELLENT WORK MAN! i cant wait to see the monkey king 2.0
