Hello everyone, I’m a day time programmer, full time 3D enthusiast 
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Nice sketch, great start on the models! I know you’ve just begun, but looking just at the sketch, one potential problem I see is with the critter’s feet. All bunched together like that, it may be hard to tell what’s what in the final. Of course, you could always do a little post work in Photoshop to fade out the back feet a tad.
Programmer AND artist, huh? Must be nice to have such a well-balanced brain! 
Good luck!
thanks kevphil. I’ll have that in mind, but judging by the rate of this guys progress, I might have grandchildren by the time I finish the drake
balanced brain - heheh - I don’t know about that 
Just a quick note before the update - I’m planning on making a “game model” out of this - retopo, normal maps, and a rudimentary rig ('cause I suck at rigging)
now my progress - I started adding more details to the face and body.
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i think you should be 3d artist day job, part time programming enthusiast. cause your work shows you have the talent and heart for making art.:evil:
really nice work keep it up dude 
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good work so fare Oddin! i like were its heading and the style! kinda reminds me of kretos hahaha huge shoulders really small really small waist.
sorry for my english, i am german and have a hard time explaining things the right way, but i wanna see this progress further so here are my 2 cents: hopefully helpful and right :S
i don’t know if you went on purpose with the head shape as a style, but if you do want to get a little bit of realism then your silhouette of the head is not working. your missing the skull and the basic structure of a head.
i am sorry that i took your pic and drew a little over it, but its easier to show rather then explain… and i might also be wrong since i am pretty new in 3D art.
the crit:
-basic structure of the skull underneath head
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eyes are to flat and should wrap more around head (like in my ****ty drawing of the top view on the side of the jpg) and the ends should dip in more
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the end of the lips have usually a dip and a light shadow underneath it
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your neck is way to huge which makes the silhouette weird of the back of the head
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the ears look way to attached to the head. it has just a small spot where it attaches to the head.
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the skull underneath the eyebrows and cheeks are usually so prominent and the flesh there is usually very shallow which makes the silhouette change
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your nose should dip in slightly more to make more of a form
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watch out for some of my highlights that i made like on nosetrals and eyebrows, i just brought the forms a bit more out so that the light wraps around it more.
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give the eyes a slightly wider crease which makes sure you have enough flesh there to hold the eyes in the eye sockets
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neck muscle: has a bow in it i dont think muscles have that but there i am not sure, just looks wrong to me at the moment.
note for the skull:
i would like to see a top view of your head, case as it seems i think your head is rather straight. it should be like a egg where the wides part of it should be right behind the ears…
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i really like the work on the lips overall and the muscles that are beside the nose. you brought the form out really nicely and the light is wrapping nicely around the forms!
for a programmer damn good skills so fare! keep it up, wanna defintly see more!!!
i can’t wait to see the critter coming along!
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@JohnYip- You haven’t seen me programming :). Kidding - many thanks for the compliment.
It’s sort of a dream of mine to do this kind of stuff for living, but alas, I’m not that good, or experienced yet to sum up the courage to start sendng portfolio out there. Maybe some day, maybe some day…
I’ve included a shot of the head from above so you can see how it looks - it’s almost there
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Looking good, I like his anatomy
This is going to be an interesting one to follow, a lot potential in this project 
damn that model is looking really good as well as your 2d skills most artist would kill to even draw as good as you, that is probably why your 3d skills are so good. anyway whoever is talking down to you in your ear needs to be let go because your work is great!
@Santis - thanks man, hope I won’t dissapoint
@snake85027 - appreciate it. Yeah - I’ve been drawing ever since I’ve been able to hold a crayon. Never did it professionally, and I have no formal education. Now after 28 years - I’m realizing this is much more fun than pragarmming :D. 3D was next logical step, I suppose, because you don’t need to be a master painter to do it, and you can do basically anything with the finished product (except touch it). Only down side is - there’s no original, but that’s not that bad. Currently I’m trying to build up a portfolio so I can maybe seek employment in the industry. But I might have missed that train :o
Heya, the only advice I have about the problem you’re getting with retopo, is to check first that you’re not using Perspective as that can mess with the process. Other than that I’ve got nothing, but if it’s the culprit it’s an easy fix.
Oh snap I probably am. I use it when I’m making screenshots, so it probably stayed on when I reloaded the tool and started retopoing.
I’m at work now, and I can’t check it out (so close to telling I’m not feeling good, so I can run home to see :D)
But I’m fairly certain it is. Thanks a million man. I never would’ve thought of it.
Retopo in ZB can be a pain…for me it’s better to use an other App for this…
3D-Coat has very nice retopo tools but Blender or Silo will do the job too…
Hope this helps!
Rene
@Extra Dimensional - as you suggested the perspective was the cause of my troubles. Nice catch man - you’ve helped me a whole lot. Thanks.
@cuffi thanks man. The perpective was causing my problems so I just went ahead and finished him in ZBrush.
I’d like to check out other tools also, but since I never have any time to properly study them, I keep with the tools I’m familiar with.
I know this isn’t the best way to go through life, but I’ve dragged this guy out for way too long so I’ll just finish him up in a comfortable enviornment, and then start a exploring a bit. Cheers
Latest update - I’m done with the guy. Normals and lightmaps baked - took me a whole damn day to do it :).
Because there’s almost no symmetry I decided to make one texture sheet for him, and another for the gear.
Comments and crits welcome - I’ve been starring at this for so long my mind is all over the place : one second I like what I see, and the other I hate it. I should sleep on it I guess
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p.s. The colors are a quick paint bucket work - just for test
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Update time
Didn’t have much time past week so there’s not much to show off, but here’s a summary:
I realized (or it was pointed out to me) that trousers and hair have too much tris, and the trousers wouldn’t animate well because there’s a freakin’ mess where edge loops should be.
I was aware of wasting tris but I thought I’ll have more tha enough left for the gear (and still end up under 11 k).
Oh how wrong was I. Long story short - (re)retoplologized hair and trousers, made low polys for the gear and baked normal and light maps for everything.
I hope to have free time from next weekend to start texturing. It’s a daunting propect 
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I haven’t updated in a while, due to various reasons
In any case, here’s the current state of things:
The guy himself is almost completely textured. I still have some tweaks to do. And I think I’m gonna redo the hair texture alltogether. Any crits/comments/tips about the hair and/or anything else - just lay them on me. It’ll be greatly appreciated.
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this looks great man! i think the pants look a little too straight? if they are baggy, i think there would be more sweeping folds. i also think his face is a tad generic…he’s got kind of that “generic NPC #1” look and i think you want him to be more like a main character right? i would maybe give him some more personality and some sort of facial expression built in to give him that unique look. this is heading in the right direction though and i hope you finish him off right! nice!
Thank you for the compliment sarakawa. The pants are a bit straighter by design. They are baggy but made of sturdier material so they don’t fold as much. When I made them I used a lot of reference photos of my gf wearing my army pants :), and this is rather close to it. Plus many of the folds (like the back of the knee) are hard to notice because of the camo pattern. But I do see your point. Also you’re right about the face. I think somewhere in the process of retopoing and texturing he lost a bit of character. Atm I see the eyes as the biggest problem. Maybe I’ll fool around with them some more and try making him less generic. I’m too far along in the proces to make any adjustments to the mesh, and have no experience with morph targets or facial riggs to try and handle it that way. That’s on my to-learn list
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Looking very good man!
Looking forward to more
Thanks man. I think I’m finally done.
I know there’s still a lot that can be improved, but I just relized I’ve been at this since September last year :eek:. Obviously I’ve had longer and shorter pauses due to usual reasons (job, and life in general), but still, it’s afreakin’ long time. So I’m pulling the line here.
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