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PLEASE!!...Please make PEACE!!...A tribute to Brian Froud and Jim Henson

ZBrush Artworks
#1

Hi All,

Here’s my take on skekSil The Chamberlain from one of my all time favorite films, The Dark Crystal. Hope you all like it :slight_smile:

ZBC_THUMB.jpg
[attach=152208]skekSil-Comp-web.jpg[/attach]

Heres some ref images I was working with

[attach=152210]kirachamberlain.jpeg[/attach] [attach=152209]skeksi8.jpeg[/attach]

Base mesh was Modeled in XSI and is about 6,000 polys. Sculpted in Zbrush (of course). Then back to XSI for lighting and rendering. Composited in Photoshop. Altogether about three days of work.

I think might put some scraggly tufts of hair on the face, neck and shoulders at some point.

So take a look and lemme know what you all think. If enough interest is generated I’ll post some wireframes, different passes, initial sketches and all that good stuff.

*Note…I, nor this piece are in any way affiliated with The Power Of The Dark Crystal, a sequel to the original film currently in pre-production by the Jim Henson Company. In fact, I had no idea that a sequel was being made until a few days ago when a friend who saw what I was working on told me about it. This is just an homage to one of my biggest artistic inspirations.

Enjoy!! :slight_smile:

Attachments

skekSil-Comp-web.jpg

skeksi8.jpg

kirachamberlain.jpeg

#2

Very cool. One of my most cherished childhood memories.
Are you going to do a fullbody representation as well?

:cool:

#3

i think its a good start, the beak could use a little more wear, and the teeth are too uniform in their placement and shape. the eye looks too white and fake, maybe its the specularity, not sure, definitely needs some yellow and slight veins.
i do like it and i love this movie too. the way you have it on the bust/stand makes it seem more like a mounted kill to me, yikes.
the pics you have are kinda washed out, do you have it on dvd? some screen grabs from that would help, or to get the Froud DC book, its really great, i got it when they reissued it a few years ago.
can’t wait to see more!

#4

Hey thanks to both of you for the comments. I appreciate the encouragement. :slight_smile:

xenoforge…havent decided if i want to ad the rest of the body yet, I may move on to make an Augra bust as well.

spaceboy…thanks for the pointers…i may play with the teeth and eyes a bit…the specularity on the eyes is a bit too wide, may try to get some reflections in there as well. although i think the beak is supposed to be generally smooth…maybe ill add some light scratches and a tiny bit more bump.

I do have the Brian Froud DC book. It is an amazing book…The world of Thra is laid out in so much detail. However, there seems to be only one concept sketch of skekSil specifically, which i used as reference to draw a few orthagonal sketches of my own.

#5

Nice work he s expression is spot on … love it …good render to…

#6

Love it… gelfings mussst die.
You probably want to soil the eye a little?

Great work, great idea! :slight_smile:

#7

wow thats a pretty good likeness! nice work! the beak and mouth area can use some love, but yes!

ME!!!, THE EMPEROR!

#8

Pretty render! He doesn’t exactly look alive, but it’s a nice image nonetheless!

#9

Nice work!

#10

Hey everyone!

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions…Will update soon! :smiley:

#11

Awesome!!! Now I want to make stuff from the Good/Bad Faeries book!!!

:smiley:

#12

Hey Everyone,

Thanks again for all the comments/helpful advice! Heres an update with some revisions.......the changes are subtle, but they address the eyes, the beak and the teeth: [![skekSil-Comp-web.jpg|1200x720](upload://gWl6rjt3sSOSM43slsakkVQyBze.jpeg)]![Ambocc_Main.jpg|1200x720](upload://qZj7DWKMcGxAaeRvYSp3FndTjCX.jpeg)

Again Comments and Critiques welcome! :slight_smile:

Attachments

Diffuse_Main.jpg

Specular_Main.jpg

#13

Really love the result with the updates.:+1: Now for a silly question,was your final render above a comp of the spec,ao and diffuse renders…I know …shoot me but Im trying to learn xsi …:o .oh and if poss what did you generate that spec map with.

Thanks
cal

#14

Thanks calum, im glad you like it.

To answer your question, yes the render is a comp of the 3 passes i included in the post, as well as a depth pass which I used to get the depth of field blur. The Diffuse goes on the bottom, the Specular is ussually a screen layer over that, and the AO is usually a multiply on top of that. I start off playing with the levels of each layer individually, then merge them, play with the levels again, and then do my depth blur.

The specular image here was generated as a separate pass using an override in XSI to exclude all the diffuse and ambient information so mental ray will only render the specular highlights. XSI has a “highlight” preset pass which basically does the same thing when working with basic shaders, like phongs and lamberts, but, since i was using a sub-surface-scattering shader i had to override it manually. You can find out more on overrides in the documentation, its a great way to really customize your passes.

As far as the specular map that i used in the Render Tree, i simply took my bump map into Photoshop, burned and dodged, and played with the levels to get the desired effect.

Hope that helps :slight_smile:

btw, your ZB work if fantastic!!

#15

Love the Dark Crystal next surely got to be an Efling.

#16

Thanks Vargas, I wasnt sure if you tuned everything in the rendertree for the final output.Not sure if its possible but that led to my query.Thanks for the explinations on your layering too,Ive found a few differing techniques also so I’ll try yours out tonight.
Really appreciate the time you used answering me,many thanks cal.