Sam's sketchbook

[Bbyrnes]

Looking very nice.

I have the same, not to call it a problem, but issue with Fibermesh. I find it hard to dial in those perfect values to make it look amazing.

This is a really interesting piece. I like your style, very fantasy meets ancient cultures. For this work I would be careful where the fibers are applied they seem to come up onto the upper sides of her helmet which looks strange. I would keep them lower so they don’t come over the side flaps. Just make sure where you are masking / Polygrouping is consistent.

Also maybe adding more Fibers, to get that fuzzy look, most “decoration” on helmets like this were for warmth so making it more like a fuzzy animal might help.

As always keep up the great work, can’t wait to see more.

Best - Iain

[system]

Very sexy

[monstermaker]

Cool! Fibermesh takes a bit of playing with to get right.there is some good info in Baz Mazur’s thread http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?946887&p=946887&viewfull=1#post946887

[acornboy]

Hey everyone, thanks for the replies and comments. I’ve been working on the Fishgirl piece, added fibermesh hair and some more details. Also, trying to learn about materials, shaders, mixers… It’s amazing how for everything I learn, I then discover 10 more things I don’t know. These shots are just bpr renders. Let me know what you all think. Take care.

-Sam

[jbot]

Wow she is beautiful man! The hair is coming along nicely. I think I’m in the same boat as you still discovering things, just started getting into materials myself. Plus Im still learning about rendering inside Z… Keep up the awesome work!

[monstermaker]

Looking cool. I like the quality of her skin and the skin of the eel.

[Jerick]

Interesting

[acornboy]

Okay, I went back and played around with the Aries piece. Trying to get it to a finished point. Let me know what you all think.

-Sam

[verb]

Not bad, but the first I saw - it is dark image. Try to adjust brightness.

[gonso]

I think it´s beautiful.

[fattkid]

In my honest opinion, I don’t really feel like the texture/rendering is very dynamic or has much life to it. Seems a fair bit drab, and flat. That being said, the design and execution of the model is awesome. I just don’t feel like the render/textures are adding much life or story or drama to the image, or accentuating the great model you’ve got as much as they could be. Nice work though.

[acornboy]

Thanks for the comments, I really appreciate it.

fattkid- I know, right? I’m really having a tough time figuring out the whole rendering/lighting thing. Every now and then I’ll get something to look more realistic, but it almost seems like an accident. Do you have any suggestions for better rendering or lighting? The flatness that you mentioned is exactly the thing I’m having trouble getting past right now.

gonso-thanks for the kind words!

verb-Same as what I said above. I think what I’m doing is trying to offset my inability to create a good render with heavy shadows, making everything too dark. Hopefully if I can get the rendering better, I’ll stop that.

Thanks for the comments, any advice for the rendering/lighting would be greatly appreciated.

-Sam

[fattkid]

Well, as a warning and a caveat: I’m no expert and I’m still learning this stuff myself -

I guess some things to think about are:

Drama & Story: The lighting can add a lot of information to your image and design - which when combined effectively with the information in your design, can really help push or sell your character/idea. Amount of light, contrast, color, direction etc can create all sorts of moods and settings scenarios. It can help create a sense of story, even if it’s just implied for the viewer to interpret. Nighttime, daylight, morning, evening, desert, jungle, underground, studio, overcast etc. The lighting can or will kind of help put your character in a context to be better understood and interpreted.

Visual Read: Another thing to think about is the range of values in your image, and how you lay out or design those values (i.e. shadow shapes) to help lead the viewer to what’s important. Utilizing contrast to help create focal areas. So thinking in a more graphic design sense, how are the overall shapes, colors and values working together to create a sense of whatever the mood or theme is, sell your idea, and lead the viewers eye.

Also, realism perhaps isn’t your number one priority in creating a compelling image/render. It can help, and I am always trying to striving for realism as well, but if you’re nailing realistic surfaces and lighting, but dropping the ball on the above mentioned points, it’ll still be a flat, not very interesting image, right?

As for resources etc: I’m currently taking Bryan Wynia’s online creature sculpting workshops, and they are great. I definitely have taken my game up a notch or two in the last coupe months, so I would recommend his classes. Covers lots of things, but texturing and lighting and creating a final rendered image is part of the class.

Some good books would be:
http://www.amazon.com/Framed-Ink-Drawing-Composition-Storytellers/dp/1933492953
http://www.amazon.com/Color-Light-Guide-Realist-Painter/dp/0740797719/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336574002&sr=1-1

and a recent Gnomon video:

http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/981/

And a good online tutorial to read while you wait for your books to arrive

http://www.itchy-animation.co.uk/light.htm

That’s my understanding of the subject thus far anyway… Hope that helps.

[acornboy]

Hey everyone, I’ve been putting a lot of time into trying to get a realistic human skin render. I still have very little idea about what I’m doing, but feel like I’m making some progress. Let me know what you all think. I’m still not entirely happy with the skin, but it’s better than it would’ve been a few weeks ago. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

-Sam

[acornboy]

Here are a couple more shots of the Batman. I’m fairly happy with him so far, still have some things to tweak sculpt-wise and still some to finish up. Let me know what you all think.

-Sam

[acornboy]

Here’s the newest one, I’m calling her “Clockwork Angel” at this point. Let me know what you all think.

-Sam

[acornboy]

Here are some more shots of her.

[nebular]

I like yout illustrations - they tell the story and they’re great sculpts

[acornboy]

Hey everybody, here’s the Hulk I’ve been working on in zbrush. Just something I’m doing for practice at this point. Gotta say, I’m absolutely loving zbrush. Let me know what you all think.
-Sam

Attachments

[acornboy]