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Elfquest Sculpting Odyssee

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#81

Aaah… more time to play! Today I stared for half an hour at his legs, and there’s something wrong with the long bone under the knee to the foot (don’t know the english terms, sorry, and I haven’t studied the latin nomenclature either :o ). I decided to come back to it later, and do some work on the arms. Not easy, and not there yet, but after laying in the muscles I noticed that the proportions of the arms were off. The distance from shoulder to elbow was too short, and from elbow to hand as well. I feared having to scale the whole arm or parts of it and what that would imply, but I found a handy solution. I used the Nudge brush at a stronger intensity and large brush size, and it easily streched the parts I needed it to, while keeping a nice even spread topology. Nudge brush is your friend! :+1:

[Bodystart5.jpg](javascript:zb_insimg(‘68402’,‘Bodystart5.jpg’,1,0))

All comments welcome!

#82

[Future_vision_small.jpg]pantsalpha.jpg

Rolling those babies on with one stroke is very satisfying. (I rolled them all over the place! :cool: ) I think I’ll make the alpha a bit more subtle, and then I’ll post it here too, maybe someone can find another use for it.

Attachments

Hands1.jpg

cutterpants.jpg

#83

Hey buddy!

Glad to see the future jump :wink: It’s coming along very nice :+1:
I’m not sure if it’s the perspective or what but the arms seem to be a bit short :confused:
Maybe if you post an full body image of the character I could assist more.
Regarding the arms, I’ve attached what I think could help you in your crusade :wink:

Gotta luv that stitch alpha man! :+1:

Carry on!

Attachments

ZBrush-Document.gif

#84

Hi Elarcano!

Thanks for the altered image; I can see the wrist changes, will work on that, and maybe there are other corrections hidden in it as well; I’ll place the two images side by side. :+1:
As for proportions: nope, no perspective cam on, just my inexperienced hands at work. :smiley: I’ve been wrestling with those proportions before, but they still feel off. Right now the hands are too big I think, but maybe you can spot other faults?

[Proportions.jpg](javascript:zb_insimg(‘68580’,‘Proportions.jpg’,1,0))

Thanks for the reply buddy; keeps me going. Speaking of which: how’s your VSWIP coming along? Slow? :wink: Do give it an update, I loved those last images!

#85

hi plakkie nice work so far i think the abdomen area could be defined.
keep updating :cool:

#86

Thanks Mr. Micro! Yes, I believe I could define those abdomen muscles a bit sharper. Will get it done!

#87

Hi, man. This is really coming along!
I agree that the arms seem a little bit short. I you hang your arms down the side they reach atleast halfway down between the hips and the knees. That means that they should be maybe a finger’s length longer.
Also, regarding the torso, it looks great as is, but I have made a quick paintover again that proposes some changes. Take them for what they’re worth; a subjective suggestion and maybe I’ve made him too human, but I think that when you translate something from 3d to 3d it’s more important on the 3d version to think about the anatomy and ‘function’ of the skeleton and muscles than in the simplified 2d drawing, in which the lines and contours are the most important ones.

So have a look, and maybe some of the changes will help you see things that you think you should improve. If not, well, just ignore it and follow your own vision. I really like what you have done so far!

Attachments

Proportions.gif

#88

Hi there, Pixelranger.
Indeed, my own arms seem to reach halfway down between my hips and knees too! So much longer than I thought… I made the arms longer. Takes some getting used to when looking at it, but I think it’s more correct in the end. I made a crude pose with the arms down to see how long they are. I also scaled the hands down.

[Proportions2.jpg]

Looking at this image I have trouble desciding about the the following:

A. Looks long enough now in the front, but not from the back. Should I place the elbow spot lower?
B. Do the hands have the right size now? They look more okay to me now, but maybe the should be smaller?
C. Should I make the legs more curved?

I’d love to hear a second opinion, as I’m not that sure of it myself…

Thanks so much for your last image Pixelranger! It’s astonishing to see how those changes make for a way more realistic and human form! This is my first experience with 2D > 3D, but I readily accept that the functions of anatomy have a much bigger role in 3D then in 2D. As I want to retain a bit of the cartoony and simplistic look of Cutter, it will be a delicate balance. I love the changes you made to the chest area, and I’ll try to incorporate them without losing the stylistic look. The abdomen changes are interesting too, but I will keep the ultraslim waist for now. (probably going to regret it later :wink: ) I’ve already curved the leg’s a bit more according to your image.
I love to see these alternate visions of the same subject: I learn a lot from them and they are of big worth to me. :+1:
p.s. you also reminded me I still have to give him nipples! That’s gonne be scary… :smiley:

#89

I figured just making a stiff character in Da Vinci pose would not be enough for what I want to achieve. For a few weeks I have been thinking about making the model a posed one, maybe in the diarorama style you sometimes see on modeling reels. But what pose… Hard to think of something not too hard, but also not too boring. I won’t try a really dynamic one with wild gestures and flapping cloth and hair (although I’d like that), 'cause I figure that would be perhaps too hard for a first go. Today I stubled on one of the large drawings Wendy made for the back cover of one of the comics (no. 2).
There was a drawing of Cutter, looking directly into ‘the camera’, looking confindent, leaning lazily against a tree, picking his nails with his sword and looking, well… sexy. :cool:
I’ll post the image soon to show what I mean. I tried to make a quick test for the post with my current model:

[posetest.jpg](javascript:zb_insimg(‘69959’,‘posetest.jpg’,1,0))

Looks like posing will bring a whole new dimension… Muscles immediately stop looking right, awefull stretching takes place, and one gets the feeling a lot of work is down the drain. But: it’s fun getting another glimps at a possible far away future.

It’s hard to descide what to do next: Can anyone with experience in this matter tell me if I should:

A: first make a fully clothed Da Vinci model, and then start posing, or,
B: Pose first and then correct anatomy and make clothes?

In the meantime I keep working on the model: I’ve done more work on the legs. I’ll post another update of the pure model when there are easy notable changes.

Cheers!

#90

no posing…it needs a wolf or 2 :slight_smile: and his best mate following his moonstone…the quest got a bit nancy when the hooked up with them birdpeople…stopped buying them from that point on…
ps plakster are you dutch?or next door?

#91

Hi strict9, what do you mean by “No posing”? Well, the wolf and his friend Skywise will be for another time, if you don’t mind. :wink:
And yeah, I’m dutch. You too?

#92

sorry was to quick…should have said…don’t put him in a pose please…
i like him best when he’s running with the pack…but thats just personal.
and yes i’m dutch…but am living in austrlia now…it’s nice to see a countryman with the same interest.

#93

A dutchman down under! Nice to hear. Well, I would love a running pose, but I really think I’m not skilled or experienced enough. Maybe I should do the following: keep the Da Vinci pose for now, dress him up and complete the face. After that I will try a static pose like the one I showed in the last picture. If I get an acceptable model/picture that way, I’ll try a more dynamic pose.

#94

Hi Plakkie!
You did a lot of work here! Bravo! :smiley:

#95

And I will do a lot more work after this. :lol: Thanks Piz!

#96

Good day, patient readers! :wink:
I started on some clothing today. I was wondering if the furry vest Cutter wears in all the books could be made in Zbrush. I’ve never done fur in any 3D program, so it seemed quite a challenge. To my big surprise it was actually easy! After some experimenting with different techniques I stumbled on something that worked for me.

Furry_Vest.jpg

I noticed that the vest isn’t quite as it should be in it’s main shape; the armpits are too tight, I already found images in the books where some space is shown under the arms. So, I guess I have to do it for a third time, but that’s OK, as I said, it’s fun! :slight_smile:

I’m really starting to appreciate Zbrush multifuntionality. You really don’t need another package if you use all it’s functions. I will use Lightwave further on though; hard body modeling in Zbrush is unknown territory for me, and I can do that quickly in LW. :cool:

Until next time!
Plakkie

Attachments

clothing_total.jpg

#97

Hahaha Buddy!
Very very cool fur vest :+1: Interesting technique man!
Yes, the form of the vest could be improved but I’m absolutely sure that you’ll nail it man :+1:

Upload a Cutter’s full body image so I can help you more.

Like I’ve said before… this is really going well :sunglasses:

#98

Cool! At first glance I thought you were using the fur material. Nice result.

#99

looks like you spent a good time working on the project, good work and good luck with the improvments. :+1:

#100

Wow, you’ve really come a long way Plak, becoming some strong work :+1:

Thanks for the interesting tut.

I’m looking forward to the finished piece

Greets,
Bimm