hi rafa …she is so great !!!
i really would like to know how you did the posing in max with an edit poly on top of the final model can you explain a little bit more about the process…
and please can you post some bigger screens from early stages and from the finished sculpt in zbrush please …
…great work man !
Great work! I’m your fan… (vi suas esculturas no estudio do Fragata, fantástico, estou estudando lá com ele). Good luck!
Great character dude!! Love it, top row well deserved… Thanks for the explanations as well. Congrats!!
Cheers.
love the hair awesome end result 
damn good piece of fan art Rafa,hairs is incredible
Great work!
Fantastic. You own the top row time and time again. Masterfully done once more
Brilliant work once again! Do you generally use a semi-high poly model with only a normal map applied? Do you ever use a much lower poly model with displacement mapping for rendering in Max?
Thanks a lot guys!
Im not with my desktop here right now so i cant show some screens about the light and displacement and normals setup.
Ill try to answer a few questions, not sure if i remember them all.
I started this model a few weeks ago, i think i took something around 3 weeks in my freetime to finish it. And this last week i worked on it almost fulltime.
But what i usually use just normal map for the character and try to keep the geometry working without displacements, for that i model almost everything i can on the model and use zbrush just to add details to the model. For that normals work just perfect. And for things that need more distortions like cloth and face (nm dont work good with skin shader) i use displacements. To make it faster on render i use it combined with normal maps, i use the displacement map with a “displace” modifier on max with a 3 subd and a normal map for the details.
About posing in max its pretty simple, sometimes i do a quick rig for the model but for a simple pose like this i just select all the pieces and apply a edit poly on top of it… than i just pose it like i do when im modeling. Hand work with pivots.
I will try to post some screens of the maps and light setup later.
Thanks for the quick reply Rafael! So I take it most of your characters then are primary for still images and not used for animation? I’m still learning how most professionals go about doing their work.
I’ve always been under the impression that if you are doing a character for animation (cinematic) it should be fairly low poly and use displacement maps in conjunction with normal maps to pull out the detail. When doing game characters for animation it should be as low poly as you can get it and just use normal maps with lighting and other things baked into the texture map. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Or do you use the same semi-high poly model and use a low poly proxy model (I believe this is what you refer to as an edit poly in Max) to help with skinning and animation?
Thanks again for the reply!
The model for animation really depends on what kind of project you are working on, but most of the times the geometry of the model need to hold all the details for it self, you will use just some normalmaps and displacement for small details.
So everything need to be modeled, and finished before thinking about displacements and deformation maps.
You need to have a good balance between clean topology, details and use of normal maps and displacements.
Almost all the characters i do for my portfolio are ready for animation, i try to keep the topology clean (almost), with details and with a good balance between maps and geometry detail.
“When doing game characters for animation it should be as low poly as you can get it and just use normal maps with lighting and other things baked into the texture map. Correct me if I’m wrong.”
This is for games.
Hope it helps
Hey grassetti,
What about the hair? I’m still searching for a answer and I’m quite sure many others will appreciate your efforts too. Thanks for sharing your info. 
an indiscreet question but perhaps many want to know
how much money you won for make a character like that? i know this is a personal job, but it is obvious that if someone can get good money that’s you and it’s good to have a parameter.
thank you
Thank you but he told us that he’ll further explain what he did to make the hair look more pronounced. I tried this technique myself but the hair was so flat and boring. So I’m still hoping to hear more information on how he made it 
Hey Eiad, there are no big secrets behind the maps and shader. What i usually do is try to work with the maps on layers, starting with the biggest ones (planes with more hair texture) making the main flow of the hair, than start with smaller ones on top of it, than another layer with smaller planes, than at the end with the planes that have just a few hairs on texture.
Giving a nice sence of depth.
A stunning piece. I saved this directly to my “Inspiration” folder. I am so envious of your great skill with maps and textures. You make it look and sound MUCH easier than it is! Well done!
Cheers,
Will
surely as you did not see my question (so many) that I’m going to ask again in another way, how much you could charge for a character like this
Thanks
harbottle, thanks man! Love your work!
juancaratino, sorry man, but thats not something i can answer here so easily…
Congratz on TR 
-> thanks for sharing the breakdown