Hello all, here is my new WIP. Its a bird / man / lizard hybrid. Please let me know what you think.
Im unsure as to whether to keep the fins and the webbing on the hand (I know the webbing especially still needs a lot of work) and I would appreciate your thoughts on this. The modelling has been a combination of Maya and ZBrush. I plan on developing this piece as much as I can over the next couple of weeks. Cheers in advance all, I hope you like it a little.
Have happy Zbrushing! 
Cheers Frenchy
Quick question.
I know that this is a ZBrush forum, but does anyone know how to render wireframe in Maya? Ive not been able to figure it out and I’d like to put some of my wireframes in my next updates.
Cheers
Heres an update of the boots, remodelled in maya and ready to be put back into ZBrush for detailing. Straps, buckles, and bolts yet to be modelled. Any feedback would be nice. Cheers.
[attach=48984]boot01.jpg[/attach]
[attach=48985]boot02.jpg[/attach]
[attach=48986]boot03.jpg[/attach]
Heres my last update of the night. Ive got the bolts modelled and in place, now I have to model the basic straps and buckles before detailin it all in ZB. Itd be nice to get a response of some kind…
[attach=48991]boot04.jpg[/attach]
[attach=48992]boot05.jpg[/attach]
I think the boots look way to boxy to fit his feet and don’t quite look like boots yet. Your focusing on detail rather than structure. The beak is too wide, the fingers are too wide and lack form, the muscles are lumpy and undefined. You should work on forcing some opposing curves on the muscles. Avoid places curves directly away from each other like on the arm, which is resulting in a michelen man like arm. The pants are going to need some wrinkles at least in the parts that move.
Cheers womball. I agree entirely with what your saying, im not too chuffed at all with the topology on the body, and I want to restructure it. However, Im having difficulty rendering out the wires in maya, so I havent been able to post them for critique / urgently needed advice 
. The trousers were a very quickly made placeholder, as I still havent quite figured out what this characters gonna wear yet. the arms have been bugging me the most about the character at the moment, and I was planning on waiting till I had decided on what kind of trousers it would wear before doing a detailed sculpt on the visible torso. I wanted to make a pair of big chunky boots, but I agree that they look a bit odd on the character at the moment, this models been a bit of a pain to get right, but Im sure I’ll get there in the end lol. I’m gonna tweak the overall shape of the boot tomorrow, though the detailing will remain similar in the end. Id like it if his foot actually fit in it.
Quick post, ive been experimenting with the overall shape of the boot, please ignore the overall detail, and let me know if the shape itself is looking more natural, as I can then work towards fixing the more detailed model tomorrow. Any advice would be much appreciated. P.S. womball, thank you again, I would appreciate your input on how the shape is now looking. Definitely ignore the treads on the bottom, they are being deleted first thing tomorrow morning, cos I hate them 
.
Cheers
Its improving but still very cartoony like for this character. You might want to look at some pictures of timberlakes for reference or construction boots. Boots are designed to fit the foot, so if your character has human feet, he’s going to need some boots that won’t fall off his feet whenever he walks. I would like to see the wires. Although what I was referring to was the actual muscles you have there, which you probably could fix without changing topology.
Thank you again Womball. I am a bit more awake now, and I will be reposting a (hopefully) better boot in an hour or so. I will post the wires as soon as I can figure out how to render them out from maya. The torso will be sculpted once Ive removed the fins from the back of its arms. I’d been remodelling the boot directly from my zbrush concept boot, and you are right about the boot not fitting the model… ah, the joys of getting carried away playing around in zbrush while forgetting about the overall whole…
prtscn button on the keyboard in maya of the screens with wires, and paste in MS Paint. Than save the file as a jpg. 
Hahahaha, cheers Womball, I never thought of that .
Heres the new boot, I hope you think the boots lookin a bit better! I just tried print screen, but for some reason its not working. My pcs been acting up, so Ill post the wires as soon as I get it fixed.
[attach=49048]newboot01.jpg[/attach]
[attach=49049]newboot02.jpg[/attach]
[attach=49050]newboot03.jpg[/attach]
[attach=49051]newboot04.jpg[/attach]
[attach=49052]newboot05.jpg[/attach]
Heres a wire of the arm…
[attach=49055]armWires.JPG[/attach]
Here are some images of the low res trousers as they are at the moment. I would really appreciate any advice anyone could give me about getting the trousers right. I will be sculpting the majority of the detail in ZBrush once I have all the base meshes done. I have still to add belt holders, and I think I will add pockets when I make the normal map instead of building them on the low res mesh. Any guidance on this model would be greatly appreciated, as I want to make this character my best work yet. Cheers all!
[attach=49057]trousers01.jpg[/attach]
[attach=49058]trousers02.jpg[/attach]
[attach=49059]trousers03.jpg[/attach]
Ive started sculpting the torso. Only worked on the torso, neck and shoulders. I know that there is still a long, long way to go. Could you please take a look at this and give me some feedback to help me improve it. Cheers.
[attach=49064]TorsoSculpt01.jpg[/attach]
[attach=49065]TorsoSculpt02.jpg[/attach]
[attach=49066]TorsoSculpt03.jpg[/attach]
Last post from me tonight, as its almost 5am and Im knackered. Heres more images of the sculpt in progress, and I could really do with some advice on the hands and forearms. Anyone awake out there?
[attach=49070]TorsoSculpt04.jpg[/attach]
[attach=49071]TorsoSculpt05.jpg[/attach]
Front is coming in nicely, back is lumpy. The fingers could be segmented into 3 parts per finger. They don’t look like they would work as it is. Keep at it! I think he’s going to turn out great. Just keep up with the references for the muscles you don’t know.
lead, if i have any crits i’d have to say, DRAW THIS GUY OUT ON PAPER! you obviously have a grasp on anatomy and visualization, so get it down on paper and follow your own map on this guy. he is after all yours…
did you make boots for this guy, or did you just make a nice pair of boots? nothing is precious. save em for later. the hands are great, by the way.
Cheers guys. Industripop, I appreciate your comments. I know I really should have pre-planned this character on paper, but I wanted to use this time to push my freehand modelling skills as well as my anatomy knowledge. Stupid, yes, but its how I’m gonna be tackling it. This is also why the costume he’s getting might seem a bit odd, I think he’s becoming some sort of soldier / security guard. It might be a bit odd as hes got a bird head and webbed hands, but I’m sure web-handed-bird-men need soldiers etc too. If Im not keen on the overall look when the clothes are completed, I might turn his bottom half into a robot or a skateboard or something. I’m just in one of those moods .
Cheers again Womball, the hands are doing my head in but I’m sure I’ll get them right in the end. I agree with you about the back, I’ve just been tryin to block in where all the muscles are at the moment. I will keep posting work for you to tear apart as I go, I’m determined to get this one right. Good luck with your thesis by the way, I’m sure you will do great.