WOW this is becoming a great model. Cool work man. The only thing that caught my attention is that wrist is too thin maybe. keep up man 
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looking good- I think this will look amazing when done. I have a question- are you using the JSnormalmapper for the normal map texture, or is there another way to render normal maps in Mental Ray?
Craig
Neticule- Definitely gonna do one of those! I love em too.
norbi1988- Thanks mate!
jmturbo- Thanks. I’ve loosely based the wrists off my own and from the side my wrists are quite thin. Is it normal to be able to make the tip of your thumb meet with the tip of your pinky finger while wrapped around your wrists? Anyway that’s how thick mine are. But still I’ll thicken them a little.
comic_craig- Firstly congrats on the top row! About the normal map, I must admit I have no idea what JSnormalmapper is. All I can tell you is I use zmapper to export the normal map from zbrush, overlay (as in overlay layer blending mode) it a few times in photoshop to strengthen it and save it in as a tga (I just like that format) then put that in a 2d bump node using tangent space for the bump mode. I hope that covers what you needed to know. Maybe your way is better. But I’ve just found one way that seems to work for me and stuck with it, mind you I know very little about normal maps as I’ve only been using them for a few months. Thanks for your comments!
Here is a small update on the helmet with the woven leather pattern modelled.
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](javascript:zb_insimg(‘86280’,‘Renders12.jpg’,1,0))
I’m gonna work more still on the pose. Make it less stiff and more dynamic.
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Looks good, amazing in fact!
The one thing I would consider, in the movie 300 and the comic, every spartan helmet you see has war marks on it. Chips, knicks, and grazes of all kinds. The sheild too.
I suppose your going to be adding finer details later on. 
Still, this looks freakin awsome. Keep up the great work!
Its coming out really nice…
keep up the good work…
Still looking great pap87. One thing that bothers me is the right foot as seen from the front view. I’m not sure why- but I think it might be for the following reasons: it looks small (maybe both feet are a little small for such a strong character), and it looks like the ankle might have too much twist. Both of these reasons make the foot look vunerable. This has an overall effect on the pose for me that sends it off balance and weakens it for me. Then again- I might be totally wrong:) . I guess I’m saying maybe check it yourself. Other then that- looks great.
Hey. thanks for the replies.
dustbin1_uk- Yes, I’m gonna add scratches and whatnot on the the helmet and shield, just leaving it for later. Thanks!
ivar_sn- Thanks mate.
comic_craig- You are probably right about the feet. I’ve now changed the pose a bit and the feet still need fine tuning and better posing. I’ll make them a bit bigger too like you suggested. Thanks for commenting!
Here is the latest update:
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](javascript:zb_insimg(‘87364’,‘Renders14.jpg’,1,0))
The cloth has been scrapped coz it pretty much got destroyed from the deforming when I reworked the pose so I’m gonna do it again. The plume in the helmet is paintfx converted to polys.
Hope you like it.
The helmet is looking great now. Personally I think the previous pose had more foundation and strength, but the new one also looks great.
Chris
dude I love how you made that skin material. could you give some insight as to how you made the skin?? is it rendered? thanks.
noticed the left feet over twist and just wanted to write about that and then i saw the last render in which you have corrected it. over all I am loving the Pose, Balance, Movement, muscle adjustment/settlement according to the pose and effort involved in his action.
honestly the last (mirrored) render image looks a complete picture to me. its upto you how far would you go deep into the rabbit hole but for me its Awsomely Done.
Hey im doing the other spartan guy. Not the king but the guy killing the rhino… So he’s a little bit of a twig compared to the king…
Man yours is pretty damn good with all the detailed muscles. I have to admit i love the teeth and face. My guy is more of a statue so I weatherd down alot of the details. Thou i plan on texturing mine up properly eventually, so ill have to detail him like your guy. Looking good, so keep it up…
I would either beef up his legs or taper down his obliques. Great sculpt.
I really enjoy this sculpt. Very expressive and precise. But I have to say, the original pose was much, much better. You could really see the power in his leg and core. The new pose seems to be lacking balance and thrust.
I’m excited to see where this one goes !
The new pose looks perhaps more like a throw than a thrust like the other pose seemed, but I agree that it is somewhat less passionate.
Thanks everyone for the replies!
Chris Andrews- That’s just it. To me the old one looks like a mere pose but the new one looks more like a captured moment in time. I wanted to get some movement into it. I hope I’ve achieved it. Thanks.
nerveink- The skin is mentalray sss at default settings, no textures, just normal map, rendered with the physical sun/sky.
taemee- Thanks, I’m glad you think so. I’m about half way through this I reckon. Gotta make all the textures, some more pieces of armour, sandals and a patch of ground for him to stand on. I just like to take what I currently have into maya and render and light it with nice settings, as a small break from sculpting and texturing.
gb_havoc- Ah I see. We can have our two guys fighting each other, hehe. Glad you like it.
DAnconia- I guess then I’ll beef the legs up a bit. I think they grew slightly thinner after all the transposing. Thanks for pointing that out.
erichp & Twitchmonkey- You think so? Ah well I actually much prefer the new pose more. You are probably right in that the old pose has more power, but I think the new one has far more passion and life in it. But one reason I probably like it so much more is that it took me so many days to get it to this pose, being far harder than I expected, and am now attached to it. Besides this is really what I wanted from the start, a captured moment in time of this guy throwing his spear. Thanks for your input!
Hello again. Started texturing the skin, and have also changed the lighting. The model is now lit by a mental ray area light and a light emitting dome.
Here it is.
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](javascript:zb_insimg(‘89001’,‘Renders16.jpg’,1,0))
Hope you like it.
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Lookin’ good! Sculpting is coming along very nicely. I can really feel the energy it has. I think his elbows need more attention.
looking very nice! Only suggestion I have is he’s a little pale…perhaps a bit of a tan is in order 
amazing work.
This is very cool. I wish I could model like that.
Ah this is looking great dude, i’m still feeling the old pose but i’m still not going to kick the new one. Skin shader is looking nice, maybe some darker stubble to break up the areas of the face a bit more. Great expression too!
Chris.