Heavy Metal Character - Change to Anatomy

Well I showed some of my initial work to some colleagues and whilst supporting, one mentioned that for such a comical idea why not have comical proportions. And whilst I was trying to avoid recreating Brutal Legend's protagonist with big burly arms, I did quite like the idea and thought I could still create a bigger character, whilst avoiding the 2 appearing too similar.

So I began by creating a base mesh for use within mudbox that I would be able to manipulate and sculpt to create the character I wanted. I also used the swift loop tool within 3DS Max to make sure that the model had enough geometry for me to use within mudbox.

Base mesh

1st Sculpt Pass, excluding head

So far I think it's going quite good, my muscle definition has improved however currently the arms do look as if they are rather stuck on rather than attached.

Heavy Metal Character - Start

Well it dawned on me that I haven't had much of a productive summer this year, not as much as I would have liked at any rate.

Whilst yes, I have learnt lots about using Mudbox and the importance of anatomy within 3D modelling, and I have gone through lots of tutorials, I don't have a finished project that I can show off. That is the aim of this project.

I hope to create a heavy metal character wielding a guitar with a massive guitar amp on his back, sort of strapped together and possibly rigged and posed.

Original Concept

I figured this project would also be great practice for the human anatomy as well as the 3DS Max - Mudbox workflow.

Initial Model

Hard Surface Attempt Mk III

 Beginning to make sense of it all I think, I just took the time this morning to do something simple like a medieval helmet. just 3 flat sides meeting at a point.

Before flattening

I mostly just used the bulge and wax tools to build up the geometry after defining the point with the sculpt tool, and then used the other 2 tools to build up the rest of the geometry to meet it. Finally I used the pinch tool to define the edges a little bit more. Worked rather well.

After flattening

However at the end of the day, all I have are 3 flat face which should be a poly each and only take seconds to make within 3DS Max, as opposed to the 2 hours it took me to do this..

Head Sculpt II

Today's speed sculpt of 1 hour. Worked on it without any references or help from tutorials or anything, I just went for it and tried to remember everything I'd learnt in the past.

Despite it all I am happy with it and definitely had more fun working on my own as opposed to having a tutorial video play at the same time.

..my eye!

Things to work on, everything a wee bit, noses and lips and eyes more so. Didn't bother with the ears either  as they just seemed too pointless to do since they don't vary much.

+5 Anatomy Knowledge

Well it was my birthday not too long ago and i got myself a how to draw anatomy book, and it has really helped.

Granted the result of sculpting with it open (seen below) isn't totes amaze balls but I'm still quite happy with it and it is a huge improvement.

Hard Surface Attempt Mk II

Once again I attempted some hard surface sculpting within mudbox with my resolve renewed. Totally could've gone better but hey. I tried and learnt some new tricks too.

This.. thing, for lack of a batter word was meant to be a big robot looking creature with smooth metal panels and massive air intakes on the chest there. That is no what they turned out to be. I watched a video whilst working on this and you can see how it was meant to turn out.

Front

 I suppose I have improved somewhat but I am still determined to nail down hard surface modeling, some day. However I am starting to consider zbrush more and more now especially after watching the intro video to a new eat3D tutorial video that uses, guess what? zbrush and it does seem to have some very useful tools.

Back

Maybe next time I'll get something nailed down right..

Head Sculpt I

I intend to make this a daily thing where I sculpt out a head in roughly an hour. I learnt a lot from this piece even if the eyes are seriously messed up looking, like a sphinx or something right?

I would quite like to improve in this field as the face is where the player looks, and so it is important to be highly detailed. Furthermore it's also the main area that would give off who that character is and what they're like.

Take this guy for instance, he looks like he's fake and unbelievable, but aside from that, he looks quite alert with his freakishly wide open eyes.