Kacey Walsh FIEA Art Blog: Week 23

FEEDBACK

Feedback from Kenneth Morrison:

I am unsure if the facial anatomy was passed over/no 'done yet' but it feels very basic. You have the larger features a placed well like. But the underlying anatomy is not all that there. Hence the 'Anatomy of an Illustrator' It makes Purah look more like a doll than an actual person.

Much of these anatomical facial anatomies are outlined in red. Things like the nasal labial fold, some of the cheek bones, and brows. and sides of the skull. In yellow are parts that I feel are misplaced or miss applied. Like I think your Zygomatic/Cheekbones are off and the plan change to the sides of the face are off.

That and your brow and nasal bone. The 'Illustrator Anatomy' part come in. Where you have that 'the line of the brow runs into nose' stylistic tech. But the place where the eyebrows and the browline meet are often on the same plane, not above it. That and her nose is this broad tube. IF this is what you want to do, fine. Push that. But it looks like it's something you are doing unconsciously out of habit.

Purple is because it feels like the horns are PLACED and not GROWING out of the skull.

1) I don't like how the 'Dress(?)' out later just sits like that. It feels like there's not a lot of consideration as to where it goes/interacts with the belt.
2) I don't like the hand anatomy. It feels overly smooth and the pinky is dinky. This feels like the 'Illustrators Anatomy' is happening.
3) The dark blue on a less dark blue doesn't look great. There's layering but it's not hightlighted. On the top, Purah has some 'embroidery(?)' that highlights it. I'd try something like that. Both of your concepts listed have something similar going on.
4) I like the 'Inverted Ribcage Dress' but the skeleton anatomy isn't there. (See Image)

5) Arm anatomy is missing some elements. Like Wrist bones, and elbows. "Illustrators Anatomy"

The 'Antlers' look good from the front and back, but not that interesting from the side.

From the side angle, try pushing the bend

And 'Twist' the antler shape to show the inner scoop from the side a little more. Say... 15-30 degrees?

These look a little plain

Clarification on Illustrator Anatomy:

Your anatomy is very simplified and it makes me think you learned anatomy through illustration, where you learned it through various techniques to simplify forms in order to get work done rather than the 'correct anatomical structure' that is needed for higher level artistry. It's becoming more apparent where you are compensating for a weaker base now that you are going into 3D character art. This is normal for artists.

From Caden Peterson

A lot of this critique focused on fine-tuning the planes of the face so they are less sculpy and based in Illustrator anatomy. This included:

(Pink) Polishing the plane of the glabella (between the eyebrows)
(Green) making the eyebrows larger and sit lower on the face
(Red) Adding fat deposits underneath the eyes to better blend out the nose
(Purple) Adding fat deposits underneath the lips for better definition
(Pink - Left) Rounding out the chin

HAIR PROCESSING

This was a second attempt at hair modeling, utilizing a base primitive sphere to move tool and place into position, as the curve tools were not working out in a 3D space for the hair. I will be working on another pass of this hair.

First version of the hair is down in the bottom left corner.

Feedback:

Feedback from Caden Peterson:

Immediately, I think this is secondary. I see very little primary. I think you're starting too small too fast. Here is a video:

Later in a seperate call, Caden and I were looking at the art of Mark Lambert as we discussed miniature figure painting and 3D printing. Mark Lambert is specifically a favorite creator of ours, as he focuses primarily on primary and secondary detail and only utilizes movement brushes and zmodeler to get his sculpts how he wants them

My favorite sculpt of his: Lucy

This side conversation ended up being incredibly beneficial, as Lambert had a specific resource for how he designs the hair, including a modified hair strand IMM brush and a step-by-step walkthrough for the specific process. LINK

The biggest takeaway from this guide was not the guide itself but the existence of the Bend Curve tool which allows me to make modified curves and move the mesh with multiple editable points for

Cloth Folding

Part of the sculpt that I have struggled with the most is the design of the bottom skirt; originally I was referencing the design of The Winter Queen, as shared in my last post. However, I found that the symmetrical design didn't fit her, especially with the large number of props that started to adorn the skeleton.

One of my friends mentioned making their own Ren Faire skirt with a metal hook to hoist the side of the skirt upwards, saying that the asymmetry would work well with the layers

I heavily referenced Kirill Senzu's Clothing and Accessories tutorial to create large folds and drapery in a complex area without overwhelming the viewer with noise. Utilizing the large shapes on the front

Final sculpt of the two layers. This idea blends the idea of the layered skirt with some softer undertones to break up the design. It also serves as heavy shape language without controlling the design in terms of detailing, juxtaposing heavy shape language with resting eyes and thin/sharp shape language with a lot of extra adornments.

I utilized Alexandra Jackson's Ruffle IMM brush to achieve the wave on the base skirt and a simple process of dynameshing & ZRemeshing to blend the two together. For the spine I used Dystopia Interactive's Spine Curve Brush to isolate a flat section and the Bend Curve deformer to put it into place

I forgot to mention it in my last update but; G_Pouraskar's 202 Leather Brush Straps IMM and Fred Taylor's Stylized Rope IMM brushes has been extremely helpful in making many of the cords, bags, and latches for this project -- Adding the right amount of utility for any D&D character

also one more note for this section:
I was reminded of the GIO soft brush for ZBrush; it feels like a mix of Dam Standard, Pinch, and Polish features all together. For large swaths of cloth I found this incredibly helpful