Beast of Burden - Character - visualboo

[erilaz]

Tell me about it... I almost did the Enchanted Forest challenge, then thought about modelling all those trees!
:eek:
But I'm determined to get at least something out this time!
Lunch breaks, tv watching time and a lot of sleep now must be filled with vertex selection.

[visualboo]

I really wish I could post my sketch but I dont have my scanner back from Phoenix :(. I might just do a quick PS sketch so I can post my idea.

I have been playing around with different techniques a lot lately. If you look at the hands, you'll prolly notice that about the hands :). Might switch back to another set I did.
Oh, and I can't make up my mind on the dern legs ;)

Here's what I have.... pretty much just blocking so far.

[visualboo]

I'm gonna shoot for a cartoony yet not too cartoony feeling (hence the face).

Here's a render of the object (undecided) being pulled through the snow.

[meloncully]

are those hands from the mk vid?

anyways, i lreally like your idea. I want to see hime finished.

the head brings the cartoony look, like you said.:thumbsup:

[visualboo]

hehe, yeah.... I've been trying all kinds of different modeling techniques and I always get really inspired by martins modeling :)

I'm probably gonna switch'em though.

Heres an idea for the 'object'. It could be some land mine or bomb. These creatures drag to the location and arm them :) This bomb is just a place holder.

Well, back to work. Gotta start working on the face and muscle definition.

[Taoizm]

Great concept. i can't wait to see how this bad boy comes out. :buttrock:

[visualboo]

:buttrock:

Just farting around with a couple composition ideas before I set my mind on all my models. Plus I was hoping it would give me a couple ideas looking at it :)

Just a quick and cheesy PS job :)

[visualboo]

quick update just to give an idea of wtf I'm gonna do since I couldn't scan my sketch. Still need to do all my modeling pretty much though ;)

:thumbsup: :thumbsdow ?

Oh dont mind the sketchy rigging.... it was just a 5 minute-er to get the pose.

[ZrO-1]

Very cool. I like the idea of the land-mines. Kinda like "the abomidable snowman strikes back" LOL. Seriously though. i like the stuff you've done so far. That drag of the mine through the snow looks awesome.

[meloncully]

i agree with zro. I cant wait to see a finished mine toting abominable snowman.

[visualboo]

haha...."the abomidable snowman strikes back" LMAO

That just gave me some ideas :wip:

[visualboo]

I was talking to my mom today and she saw my character and told me what a cool idea I had..... "a hovering beast draging a hamburger through the snow" "how original" she said

HEHE.... just thought I would share :buttrock:

Might have to start over now though :D
NOT the response I was lookin for

[Jacko Cohen]

don't mean to rain on your parade...
but that IS rule #5 :shrug: sorry

personally I like the way he's hovering. You're not quite sure if he's pulling the ball. Or if it's the ball and chain holding HIM down.

I think there's some nice potential there. http://www.cgtalk.com/images/icons/icon10.gif You should play around with that idea.

[visualboo]

Actually if this thing is humanoid when I'm done.... ummmm..... well.... it wont be :D. It's just blocked in right now :)

[visualboo]

hu·man·oid Pronunciation Key (hym-noid)
adj.
Having human characteristics or form.

n.
A being having human form: “humanoids from some far-flung planet” (Robert Brustein).
See android.

Ahh crap... :D That's a little more broad that I thought :( I guess I always thought of humanoid being very close to human. But that definition includes almost everything with two arms and two legs.

I'll start on a new guy tomorrow (hopefully I'll have some time).

[ZrO-1]

Yup humanoid is pretty broad. You know now that I think about it all those "gorrilla-like" BoB's are pro'lly humanoid as well. :shame:

[Gamoron]

Thanks for the timer. When I saw the guy I said to myself, Humanoid". But if you can make a great model like that you can do another good one. Visualboo I hope you still finish this guy sometime though.

[visualboo]

Originally posted by Gamoron
Thanks for the timer. When I saw the guy I said to myself, Humanoid".

The first thing you thought of was the fact that it's humanoid?
Shoot... now it's really outta here :)

Oh no problem with the timer (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13521) btw. I'm just glad to see that people find it usefull.

[Hasch2o]

Damn, i really loved your BoB, f***ing-rule, sorry!!!!

I hope u find some other great ida, hopefully as great
as this one here!!

Has already a moderator posted, that it doesn't fit the rules???
It could be that it will slip through a hole in the rules or so,
who knows!!

greetz H-2-O

BTW, don't know if it was already mentioned, but which
app do u use???

[Pancreas]

Hi, what a lovely icy creature you have! About the humanoid issue: you must not start a new beast, you can tweak this so it doesn´t look any human at all. You can make the legs with inverted knees (as a chicken), you can lower the head and attach it to the body (i mean, no neck), a more hunched pose (as a gorilla) so the arms are touching the ground (more cuadruped).
A bigger head more "animal" and less human is the key, and move it so the biped clavicle? structure is not appreciated.

I laughed a lot with your mother´s comment. Ah, mothers are the same all over the world. :rolleyes:

[sherban]

I'm with Pancreas:
don't start a new beast.
Tweak this one just enough so it doesn't look humanoid anymore.
I think the whole idea of the challanges is to see how you can work around the rules as well as with them to get your idea across.
You've got a really original piece here :thumbsup:

[visualboo]

Thanks for the comments guys. I'll see what I can do with this guy before I move on.

Idea numba 1:
Maybe just leave the legs off and do some sort of balloon/zepplin above him. Give him some controls for flying. Maybe just some nubs for legs :)

Oh and i use max.

[BrainFaucet]

How 'bout a wheel? :shrug:

I really like what you have so far, I'd hate to see it dropped.

[dmonk]

don't worry about it being humanoid I've seen alot of people with humanoid beasts. Mine is right now but it won't be when it is rigged and posed.

I like the style you have going. Don't give up on it.:thumbsup:

[iC4]

very nice so far, like the idea and also the snow :thumbsup:

[visualboo]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. Work has been soaking up all my time so it's gonna be hard for me to get this finished.... oh but I will succeed! :D

[visualboo]

well, I havent had that much time but here's a quick and small update. I just removed his neck.

Do you guys think I should push it back more?

[OZ]

devolution modeing !!!!! he he he....haaa it is a sin.....i love ur creature in the first version......no matter if he is a bit human like.......but the rules are the rules.....a sin.im curious to see how u transform ur character from human like to beast like.......anyway a very good job. Keep it up and rock again as ur first image!:buttrock:

[visualboo]

Thanks OZ. I'm still trying to think of a way to transform him into a.. umm..... monster.... er.... something :) I just don't want to start adding detail into a model that will completely change. :shrug:

I gots my thinkin cap on now though :D

[edit] Did you say you like the first version of him better? With the neck? I was thinking of really embeding it :)

[hypercube]

Looking cool, and beastly :) I loved the look from before when he was dragging the hamburger pokemon balls through the snow, but the no-neck look is extremely cool.

I think the exaggerated proportions are getting it there..there are a LOT of entries that could be 'outed' as humanoid really, I wouldn't worry about it. Plus look at the past challenges..people were making robots, mechanical forests, humans, regardless of the rules. The play's the thing. But then the mods haven't spoken. With 200+(!!) entries it must be difficult to get to, I can barely even read them.

Anyway, hope to see the rest of this guy either way..maybe give him a tail? little horns? 4 legs? I dunno.

[visualboo]

Yeah, good point cube. There is a ton of entries that could be breaking the rules, but...... I'm really gonna try and go the legal route.

Live by the rules.... Die by the rules :D

Here's another quicky. Just pushed it back more :)

[The chad]

love the idea of a winter wastland the head should have more definition where it meets the neck but i love the over white
:beer:

[visualboo]

Yeah, I'll deffinitely model a lot more detail. I'm just trying to get my basic ideas down first. Since my original idea got shot down :) I had to think of some new ideas :buttrock:

[visualboo]

Not really an update. Just poped his eyeballs back in there sockets :) and diff angle.

[visualboo]

What about going this direction? Original idea was to stay away from tech so who knows. I was going to try and keep everything very organic and 'beastly'. :D

[ambient-whisper]

cute creature. but the elbow area is wrong. the bicep should be connected to the forearm a little so that it could pick it up.

many people usually model the bicep completely concentrated on the upper arm...while there is no actual connection to the lower arm because they know how the muscle looks when its already flexed. but thats the problem. when the arm is down its not flexed. and even when it is...the bulge is not there.

brom makes some of the best arms. you should check his stuff out :)
http://www.bromart.com/gallery/DarkPast/images/Gazell1.jpg

[visualboo]

Brom?..... who dat? :D

[dmonk]

Good point ambient!

that made me wanna go check the biceps on mine.

Visualboo:

I think I like where your going with the bottom half of your character.

[Taoizm]

Hee-hee... tanks treds are cool. I'd go with the double treds for stability though.

[visualboo]

I'm gonna model him posed I think cause I've never done that... and after all this is supposed to make me learn right. Lots of tweaking still to do :bounce:

So what do you guys think? Yay or nay on the shriveled underdeveloped legs idea? :D

Thanks to bentllama for the idea

[visualboo]

same thing... different angle :)

[Chico]

Brom?..... who dat?

Brom.? he dis:p
http://www.bromart.com/

Who is this creep?

Born on March 9th, 1965, in Albany Georgia. Brom is the son of an Army aviator and spent his entire school age years on the move, living in such places as Japan, Alabama, and Hawaii. He graduated from high school in Frankfurt, Germany. From his earliest memories he has been obsessed with the creation of the weird, the monstrous and the beautiful.

Straight from the website :surprised

If you are going to model him posed then may be you should put a little more straing on him.? At the moment he looks as if hes just plodding along and there is no friction on either his base plate of the ball behind him.

Maybe think about the weight of the ball, and how hard he has to pull just to get the next step (Used loosely:) ) along. Also how is he attached to the plate.? if hes simply stiiting in it then you may want to have the feet posed in such a way that they are grasping or pressing in such a way that they wouldnt come out as he pulls himself along. Also does the plate weigh much.?

...

Oh and one more thing...Hes he been doing this for years..? all his life.? Is this how hes know to get around.? If you then think about how the muscles would have developed over years of stretching foward and pulling.

Soory about all the comments, I just can see alot of potential in this one:thumbsup: And youve done well so far and Id like to see it go sooo much further

Keep it up:airguitar

[visualboo]

hehe.... sorry, I am very familiar with brom :) Just being sarcastic with a friend.

About looking like he's straining..... good point. I just havent gotten to that point yet. I guess that's next though.

Thanks for the comments too. I really appriciate that kinda stuff. Anyone else? :wip:

[visualboo]

Oh I forgot.... DOH!!! The plate that chico was talking about is a sled :D

[visualboo]

Started working on the harness. Tweaked the body (a little) to make him look like he's straining. Gonna go a lot more with that though. I think that his facial expression is what makes him look like he's just taking his time. Just started working on the indents from the chains in his skin too.

I have no idea what I'm going to do for trinkets though.... any ideas? I guess he could just put a HUGE clock around his neck and start saying "Yeeeeeeah boooooooyyy!!!"

[dmonk]

and you were gonna quit?

I love the concept of the little unused legs it works really well.:thumbsup:

Are you using softbodies with the snow? ( orr whatever you would call them I'm only used to XSI.)

I don't have any crits just wanted to say it looks great and I'm glad you didn't pull out of the competition.:D

[visualboo]

:D Thanks

I'm glad I didn't change it tooo much either. I'm having a blast with this challenge.

The snow is just a plane that I locally meshsmoothed and manually tweaked. No softbodies.

[meloncully]

hey hey, i love the shriveled up legs.

[visualboo]

Yeah, that part was Bentllama's idea. So, thanks Nate. :)

I've been super busy these past few weeks but hopefully I'll have an update in a day or so. :buttrock:

[Taoizm]

those little feet are sooooo cute ;)

[Bakednotphried]

Updates?

[PlebianX]

Shouldn't there be big plopps in the snow from his hands on either side of the furrow the ball leaves? Either way, looks good! :)

[Joril]

I don't know if this has been suggested before, but have you tried some white fur on him?

[erilaz]

oooh! very nice. I like the crippled snowboarding look.
Hand is great.

[visualboo]

Bakednotphried: All in good time :) I've been sick :(

PlebianX: Yeah, good point. I kind of made a mistake when I wanted to do a cartoony piece, because this is a modeling contest and cartoons don't have 'detail'. :D sooooo.... I'm just going to try and add as much detail into him and the scene as possible without over doing it.

Joril: Haven't tried it yet but I will. The only thing about white fur is that everytime I do that, my creature looks like some twisted malnourished rat. :D I'll try though.

erilaz: Thanks

I've been really sick lately with a mad cold, but I'm on the up and up. Hopefully I'll get a chance to do some modeling again.... since this is a modelling chalenge. :buttrock:

[TomTerror]

Hey visualboo :)

I "LOVE" your character... The head looks so cool, can you by chance post a low poly wireframe? if not, could please just post a wireframe :)

Cheers

[visualboo]

Here ya go. There's about 68k polys in the scene as of right now (mostly all the snow. 2,150 on the character alone). That's gonna go up once I get back to modeling on the BoB.

The snow's ugly isn't it ;)
http://www.visualboo.com/misc/vpg06.jpg

[TomTerror]

Hey visualboo :)

I meant a close-up of the head, low poly please, if its cool with you though :)

Cheers man

[visualboo]

hehe, sorry... here ya go. It's super simple :cool:

http://www.visualboo.com/misc/vpg07-head.jpg

[TomTerror]

Thanks a million ;)
It might be simple but I love the cartoonish look.
Great work man! Keep it up.

Cheers

[visualboo]

Anytime Tom :cool:

[visualboo]

Crap.... I hate not finishing these. I didn't even get back to modeling the dang BoB. Oh well, into the unfinished pile for now :shrug:

Lil'd, here's the finished piece (I guess).
http://www.visualboo.com/images/personalprojects/BoB/BoB-COMPLETE-01.jpg
http://www.visualboo.com/images/personalprojects/BoB/BoB-COMPLETE-02.jpg

[ZrO-1]

Hey Visualboo, this piece looks really really great. i think you did an awesome job on this. Great work. :applause: :applause:

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