Game Art Comp 1 Judging

[Roach[MXF]]

After scanning all models multiple times I have come to a conclusion. First I will say that you all did a great job. I will list how I came to my conclusion now.

--FIRST PLACE: Wanzai's "Guan-Di" It pops out at me, the reference, then the concept, then the wire, mesh with wire and any shot imagineable, and last a beautiful render with a well chosen red background complementing character that is highly green in hue. Gorgeous texture sheet, very very very clean and well done. The character looks like he belongs in a game, and would be interesting to battle with his large hook and shield-like shoulderpiece. The conplementary evil red face with the happy green bunny on his armor work very well together and tie him together as a completed character very well. Nicely done, get a website up and running, I would love to see more of your work.

--The runner up is Eliwolff I find the concept very nice and clean, the model is done very well and matches the concept closely. The rendering is exquisite. I had to choose between yours and Wanzai's and I had to choose his. The only reason he won was because his textures were a tiny bit cleaner although yours were very clean and were done well. Another reason this did not win first is because it uses a few more polygons than his does, which makes his seem more optimized. Your character looks like a henchman, and not a boss character. Great job, I had a really hard time deciding, but the other judges will place their votes aswell. Good luck.


--TobyWong's submission "Odin" Nice idea, I almost did Odin myself, but chose Grendel instead (which I have not yet completed) The concept works but could be cleaner, maybe some color and a bit more polish. The model looks good, nice use of the polygons and nice modeling all around. The texture are nice, but could use a bit more detail in some areas. NIce job.


--Longman's "Medusa" great idea, the concept is great and well done, probably my favorite concept in this challenge. The only thing I can think is that you could have used more time and polygons. Medusa has a lot of snakes in her hair so I can imagine how hard it was to ration the polygons. If I were to model this character I would have lost the staff due to the polygons it would use, and put those toward the snakes, make the bottom of the torso more of a hemisphere since she will be on the ground and thus weight will flatten the bottom out anyway, thus freeing up more polygons for snakes, arms and torso. The belt could have been done with a nice texture against the body to free up more polygons. The textures are messy and if they were given a little more time would work a lot better together (on the back, chest,and snakes) Her face is amazing, looks extremely nice which tells me that I can expect more out of you. I really want to see this completed. You have a few more polygons to use, and I would say on the shoulder/armpit area just for smoother results. Great job.


Once again Wanzai is my choice for FIRST PLACE. Good luck fellow judges, great work cgtalkers. -Jeremy-


:buttrock: :buttrock:

[Boyd Lake]

#1: Guan Di, by Wanzai.

This concept has been adapted very well to the parameters of the contest guidlines. Tough and mean, while cute and cuddly. The big rabbit on the chest makes all the difference! ;)

The concept drawing is simple, but shows enough to give adequate direction.

The textures are very well executed and make the most of the UI space. The complimentary color composition is nice too.

The Model is fairly well executed...The poly/quad arrangments look clean. A shaded edgeview would be nice to see. The only crit here is that I would have put fewer segments in the curve of the weapon and used the extra polys to smooth his limbs out a bit more.

Perhaps the best thing I like is how well the final character matches the concept sketch in character presence. Proportion is a bit different, but in this case, the final result is an improvement in the design.

#2: Minotaur, by eliwolff

Anyone that can utlilize nearly all the alloted polys without going over gets points in my book. No sense in not using alloted resource.

The concept is a very good one, and I have to say I was a bit disappointed that you dumped the abstract stylized ( a very chinese dragon mask-like) appearence of the head in the concept for the weaker long-nosed look. The textures/unwrapping could be more efficient. I see a lot of black in those bitmaps.

The model itself is good. Personally, I'd rather see 5 sided or more polygons cut down to quads or triangles, just so I know that there are no hidden edges orienting in the wrong direction. Once again, a shaded edge view would be nice to see.

I think the color scheme of the textures fights against itself a bit. I would have chosen warmer tones against the earthy brown fur. Or even a white tunic with deep red and gold....mmmmm.

It's a good job though. the beauty "toon" render is a nice touch and the pose does make the most of your model.

#3: Medusa, by *AHEM*.....modeling_man

I think the concept drawing is nice, but the idea itself hasn't been worked into the very difficult "tough and mean, but cute and cuddly" parameters of the contest. I think it could be made more successfull if you maybe used the fact that Medusa is female and went for a more alluring visual cues while leaving in some dark quality.

You'd think a hot chick with snakes on her head would be a good mix, but in this case, some more feminine allure and less serpentine creature might have been in order. I'm not saying get pornographic or anything, but there are all kinds of ways that a female character can allure the viewer. It's possible that just giving her larger eyes with lashes and irises would do the trick.
Maybe even a "Manga/Anime Medusa" could have been a possible direction.

Another thing that makes this choice a difficult one to pull off is the added polygons required by the snakes that make up her hair.

The model could use a few proportion adjuments in the arms. The concept show much more muscularity and form in the arms. Also the breasts and ribcage have much more definition in the concept sketch. A plus goes to you for adding the shaded edge renders...though they aren't quite large enough to see much.

The textures are ok. I am not all that turned on by the monochromatic color scheme. I guess it fits the direction you decided to go. Adding more "cute and cuddly" to the character would have meant using more color. More efficiency in the texture is also in order. There's no need to have both sides of the snake heads mirrored in the bitmap.

I do like the render with the character in the environment. It's a nice touch.

#4: Odin, by tobyWong

Somehow it seems unfortunate that this character ended up last. It's really not that bad and deserves more than last place certainly, but this character just didn't end up being nearly as interesting as the others...at least to me.

The concept art for this guy is very loose, but there's still enough there to give presence and direction for the character. I think that if the final model were closer to this sketch, I'd place it much higher on the list. Particularly the big intimidating hands and bigger midsection make the proportions of the sketch more intriguing. And though Black is the way to go with this guy, I would have preferred more highlights and lighter tones to describe the features of his costume in the hood and coat. He certainly has enough cuddly features with the one eyed grandpa looks and the brown pants. I think more thought about color scheme could have helped here too. Blue brown and black don't really seem to be working here as well as maybe some other colors might.

Kudos for using all but two alloted polys....;)


All in all, I think all these entries show some nice work. Congrats to all for having completed the project.

[modeling-man]

Sorry wasn't gonna say anything...but this is the second post by a judge thinking the Medusa model was by Longman. So I felt I needed to clarify.

Medusa was created and modeled by modeling_man not Longman. I didn't have time to post the work on the submission form and he was nice enough to post them for me since I wasn't able to. Once again, modeling_man = Medusa.
Longman however, has made some sweet Lightwave models and they can be seen in the Lightwave section.

Great critiques by all the judges so far! Good job by everyone.
I can't wait for the next competition to start!
B

[Ravennome]

:applause: Okay, my choices are short and sweet.


First Place: wanzai's Guan-Di
Of the limited entries this one, is to me the most fully realized piece. And the most original. Until this challenge this character was totally foreign (no pun intended) to me, and that counts. I like how the wanazi allowed his concept to evolve and adapt as it when along. It really achieves all the guidelines for this challenge. The modeling is efficient, and the poly distribution is expertly handled. The texture sheet is very economic in terms of pixel usage; he really positioned everything so they would have just the right amount of deal. I especially like the fold work in the fabrics and the shading. There isn't much to say other than bravo. All in all a great effort.

Runner Up: eliwolff's Minotaur
This was a hard choice to make because I really wanted to give it first place. The style really hits the cartoon mark, it makes the character funny, while at the same time serious. In fact one of the main downfalls of this character is the character itself, the Minotaur while quite impressive is also quite canned. And the design behind this minotaur, while it fits in the guidelines seems to lack a bit of spark. I was hoping for more a twist on the old idea of the man/bull. The concept looks promising, but the final doesn't quite exceed the concept. The modeling is spot on, and the distribution is perfect. The texture sheets are good, and they lend themselves to the whole cartoon look of the character. My only problem with them is that they look a bit finger-painted. If that is the goal then it succeeds. But, on the model they break down in a few spots, i.e. the hands and the axe. All in all though great work. And I'm sure give enough time it would have tied for first.

Third Place: modeling_man's Medusa
This was a great concept though a bit canned. I do think with a bit more care in the concept stage a lot of the model's issues could have been resolved. The snakes are a bit tricky here, they do demand quite a bit of geometry. I think that with some better planning they could have been worked in more efficiently. But this is a good newbie effort.
The modeling is a bit askew and could use some keen optimization. I think the budget may have been spent in the wrong areas. The snakes are too long and could be cut down and laid closer to the head, this would accomplish both poly-reduction and one of my other problems with the model the mass of the hair. The hands (especially the one holding the staff) could use some trimming. When ever you have a character that has a weapon that is in one hand at all times You can optimizes the hand to fit that weapon, and chinched hand takes up much less geometry than an open one. As for the textures, they appear rushed, and that's all right. The face is fantastic and I'm sure given a little more time the rest would come up to that level. The texture space is used effectively though the UVs could be a little cleaner. Over all, there are thing here and there, but this was a good learning experience. I'm sure, and we can expect great things in the future from m_m.

Can't wait for the next challenge, I hope there are more submissions. I know I'll throw my hat in the ring.

-O

Out
:applause:

[sanhueza]

Hey everyone,
I'm away for the holidays and have only been able to get on the web sporadically, but I thought I would check in and see what was going on here.

And the winner is...
It seems pretty clear to me that Wanzai was the winner of this comp. Cool beans, Wanzai! I'd like to once more congratulate all of the entrants and am really enthusiastic to see more from you guys in the future. :bounce:

So Wanzai, as the winner, the next comp is in your hands. Just like I did, pick a subject, set some guidelines, and decree a start and end date. Of course you can enter yourself, like I did. Guess we'll need judges again too. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

- Me

www.sanhueza.com

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