Im not too fond of the feathers either I have to admit. Maybe they can be dramatically improved upon, but right now I’d rather have the more dragon-like wings back and improved instead. Just my opinion tho.
The rest of the BoB is very cool though, looks like it could lift some pretty hefty loads with those arms/legs, the muscles look very good, as is the head! 
I’m curious as to how this poor beast is ever gonna get some rest, not having anything obvious to use for landing… 
Beast of Burden - Character - Joril
Gollum
#47
Joril
#48
Maybe it’s time for a little explanation about the wings.
My Beast lives in the lands of the (not so Ancient) Aztecs, they believe the creature is a gift from their God Quetzacoatl, to help them build those grand stone cities, build out of massive rocks. How else do you believe these rocks got there? (Don’t say the Atlantiens build them, might be true but it messes with my story ).
Quetzacoatl is a feathered snake (wings included)(oh and with thanks to fedron), hence the feathered wings.
I’m thinking of calling the beast a Quetzal-Drake.
The drake sleeps like a bat/flying dog (hope thats right in English) or he might sleep like a bird, I’ll have to do some more research.
Hope you like the little story 
But enough talk, here’s the update:
I remodeled the feathers because the old were to high poly.
The other additions should be clear.
A bigger version is available right here !!
The image is 393kb, so please be patient while it loads.
ZrO-1
#49
Those wings look goregeous man. Fantastic job on them.
That story is cool too. Well thought out and explanitory. Now you need to start adding in all sorts of Aztec trinkets and decorations to it.
Joril
#50
Thanks ZrO-1!
I haven’t really worked on it for some days, I’ve been to busy finishing Warcraft III last two evenings. And been reading on some Aztec culture and history.
for example:
… On the night of the O’ Nothing Days, O’ priests would dress up as the supreme gods and wait on the top of an extinct volcano. When the evening star reached the top of the sky, the priests would stretch the captive over an altar, or a special stone. Then the high priest would light a fire on the victim’s heart and tear it out. After the heart is cut, the priest would hold the heart to the sun, then put it in a sacred dish. Finally, the bodies were rolled down the temple stairs to lie in a heap. Even after that, most victims were happy to die because they thought they would go straight to heaven …
This has nothing to do with my creature, but what a delightful culture.
All that reading gave me some nice inspiration about the trinkets and armour.
It will have alot of feathers, Aztec symbols and light wooden armour (as mentioned before)
I’ll post a real update tomorrow, honestly!!
Joril
#52
I started with the armour, it’s still all very rough.
I’ll be adding more detail and continue teaking tomorrow.
For now … need sleep, becoming immune to caffeïne.
Joril
#53
Been working in the armour this evening.
Hope you guys and gals like it!
Oh and by the way:
This is my 500th post !!!
:bounce:
Joril
#54
No comments? I’ll be moving on to the bump mapping soon I hope. So I shouldn’t spend that much time on armour, so If anyone has something to say about it, I’d like to hear it now.
ZrO-1
#55
Hey man, that’s looking great. i love how you make the bird-tail part of the beast part of the armor so that it can also keep it’s reptillian tail. That was an awesome idea. The Incan serpent head on the armor looks sweet as well. Is that a bump map?
Everything on this rocks right now. I have no crits for you :shrug:
Joril
#56
As always, thanks alot ZrO-1!
Actually I got the idea for the tail from the Aztec shields which were decorated with feathers.
The serpent head is geometry, I’ll give it a jade material colour. The armour itself will be dark painted wood.
All work for tonight
SDIT
#57
Awesome work. I really like the way you developed the face. I thought maybe for reference you should check the “Black Waltz #3” from FFIX. I thought it could help.
Good work!
SDIT
:airguitar :airguitar
Klaymen
#58
I like the concept of feathered wings, but I do not like the flat area in front of the feathers… If you dont change that I think you should go bakc to the dragon wings…
Joril
#59
SDIT: thanks! I checked out that character, looks nice and feathery
Klaymen: I know about the flat area, the thing is, feathers in that area get smaller. making them geometry would kill my nerves and my computer, I haven’t got the moster PC some of the people around here have.
I’m working on the (planar) bumpmaps now, but some annoying computer chrashes set me back. I hope I’ll get to finish it.
derwolpertinger
#61
i already saw your entry a while ago but great progression you made with it!!:buttrock: only thing that bothers me is that the feather look all too similar-you know: same angles and such. bring in a bit more variation to them. that would make them look more realistic.
Manicalavera15
#62
Hi !
kind realistic wings:applause:
You look for eagle hypogriffe modeling
cool technic, just a crit : wings have so much featherrrrrrr horribleeeeeee (500000000000000000 faces / 2 wings lol)
and your model seems to have few feather…no?
good luck man !
CGtalk BIRD RuleZ !!!
Manicalavera15
#63
Hi !
kind realistic wings:applause:
You look for eagle hypogriffe modeling
cool technic, just a crit : wings have so much featherrrrrrr horribleeeeeee (500000000000000000 faces / 2 wings lol)
and your model seems to have few feather…no?
good luck man !
CGtalk BIRD RuleZ !!!
Joril
#64
Manicalavera15: Thanks for the comments
The feathers alone make for 10192 faces per wing - unsmoothed.
I had to get my calculator and sum up the faces layer per layer to get to the total number because my computer can’t render them all realtime.
And to think I even simpified the feather somewhere along the way.
Mandrake
#65
oo this is coming really good! I like modelling and I particulary
like a pose. Keep it up…
deivys20
#66
hey man, great piece of modeling. I really like your character. keep it up. I am looking forward to see the textures on that beast.