Improved look - is it better ? More professional?

#1

head6
head6.jpg1280x720 132 KB

My artwork on:

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Wmqk2y

check my video:

#2

I like the silhouette, as it’s versatile.
The polygon density is inconsistent: the shoulders look quite dense, whereas his face is way too lowpoly. It should be otherwise, as the viewer always looks at face and head first.
His helmet has obvious lowpoly edges, which are not welcomed. It’s not 1999 anymore, make the best you can to portray the form.
The uvw maps could be improved in places, as it seems there are some non-unwrapped areas.
Keep up the good work, looks interesting!

#3

Been away from this board for a few months and look who I see when I come back. :slight_smile:

I don’t know, man. I don’t know what you want us to say. I just don’t. It really does seem that you’re just trolling us whenever you get bored. To rip off the band-aid, I’ll just answer your questions as honestly as possible. No it is not improved, not wholly. No it is not more professional. Not in-depth enough for you?

  1. That head model demonstrates ZERO understanding of topology, especially as it applies to game characters. Don’t expect to animate that or, at least, animate it well. It’s just not set up for that.
  2. You’ve got a disparate mix of poly densities, further showing that you don’t fully grasp the subject matter - provided that you’re being on the level with us. While it’s always necessary to give some areas more poly detail than others, especially if they’re curvy, What you have here is uneven throughout. Seems like you’re just tossing together elements and hoping for the best.
  3. Speaking of poly detail… It’s not 2000 anymore. Even for a mobile game that’d be too low. This is really late era Ion Storm (eg. Anachronox, Daikatana, & Deus Ex 1) LOD - in the areas that aren’t bloated relative to the lower detail ones. Update your specs.
  4. The texturing is just crazy bad. Very amateurish and rushed. Muddy, low res, and poorly UVed. Also, hard to even accurately judge it since you just post with a wireframe superimposed. At this point - with the uneven density, exposed wireframe, AND low res texture all intentionally on the same mesh - it’s pretty clear that you’re messing with us. (I looked at your artstation. Not much better.)
  5. WTH is up with that sculpt video? It’s not terrible and somewhat interesting, but the motion is nausea inducing and there’s no real point to the 5 minutes on display. When you’re showing this stuff off, especially to prospective employers or colleagues, time is of the essence. Displaying the end product could’ve been shown off in a 5 second looped video. I’m not even sure what the point of that video is, other than showing you overlay extra geo.

Yeah, man. You’re just screwing with us at this point and, tbh, I find these posts WAY more funny than constructive for anybody. You know what you’re doing. Mazel tov, dude. You do you.

@mister3d: I see that you, like me, are a glutton for punishment too. Welcome to the show. :smiley:

#4

I know it’s been said on here that his polycount is too low, but unless he’s actually aiming to apply for AAA video games or movies, it’s still a legitimate artstyle.

Just like how there is still art made to look like 8-Bit NES or 16-Bit Sega Genesis, I would never oppose someone who wants to make old school PS1 or N64.

My favourite game of all time looks like this, and I still think the graphics are better than any modern console or PC game.

Especially in a time now when artificial robots are making realistic art at a push of button, I rather appreciate old school images that has imperfections, but is proof they were once made by a human.

The important lesson for OP is to understand ARTSTYLE and CONSISTENCY. The screenshot I posted is full of low geometry counts and blurry textures, but the Artists still made important design choices in terms of color, lighting, silhouette, graphic design etc. Do the same and there is no issue.

Another old school game that’s no longer cutting edge, but the hand painted and stylized choices makes you forget anyway.

#5

Hey, good too see you back man! Yeah, same guy, same shtick. The posts are kind of funny, and the responses also. Especially if you have been following them over time. I fell into the same trap of trying to help and give him critiques but he answers nothing unless it is praise for his work and then posts another with the same errors you pointed out to him last time. Not really trying to improve, just looking for validation. Anyway, glad to hear from you again.

#6

It’s not just that his poly count is low. That’s fine. Plenty of reasons why to use such obscenely low counts.

However, unless he’s trolling us, it’s pretty clear that this work demonstrates poor topology, lazy optimization, bad UVs, and so on.

Even when presenting content destined for mobile devices where the target specs are much lower, there still has to be an adherence to the fundamentals. What’s on display here looks rushed and amateurish with no apparent understanding of the target audiences, those reviewing and consuming.

I will say, given the power of, say, a modern iOS-based device, he could probably aim higher in terms of counts. This military piece is BARELY a step above 1995 Quake counts.

He could be doing more in that ultra-low range and doing more WITH those counts. This isn’t only badly conceived and implemented, but also a missed opportunity to show how he could push the quality at those levels.

And, no, he doesn’t respond to anything other than utter praise. Again, IF he’s legit, I’ve seen his type before. Worse even.

I remember there was this one guy on GameArtisans back in the day. EVERYBODY tried to be delicate and constructive in critiquing his work. We wanted to help him. It was clear that he was a newbie with, maybe, just a few months of experience - at most.

No matter what we said, he didn’t understand what we were driving at. Eventually, most of us just gave up and/or told him the harsh truth.

“Dude, your work is not good. You COULD get better, but you have to listen. You’re trying to do too much at once. You’re ignoring the order of operations in a standard workflow. Please, for your sake, open your ears and put your ego aside.”

YEAH!!! That woke him up, but not in a good way.

His response was something along the lines of, “You don’t know wtf you’re talking about. You guys just don’t understand my style. WTF should I listen to any of you. I’m producing studio quality work. You guys are just pushing garbage. I’M the pro. YOU’RE the pretenders.”

In his mind, he was a master. No. He was THE master. He clearly felt that he had accomplished something and his eyes were opened to this new world. He probably felt like Neo from the Matrix and thought that only he could see the world of CG for what it really was. Everybody else was still asleep and he was a pioneer.

Welcome to the land of delusion. His work was sh**. Pure and simple. I actually felt a little bad for him. I can only imagine the cold hand of reality slapping him when he tried to present his “portfolio” (if you could call it that) to prospective employers and recruiters.

Those who didn’t straight up ignore him were almost certainly going to take him to task for labeling himself as a pro and a unique voice, better than his “peers.” (Anybody who’s had to undergo the review process knows that it can be painfully honest, especially when you’re still fresh faced.)

As for this guy… Answering him is pretty much my monthly entertainment. I don’t accomplish much in replying, but I guess it’s good finger exercise. Gotta make sure that my RSI doesn’t get any better. :wink:

#7

As long as he’s not making violent threats or doing anything illegal, I would never take what he says or does personal. Posting art on the internet has always been a thing, and millions of it exists every day.

It’s just impossible to get mad at every single one. And for what? Disney isn’t in danger. Nor is Nintendo, or any other professional studio. Just like you and me, they filter the Artists they like and then move on in life.

#8

No. You’re right. He’s not doing anything illegal, dangerous, or even insulting. I just feel that…

FIRST SCENARIO… If he’s a troll then I feel bad for CGTalk. This site has certainly seen better days and is now probably on its last legs. Only a few of we “old timers” still remain; I’ve personally been a member here since ~2002 and on its precursor (Planet3DArt) since ~1997. Those of us who remain come to either share their stuff or help those who need it and might otherwise get drowned out or ignored in social media.

TO ME, people who troll this board aren’t just entertaining themselves, but wasting the time of those who want to contribute in a substantive way. Yes. I know what you’re thinking. “But you don’t have to reply. That’s all your fault.” You’re 100% right. However, maybe I’m too trusting or naive, but I always want to see the best in people and trust that they’re on the level and not just f***ing with us for their amusement. Even if there’s only a 1% chance that the person is sincere, I want to give them the benefit of the doubt and at least try to help, when I can.

Intentionally or not, trolling feels like a massive middle finger when you’re on a dying/dead forum. Just saying.

SECOND SCENARIO… Let’s assume that this person is on the level, is legit, and wants to be helped. Well, it certainly doesn’t seem as if he wants to listen. He’s been here 4 or 5 years. He asks the same questions & posts the same sort of content - some of which is dubious in its origins. We offer up a plethora of ways for him to take his work to the next level and… … … … Radio silence. Not a peep. A few months pass, he posts/asks the same type of stuff again, and (again) we reply only to receive no response from the void. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Nearly half a decade now.

If nothing else, if he’s legit, he’s doing himself a disservice. Feedback is a two-way street. It’s a back & forth. It’s certainly only valuable when the person seeking help actually takes that advice, either in whole or in part. Still wanting to believe him… What this tells me is that he either doesn’t know how to apply those critiques and isn’t willing to follow up on them, doesn’t see any problem with his work at all, or has hit a wall and is running on a metaphorical treadmill - never getting worse, but never getting better.

You. Me. Everybody else. We CAN help him. He just has to be willing to listen and apply what he’s being taught, shown, or told. The system doesn’t work when those willing and able to mentor are just screaming into the void of space. He’s only hurting himself as an artist and hampering his growth. Personally, I’d love for him to learn from my/our mistakes. Still, you know the old saying. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.

That said, I’ve always had a few questions regarding his work. I’m certainly open to the notion that he’s got an uneven skill set and is better in some areas than others. A red flag, of sorts, to me is when I see work that looks like it was made by somebody with a few years of experience juxtaposed along side something that looks as if it had been made by somebody who just saw a 30 minute YouTube tutorial and opened the app for the fist time.

When he can seemingly nail the complex modeling of a tank or Russian copter, yet not be able convincingly model a simple 4-walled temple… A little light goes off in my head. I begin to wonder. Is he trolling us in posting a complex helicopter, but also pretending to fail at what’s little more than a cube? Is downloading somebody else’s models and trying to pass them off as his? The quality disparity raises some questions. Again, he COULD be that uneven. I just find that hard to believe, especially after 4 or 5 years posting work here.

You’re right. He’s not hurting anybody. He’s not doing anything illegal. He’s not insulting people. The only thing that he’s doing is posting threads that he doesn’t care to reply to and probably watching as we bitch. In that sense, IF it’s a troll game, it’s super subversive. Masterful even. I guess, that’s what annoys me. It doesn’t overtly hurt anybody or the board, but is about as annoying as a flood of Viagra threads.

AGAIN… I hope that the OP is on that level and this is just (another) rant of mine. I want him to be sincere. I want him to actually need the help that he claims to want. I want him be receptive to our critiques. I want to see him put the best work out there to shame as he flourishes and becomes the CG Sensei. I have my doubts.

#9

And, to add to it, while I am not a complete newbie to CG, I am self-taught and I do run into things I need help with. I come to CGTalk to ask people like Cookepuss for assistance. If people life LukeMemonic drive the pros like Cooke away or into apathy, I can’t get that help. And I am completely anti social media, so I won’t even post there, even if I did want to try to shout through the noise. So it is a disservice to others in that way as well.

#10

From my perspective, these types of differences are just part of life. A consequence of “free speech” if you will.

It sounds political, but I rather we have a world where different opinions and choices still exist, vs a world that is 100% conformist. The only exception to this rule is avoiding violence or unlawful activities (because those types of actions can have terrible consequences).

I say this because human beings are complex creatures, that there doesn’t exist a “one size fits all” approach. As I mentioned before, there’s millions of art on the web. There’s just as equally millions of stubborn people as well. If they refuse advice, the reasons could always be justified or not.

And this applies to so many other real world examples. There are countless Restaurants that cook food a certain way. Telling them they are all wrong or to all adopt a certain standard would be a waste of time and even make the world a duller place.

We just have to sometimes accept people are different, and move on without them…

#11

It looks nice, I like the second picture very much, but the first is also not bad

#12

I wouldn’t take whatever he says or does personally as long as he isn’t threatening harm or breaking the law. There are millions of pieces of art uploaded to the internet every day, and it has always been a thing.

Simply put, it’s difficult to be irate at everyone. For what purpose? Disney is not at risk. Nintendo and other reputable studios are not either. They filter the artists they like, just like you and I do, and then move on with their lives.