Jeff's Creature

#2

This is Chun Lui…from 3d.sk… Its becoming clear I will have to modify the skin…age it and make it more sickly and translucent…his pics seem good enough to get it on a model which can be alot more Aschwitz…

I saw “Emanual” on there kind of hairy polish guy…that had the right body type…didnt see Jonas…couple old dudes we can work with…I think I have enough to get started on my end…

remember the model is just a stretcher bar for me…so the ref doesnt have to match the model

His photos are rather even lighting I can work with and has relatively NO HAIR…alot of the other older guys are hairy…

the arms Im not worried about as much because I can bring in animal skin or female skin…for aged arms…

#3

we can use his legs as well…what do you invision for the calf’s down to hooves…

Jesus Christ! did you see the homeless chinese guy with the lepper skin…ROLF! I just gagged

#4

I think Im safe on horns…3d.sk has alot of African cows or bulls…this was from anteleope…

still checking for shorthair goat…in black…

#5

for the calves down, he’d be pretty hairy…i’ll post up a pic of where hair would be on this dude so you have a better idea. that area would probably be his hairiest area…but overall, it’s pretty patchy on his body…makes’m look creepier.

#6

3d.sk is just awesome. that guy has created a wonderful service to the industry. these horns are cool! love the texturing. man, i can’t wait to see how you progress w/this creature! i’m excited.

#7

  1. Phooka hand design test. I’ve been thinking about doing a Phooka for at least 3 yrs now. I’ve started, then stopped 2 or 3 times. None of what I had was even worth keeping…just wasn’t feeling any of it. A lot of that has to do with being a bit intimidated by Brian Froud’s original drawing. I mean, I loved it so much that I felt I was really on the verge of totally screwing it all up for myself. So any time I started and it didn’t look good, I abandoned it. So when the opportunity to do this book arose, I knew I had to do one creature…the Phooka…this was my chance to finish the fukr and to create a version that not only maintained the integrity of the artwork, but also had my own style in there.
    So, in an effort to jumpstart the creative juices, I started a 3d sketch of his hand. This was an area I have been thinking about for, well, years! The idea of merging a goat hoof and a human hand was just something I had to explore.

  2. working out leg silhouette. I’ve seen people handle this differently…I prefer the 4th one (beginning from screen left)…the legs are a little straighter but with some bend/curvature, too.

  3. Two very different approaches here…the top “hero” version is what I always envisioned when creating my rendition of this character…BUT the idea of creating the “abomination” phooka is soooooo enticing, plus, it makes this creature unique. I had so much fun creating the hand/armmerging of forms between a goat hand human, that I can’t stop thinking of the possibilities here.

  4. As much as I enjoyed playing around with a “monster” phooka, it was just a bit too much, really. So, I opted for something more along the lines of the hero version but this character will be very aged…pathetically old…but still dangerous by its very mystical nature. Here’s a character pose with a cane…I’ll probably lose the cane, though. I definitely don’t wanna make him look fragile.

  5. Shaded version of the character pose…yuk!

#8

  1. Wireframe of the mesh that I began sculpting on in Mudbox. This topology will totally change on the final model. I mainly just needed to get the mesh to the point it had somewhat evenly spaced faces so it’s easier and more efficient to sculpt on.

    1. Scale Comparison, so the Phooka is somewhere around 7.4 feet tall. I had thought of the possibility of making the Phooka about 4 feet tall…but I have this image in mind that I plan to create that kinda needs him to be a formidable dude…and the taller the scarier?..eh…seems to work most of the time in movies…with the exception of Chucky, of course.

  2. Mesh to start sculpting on in Mudbox

    1. Day one of sculpting. Screengrab wip#1

      1. Here’s 5 1/2 hrs in to the sculpting process in Mudbox…I only know this bc I’m recording every brush stroke in Camtasia. Don’t know for what purpose yet…I’ll figure that out later. DVD?..hmmm. This is the first time I’ve ever recorded my whole process, so I’m learning a lot as I go…uh, like seriously needing another HD to fit all this shit. It’s trippy to go back and watch myself sculpt, especially when trying out different designs/exploring, eg: his chest (which I still haven’t worked out the way I like yet). Through the process, I’ve made TONS of mistakes, explored different shapes/forms that totally don’t work together and I cringe knowing it’s all recorded. But there’s something liberating about showing your mistakes to people, anatomically and design-wise, because it’s all part of the creation process. I’m just figuring out this creature as I go and having a really fun time doing it:).
        Screengrab wip #2

    2. Here’s a hair placement wip image…this maps out where the hair will roughly be placed. Grooming/hair sculpting will, of course, look way different in the end…so please don’t take this image too seriously:). For the mock-up hair, I just used the grab/move brush in Mudbox, and pulled out small strans then brushed over it with a brush tip that was made up of vertical lines. I did this haphazardly, but if I were to sculpt hair on the mesh instead of doing curve-based hair, then I’d probably be a little bit more careful with it…or at least spend more than 15 minutes, which I’ve done here. I haven’t improved the sculpt since last image above…more coming soon.

#9

wow where do I begin…

I do like the idea of the abomination…especially the deformed hand…I would choose wisely where the mutations are…because you did such a great job on where its at…

dude…the final picks are killer…love the muscle mass in the neck…it feels like it can now support 30lb horns…etc…

yet you still kept the oldmans body believable…

right now he has the body of those shit kicking European guys that are like 90 and can hike a mountain and then slams a pint of Guiness…I like the body mass…he feels like it could be Satan…

quick though have you tried a more Achwitz emaciated thorax?..like a holocust victim…although emaciated probably not support that big heavy head…

really great…let me digest more…

hair feels good…and legs feel good with proper mixture of animal and human…(Im very surprised how human you kept the legs…AND it still works)…****ing great eye…and still feels like it can beleivably function…

#10 
yeah, i'm totally feelin' the mutations, too!  and you're totally right about choosing wisely where the mutations are...it could be such a memorable thing...even if it's all very subtle.  for the next stage of designing, i will focus on asymmetry.  this is were i think the mutations can fit in nicely...and not look, well, stupid.  i'm gonna try mutating one of the knees, feet/hooves, spine...that's gonna be fun...and maybe on of the shoulders.  sexy time!

that's an awesome idea.  i will try that.  his torso isn't jiving yet...i think a skinnier shape of his overall torso could work nicely....still gotta mix more goat in here...it's like needing more cowbell.

thanks, man.  the shape of the legs was just conceived by playing around w/the character's silhouette.  i've seen narnia and all the other half-human characters, but for his legs, i wanted to try a larger "gradient blend" of the two...if you will...instead of taking the route of "oh, now he's human here, and now he's goat here"...kinda thing.  

aaah, a nice level of mutation on this guy could help heaps!  ok, back to it!  thanks for the helpful feedback!
#11
  1. fleshing out the legs a little more. knees are incomplete…will work on that. and the hooves haven’t been touched yet…gonna add some mutations along the hooves. should be fun. also updated/redesigned the torso…made it a bit skinnier. will work on these incomplete things and then the arms. ok…gonna sleep now:).
#12

love the fact you didnt go narnia with legs …

when in doubt go satan…lol

#13

LOL. This one is def coming Along nicely!!

#14

yey very nice indeed!
are you going to an evil look or a very old wise one?
in tht case maybe some harder plane breakdown would help as well as a slight longer chest!
looks awesome tho :slight_smile:

#15

still working…much more comin’ soon.

#16

Hey Stefano,
Thanks! The look I’m goin’ for on this guy in the end will be a very old, evil soul…a being that travels very slowly, moves slowly, talks slowly but is incredibly powerful…mystical powers.

I have yet to add age to the creature or any tertiary level wrinkle work, etc. Once I get a good feel of the major forms, I look to add age and more gravity to him. Oh, and I increased the length of his chest as you suggested. He’s now taller/longer overall. Your suggestion helped quite a bit! Thanks!

I’m workin’ on the feet and hands now. Will post more soon.

-Jeff

#17

We have goat!..

dude you wouldnt beleive how much a pisser it is to find a black goat in LA. The hippie lawyers flaked out on me…and then…

the freaking mexican carnival shows up…and there before my eyes is a black goat in the petting zoo…and my neighbor happen to have a nikon D-3 with sick lens…

his hair is not too long for base texture…anyway…we got goat…5K 16bit

#18

I’m sure finding a black goat, is as hard a finding good air and grass in LA! Those are awesome shots, I was doing some searching on the net for goats and with limited results. Not sure what to make of that one shot with the hands holding the goat head, looks kinda cruel…

Here is what I managed to find for images GoatRef

Couldn’t help my self, found this while doing a search…

Jeff, it’s looking sweet! I think the overall body proportions are looking great. The neck is the only thing that I find odd at the moment, not sure if it’s because it’s to long or because he has some massive traps. This area seems kind of difficult to blend between human and goat! Hey so when is the last time you’ve been down to fullsail? I just got back from down there on a recruitment trip, that school is crazy huge now. It’s nothing like when u and I went, they actually have girls now crazy… And CA has there own building too, no more dealing with audio kids!

#19

besides that was me holding the goats head LOL…(had to get in the petting zoo)

#20

we put a dish of food in there and I lifted his head up…looks worse that it was LOL

#21

LOL, Ok didn’t know what to think. Though maybe one of the carnies was roughing up the goat. Good I guess I won’t have to call animal cruelty now!