Sandwich Elf

#7

Wow! I like the idea behind your concept.

Your blockouts look really well made. Subscribed as well. I hope you bring it to completion.

#8

Thanks for the feedback guys! I’ll try to post new updates once or twice a week as time permits.

@ Scote - Thanks for subscribing, There’s more to come!

@ Miked08, @ TheGoatPaints - Good point guys, I’ll keep this in mind as I advance on the piece. I tried going with a more widescreen view in the 3D version because I thought the character was a little too centered in the composition of my sketch. I felt the piece could use a little “breathing room” to the right of the character, I probably went too far though. Thanks for pointing that out.

I agree that the character doesn’t have as much presence right now in the 3D version. However, I also agree with what archaeotect mentioned in his post, that it may be a little too early to make the call until I have more elements in the scene. Later on, I can always crop the image or remove elements (like the Colosseum thing in the background) if they are too distracting.

@ archaeotect - Thanks for the feedback. I think that’s a good plan, Once I’m further along with the background elements I can re-frame things a bit and maybe crop the image to make sure the character and sandwich remain the focus. As you say, there will be a lot of elements I can use to guide the eye.

@ AJ - Thanks for the support!

@ pongstah - Thanks for subscribing! I’m starting with the background first because that’s usually the more tedious part for me. If I make it past that, I should finish it with no problem! :cool:

#9

Here’s a small update! I added some more elements to the block out and tweaked a few things in the background. The elf is now holding a placeholder sandwich while a box dragon looks on. I think it will be her pet or maybe some kind of familiar.

I also started refining the ruins arches and made a few pieces of debris. These elements are mostly going to be in the middle ground so I probably shouldn’t add any more detail at this point. I’m still fairly new to sculpting in ZBrush so I figured these elements would be easy to practice on. Since they’re far away, I can mess them up and it won’t matter too much! :cool:

I’ll keep making more of those ruins parts and get those out of the way.

#10

The drawing is very cute, and the title of the thread was funny, I was curious what was the meaning behind.
It’ just the way the arm is bend that bother me a little :wink:

#11

@ Pheno - Thanks for dropping by! Although I drew the character with cartoony “noodle arms” in my sketch, the 3D version will probably have proper elbow joints. :thumbsup:

I’m not sure the cartoon bendy arms will really fit this character.

#12

I finally had some time to get back to this Sandwich Elf scene!

So much for my weekly updates, lol. Summer stuff got in the way :cool: … Anyway, here’s some progress on the background elements for my scene.

I made a modelling pass for the ruins, mountains and the tree. ThereÂ’s also a test patch of grass. Nothing is textured yet and these colours are not final. Later on, I will probably crop the image a little as some people suggested.

Here’s another view of the tree (I only modelled the parts we see in the shot). I haven’t quite achieved the control I’d like in ZBrush but this tree didn’t turn out too bad. The surface is a bit lumpy though.

Onwards …

#13

AHhh welcome back. I miss this thread!

#14

@Scote - Thanks for the support!

I’ve been experimenting with the textures using one of the props as a test. I originally wanted to hand paint the textures to achieve an illustrative look but I also made a test using photo sources to see what it would look like.

While I like both results so far, the hand painted stuff took me a lot longer to make and I’m questioning if it’s worth it, especially for the background stuff. We can barely see this arch in the composition for example. I approached it as if I was painting a low poly game prop but I kept having to stop myself from painting highlights since those would be handled by the lights in the scene.

As for the photo texture test, I think this one will blend in better in the background which would be nice since there are a lot of ruins in the scene. The shape of the models in the scene are fairly stylized but it doesn’t look too bad with a realistic texture slapped on top.

I’m leaning towards the photo stuff at the moment because it looks ok and didn’t take too long to make. Thoughts are welcome.

#15

Perhaps you could do a mix of photo texturing and hand-painted? The rocks she’s sitting on and the broken wall on the right could be hand painted while the rest of the ruins could be photo sourced with a procedural voronoi texture mixed in to match the stone pattern on your test. I personally like the hand-painted one more so it would be a shame to completely forgo it.

#16

It’s a hard decision. You might want to take a look at the video game Dishonoured by Arkane Studios. They did some interesting work stylizing the whole game and the textures are half way between hand painted and photo textures.

Hand painting textures is something I’ve wanted to do, but I dread how long it would take.

#17

@ julSan @Miked08 - Thanks for the feedback guys! I agree that it would be a shame to leave the painted style behind, I do like how that test turned out. If I keep that look, I can probably do a quicker pass on the props in the background and put more effort on the foreground elements that way it wonÂ’t take as long. Maybe do a mix of the two as julSan suggested.

Miked08, Thanks for the game reference. I had a quick look at Dishonored and it does look like an interesting mix they have going. Reminds me of the Team Fortress 2 textures, IÂ’m guessing they started with photos and painted on top? IÂ’ll keep this approach in mind.

I am a bit concerned that the painted ruins might look rather noisy in the scene due to the stone pattern I went with. Below is an example of what IÂ’m referring to, I threw the two test ruins into the middle of the scene to see how they fit. IÂ’m trying to imagine that painted stone pattern on all the ruins and wondering if it will be too noisy.

I’ll have to think about it some more, I may do another test prop before deciding.

In the mean time, I started working on the character so I think I’ll wait on texturing everything until I see how the elf and sandwich models turn out.

#18

We’re all waiting on that sandwich model :drool:

#19

Hello, it’s been a while since I updated! I’m still plugging away at this project when I have time :slight_smile: Here is an update on the sandwich and elf.

First up is the sandwich model. Nothing too fancy going on here, I went with the lettuce on the bottom, some lunch meat, tomatoes and cheese. I never made 3D food before, it’s actually kinda hard to squeeze all the ingredients in there without all the pieces clipping into each other.

I’m thinking it might need more lettuce. I’m not sure I should have gone with swiss cheese but I figured nothing says “cheese” more than those distinctive holes in swiss.

Lastly, here’s the elf model so far. I made an outfit similar to my concept drawing but I might need to change some stuff around. For one thing, I’m not sure she can sit with those things on her hips. Seeing how she will be in a seated pose, that might be a problem. Anyhow, I’ll deal with that later.

#20

The elf is adorable. Those elements around her waist make her hips look wider than they are though.

#21

@ Telemachus, Thanks for the feedback! Yea, I’m not sure if I will keep the waist armour. The design becomes a little top heavy if I remove them though. If I take them out, the shoulder pads might have to go too. I’ll see what it looks like when she’s sitting before I decide.

#22

This is going to be great :slight_smile:
Keep the armor but make it more elf-like; it could be way more light/thin in my eyes.

Regards, Robert

#23

Love it!
Great concept and your style is so cute.

#24

@Robert - Thanks for the feedback, I was thinking about making the armor parts a bit thinner too. It would feel a bit more “elf-like” as you say.

@WyattHarris - Thanks for the support!

#25

This is gonna be cute, subscribing. :slight_smile:

Is she an ordinary elf who has been burdened with a mundane
unwanted power, or does she like being a sandwich elf? If the
latter allow me to stir the pot a little.

I love the idea of a sandwich elf but I think you should think about
tools of the trade. e.g. What would a professional sandwich maker
or sandwich enthusiast carry with them, or what kind of clothes or
pattern on her clothes would be suggestive of a sandwich maker.
Even if she just uses magic to make the sandwiches how would you
know she was a sandwich making elf? What personality quirks
would a sandwich making elf have?

Keep up the good work! Can’t wait to see what you come up with.

#26

@AstroX100 - Thanks for the visit and for the questions. I do find it helpful to think about the background story of a piece as I’m making it.

So to answer some of your queries (apologies for the wall of text):

I would say that she definitely chose the path of a sandwich mage. This would be like in RPGs and MMOs that have crafting professions like cooking. She defeats monsters for their “loot” drops which just happen to be food related. I see her as an adventurous type who doesn’t mind risking life and limb for the sake of her craft.

Regarding her gear and tools, my concept drawing shows her with a staff weapon nearby, that was to go with the “mage” part of the profession. However, lately I’ve been wondering if she might need a blade weapon instead (to prepare her ingredients). That however presents a problem of sanitation! :surprised It would be very unsanitary to prepare food using the same blade she defeats monsters with … so she might need a few blades.

If I give her swords, I’d still like to keep a “mage” aspect to her design so I was thinking that she could carry around a recipe grimoire. Though, that would now mean that she’s carrying around a bunch of swords plus a big book. Which brings up another issue: her outfit has no pockets or belts/straps to hold all that gear + ingredients.

So yea, I’ve thought about stuff like that but I’m not sure how I’ll resolve all of this, barring a complete re-design. The easy thing to do would be to just keep the staff and have her conjure up the food. The other option is to go back to the concept stage and re-design her outfit/gear (which it’s still not too late to do but would be more work). It depends how much a piece like this needs to “make sense” I guess. :arteest:

At one point, I did sketch out a “chef” outfit for her instead of the cheesecake elf armor but it simply didn’t look as funny. At least for me, the visual of the typical videogame “elf with impractical armor” eating a sandwich is a funny combo. Giving her a more serious outfit, while practical, I feel would not make as funny a piece. That’s my thinking on this anyway!

… In other news, I’ve been working on the character’s hair. :wip: I should have something to show in a few days. Thanks all for following so far!