GAC11: Cheng I Sao (Ching Shih)

#1

[size=3]Cheng I Sao
also known as Ching Yih Saou, Ching Shih, and Lady Ch’ing.
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[/size][/font] [left]Along the coastal waters of the South China Sea, many people lived and worked on junks rather than reside on the land. These boats were crammed with family members from the youngest infant to the oldest grandparent. The women worked alongside the men, fishing, trading, and pirating.
One such woman was Ching Shih, a former prostitute who married a sea robber named Cheng I, she and her husband organized a confederation of pirates. When Cheng I died in 1807, Cheng I Sao (aka. Ching Shih) took command of the whole pirate fleet (consisting of over 1.800 vessels and 70-80.000 pirates).

According to the code of conduct set up by Cheng I Sao, each pirate received two plundered pieces for every ten captured. The rest of the plunder was stored in warehouses to ensure that the squadrons were always armed and ready. The code of conduct also spelled out punishments: Any who disobeyed an order or stole from the common plunder were beheaded. Deserters lost their ears. The first time pirates concealed booty they were flogged. The second time they died. If they raped a female captive, they were executed. If the woman agreed to the sex, the man was beheaded while weights were tied to the woman’s legs and she was tossed overboard.
Eventually Cheng I Sao decided to retire from piracy. In April 1810, she negotiated terms of an amnesty with the Governor General of Canton. Less than 400 pirates suffered any form of punishment: 60 banished for 2 years, 151 exiled, and 126 executed. The remaining 17,318 pirates surrendered their weapons and 226 junks, but retained their plunder. Those who wished to join the army could, including her lover, Chang Pao, who received the rank of lieutenant and command of a private fleet of 20 junks.

Cheng I Sao and Chang Pao settled in Fukien. They eventually married and had a son. When Chang, who had been promoted to colonel, died in 1822 at the age of 36, Cheng I Sao returned to Canton. A wealthy woman, she ran a gambling house and possibly a ring of smugglers, but otherwise led a quiet life until her death in 1844, 69 years old.

She is widely considered to be the best pirate who ever lived.
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#2

Damn that’s a detailed background… :eek:

Ah well, good luck on your entry! :thumbsup:

#3

[font=Georgia][b]CONCEPT

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Ok, so my first concept is done. If I don’t get any genius ideas, this will probarbly be the concept I’ll be using (but expect a great deal more detail on the final model).

 /Vidar
#4

I love the backstory. I actually never heard of her before now, but I find this very interesting. Your concept are looks great. Is the character your modeling going to stick to the real legend or are you going to add to it? Can’t wait to see the progress on this. Good Luck!:smiley:

#5

[font=Georgia][b][u]CONCEPT

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Updated the concept a bit. I like this more. :slight_smile:

#6

Just to show some progress… will try up the speed a bit now, so that I make the deadline.
I feel I’ve been slacking off, but here’s something atleast. :smiley:

[font=Georgia][b][u]BASIC BODY GEOMETRY

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[u]LOWPOLY MESH

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Tricount: 3134.

#7

Wow. Competition is heating up.

Great work so far. Crit on anatomy. The ripples you have representing ribs are too close together. Sculpting the edge of the 3rd false rib and it’s costal cartilage at the base of the anterior rib cage should be more convincing. I think you have a landmark half way down the abdomen that is suppose to be just that, but appear too low. Bonus points for designing small breast.

Great progress so far. Hope you finish. Oh, and great choice.

#8

Blimey! I musta missed this one!

Excellent work so far - amazing concept and perfect edgeloops! Ive never seen edgeloops like on the thighs before - good technique!

Keep it up - hope you finish this one

#9

ElysiumGX: [font=Trebuchet MS]Thanks man, I appretiate your critics… not sure I understood exactly what you meant, but I’ve put some more work on the ribcage. I hope you like this better.

I’ve just begun modeling some cloth, it’s intresting work… RIght now the breasts look a bit big, but that’ll change pretty soon.
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CLOTHES - THE BEGINNING


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#10

[u][b] CLOTHES - WIP

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#11

that’s one sexy model.

crazy good…

-KDX-

#12

this is cool, how many poly are you running?

#13

typically the shoulders of a women are narrower than the waist. the shoulders now are too wide I think, for the waist that she has. other wise good start.

#14

Just showing some progress (hopefully), remodeled part of the torso and also altered legs and added arms/hands (still need lots of tweaking, but the mesh is there).
Tell me what you think of it, am I ready to move on to modeling the head, feets, etc (actually, I’ve already begun the head, but it’s not much to look at)? :shrug:

Andy H: Glad to hear you like it, I will try and finish this one in time. But I’ve got a game-project to run as well, and have to give that top-priority (or else, my sensei Ivars will be mad at me). :eek:

-KDX-: Thanks! :smiley:

MWarsame: About 3-4000 polys for the basemesh right now.

lordmachuca: I think it was mainly her clothes that made her shoulders look so wide, hopefully I’ve fixed this now. :slight_smile:

#15

wow, your concept is beautiful, brilliantly contrasting with the story behind her, it is so often that beauty and evil mix, but i had never contemplated female pirates.

your model’s looking great too, i don’t have much in the way of anotomical knowledge, but to me the inside of the elbow looks like it should be a bit more concave than convex and the indent through the center of her stomach is very pronounced,

can’t wait to see this one finished,

also, are you going to do your beauty render in the style of your concept?

#16

I like the concept a lot, and the model seems to be doing it justice. My only crit is that the leg seems to taper a bit much at the knee.Good work :buttrock:

#17

Well, it’s sad to say this, but I didn’t find the time to finish this compo before deadline, so this is my last post for this challenge. :sad:

I will finish the model some day, though - so stay tuned in one of the regular forums.

It’s been a great learning experience, and fun to… big thanks to all who commented and helped me out. :slight_smile:

So, this is how far I’ve come at this point, not even a worthy update Im afraid. But atleast it’s something.

FRONT:

BACK

#18

Good modeling progress and character design I love the concept.

PS: I HATE THIS TIRANT! (no offence) she is horrible, WICKED!! errr!

#19

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