Paintovers, Hard Crits, Help

#1

This may or may not fly very well with the management, but I think it’s worth a shot. We need more community involvement if we’re going to beat out the other teams for the top spot, so let’s get it on.

         Everybody knows that there are threads that get thousands of views and very few replies. Everybody gets frustrated when the people who visit your thread don't comment or (even worse) only leave "ZOMG COOL!!1!" posts. If you aren't getting any help, if you want to get some harsh critiques to help you improve your work, if you're tired of not getting any response, post here!
         
         The rules:
         
         - If you're going to post in here, you [b]must[/b] post:
  
   Something you want critiqued
   [b]--OR--[/b]
   A critique or paintover of somebody's work
   
    - If you post something you want critiqued, please point out some areas you're dissatisfied with. This will help people who are trying to help you.
     
     - If you post a critique, it helps if you say things such as "I like [i][some feature][/i], but [i][some other feature][/i] could use improvement [i][in this way][/i]."
       
       - If you do a paintover, make sure it's very clear. If you've only made some subtle changes, it might help to make an animated GIF showing the original and then the paintover laid over the top.
         
         - No flaming, insults or non-constructive bullcrap. If you don't like the person or the person's work, don't say something offensive—say something constructive!
         
         - This is not the happy-butterflies-and-unicorns-thread. Be honest, even brutally so, and make sure that whoever you're trying to help understands your suggestions.
         
         
         
         Let's get this rolling:
         
         
         I've thrown together a bunch of primitives before starting my actual model so I can get a better handle on the proportions, but I can't seem to get it looking as interesting as I'd hoped. Some suggestions on giving this guy more interesting proportions would be sweet.
         
         [img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2158/2281904261_dd35f2cab7_o.jpg[/img]
#2

ah. awesome idea! critique page!
i think compare with ur sketches, the model looks kinda bulky. And i know u’re just trying to lay stuff down. I guess coz everything is on similar width, it looks bulky? Maybe try exaggerating some curves a little more… like the shin guard. Even tho it might follow the sketch perfectly in orthographic view doesn’t make it seem right in perspective views. Hopefully that helps :stuck_out_tongue:

#3

Good idea, I’ll bite!
What ichitz said. If you vary the width of thing a bit you can achieve a more dynamic silhouette, even if it’s unrealistic for a human. Try to give more emphasis/volume to parts that you want to stand out, like arms, or legs, or torso.

#4

Its shapes are kind of flat and has no distinct curves. The legs are bothering me the most i think, feels like he/she/it could fit both his legs in one of the legpads, sure you can make parts of it really big but not all the way. Legs have very distinct shapes, you could go with those shapes or a bit against them. I think you want those pads to look large right? Well if parts of them are slimmer the large parts will pop out much more. I like the shape of the breast plate, though even those could also be more defined. Overall cool stuff anyway, i know its just a previz so ill wait and see what you come up with. Good luck!

-Niklas

#5

What the above says, or you can also try a more “superhero” aproach: broader shoulders more “triangled” torso, and legs getting thinner at his feet… something like this (I may have exagerated the shoulders):

Here’s mine, 3 posts of images and too few words, so any helpfull crits are always welcome:
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?p=4963446#post4963446

#6

For me characters, whether in paintings or 3d have points of interest. Be careful of muddying up your presentation with too many tiny little details or stacks of armor. It’s technically neat to pull off, but keep your forms, colors and details carefully focused.

For this particular knight I would focus on the head, waist and weapon areas… as those seem to be your points of interest. Then people’s eye can comfortably jump from these three points. As a general rule don’t forget that these characters don’t just have to look like a nice blob of shapes conceptually… but actually having “character” is key!

:)all the best

#7

Really cool idea, I’ve got nothing to add…but maybe this should be stickied as well. Have our “information thread” and “support group thread” :slight_smile: There’s so many entries this year, it’s really easy to slip onto like…the 3rd page where no one gives you feedback. This could help, for sure.

Cheers,
Gav

#8

Great idea! Although that was how all those WIP threads supposed to be, this one sounds like conceptart.org’s critique center. I’m going to need this thread soon after I get my 2nd concept :slight_smile:

For Swizzle - Just a noob’s comments but:

Didn’t seem like the head is mentioned directly by somebody else, so … It seems that the head is thinner on your concepts? Personally I found that part to be an attention focus, maybe because it’s surrounded by the bulky armor that contrast it, something like what FrozZT said.

Maybe it’ll also help if you break out shapes so that parts of the thing can more easily be identified in long range, thus it won’t appear as a single continuous bulky thing. Morgado’s pic for example, break out the shoulder-arm, upper-lower body, and even the waist pad-leg areas.

#9

Thank you for starting a thread like this.

I know how you are feeling … it’s hard to do a step forward without critique.
Even harsh critique is welcome … even a “You should trash that… and start another
concept approach is helpful sometimes”.

Critique is essential when creating a concept … especially for artists that are not
familar or good as creating original and strong concept art (like me and many others i think).

To your Concept:

I like your approach and i agree with morgado about a “superhero-like” design.
But i would support your character with strong boots. So he could
stand and fight trough hordes of enemys.

Also some Spikes or blades at the shoulder and wrist armor could increase his defence abilities.

Thanks again for starting this thread. :slight_smile:

#10

Great idea dude. I think they have a thread like this over at polycount. And I thought to myself…We should have one here. I just lacked the forsight to actually get my finger out my arse and do it. well done for that anyway…

I’ll be the first to admit that I dont leave enough crit on other pages. I’ll try and be a bit more active on that…I promise. I’ll visit this thread regularly though to see what people are struggling with.

I need critique on a few things with my thread so i’ll post some stuff here soon. As my concept is a little off the beaten track. ie. not an armour clad knight or a sexy vixen assasin…Not that its wrong to do such things. Just i’d like to do something a little different. I’ll be posting a full concept image shortly to show exactly want i’m aiming at…anyhoo. heres a link until i can get specific stuff here

BTW. I value critique hugely, weather its good or bad so feel free to rip shreads out of my work. It really helps in the long run.

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=234&t=597288

#11

Well, that thread is just what I was looking for!! :smiley:

I must admit that design is not my best area. I’m still very happy of its current state, since I never brought a character design to that level before, but I still feel that it doesn’t look as amazing as it could be.

So, be harsh, I can take it. In fact, I need it! :bounce: If anyone has any suggestions, you can post it here, but it would be better on my thread, since this one is not stickied and hard to find.

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=234&t=596743

Thanks and happy war, everyone!!

#12

Hi there commander_cool. :slight_smile:
I would say you need to develop the girl and her gauntlets some more. If it’s the gauntlets that hold the power of your artifact I would make it stand out much more. Right now it’s just a generic gauntlet imo.

I also read that your going with a humanoid birdrace? I must say that I really can’t see that in your character yet. :confused:
A mix of bird and human. Hmm I bet you can mix those two and get some pretty cool results, in many different ways. Feathers, beaks, talons and wings. So much you can experiment with. :stuck_out_tongue:
(edit: didn’t read her story, so sorry if I missed something important. But still, you get the point)

Her sword looks pretty cool though. Keep it up! :buttrock:

#13

C’mon guys! Let’s try to help our mates. People on Polycount are doing this and we’re standing behind them… union is the word to win the war. So let’s get united here and share what we know. Or try, anyway :stuck_out_tongue:

Hey Heavyness, don’t you think this thread deserves to be stuck?

Swizzle: This is my try with your char. I elongated his torso and arms a bit. Reduced the size of his head a lit bit too. to make him look more monstruous. Also tried to give some curvature to his limbs, that now looks less blocky. The idea of super hero proportions said by our fellows is pretty cool, and I recommend too.


commander_cool: In fact her clothes need more work, but in first place her body needs more curvy shapes. After all this is what female body is all about. I enlarged her shoulders, and her whips, also her waist to give her more volume. Added lips, rounded her hair and eyes a bit… and after all I believe she looks a little better. I’ll think a little in something about her clothes.

#14

Izuael and jramauri : Thanks guys! I appreciate it. :slight_smile:

#15

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