crits needed on character texture

[ryuju]

Hey all, this is my first post here at game artisans I can't wait to get into a competition but I gotta finish this model first. I'm working painting this texture and i have painted very few textures so its taking me a while. Could you point out some problems with any parts of the textures, especially the face. and maybe some tips on how to fix the problems if possible. the texture is 1024x1024. Its a screen grab from the max viewport with 100% self illumination. Its still very wip but i need some advice on it. Im going to do some alpha maps for the hair i just have the planes hidden right now.
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o214/ndk5027/texturewip6.jpg
Here's the concept i'm using, Its a great piece from mythic studio done for warhammer online.
http://mythicmktg.fileburst.com/war/us/media/images/conceptArt/0607_CAt_53.jpg

[Ancient-Pig]

Are you using visual reference as you texture? You should always have something to look at and refer to.. I think it's a good start, but it could use some more work.

I see lots of blacks and grays - you should try shading wit color, as that makes it more life like!

[Kickflipkid687]

Listen to this man, he is wise :). I agree though, the skin has alot of dark greys it appears, especially in the cheeks. Use dark browns/oranges/purples for shadows not black or grey (at least on skin).

[ryuju]

ancient-pig, my reference is in the link in my initial post, ill try adding in some more color into the face and post tonight I tried using the colors used in the original concept but ill try to keep it a little more colorful.Thanks, any more specific places for improvement anyone?

[Thunder Bunny]

Hey Ryuju,

You deffinately are on the correct path. Block in areas and refine refine refine. There are some really great tutorial on this site that are all about texturing.

What I think you need to start doing is either work 100% in black and white and create your tonal range first before adding color. Or do as Ancient-Pig suggests and work strickly with color. The thing about working in color you have to shade with a color that compliments the highed area. For instances, if the highlights on an apple are red the shaded/shadow/cast shadow should have a cooler color (in this case green because that's the opposite of red). Now I don't meen the shadow should be 100% green but you should tint it with green. That helps make the highlights pop more.

The next thing is set your brush opacity to about 5% to 20% and wide brushs like 10 to 30 pixels in diameter. This will help you lay in tone and color an area much faster. Use smaller bushes when everything is all roughed out and you have a tonal range estrablished. If you have any hard edges you don't want the blur tool and/or smudge tools will help with that. Actually while textureing I'm almost constantly using the smudge tool to pull the colors to the area I wish to have it it.

Next is don't use your concept drawing for your reference. Don't get me wrong, the concept is a great general guideline of what you are trying to do and helps emencely when modelling, but often lack certain details that you will need in the texturing process. Basicly they are "too sketchy." What I think Ancient Pig means by using reference is looking for photos or looking for real world object of what you are texturing. Like google searching armor or breast plate for your character's armor. There's more detail in those for you to replicate and you'll have a better understanding of how your model will work.

Lastly is PATIENTS, this is not only a key virtue but your saving grace with unwrapping and texturing. Texturing can be a long tedious process, and you can get bored easily and want to rush through it. I know I do. But you've got to ignore that impulse as best you can.

All in all, don't get discuraged keep working on it. Post back here. Keep us all updated on how you're doing so far.

[Inkfish]

Hey Ryuju,
What I think you need to start doing is either work 100% in black and white and create your tonal range first before adding color. Or do as Ancient-Pig suggests and work strickly with color. The thing about working in color you have to shade with a color that compliments the highed area. For instances, if the highlights on an apple are red the shaded/shadow/cast shadow should have a cooler color (in this case green because that's the opposite of red). Now I don't meen the shadow should be 100% green but you should tint it with green. That helps make the highlights pop more.


Here is a nice tutorial by prometheus that has some good advice too

http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm

I agree with Thunder bunny, if you use black for your shadow areas, they make the texture seem really muddy and dampen the colors. Using too small brush size is bad too. It's better to work with as big brush as is possible in relation to the detail/surface size. This will make the form look less overworked.

my 2 c

[poopinmymouth]

Right now your textures are far too muddy. I don't advocate using the smudge tool to smooth things out, but you need to work on getting more confident gradients of color/value.

Try this: First, paint only with large brushes. Forget about wrinkles, small details, etc. Paint only the large forms, the curve of his breastplate, his cheekbones, eye sockets, etc. Do not do any details. Just make it look like a 3d form even when viewed at full bright. Second, every so often, check your texture in greyscale. I keep a hue/sat adjustment layer at the top of the psd, and just turn it's visibility on, resave the file, and check how my values are working. What helps even more is to turn the model upside down in 3d, so you can view it in a "new way" (like holding a drawing up to a mirror). Then look only at your forms, to see if they read as 3dimensional and smooth.

On a positive note, I love his forearm wraps. The design is awesome. Just get it painted a bit better and this piece can be really nice.

http://www.mr-chompers.com/images/poop.gif (http://www.poopinmymouth.com)

[EVIL]

It looks like you where trying to use the concept art as a texture. I overlapped the two (3d art and concept art) and I see some matching strokes. Take the advice from poop and start from scratch on the texture.

This could indeed be really nice, but it needs to get a better texture before it will really shine

[ryuju]

thanks for all the help everyone I will post an update soon. Evil, i never used any of the actual concept art as my texture. I did look at the concept and try to replicate it but only in my own strokes but not cut and paste, everything is my own original strokes. Thanks for the great advice poop and everyone else, everyone had really good comments.

[ryuju]

I started building up the basic forms and added in some details, i think that its looking a lot better already. I used larger brushes with 10 to 20% transparency and it helped me a lot thanks for the great tips. Do you guys think that i made an improvement and do you think that i have the basics blocked in correctly?
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o214/ndk5027/texturewip7.jpg

[SomeRhino]

Definately looking better IMO, but I'm seeing some sharp edges that don't usually show up on a face in normal lighting. Sharpen up his wrinkles a bit if possible, and make sure those wrinkles on his forehead are linear.

Also, it looks like you are working by painting both sides of his symmetrical face separately. This is slower (actually, about twice as slow) as just working on a mirrored section of his face. You don't want your end result to necessarily be two mirrored copies of the texture, but while you are roughing it out you might want to work with just one side of the face and then once you have it how you want, remap the other side with a copy of the side you already made and add variances (moles, scars, tatoos, etc).

[ryuju]

Ive been super busy with school work so i havent had much time to work on him but ive got midterms out of the way now on to more work on this model. I think the face needs a little more work but I really like using larger brushes at a lower opacity. Thanks for the tips. What do you think of this update?
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o214/ndk5027/texturewip8.jpg

[ryuju]

a little update ...
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o214/ndk5027/texturewip9-1.jpg

[Rick Stirling]

It's coming on well, but it's still muddy in places, almost like a watercolour. To be honest, it's probably just practice and experience from here on in. Just work, work work at it.

As has been mentioned before, GET REFERENCE. Have the reference open and look at it constantly - almost as if you were in a life drawing class.



The few observations I have:
It looks like he is wearing lipstick with the saturation change between the lips and the face itself. Balance that out a little.

The eyes are getting lost. I think the colour of the eyeball itself is fine (many people make them much to white), but there is no strong edging to the eyesocket. By darkening the VERY EDGE of the socket you can make the eyes pop. Be careful though, you don't want him to look like a panda.

The collar seems to smear into the neck. Is it separate geo? If not, don't be afraid to break off the UVs to giver your self a nice crisp edge.

[ryuju]

Hey guys, i decided to continue working and finish the textures on this character. I'm almost done and i plan on finishing him up in the next 2 or 3 days i wanted to get some feedback on what i need to improve. Thanks for all the help and I learned a ton about painting working on this model.
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o214/ndk5027/soldier5.jpg

[vinny]

holy crap, that actually looks like a painting!