Dragon-Guy

[ReplicA]

Started this guy a day ago, and thought I'd start posting a little earlier than I have been before.

Yeah, I know the design isn't original, but it is cool. The wings are hidden, as I haven't done anything with them yet, same with the tail, the face is still pretty generic since I haven't done much with that either.

I plan on giving him some sort of armor, but not sure on the design yet, I'll have to figure that out later. Anyway, here he is. Enjoy, and thanks for looking.


http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/6156/dragon03xu0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/1017/dragon04xa1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[ReplicA]

I was hoping to have an update for you guys today, but zb3's being a pain in the ass. I tried exporting the mesh from mudbox, so I could work a little faster, and use some of the brushes. I did a lot of work on it, then tried importing as layer into mudbox, which I've done several times before, but now it just makes the mesh explode...

So, sorry for no updates. I'll get back to work on him mudbox, and forgo zb3 till it's fixed.

[ReplicA]

Got an update now. I got some info that if I untick all the import export options, zb3 exports like normal, so I can use it now.

Here's a couple of shots straight from zb3.

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/429/dragon05xv9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)



http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/3913/dragon06ae6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


Made a lot of changes on this one, gave him more of face, added lots of folds, gave the wings a little bit of form, and did some other stuff. Hope you like him.

[EVIL]

make the muscles more fleshy, it all looks to defined, like he is flexing everything. It all makes it look a bit to fake, as if every monster has bulky body builder anatomy

[Marcus Dublin]

I have to say right off the bat that you seem to have an instinctive sense to form from what little I've seen of your work and this will only improve as you grow as an artist which is pretty scary:ack:. With that said the anatomy of the dragon seems right and slightly off at the same time and while that sounds stupid I just can't quite put my finger on all of it:uhh:. I think what stands out the most is his back legs, the socket from the knee joint to the ankle doesn't quite work, I mean if you look at it in practical terms he has no calf muscle/shin bone structure to speak of. This wold be unrealistic in terms of his animation and locomotion. I'd gab some references before you move on to adjust this issue.

Centaur type creatures are pretty difficult to nail in terms of proportions and the human aspect is looking a little off in human to dragon ratio. I know he's on a dragon body but if he were a tad bigger it may help, it's a nitpick at best since I've never seen this type of amalgamation before and you could keep that part just the same and it could work in a way. The horns on the human head could be much more dynamic and a tad bigger as well, it would also be really cool if they were facing forward in a much more aggressive manner:mad:. Last but not least is his wrists which are "way" to big and making him seem smaller than he actually is. With all of that said this is one hell of a project and I'm a geek when it comes to characters like this so I wish you well and I hope to see more WIP images posted soon.:)

Marcus

PS: Keep up the awesome work!:thumb:

[ReplicA]

Some really good crits, again, thanks.

EVIL: Thanks for the suggestion, but I like the muscle definition going on in dragon area. I'll keep a little more low profile as I work on him, though.

Marcus; Again with the awesome crits, you're gonna be helping me out a lot. ;)
About the hind leg, yeah I see what you're talking about, and that's a pretty easy fix. I could make a lame cop out, and refer to dog legs not having a "calf" muscle per se, but I won't, you're right and that's it. About the human part needing some up-scale, I got the same crits from another person, and did scale him up a tad for this last update, but apparently not enough. I'll check it again, and see what happens. The horns haven't had any work done to them yet, so yeah, they're bland right now. I'll fix that when I can. I made his forearms like that on purpose, actually, trying to mess with anatomy a bit, I still like it as of now, but I might change it later, we'll see.

Thanks for the crits, and I should have another update by tomorrow. :)

[ReplicA]

Update time. Not a whole heap done, but it's agonizingly hot here, so I'm stopping for a while. Hope you like this one.

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/7273/dragon10to8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/2848/dragon11yu6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/8782/dragon12tu3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[ReplicA]

Well, I installed xp x64, and have been fighting with it ever since. Net connections going down, codecs conflicting, the apparent complete lack of firewalls that are worth a damn...

Anyway, I have been able to work on this guy, and here's the update. Hope you like this one.

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/5597/dragon01vb2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)



http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/6955/dragon02sb7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Amethyst]

That is an image exuding POWER. Can't wait to see it textured.

[3d_er]

Top notch work so far!

[Marcus Dublin]

The readjustments in the legs made a big difference, nice going!:thumb:

Marcus

[ReplicA]

Thanks for the replies, all. And a big thanks for the highlight ;)

Amethyst, 3d_er; Thanks for the comments, I'm really glad you like him.

Marcus; Yeah, the leg adjustments helped a ton. I knew there was something wrong with the legs before, but it just didn't click in my head. It's been a pretty dark week for me, and those kinda times aren't very conducive to thought, let alone understanding.

Well, I was about to scrap this guy, as I'm getting a little bored with him, but talking to a friend, I found one of the major complaints against my work is the fact that it just doesn't feel like there's skin across those muscles a lot of times. So I'm gonna go in, and see if I can figure out how folks pull that kinda thing off. And since he's a highlighted thread, I guess I HAVE TO finish him now. ;)

After another update or 2, I'll start on the low poly, get those uv's done, and sit in confusion as I try to figure out what texture this guy's gonna have. :)

[ReplicA]

I made a lot of subtle, and not so subtle changes for this update. I got rid of the plates between his dragon arms, they didn't really fit, and would be a giant pain to texture convincingly. I added a lot of skin stuff, and a mass of other subtle details.

He's just about finished, so I'll start the low poly soon.



http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/4243/dragon09ej6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)



http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/2199/dragon10wl5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[sinz]

Critic:
His body mass looks too heavy for any flight action, bigger and or much stronger wings are needed to believe that he can take flight when needed.
His front toe nails look funny compared to the hind legs nails, minor nit-pick there

Suggestion:
Awesome piece never-the-less I would like to see him in armor wielding a tremendous sword ;).

Closing:
If you don't edit it anymore eh it's cool your design, your call :).

[ReplicA]

Sinz, I'm still working on him. Kinda. I'm adding a little more detail, and working on the wings some more.

On your crit, I know he doesn't look like he could take flight with his body mass, but in the end, he's a fantasy character, so it really doesn't bother me that much. I started this guy as more of an anatomy sculpting exercise than anything else. I'll keep that mind for the next time I make a winged model, though. ;)

Anyway, here's the requested top shot. I spent about 15 minutes on the wings so far, and I know they still need more work.

Anyway, enjoy.

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/7199/dragon11ww6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Masakari]

Looks pretty cool Replica, he's really buff and maybe a bit bulky like what has been said, but i don't have a problem with that. As a study / Zb practice, it's great!

[ReplicA]

Thanks, gridlinked. Glad you like him. This has been a pretty fun exercise in modeling, anatomy, sculpting, and most of all, reworking. I've done more reworks of certain areas on this guy than I have in a long time. ;)

Well, I got the same crit from 3 forums, so I decided if everyone's seeing the same problem, then it is an actual problem, not just an opinion.

So, wingspan lengthened, tail elongated. I'm posting this to see what you think of the wingspan before I go back to mudbox, and continue detailing.


http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/5755/dragon12mi2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[ReplicA]

Update time again, this time back in good ol' mudbox. I brought in more details to the wings, though the resize left the wings with much larger poly's, and results in fewer smaller details. I changed the wings arms, beefed them up a bit more. Still gotta work on the outside part of them, but they're getting close.


http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/5938/dragon13ff2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/2103/dragon14tc8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[sinz]

Whoa moma those are some big ass wings which is a good thing:).

I was thinking about why wouldn't want to make this at least anatomically correct 'as far as dragons' go or at least a sense of scale from wing to body ratio. I mean your putting in so much effort might as well go all the way with it since I am almsot certain this will go in your portfolio? Plus it's nearly an original piece I have seen another design like this but only in a concept drawing/sketch.

I assume you modeled a mouth in there unless I am wrong and that's just viewport clipping and not a mouth clip in that screenshot?

[ReplicA]

It might be a reel piece, not sure yet. I'm giving thought to finishing the low poly, and high res, doing the uvs, rendering the normal maps, and upping him for other people to texture. Ive gone back and forth on this guy so many times, I'm really losing interest.

And yeah, that's a mouth, not mouth clipping in the model, just mudbox not rendering it right.

[ThatDon]

i'm not really feeling the torso connection to the dragon body man, it honestly looks tacked on and not believable at all to me, I think the major problem is the spine, IF you rework that and make it more believable then it would help sell this model 10x!