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Oh hey, not a doublepost this time .
Sorry about the lateness here. Whilst i technically did not subscribe to a weekend update i feel a bit bad for taking so long.
Here you go:
Spoiler
The character is from this show: TTGL opening on Youtube.
Still some rough spots to finish off, but presentable for the moment.
There were a few technical issues, primarily with getting the cape to set right and the sword holding arm took a few steps (sword -> upper torso -> arm up to elbow -> cape -> arm up to hand -> hand+sword), so there was quite a bit of waiting involved . Also had to work with a different brand of light clay, this one a bit more prone to forming cracks.
I took a slight artistic liberty with the design, but i won't say what. I'll confirm it though if someone calls it out (Cue millions of flaws besides it being picked out .)
Will be painted next weekend, though i already slightly dread painting the tattoos and the Gurren Brigade emblem on the cape, not to mention the flame pattern .
I took a slight artistic liberty with the design, but i won't say what. I'll confirm it though if someone calls it out (Cue millions of flaws besides it being picked out .)
The cape isn't tattered?
Looks pretty good so far.
__________________ Minmaxboards are back up! But BG will be deleted soon; for reals. Last chance to save anything.
Patchy's face is really a lot better than your previous attempts. But the utsuhomech, now that's badass. There's clearly improvement in your face sculpting, but if you're looking for a faster and easier way, maybe you should give your figurines masks and helmets ?
You know, i was 100% sure i could refute this somehow, but all the scenes where the cape looks completely intact don't show it fully . Still, that's a legimate oversight, not the change i made , so the game is still on (though i don't really have a prize).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fri
Patchy's face is really a lot better than your previous attempts. But the utsuhomech, now that's badass. There's clearly improvement in your face sculpting, but if you're looking for a faster and easier way, maybe you should give your figurines masks and helmets ?
Yeah, Patchy turned out surprisingly well considering that the scraps had been laying about for 2 weeks (sort-of sealed, but still). Another mistake i made with Suwako was having too much white in the eyes, Patchy is closer to the ideal for Touhou.
With the mech i like how the torso worked out, but it doesn't really feel like mecha-Utsuho to me, looks sorta generic besides the obvious Control Rod/Heavy Foot/Chest Eye elements. I need a less cumbersome looking design for the Rod at least.
The wings are purposefully a bit simplistic as sketches can't do long thin elements all that well.
A more elaborate design is in order when a permanent figurine is to be made. I'm also considering making the final design modular, using wire pins to put it together. Could allow me to customize & repose it even after it's finished, though Project Mech-O9 remains on the backburner for now.
Since i signed up for that challenge-thingamajig, i'll be posting more sketches now on. This coincides nicely with Fallout:New Vegas, so chances are quite a few of those will be power armour of varying levels of junk-tech, with oh-so convenient helmets and gasmasks .
You know, i was 100% sure i could refute this somehow, but all the scenes where the cape looks completely intact don't show it fully . Still, that's a legimate oversight, not the change i made , so the game is still on (though i don't really have a prize).
*looks up reference pic*
The shoes aren't sandals?
__________________ Minmaxboards are back up! But BG will be deleted soon; for reals. Last chance to save anything.
*looks up reference pic*
The shoes aren't sandals?
Correct.
I had no idea Kamina wore sandals the whole time until i had to look it up. In many scenes, both the footwear and the lower portion of the cape are outside the frame.
Whilst i have at least some practice with hands, i haven't made any barefooted figurines, so the probability of messing up the toes was about 99%. Might have been doable, but it sorta came out of nowhere so i went with boots.
Besides, it is rather odd that someone who has lived most of his life around and beneath rocks and stone doesn't wear appropriate shoes .
I guess stubbing toes passes for a hobby for him .
So then. It is time. To rise up. To the CHALLENGE /blood-temperature
Here we go:
Spoiler
A spearman made mostly to try out making an embossed shield:
A daemon, just because :
A ghoulish type:
A Hunter of witches & vampires alike:
A city guardsman:
And a knife made in response to an open request:
So, made the deadline handily i'd say. Didn't count in Kamina up there because of 'Not Finished(unpainted)'. These are practice figurines, so non-permanent like the Golem i presented in the Challenge thread, and thus won't be painted anyway.
If any of these trip the doodle-alert, let me know, okay ?
Edit: spearman is 10 cm not counting the spike, demon 11cm at the tip of the horn, ghoul 9cm, city guard 10cm at the helmet's crest, hunter 11cm at the top of the hat, knife ~29 cm long.
I'll put some sort of reference object in the future pics, thanks for the reminder .
You know, the short legs comment brought up an interesting quirk of the medium: how does one represent misshapen or unnatural creatures without appearing lazy or unskilled? The medium of sculpting doesn't easily lend itself to high-detail, at least not to the levels drawing does.
So unless obvious from the context (ie. Cthulhuan monstrosity or a sleek, futuristic vehicle) it can be a bit hard to tell whether a particular bump is a mistake or a purposeful 'special effect'. For example, the demon has purposefully short legs to project an 'Immovable Object' image.
Similarly, this:
Spoiler
Not entered as a CHALLENGE entry due to being made before signing up.
has a purposefully blank 'face' to emphasize otherwordlyness.
Incidentally also the debut of the 'Comparison Cube', a set of three 25mm square bases glued together. It will serve as the size reference henceforth.
Thank you for your comments .
"Is cold outside! I can has kamina?"
Why yes, yes you can .
The illustrous leader of the Dai-Gurren Brigade, now painted:
Spoiler
The Emblem wasn't half as problematic as i expected, though the flames more than made up for it . Yellow just doesn't play nice with the other colours.
Luckily the cape covered most of the tattoos .
Also (though it is in no way food-related) i'm pegging this down as an early submission towards next weeks CHALLENGE-deadline .
The lighting in the first pics slightly obscured the mouth, sadly.
The mouth was done with a small cut that was painted black on the inside. It's more of a dour, serious look in the vein of "This is Unforgivable.", instead of Kamina's trademark grin, so it's a bit hard to make it stand out without losing the look.
Also, whilst i have a few ideas for future works, they are all a bit too complex/ambitious to tackle quite yet, so i'm again on the hunt for suggestions as to the next figurine .
Edit: Huh, only loads halfway for me. Good thing he isn't standing on his head then .
Reference used.
The character is Hakumen from the 2D fighting game Blazblue. I did do a sketch figurine of him already, but it fell apart before i could get more than a few blurry pics.
Originally meant to be made instead of Kamina when i still held on to the vote idea, then meant to be posted simultaneously with Kamina. That idea was scrapped since two simultaneous figurines is a bit too much work for a hobby, and would have been something of a rushjob.
Interestingly, either my Google-Fu is weak or there are no other Hakumen figurines, at least on the internets.
Edit: fixed the link tags.
You know, your grasp in anatomy might actually better than mine. Anyway, I really don't know what else to say to improve your works beside, hm... Maybe, could you smooth your figurines more? If they're smooth, I bet they'll actually look like something people would pay to have.
You know, your grasp in anatomy might actually better than mine. Anyway, I really don't know what else to say to improve your works beside, hm... Maybe, could you smooth your figurines more? If they're smooth, I bet they'll actually look like something people would pay to have.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fri
I bet they'll actually look like something people would pay to have.
Seriously though, thank you .
I have been aiming for a commisionable standard of quality and it's nice to hear i might actually get there at some point.
As for smoothing, i tried sandpaper on some scraps but it leaves nasty scratches. Thus far the best method seems to be a wet blunt sculpting tool, sort of smear it even. Gloss varnish might also give a more 'finished' look as well as hide any slight bumps and such.
There's still the whole eye-thingy. I tried leaving out the lower border from the sculpt for this piece o' practice:
Spoiler
Does that look any better?
Anatomy-wise, sculpting gets to take the easymode IMO. I can always make them to the same proportions, no need to worry about foreshortening and other perspective techniques that drawings have to apply .
If i mess a leg, i can just nudge it around a bit until it looks good instead of erasing and starting over. A strenght of the medium i'd say.
Also, CHA-CHA-CHALLENGE time (theme being food):
Spoiler
"Everybody was Cook-Fu fighting..."
"Those meals were fast as lightning..."
"In fact it was a little bit frightning..."
"But they cooked with expert timing..."
Not food related, but it's not like all of them have to be right? So a hoplite:
Counting in either Kamina or Hakumen, that makes the weekly quota. Kinda early, but thats what happens when inspiration strikes .
Had a bit of trouble balancing the second dude, so i forgot the cube. It's about as tall as the first.
Hm, as far as your faces go i would recommend making the eyes smaller, so they don't take up half the face. Also making them "rounder" should help a good bit.
(Your body-posing is pretty damn good though. I dig the cook-fu.)
As for smoothing, i tried sandpaper on some scraps but it leaves nasty scratches. Thus far the best method seems to be a wet blunt sculpting tool, sort of smear it even. Gloss varnish might also give a more 'finished' look as well as hide any slight bumps and such.
Oh, sandpapers do leave scratches. but that's the point. You scratch them uniformly.
I never used fancy clay like yours, so I don't know whether it's similar with normal clay or not, but from what little thing I remember from when I work with clay, I sandpaper them a lot. Really lot. I mean, sandpaper like crazy until all the tiny bumps are gone and the outer layer of the clay is uniformly missing (I mean, you don't even see the 'skin' of the clay anymore. That's what I meant by uniformly scratched), and then use gradually softer sandpaper until the softest sandpaper until all the scratches are gone. The colour would look different compared to unsandpapered clay, because the outer skin that touches the air directly when it was drying isn't there anymore.. It does take a lot of time though. I'm not kidding. And as I said, I don't know whether your clay works similarly as mine. Maybe you could try it on some scraps.
Well, the clay i use is a tad softer than normal.
Wouldn't call it fancy, though. It's relatively cheap afterall. I reserve the term "fancy" for GW Green Stuff and other high-pric€ stuff.
This is a hobby afterall, have to keep it reasonably budgeted .
How thick a layer did you sandpaper off? Taking into account a sandpaper-buffer could be quite the hassle with detail. Would also have to hunt down some softer sandpaper, what i have is too rough.
Now, onwards to the figurine. Seems like i'm getting into a habit of posting stuff only after painting it:
Spoiler
And back to Touhou it is, with Cirno being the subject this time.
Oh, right. Size reference:
Yup, she's quite tiny . 9cm at shoulders, 11cm at the top of head.
So trying out the new eye-style in a full fig, giving the hands a prominent place on the figurine instead of hiding them and seeing how small i can make stuff.
How did it turn out?
Hm... the face is still the part that needs the most work. Can we have a closeup of it from multiple angles? I'd like to scribble around on it for a bit to see if i can provide some constructive shaping.
Multiple angles? Certainly.
Close up? Can't really move upwards from 1:1 with my camera, though.
Here:
Spoiler
Any angles i missed?
Kinda repeating myself here, but that is 1:1 to the figurine itself. Tiny (/convenient.excuse ).
The head is around 1/2 as tall & wide as the previous ones. I'll move back to larger size for the next ones, just wanted to try it out.
"Everybody was Cook-Fu fighting..."
"Those meals were fast as lightning..."
"In fact it was a little bit frightning..."
"But they cooked with expert timing..."
Not food related, but it's not like all of them have to be right? So a hoplite:
Counting in either Kamina or Hakumen, that makes the weekly quota. Kinda early, but thats what happens when inspiration strikes .
Had a bit of trouble balancing the second dude, so i forgot the cube. It's about as tall as the first.
Holy crap, that is epic!
You're really good, especially with the non-organic material (though that's pretty par-for-the course... I think you're very right about the face/hands).
The poses are dynamic, and the level of detail is nice. You're definitely better than I could ever hope to be
I'll second Prime32's suggestion and add a graphic illustration to this. Basically, the face needs more depth and more forehead.
Spoiler
The first one is your most recent figurine's profile. The second one is a more realistic profile. The third one is just a summary of how a profile is shaped (all right, so maybe I tend to make the forehead too bulgy, but my point still stands).
Another piece of advice is regarding your colouring. When you colour your figurines, it's a good idea to add shadows and highlights. Of course, since it's a RL, 3D figurine, shadows will naturally happen, but you can still add a huge amount of life and depth to your figurine if you emphasize this through your colouring.
This could help your faces as well - the chin could become more refined, and the face more detailed.
You could also make the big, flat surfaces more interesting by adding patterns or symbols or somesuch (maybe not an option with the anime figurines, though).
Of course, all my painting experience comes from watching my boyfriend paint, so I may be completely wrong on all accounts... but still, it's a lot of painting by now
Yeah, what the other two said, pretty much. (Also use a different background, one that provides more contrast to the light face color.)
Especially the profile is too flat as is and needs a good deal more definition. You may need to get down into it with a toothpick or something similarly sized to get the finer features carved out. (Especially nose and forehead)
...Anime-style characters as i want to practice the style...
So not to sound ungrateful but i'm not aiming for full realism here .
I was going for something closer to thesehere.
The nose is almost not there in those pics, and the eyes are about as large in proportion as i made them on the figurine. Didn't quite achieve it with the nose though , didn't notice how much it sticks out between the eyes before it was dry.
The point about the forehead is spot-on though, and i appreciate the illustration. I suppose i'm over-estimating the height increase hair tends to cause. I also need to define the cheeks and the chin better, as well as learn how to make the mouth more natural and expressive.
I'll probably make another bust as practice around tuesday. Maybe make a realistic face for the CHALLENGE. Hopefully i can make it go up to 11 .
Oh yeah. if it's softer, that means you have to use softer sandpaper. I think I sandpapered less than one milimeter of my clay though. Might be wrong, it's been a while since I use any clay.
So not to sound ungrateful but i'm not aiming for full realism here .
I was going for something closer to these.
Well, anime isn't as "unrealistic" as most people think. Of course, hair and clothes tend to defy gravity, but mostly it's like any other art - if the basic anatomy isn't there, it just looks bad.
If you look at the pics you posted, you'll notice that there is actually depth to the face (at least the cheeks, which is the only thing you can actually get a good depth-shot of).
But if you're going for true anime-style, why not try to incorporate the snout-face? I'm not entirely sure it's possible to do in 3D, but I don't really see how else you'd get the nose positioned right.
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. Also had to work with a different brand of light clay, this one a bit more prone to forming cracks. 
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