shakesoda - Sketchbook

(Murakumo: see post #117)


icon (updated 2016-02-07)


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stuff from the first post:

all of my recent stuff has been NPR/anime-inspired, but I venture into realism from time to time.

starting out with something original:


and hereā€™s something from yesterday (Pure Flonne from Disgaea D2, ~8 hours of work). Still various kinks to work out, needs a bigger smile, hair isnā€™t done, and other than the eyes she isnā€™t textured.


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Disgaea - Prinny


This is actually from late 2013, probably the only old thing Iā€™ll post in this thread.

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Some changes to the character in the first post (updated the icon, also)


Changed pose, tried adding some texture to the clothes (just to have more control over shading, really, not to add a bunch of detail), and hopefully she doesnā€™t have quite as much of a thousand-yard stare now.

I need to practice expressions, hopefully Iā€™ll have time in the next couple days for that.

Less visible stuff here is that I fixed some rig problemsā€¦ still need to actually get around to adding IK stuff, though.

I really like your rendering style, and your modeling is top-notch. Are you using Blender internal or cycles?

Thanks! Iā€™m using BI for most things. Iā€™ve been experimenting with Cycles, but itā€™s a lot more work than BI for NPR stuff. The Prinny in the second post was using Cycles.

BIā€™s GLSL view is really fantastic for setups like this, too, just look how close it is to the renders:


Not entirely sure where Iā€™m going with this yet (as far as hair and clothes go), but I like how the body turned out.


Iā€™m also trying to sort out some topology problems that are bugging me on the face, namely two triangles on the cheek and a pole Iā€™m not sure I want at the corner of the mouth. Iā€™ve been thinking about running a loop from the bridge of the nose to below the mouth like so many people seem to do, too.


Fixed some of my topology problems, still working on some some improvements around the mouth and nose suggested by KHorseman on IRC.


Iā€™ve also rigged the eyes, since that was low-hanging fruit.


I should fix the shoulder a bit, the topology doesnā€™t follow the deltoid like it should so it looks funny.

Almost totally happy with the topology now (thanks again KHorseman), Iā€™m just not 100% happy about where the poles are on the jaw. They mess with the profile a bit at some angles when subsurf is off, but Iā€™m gonna spend time on other parts of the model now. The UV seams are placeholders Iā€™m gonna redo later, I just needed something to paint some shading on really quickly in a few places.


If anyone knows how to make alpha-mapped stuff look less bad in the viewport that doesnā€™t involve selection, thatā€™d be pretty awesome.

Still not totally sure where Iā€™m going here, but Iā€™m starting to like her.


just playing with cycles



sheā€™s (at least mostly) rigged now.

sheā€™s also really upset that nobody gives any feedback :frowning: poor thing

Yeah, thatā€™s been my feeling as well. Seems like only a few folks actually get feedback of any kind in the sketchbook section.

I, however, really enjoy seeing your progress, but I donā€™t have anything critical to say. Keep up the great work.

Thanks! Yeah, itā€™s a pretty quiet section in general, just felt like poking fun at it.

Hereā€™s a quick (~1.5hr) model and another render with a reused prop and a few changes to the character (new hands, bigger ears, new feet, ā€¦)





about another 1.5hrs tweaking and modeling a face. after about this point things take a lot longer. I might leave this one alone for a while now, I just wanted to make a quick model while a lot of the stuff from my previous model was fresh in my head (so Iā€™d remember better).

Wow, such a nice style and presentation!
i would very much like to achieve results like yours, but i am very much at the beginning yet.
and since I own, c4d and zbrush and naturally blender iam a bit torn on which path to concentrate to reach a standard like yours in the most efficient way.
i would like to be able to make these posed beautyrenders but also to prepare models for the usage within unity.
Any advise would be most welcome.

Thanks a lot!

i would very much like to achieve results like yours, but i am very much at the beginning yet.
and since I own, c4d and zbrush and naturally blender iam a bit torn on which path to concentrate to reach a standard like yours in the most efficient way.
i would like to be able to make these posed beautyrenders but also to prepare models for the usage within unity.
Any advise would be most welcome.

A lot of people work in Zbrush but sculpting never really was for me. The best advice I can offer is that you should (at least try to) draw every day and learn to model realistic humans with good topology - if you can do that youā€™ll be able to use that to make just about any style of character, and pretty much anything else there is to model, too. If youā€™re going to sculpt, drawing is even more important, but I recommend it in any case.

I highly recommend Daniel Kreuterā€™s tutorial and Humane Rigging, I learned a lot from both of them. CGCookie also has a lot of useful tutorials, particularly relevant here are the topology review videos for stuff like shoulders. Iā€™ve found redrawing/modeling things from artists I like is a good way to learn and improve, too, especially when you havenā€™t quite mastered the human form. Also, donā€™t be afraid to throw something out and start over (but try to finish what you were doing - you can do it better next time!)

As for Unity, the only differences for your models are that you should take advantage of things like the Mask modifier to remove extra polygons that are covered by clothing, you donā€™t need to add extra volume to the mesh to compensate for subsurf taking some out, and you should try not to have any areas with vertex weights for more than 4 bones assigned at once (most game engines limit to 4, I think).

Finally, bind smooth vertex to a key. I use Q. Itā€™s something I picked up from Daniel Kreuter and itā€™s probably the biggest time saver Iā€™ve found in years.

EDIT: If youā€™re into books, check out Stop Staring by Jason Osipa, too (ISBN: 0470609907)

I changed the style of her face a bit, redid the hair (as alpha planes) for game usage and made most everything work without subsurf. I totally redid the UV mapping on everything, but thatā€™s not particularly visible.


I also have been playing way too much PSO2ā€¦


EDIT: re-took the first image

I scrolled past the image and my brain took a moment to say ā€œWAIT! Is that something from PSO2!?ā€, awesome! :smiley:
I donā€™t have any thing ā€˜usefulā€™ to say either except keep up the awesome work, and this thread is very inspiring. Canā€™t wait to see more!

Iā€™ve been particularly busy with work since July, so I havenā€™t had a lot of modeling time!

Hereā€™s another head model to at least attempt staying in practiceā€¦ a bit less stylized than my last few.



EDIT: ninja-fixed some anatomy issues (nose) and added side view

okay, well, the editor isnā€™t being my friend right now, so Iā€™m posting again. I changed the lips, chin and neck a bit.