So, i’ve got a lot of projects, though this is one i plan on finishing, at least model/texture wise… but i’m planning on rigging and animating it for learning purposes too.
I got somewhat of a start on it this morning, I’m patterning it after a West Highland Terrier. This is the first organic model I plan on finishing, and I’m planning on modelling and using minimal subsurf settings after i get it worked out without smoothing.
I wouldn’t mind some help on anatomy / realism, though I will be going for a cartoonish look for the end result.
Anyway, I’ve attached a couple shots of what I got so far, one subsurf, one from edit mode.
And yes, i’m still using a mirror modifier.
I’m curious how you’re going to do the eyes. If the eyelids are going to be part of this mesh you should move some verts for good edge loops. Even if the eyes aren’t part of the mesh you’ll need to shape key eyebrows so you’ll want to work it in now, same with the mouth. I like the body, He’s got good stance.
I haven’t had much chance to further this model, but i’m sort of “stuck” as far as adding details… I’ve read the sticky about poles and loops but it seemed to just further my confusion. His face looks like a cow still, that’s no good… I want to keep good topology on the whole mesh, so i’m hesitating on the eyes/nose because i’m not sure what the “best way” is to get the details without doing a bunch of loop cuts around the whole model… this is a problem i seem to have, apparently my blender knowledge only knows how to “loop cut” not make loops on a section of the model.
Try Retopo Paint. I will often build a model with lots of polys all in the wrong spots to get the look right, then if you turn on retopo hit paint you can use the left mouse to paint lines on your model. Press the enter key and voila! eveyrwhere you painted lines and they intersect turns into a mesh. You then have a mesh on top of your old mesh but with the verts where you want them. So draw circles around the eyes and mouth and then intersection lines merge everything together with a little clean up and you have a retopoed model. It blew my mind the first time I used it. If you need find a video tut on the web.
I haven’t used retopo, Iprefer to use shrinkwrap. But i do sometimes take the approach NRK stated.
Youve got a good shape, but you’ve got no detail, its just a plain grid. Start a new mesh, add a circle of 8verts for the eye, another one for the mouth, and one for the nose. Then just extrude out until you join them together. For the body, you’ll want to show some of the muscles if you want that organic look, just look up dog/wolf muscle diagram.
