Anthro Wallaby WIP/Critique

[AcetheSuperVillain]

I'm working on a 3D version of my character Willow the Wallaby. I changed the color scheme recently and I want to know what others think about it. The purple/pink hair is the original choice, the green/teal is the new choice. I like the look of the grean/teal hair against the red/brown fur, but I have a few reservations about it. Willow is supposed to be a main character anti-hero type, and I'm concerned that the teal is too mellow looking for that role. Also, the the plan is to make characters in groups of 4, so while the brown & teal looks complete by itself, it might be toocomplete, I need a color scheme that leaves room for her companions. I haven't completely decided what the companions' color schemes will be yet, so there's room to maneuver for now.

Obviously there's more going on than color, so feel free to point anything out.

[AcetheSuperVillain]

I'm playing around with the colors. Here's a different shade of purp that I like better than the sharper one up top

[AcetheSuperVillain]

likewise for green

[SuperBastard]

At 10/25/15 11:00 AM, AcetheSuperVillain wrote: I'm playing around with the colors. Here's a different shade of purp that I like better than the sharper one up top

I like this shade of purple much more than any of the other options you've provided. The green really clashes too much, breaks the character's unity.

I'd like to see the topology for your model. It's really difficult to judge a mesh with a toon shader on it because most of the errors are only visible from very specific angles.

I hope you're doing your modeling in a neutral pose if you plan to animate the character. A pose like this is going to give you problems when you try to rig it.

[AcetheSuperVillain]

At 10/25/15 12:41 PM, SuperBastard wrote: I'd like to see the topology for your model. It's really difficult to judge a mesh with a toon shader on it because most of the errors are only visible from very specific angles.

Sure:

[AcetheSuperVillain]

At 10/25/15 12:41 PM, SuperBastard wrote: I hope you're doing your modeling in a neutral pose if you plan to animate the character. A pose like this is going to give you problems when you try to rig it.

I'm not modeling for animation exactly, this is designed for 3D printing in multiple poses. Animation is a little out of reach for me right now, but toy making I can handle. I probably could do full body motions okay but hand gestures and facial expressions are beyond me for now.

This was a previous version that I printed. I felt like the textured hair was too different from the rest of the character, and the boobs were too noticeable (not that I don't like boobs, but it's not the look I want for this character). The 3D printing service I am using is experimenting with new options for full color plastic, which is why I'm also doing the texture color. It's also nice to have pretty renders for customers.

(Oh, one more thing. I'm always being torn between making the characters look more human or more animal. I say to myself, make it obvious that this is a wallaby, but then I model it with wider hips and shorter arms and think eww, that doesn't look right. So I think the ideal compromise is to make sure each character looks identifiable in context, ie, you can look at the wallaby girl next to a goanna girl and know which is which. My solution right now is the larger feet for macropod characters.)

[SuperBastard]

At 10/26/15 10:34 AM, AcetheSuperVillain wrote:

At 10/25/15 12:41 PM, SuperBastard wrote: I'd like to see the topology for your model. It's really difficult to judge a mesh with a toon shader on it because most of the errors are only visible from very specific angles.

Sure:

Your topo actually looks pretty decent at a glance. You've got some random n-gons on the fronts of the thighs and on the ankles, which ought to be a 5 second fix, and your tail isn't attached to the base mesh which bugs the hell out of me, but other than that you've done a pretty nice job.

Anatomy-wise it seems okay overall, except it looks like you've got a case of shovel hands going on. You should really avoid making all the fingers the same length. Additionally, the pinky side of the character's palms seems to be curving out a little too far. Finally, the thumbs look like they're going to collide with the palms if they bend; take a look at your own hands and make a note of how your thumbs are predisposed to bending across the palm, rather than towards your pointer finger. You may not be planning on animating the hands, but those issues are still visible models you've already printed, and will continue to detract from the rest of your work if you don't fix them. And whatever you do, don't leave the hands neutral in every pose.

The only other minor nitpick I can see at the moment is that the shins and feet still seem a tiny bit boxy.

[AcetheSuperVillain]

At 10/26/15 04:20 PM, SuperBastard wrote:

At 10/26/15 10:34 AM, AcetheSuperVillain wrote:

At 10/25/15 12:41 PM, SuperBastard wrote: I'd like to see the topology for your model. It's really difficult to judge a mesh with a toon shader on it because most of the errors are only visible from very specific angles.

Sure:

Your topo actually looks pretty decent at a glance. You've got some random n-gons on the fronts of the thighs and on the ankles, which ought to be a 5 second fix, and your tail isn't attached to the base mesh which bugs the hell out of me, but other than that you've done a pretty nice job.

Anatomy-wise it seems okay overall, except it looks like you've got a case of shovel hands going on. You should really avoid making all the fingers the same length. Additionally, the pinky side of the character's palms seems to be curving out a little too far. Finally, the thumbs look like they're going to collide with the palms if they bend; take a look at your own hands and make a note of how your thumbs are predisposed to bending across the palm, rather than towards your pointer finger. You may not be planning on animating the hands, but those issues are still visible models you've already printed, and will continue to detract from the rest of your work if you don't fix them. And whatever you do, don't leave the hands neutral in every pose.

The only other minor nitpick I can see at the moment is that the shins and feet still seem a tiny bit boxy.

Well, the hands are designed to be printable so they need to be sturdy before realistic. I'd rather be safe than sorry, and it's a cartoon character anyways.

Blender just makes it look like N-Gons are appearing when certain lines are drawn from certain angles. I think it runs out of memory or something, or might be a byproduct of trying to skip details that are not aligned to the current view.

Boxy shins I can look at, but again, sturdiness is key.

[AcetheSuperVillain]

Okay, so I've been staring at this model for the last week feeling like it's just not quite right. I think the problem is that when I draw Willow, or any anthro character, I use a very cartoony look, but my 3D models are much more anatomical. So I want to try and make my model more like my drawings.

Here's an example of such a drawing.

[AcetheSuperVillain]

And here are my changes. They are very slight, and I'm worried that I'm just kidding myself because of tired of tweaking this character.

First pose is trying to look like the cartoon pose above, which looks ridiculously goofy in other angles in 3D. The second pose is a more neutral and natural walking position. I think looking at it in T-pose with a colorless background can be deceptive, hence the poses.

[AcetheSuperVillain]

Trying to fix that weird butt stuff that's going on.

[AcetheSuperVillain]

Hey, let's do the lizard buddy too. Jiggy Goanna. I realize this is not the best pose for descriptive purposes, but I'm rushing to get this done for free shipping weekend. More later.

Again, not sure about the colors. Compare to the recent drawing of Jiggy Goanna. I wanted to make Jiggy look more like the real life Lace Monitor (as Willow is supposed to look like the real life Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby). I don't want to make the lizard green, since real goannas are never green, but as a character, I need her to fit a green flavor, to compliment the other main characters (wallaby is red flavor, sarcophilus is blue flavor, cockatoo is white flavor)

[AcetheSuperVillain]

Okay, here's a demo image I've prepared.

Full size on dA

[AcetheSuperVillain]

We had to make stupid 3D monster things for art class.

I've also been trying to make a kind of 360 matte painting for doing scenes on. It's tricky to make the horizon line look like a horizon. I thought this one was flatter, but it's got that slight bowl curve in the final render. Still, with some tweaking, this technique might be good enough for the cartoons it is intended for.