Ekter's Art Blog

[ekter]

Hey everyone!

Name's Nikola. Currently studying Computer Graphics Arts at The Animation Workshop in Viborg, Denmark!
I have been lurking for a while around here, but never had the guts to make my own Blog, but OH WELL.

I began work on a character of mine called Ekter and I've set a goal for myself to fully
-model
-UV
-Texture
-Rig
-Do a simple animation
By the end of July 2017

Here are some concepts:

I have also already began blocking in the 3D model in Maya.
I spent a whole day researching nCloth for the first time and trying to apply it to his clothes. Had good results!

Here is my glorious 1st attempt at using nCloth!

I WILL DO MY BEST to keep this blog consistently updated with my progress, thoughts and questions!
I would greatly appreciate feedback and advice from anyone, as this is my first time fully modelling a character! Let's see how it goes. I'm hyped.

P.S. Otherwise I am also considering just posting anything that i do on the side as well.

[cedricgo]

Nice! I really like that character concept. It looks nice and fun. I really like the paintings you've did too. The first one is probably my favorite for its colors and the storytelling aspect.

Anyway, nice work and I hope to see more soon!

[achronic]

Nice to see some 3D here! Awesome. Welcome to the forums!

[ekter]

Hey thanks!

I think I have a bit more modelling to do in Maya for props and also UVs,
after which I'll take the character into zBrush to begin detail sculpting.

[ekter]

NOOB QUESTION:
When should I begin rigging?
Before or after detailing the model in zBrush..or?

[achronic]

The production process for characters is usually; Character story -> Visual concept design (several views) -> Model sculpt -> Retopology -> UVs -> Baking, texturing -> Rigging and skinning.

So as you can see here, you usually make the sculpt first, and retopologize over it. This means that you can't rig it until after you're done with the UVs and bump projection (baking) and texturing of the lowpoly model.

[ekter]

That was very insightful, archronic. I'll very much try to follow the pipeline you described.
Thank you!

[ekter]

I had a day without access to my work computer, but now i'm back on track modelling the props for the backpack. (And anything else I can think of before moving onto zBrush)

I am not sure how much stuff I want to keep adding. Clutter it or leave it simple...

[achronic]

You probably want to keep it simple if you haven't rigged/skinned before. Those assets will have to hang together and be working properly. It'll probably be difficult if its your first time and you have a bunch of things that are jumping around!

[ekter]

Something I've been having fun with on the side today. Any critiques would be much appreciated!

[Mellowochi]

I like the level of detail you have in it, and the composition is certainly cool. The focus of the front one compared to the other two almost blending back as one or even the front 2 blending as one form works really well!!
It would be super cool to see even more of these soldiers blended deeply into the background. But these might just be a trio so that's understandable.

[ekter]

Hey thank you!
I guess in my head, I wanted the front one to remain as a focal point, while the other two served to frame him nicely and to enhance the composition.
I usually start my drawings straight-up with color, so this different approach was a bit of an uphill battle to get a satisfying result. Will post it in a second.

[ekter]

Some flavour text:

"..REPORTING FOR JOLLY DUTY, sir!"- yells one of the CHAPs in his first moments of conciousness after hundreds of years.
"...Where the bloody hell is the commander?"- responds another, as he picks up some loose parts from the ground.
"...I say we tally ho out of here, rust buckets."

The CHAP bots have been gathering rust and dust untill being mysteriously reactivated by someone...
cough Ekter cough by accident?

The CHAP bots were the frontline troops against the Veneficium (The first coordinated army of mana users), due to their
innate resistance to basic magic manipulations.
Now these three CHAPs walk the world, looking for a new commands and some machine oil.

Later they discover Ekter, minding his own business, cooking up a stew in their old CHAP commander's helmet.
"Orders,sir?"

Ekter grins under his mask

[Mellowochi]

Haha this is really cool backstory!!! It adds a looootttt to the painting. And the final color version I think enhances the feeling a lot as well. I wouldn't have gotten that whole story of course from just the picture alone but having all that packed into one piece would be a little overwhelming so combining the story telling forms I think works perfectly fine.
I can definitely see the pushing forward of the one bot in the colored version better (although the gray scale certainly wasn't bad either!)

[bowzertron]

Nice composition and use of contrast on a greyscale image. Your eye is directed to the right parts of the image so it looks like there is real movement going on. The finished colour piece is great too, very nice work