It's been long and long since I posted anything -- heck, it's been awhile since I made anything . I have totally forgotten how to do the most simple of things within A:M, so this should be fun trying to get back in. But I'm really going to try to get back into it this time, and I thought what better way than to make my character from my friend's adventure.

This character is named Connor. He is a twenty-four-year-old who looks no older than twelve. He has above average night vision, unusual strength for his size, and is skilled in martial arts.

Since I'm not the greatest at drawing I decided to go with a sketchy look for my concept. I actually thought it turned out fairly well after coloring and shading was done. The concept was done on the iPad using SketchBook Pro. I want to get my model to look pretty similar to the concept, because I like the slightly stylized look a accidentilly drew, haha.

Hopefully I'll have an update in the next few days, but I wanted to get this thread started as a motivator.

Thanks for looking.

Jeff B.

Hi Jeff, good to see you back.

Looks like a good foundation!

Steve

Welcome back! Looking forward to your updates.

Looks like a fun character, Jeff!

Welcome back Jeff

Hi, Jeff.

That is a terrific concept sketch!

It's good to see you back here again.

Looking forward to seeing more of your work, Jeff. Glad to see you back.

Love the design I think he is going to look great in 3d

Thanks alot for the encouragment everyone. It's nice to be back .

Just to prove I really am trying to figure out A:M again, here's the face so far. Still needs a little tweaking, but basic proportions are where I want them.

Jeff B.

Looking very good!

It's great to have you back Jeff.

Thanks alot, Rodney.

Well, here's the head. Still needs alot of tweaking. Jaw, cheek and especially the cranium from the side. Something isn't right there, but I can't see what it is. Any help with that would be apreciated I will also have to do major tweaking once I put the eyes in.

Jeff B.

Jeff,
At a quick glance I'd say you've got the forehead/top of head too high in comparison to the face.
If the standard head places the nose roughly half way between the top and the bottom you've got this one at about 1/3 of the way up from there.
Somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 of what you have should work well for you.

If that top of the head will fill hair space... then disregard.
At a guess that might be why it looks just a little off however.

My immediate thought on the situation.

Thanks for the fast reply Rodney. You are probably right. I was going by the concept art and he's being looked down on. When I'm actually making him its from a front-on perspective. So I think I made the cranium too high. He will only be seen from the front, but I want to get it right for all angles . He will have hair though, so it might cover up that... we'll see. Thanks again.

Here's a "sneak peak" at the final image. Only decals on him are on the eyes.

Jeff B.

oooo...evil...charming!

Very cool, Jeff!

Thanks fir the comments David and Nancy.

Nancy: Coming fromn the Queen of all Charming that is indeed a compliment.

New tagline ...
Runs with Scissors => Queen of all Charming

Haha, nice one Chris.

Here's a new update. I fixed the head, added SSS to the eye whites and added a base body. I will probably do some proportion tweaks on the body to make him look more like a twelve-year-old instead of an eight-year-old.

You will notice that my hands do not have fingernails. That is because you will not be seeing the fingers in this image and I htought it would be a waste of time.

Thanks for looking.

Jeff B.

Great start, Jeff!

Thanks, Mark .

This isn't much of an update since I've barely started the suit coat, but I was fooling with the camera.

I was thinking about something similar to this for the final camera solution. What does everyone think?

Jeff B.

I decided to go back to the other camera for now since there isn't anything to judge perspective at the moment.

This isn't much of an update. This is just me screwing around trying to re-learn how to use some of the features -- like lighting, haha. I think this is about where my final lighting will be. I also added more spec to the eyes since he's supposed to have better-than-average night vision and to hint a a slight extranatural touch. I also messed with the lighting to get softer, more subtle, shadowing. The lighting is also giving me that washed-out, fake gloaming look I'm looking for.t

Once again, thanks for looking.

PS: I hate jpeg compression, ha.

Impressive work.

It's amazing the difference the change in camera angle makes.

Thanks Rodney.

Here he is with the finished shirt, although I might add bottons to the collar and detail the cuffs more.

Tell me about the suit with no lapels.

Finishing the suit's next. This is just the base. I like to model bases for all my elements, then build upon them until they are finished.

Jeff really looks good

That's a good looking character.

Great stuff, Jeff!

This is awesome. I really wish i was better at making human heads... that is my weakness but this is great man!

Thanks alot, everyone!

Here's Connor with his finished suit. I will now start on the shoes. I still haven't decided what kind of shoes I'm going to give him.

I started experimenting with hair. I will be building it in parts, the Top and the Sides seperately. I can't seem to get transparency over the length of a hair to work. It just won't work like thickness works, I don't know why. I used Jitter instead to get a fuzzier look towards the hair ends.

Let me know what you think.

This character looks great! Are you gonna have the hair cover the right eye like in the drawing?

Jeff ---

Connor looks great ----is scary for me....would not want to meet up with this guy in a dark alley. Great job modeling and all.

Rich

Here he is with longer hair. I still didn't want the hair to totally cover the eye. I might have to see if I can get it to look better. For now, this will have to do.

Very nice! Shaping up into a genuinely creepy little dude!

He's progressing well, Jeff! I like how the hair is looking.

Thanks for the comments guys.

Here's the new pic. I took some of the advice offered by Jason in his great lighting tutorials and changed my lighting a little. I also fixed the hair more and changed the skin tone and SSS amount. This image was rendered at 1600 X 1600 with 25 passes and soft reflections turned on. It took about an hour to render where the other lighting took about twenty minutes.

I still have to do the shoes, but then he should be fully modelled.

Liking the hair. Could you show a wireframe and upload the hair mat. file to study.
Thanks.

Thanks for the comment jirard. Here is what you asked for .

Started working on the pose. The Kamas are just stand-ins for now. I also changed the spec on my MuhHair Shader. And fixed the Ambience with my eye whites.

Awesome. Love the eyes,

Steve

Nice character. I especially like the hair, nice grooming

Thanks for the comments .

Yeah, I had the stupid ambience cranked to like 50% on those eyewhites. I'm glad I changed that.

The hair only looks good from this angle. The back of his head is totally bald, haha

Here's the face decal so far, might be finished. I also added a little more hair and changed the eyes a little.

Very awesome indeed and scarier than ever. Not sure what kind of animation he is gonna be involved in but he sure will add darkness to any scene. great work !


Rich

Well done, Jeff! Great model and very creepy.

Thanks alot for the comments. I will only be making a one-shot still for this character. The pose you see will most likely be the final pose. I will be building a set however.

I think the bump map might be a little too heavy, but these are the colors I will be going with I think.

wonderful character!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looks great, Jeff!