Xena: Last WIP

Ariadne got sick last week so I'm way behind from where I wanted to be. Deadline is this evening.  Here's things so far.

Xena Progress

Here's a quick progress update.

Gabrielle is looking like something that crawled out of the uncanny valley, so I may scrap the duo for the deadline...

Xena and Gaby first WIP

Well, four hours down and it doesn't feel like much.  Without hair it feels wrong but I'm pretty sure I've got the shapes down.  A lot of small changes are called for once I break them out of symmetry (especially Renee's eyes)  I figure the next step is blocking out the scene

Some new 3D Challenges

I'm kicking off 2 different challenges with a total of 3 characters.  I've been needing a project where I can practice making believable females (mine always come out sorta mannish).

First up is the Femme Fatales Modeling Challenge over at CGTalk.  I'll be modeling Lucy Lawless and her sidekick Renee O'Connor from their roles in Xena.  Here's a snapshot of the pile of refs I'll be working from for Xena (Lucy Lawless).

I'll Probably shoot for a slightly older Lucy, somewhere between how she looks now and a couple of years ago on Battlestar Galactica.  I like the idea of a slightly more age separated Xena and Gabrielle.  Warrior princess and innocent sidekick, the way I feel the series started out in season one.

Next up, Gabrielle.  Not much to change here, I'll see if it's possible to make her a little younger without ruining the likeness.  I prefer the season one costume design but I'll try to re-design it using the slightly better materials from later in the series.  Leather and metal wherever possible.  Also I must not have watched much of the show because I only ever saw her with the staff as a weapon.  I might model the sais and put them on her but she'll be wielding the staff.

The Competition over at CG Hub is to make any Post Apocalyptic character.  A little broad of a topic for my tastes, but again because I need the practice modeling females I quickly decided to model a Female survivor who has returned to earth long after whatever apocalypse has taken place.  She'll be decked out in a beat up hazmat / space suit inspired by The Divide (one depressing as hell movie), with some biotech inspired by the comic Prophet.

Looking at them now, my refs are a little scattered.  I can briefly walk through them.  Items: big dirty cleaver survival tool, assorted items from space capsule survival kit and not pictured might be some scavenged things  tied onto her back. Face: I haven't quite settled on the face, but probably will be dirty and freckled with bright blue eyes.  Helmet: I was originally planning on ditching the helmet for a biological system like the blue goop shown in the Prophet comic, but I'm worried about readability.  If I have to explain it to everyone it's not going to work as a standalone character design.  The comic employs a lot of exposition.  The helmet then  will have to be more of a glass dome design with several tubes that might look worse for wear.  Weapon: I like the guns from The Divide, but a nice clean gun wouldn't really be astronaut standard issue, if I get everything done in a timely manner I might look into making a P90 or other compact sub-machine gun.  I do like the bio support system from Prophet and I'll probable copy the effect of it trying to replace a lot limb, but I may avoid the alien claw hand because it might require too much explanation.

Night Photo Outing

Well, the weather's good here, and I've got the bug to go out and get some shots of some wreckage I spotted a while back. Before I head out though I though it would be good to put up some of the shots I took a couple weeks ago. I headed out around two in the morning and I wasn't sure where I would end up, but I'm happy with the results. These shots are real long exposures, and I swear it was almost pitch black out. Anyway gotta head out while the light still holds, hopefully I'll have some more to post soon.

Unearthly Challenge '09

I've started work on a new challenge. Unearthly Challenge '09 This one is an environment challenge rather than my usual characters, so it should be both a chance to stretch my legs and to trip over them. I'm still refining ideas and trying to decide on which one I should follow through on. My work in progress thread is HERE at game artisans.org

Final LJ and Peach

I Finished! ... Both.

I managed to finish both the competitions I was working on before. While I can find many things I wish I could change about how I submitted the final work, I am very happy with the models that came out of this.

As you can see, there's no Mario here. I chose to cut down to one character for time, and Peach in all his flamboyancy was way more interesting. And it seems I was right. I got 3rd place on this one.

I didn't get all the images for this one looking exactly the way I wanted. I'm really happy with the model and I learned a ton that has helped speed up my workflow. I've gotten tons of complements on the quality of the base, and while it used up a day and a half during my final week, when it comes to overall quality I don't think it was time wasted. I'm still waiting for some kind of info on how the judging is going on this comp. I don't expect to place, but the blind waiting is awful.