Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• Pros: + Well documented process and bonus points for a tidy and easy to read documentation. + Very creative representation of the team and character design. + Nice use of blendshapes in conjunction with Marvelous. Cons: - In terms of final presentation, the idea to have the character in a desolate place to reflect their “habitat” is nice but that’s not an excuse for having an empty scene. This is not too big of an issue as the main focus of the competition is the character model itself, but it would certainly add atmosphere and mood to the final renders. Think of desolate places found in nature (caves, deserts) or abandoned buildings fitting to the era you took inspiration from (Ancient Greece). - You shouldn’t be using ZRemesh for a finished production model unless you want to test something and come back later to retopo manually. The heart mesh is too dense for this reason and could have been further optimised. - Texture-wise, the character could have been much more developed. Mainly, the textures look like plastic (take advantage of PBR values and find real life ref for your textures) and there is no distinction between the body and the toga as one texture is used across the whole body. I understand this may be on purpose but it tremendously decreases the readability of the character and on top of that, the character is mostly black/dark blue with white details which makes any forms or shadows very hard to see. I recommend further development of the value and color distribution in the concept stage to ensure the character gets your idea across without the viewer having to think too much about it. - Topology for the toga is a bit too high, I recommend trying a lower polycount, then accommodating any folds through diagonal cuts through the geometry where it gets too jagged because of the low resolution. - In terms of anatomy, the two extra arms could have been integrated better with the rest of the body. Find some references from other artists who tried to sculpt characters with four arms to see how they solved that issue anatomically. For further reference, one book I highly recommend is Anatomy for Sculptors (https://anatomy4sculptors.com/understanding-the-human-figure/). Also, don’t forget to practise anatomy through drawing since a lot of the observations you make in 2D can easily be transferred to 3D. For this I highly recommend drawing quick poses (1-2 min) which force you to find the main lines of action and learn how dynamic the human body is. Also a good website for sculpting and drawing reference is: https://line-of-action.com/ Overall, you’ve come up with a great idea and showed good technical fundamentals. With more practice and focus on how to present your character and how to get your artistic vision across to the viewer, I am confident you will come up with great projects which I am looking forward to! Feel free to reach me at: verisof08 on Discord or via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mihaiandrusandu/
• First of all, I want to thank you for the work you've done; you've done well with the task. I found it very interesting to evaluate your character. Thank you for your effort and diligence. I want to wish you good luck in the challenge and creative success! Denis Beletskii. 3D Concept Character Artist. Wargaming. Also, I would like to add some useful materials on working with characters and more. I hope they will be helpful to you when working on new excellent characters. Good breakdowns in my opinion: • Sin Nombre—Valerious by Kristina Perinska https://www.artstation.com/artwork/YBQrOX • Frostpunk Explorer: Character Design for Cinematics by Claudiu Tanasie https://80.lv/articles/001agt-frostpunk-explorer-character-design-for-cinematics/ • Game Res character by William Paré-Jobin https://www.artstation.com/artwork/oAonE4 • Yokai Breakdown by Anastasia Fomina https://www.artstation.com/artwork/OGOn06 • Creating a Strong Male Character by Annina Weber https://80.lv/articles/creating-a-strong-male-character-in-maya-zbrush-substance/ • Marilyn Monroe by Alexander Lyan https://gamesartist.co.uk/marilyn-monroe/ Useful literature: • Excellent anatomy books for sculptors. https://anatomy4sculptors.com/ • A book explaining the use of lighting for artists. https://www.laurenceking.com/products/light-for-visual-artists-second-edition • Anatomy for 3D artists. https://www.brownsbfs.co.uk/Product/Legaspi-Chris/Anatomy-for-3D-artists---the-essential-guide-for-CG-professionals/9781909414242 • Character design. https://store.3dtotal.com/products/fundamentals-of-character-design • Another book on lighting, but this time for portraits. https://www.ammonitepress.com/mastering-lighting-flash-photography/
• Contestant: Giada Lupinetti / @jade_45 Assessor: Tristan McGuire / @draconic_cowboy Tier: RS Congrats on completing your project! Things that went well: ✧ Choosing to retopologise the first mask and then use that same model to create the rest was a smart move. ✧ Topology is good. ✧ Great to see rigging skills! This goes above and beyond the responsibilities of a character artist, but is a very handy skill. ✧ Great reasoning behind the poses. ✧ Really nice Marvelous Designer pipeline. Things to consider next time: ✧ The heart could have been much lower poly, based on how small it is. ✧ To take the UVs to the next level, look into straightening the edges of the islands so you optimise the use of the space more. ✧ Put some more love into the final renders. Look on ArtStation at how professionals present their work, for ideas. ✧ Using the same material on the body and the cloth is a bit confusing. Having the body a plain colour, without the pattern would help. As you are in the Rising Star tier, I hope this feedback can be used to inform how you approach future university projects and I would love to see you take part in the competition again next year! You can find me on the social medias in the link below. Feel free to reach out in the future. All the best! https://draconic-cowboy.carrd.co/ - Tristan, Deputy Senior Character Artist at Airship Interactive.
• In this project, there is a really nice development of a concept using a wide range of reference images, and a thoroughly thought out narrative which is shown in the design of the character. Some feedback: ∘ it's nice to see that you blocked out the muscle groups, there's a book called "the resurrectionist" that depicts realistic anatomy of mythical creatures, including 4-armed beings which might be useful for seeing how the muscles would intersect ∘ it's really good to see marvelous designer in your workflow ∘ spend more time on the textures and pay attention to the materials like roughness and metal. the heart looks quite dry. It would be good to differentiate the body and the dress, you could use a default cloth material for the base of the dress and build on top, such as adding your alpha pattern Good job building a rig, this goes beyond expectations! the poses turned out really well. Keep up the hard work! Feel free to reach out with any questions ~ Sasha Gallie, Character Artist at Double Eleven https://www.artstation.com/sashagallie