I used 16-bit alphas only for the high frequency details and to give a little surface noise. I spent some time doing studies on how the skin works, how traditional sculptors approach it, and I ended up sculpting nearly all of the elephant's surface details by hand. Most people tend to use alphas right away and the result is usually not what they were going after. I saw a lot of tutorials online about modeling elephants and how to approach them, but none of them had correct and realistic skin. I wanted it to be as realistic as possible. The skin of the elephant was the trickiest and most challenging part for me, but also the most enjoyable. It's a free image viewer where you can display a lot of images without any distractions. After finishing with the references I use PureRef to have them next to me all the time. Always keep in mind the '80-20' rule: the 20% of work you do in the beginning will determine how the other 80% will look. Spend some time to find the best references you can find out there. Go through anatomy books, visit zoos, watch documentaries, and browse Pinterest. I've come to the conclusion that your model will go as far as your references. Where does the animal live? How does it look when it's born or when it gets old? A lot of these things play a huge role in the shape of its body, the way it walks, and most of all they give you a huge advantage because you can easily give a personality to the animal and bring it to life. What I've learned to do, and has helped me a lot, is to take some time to study what you are about to do. A lot of people get too excited at the beginning of a project and they want to dive into the fun and interesting stuff right away.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |