THX1138 - Pirates vs Ninjas - Summer Challenge
 

Gonna do a Skeleton Pirate. Always wanted to do one of those as a kid.

Ok here is my concept. Of course my work will be loosly based on it as I am doing my own spin on it.

Ok, after some free time away from work, I whipped up this prototype skull. No refferences were used. I know the teeth and jaw look like crap, but hey, it's a 1st wip. I might just model a couple of different skulls, and compare them all in the end.

Man, I feel like such a rookie sometimes. I like the skull so far. And, since you modeled it so quickly, I think your idea of modeling some different skulls to choose from is an excellent idea.

Nice going man, looking like a promising start!

Thanks guys! Wont be any more updates until monday, my day off. I hope to have another skull to show off by then. I'm considering making this first skull part of the pirates surroundings. Wont make any final decision until I have a couple more skulls.

Ok, another skull. Many new changes including a more dirty texture. This time with eyes, and a bit more character to it. Though not as sinister as the first one; I thought a more friendly expression would lesson the demonic look the first one had. Your thoughts on it as I tackle the 3rd and final skull.

Ok, here's the 3rd. A bit more of a demonic look, or a cross between the 1st and 2nd wips. I darkened the scene a bit to give it some mood.

Here is a pic of all 3 together. Each one has something different. Which one do you preffer, or should I keep working on them? Anything missing that you would like to see? I know the teeth still need more work.

Third one for me mate, would like to see a gold tooth somewhere in there, arrrghhhh!!!

I too like the 3rd one best

Big thanks gster123 and Perfecto! I will add a gold tooth and possibly an eye patch. I would add the skull cracks but the Pirate will be wearing a hat so there would be no use in adding that feature if it's not going to be shown.

Anyway, since the skull is freehand without any direct refferences, I'm going for a semi cartoon look. I'm not trying to directly copy the photoreal POTC look. When it's all finnished, this pirate will be guarding/overlooking his chest of gold. and the scene will be dark in nature, just like the skull pics are.

Thanks again guys, and you lurkers need to join this comp also!

I gotta say I like the shape of the first skull. Maybe just with the jaw from the 3rd, and then just round out the eye sockets. Looking forward to this one.

BarkingTreefrog: Thanks for the C&C! I will try your suggestion out and see how it works. It will be a 4th version.

Ok, the new one is on the far left. It's more demonic than the ones on the right but it shares more of the same features. This render is larger to give an even better comparison.

looking good here THX - are u goin for a funny lookin cartoon look or a serious cartoon style - cuz i think the 3rd head along in the last pic posted is quite funny looking, id go wiv that one if u were goin 4 a funny cartoon feel, alothugh the others r good too but seem more serious without the eyeballs in the sockets.

i was guna say add a eyepatch too :D
nice work.

Well I don't really want funny cartoon which is what the third one is, and I don't want too serious. I want a cartoon style but not funny cartoon style. I'm leaning more towards the pic on the far right. It has a more "evil funny" feel to it. I will still give the more demonic looking ones a shot, you never know what will work best in the end.

ha ha ha - excellent work THX1138! these are looking very cool! definitely either the third or fourth head in the last picture for me - really like this idea a lot - this should shape up to be a very cool looking little scene.
:beer:

coming on pretty well THX1138 :)

The eyesockets seem a bit far apart spacing wise, if I remember rightly the distance between the eyes equals the width of the eye (visible) and also the distance between the outer edge of the eye to the outside of the skull (roughly).

Si

Thanks t1ck135! Yeah, I noticed that aswell early on. That will be fixed later on. I'm working on the torso right know. It's hard to find good sized refferences for that part especially the backbone.

Thanks Arran, glad you like the work!

my personal view is that skeletons work better without eye balls, but this is looking very cool so far.

Cheers tweetytunes! Yeah been thinking about that, and I'm considering it more and more. Anyway, I'm still working on the chest and back area. Good refference pics are really hard to find. They are all really small. Hope to have some progress to show later today.

Ok, got some progress made on the torso. Man, I didn't think rib bones would be so hard to model. There is still loads more to do on them, so I'm only showing them from the front. I also took the eyes away from the skeleton and I think I'm going to stick with this skull. It's still retains a little character while keeping true with real skeletons.

this is comin along nicely THX u doin a great job :) the skeleton does look better without the eyes.

Looks pretty sweet, THX

I'm still a bit confused about your style. At the moment I think it's at the awkward place right between stylized and realistic where we're not sure which way to interpret it. Push it a little in either direction and I think we'll be a bit more comfortable with it.

Anatomically, at the moment the the ribcage looks too small
the ribs themselves are very thin but the actual ribcage should be about 2 head-widths across.

Personally, I tend to think you should push this more towards stylized. You already seem to be aiming down that road anyway. In this case I'd try exaggerating it a bit, for instance the skull's eyebrows are a little goofy looking. Typically they slope down from the center, but yours are kinda sloped up to make it look more angry.
If you're going to do this I think it needs to be more pronounced so it doesn't ever look like a mistake.

keep it coming, man

Cheers s2-speedy and Funky Bunnies! :beer:

Funky Bunnies: Big thanks for your input! I am aware of the anatomically incorrect ribcage, and it will be fixed. I'm going to scale the head down to match. Right now I'm not too focused on anatomy, just trying to get the hardest body parts out of the way first. Crucial anatomy checks will come in when I get the pelvis, arms, and legs made. Also I will work on the skulls brows to better match the eyes.

I'm leaning towards a cartoony style with this project. I never wanted to get too realistic with it. Thanks again Funk Bunny!:beer:

i like the 3rd skull to. but i like to see one of the eye's poped out of the skull. its will give the skulle more creepy look...
keep om going..
i have much too learn i can see...

:)

Cheers turbulent! :beer: I will do a few renders, one of which will have one eye, if thats what you mean by popped out.

My appologies for the lack of progress this past week. Been busy at work. I'm almost finnished with the ribcage, and will soon start on the rest of the body.

cool pirate concept man...

the only thing i have to say is maybe you should focus more in modeling than rendering... since its a modeling comp... focus

good nights!

THX1138: Looking forward to seeing some more updates. Looking good so far though. Once you get the basic details you mentioned nailed down, you should be able to make some really good progress.

Legolas_hv: You're right about the importance of staying focused on the modeling. However in this case, the renderings are probably just for showing us different styles for feedback and progress.

Cheers Legolas_hv, Perfecto! :beer:

My appologies for the lack of updates, will have some soon. About the renders instead of wireframes; I try to do something different for every comp, and the renders i'm posting just give the subject a little mood thats all. There is really nothing special about them. The final render will look quite a bit different, as most of my final renders usually do.

I will start posting wire frames on the next update.

Cheers again guys! :beer:

Update, Finially...

Finnished the pelvis for the most part. I still have a little more to do on it. The rib cage and backbone are all one picece. I still have to thicken the ribs a bit. Very fustrating and time consuming parts to sew together, but the pelvis has proven the most difficult so far.

A closer look at the pelvis...

Some wires..

...

Nice to see your updates!
mm this is quite cool but don't you think the collar bone is too much straight?

THX1138! - glad to see you are still in the challenge - this is looking very cool. :beer:

Cheers Legolas_hv and arran!:beer:

About that collar bone, yeah, it's too straight. Next update it will have it arching a little on the ends. Still, theres going to be a lot of work to do on it when he is all together. Whew, I'm glad the deadline has been pushed back.:beer:

I know you're not going for realism, but I think you should thicken up those bits, the ribs and collar bones are so thin he'd break in an instant.
UNLESS his bones were made of rubber... are they?

It's looking nice, watch the size of the pelvis and try to add in a bit more detail. Also, be sure to add in the curve of the spine before you go too far.

keep it up, man

Cheers FunkyB! :beer:

Yeah, the ribs, and collar bone are a bit too thin. I mentioned the ribs being too thin a couple of posts back, but thanks for the reminder on the collar bone!I also need to shrink the rib cage just a little to better match the pelvis.

I will be using a lattice on the spine to give it the curve it needs; and actually, I have allready been messing with the lattice a bit, and it works out nicely on the spine. Right now I'm leaving it straight till I have all the body parts modeled.

I still have the leg sockets to model on the pelvis for the thigh bones, and I have the shoulder blades to model aswell.

Hope to have more updates later today.

Thanks for the C&C FunkyB, It's always welcome! :beer: