Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• Pros: + Very good concept development process, going from silhouette to posed rendition. What can help you further down the line is to also draw your character in an A-pose, front, back and side view with flat shading/color. Some of the issues you encountered while sculpting, like how the dress works, could have been troubleshooted there. + The face looks good and fits with the style. + The way you interpreted the given theme was quite unique so bonus points for creativity. + Nice take on the hand painted tattoos. Cons: - Body anatomy is ok but there are some proportional issues and arms look stiff. As you mentioned in the documentation, the hands and feet should have been added to the blockout and more focus should have been put on the gesture and flow of the body. 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. - As you mentioned, polycount could have been higher, especially since it’s a portfolio piece, although this is a good target quality for platforms like phone or VR. Also topology-wise, polygon density varies from mesh to mesh which may lead to bad deformation. You would ideally want evenly spaced rows that flow from one piece of geometry to another for the best deformation results. For example, torso and dress may be two different meshes but you want the same number of vertical rows to flow from one to another as if they were one mesh. Also, the knees and elbows need more horizontal loops to support deformation. - The texturing process was not documented at all and most materials could use more work. Mainly the hair is very shiny and lacks texture which gives an unnatural look, same goes for the coat. Try to find references on how other artists textured characters similar to the style you went for. I recommend looking into creating stylised shaders in Unreal (see: https://80.lv/articles/stylized-character-production-techniques-in-ue4/ ) as good knowledge of shaders can turn a good model into a great one. (Extra tip: use the packed template when exporting from Painter to have less clutter in engine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcpz9_stKgs&ab_channel=James%2CHowDoI%3F ) - Documentation was quite brief in the later stages of production (texturing, lighting, scene setup) and you only managed to create one pose for the character. I noticed you mentioned time constraints which is perfectly understandable but here is where good planning comes into play, trying to think ahead about what do you know already and how many new things you would have to learn. There is no shame in scoping down the project and trying to go for a less complex character that allows you to focus more on each stage of production. - I got a few missing plugin errors while opening the project so make sure you ask a friend to unzip and run it on their own computer to double check how accessible it is. It did open in the end, but the coat and dress were separate static meshes from the character. Ideally you want all of them into one skeletal mesh asset. Overall, you’ve done a great job coming up with a unique character idea, even though the technical side of things can be improved. Keep exploring new ways to materialise your creativity into 3D and technical improvement will come naturally. Feel free to reach me at: verisof08 on Discord or via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mihaiandrusandu/
• Hi there! First of all, congratulations on taking part in SFAS. Participating in a contest like this is always a challenge. Your submission looks pretty cool. I think the concept behind it is really good. It’s a challenging concept in my opinion. Here you have some thoughts/feedback: Creative feedback - The concept development looks really good. I like how you studied the different character shapes and forms. - The use of colors is pretty good. I like the contrasts and color palette. - I think the tattoos position is inverted in the final model (?) - The character vibe is really good. It seems like a final boss - Overall improve anatomy skills - Hair shape looks good however the final result can be improved and polished. The hair looks a bit wobbly in some areas. - Her face looks really good. I think you caught her essence pretty well. Facial anatomy is good too. - The dress might need some work. The overall shape works, like, if you looked the model from far away, it would work, however, once you get close, some polishment is needed. - Renders look good but I’d play a bit more with the shadows and contrasts. You can create quite a nice scene with this character Technical feedback: - As you mention, the character geo is generally low. You can go a bit higher - I’d recommend that, as long as it’s possible, straighten your UVs. Bakes will look better eventually. - Try to have a more square shaped polygons Keep working hard! Can’t wait to see what you do next. Jose Gonzalez