Little H

[YONA]

Hi! my name is Cédric
I used to work for Def2shoot with Tomaya and now i have my own company named INTERVALISTS.
To introduce myself i wanted to share with you a project for an animated TV series named "Little H".
My idea is to prepare a 3D print and some illustrations with these characters and include them in 2D backgrounds.
I do my basemeshes in XSI, than use ZB to refine the shapes. Texturing in ZB and bodypaint and rendering in XSI.

Here are the first steps of my work :

1st: my sketches
http://forum.zbrush.fr/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4356.0;attach=1007 7;image

http://forum.zbrush.fr/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4356.0;attach=1009 6;image

2/ details for modeling
http://forum.zbrush.fr/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4356.0;attach=1025 9;image

3/ basemeshes
http://forum.zbrush.fr/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4356.0;attach=1030 2;image

[YONA]

http://forum.zbrush.fr/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4356.0;attach=1031 1;image

http://forum.zbrush.fr/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4356.0;attach=1031 7;image

[PascalR]

Great stuff YONA, it is so nice to see people drawing before actually going 3d with their artworks.
Great style!

Cheers,

P.

PS: you can attach a small image to your post so it will display as a thumbnail while browsing forums.

[James 72]

Cool characters :@)

[YONA]

now that the basemesh of EMROLD is done i'll make him older and used in ZB... i've got a lot of work to do!
I also need to close all the geometries for the hair of my kid before the sculpt if i want to print him in 3D.

hope you will like the update.

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=168104

[YONA]

Hello every body!
Here's the posing of my 2 characters done thanks to transpose and subtool master.
As i want to print these 2 i had to find a way to consolidate the back of the sculpture as they are tilted. That's why i've decided that Emrold can play music. The music partition will help, as you can see on the pictures, to make the sculpt stand up.
Now let's start the sculpt!!!

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=168476

[YONA]

here's the first pass of ZB on Emrold. It's almost finished but i still have a lot of work to do on the leather jacket such as seams, material bumps..
as the textures will be hand painted i don't want to add to many realistic details such as scratches on the metal...any way i'll be able to add them later if needed...
too many details kill the composition!
I'll have to find the good balance between him and the little boy!

see you soon!

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=168568

[PascalR]

great to see the progression on this artwork! Like you said, too much details might kill composition, and one could always find ways to be picky on details.
Having the big picture in mind gives you a great advantage here, you can focus on what's necessary only!
Juste la queue de pie me semble vraiment epaisse.

Keep up the great work!!!

P.

[YONA]

You're totally right about the thickness of the tail. In fact i'm not completly satisfied. I think that, except for the pockets of the front view, i'm going to resculpt it again!
Thanks for the advice and i'm glad that you like the way i work!

Cedric "YONA" BABOUCHE

[YONA]

today, i've decided to work on the documentary part of the project "Litlle H"
Architecture of New York during the 1910's. BGs will be very important too!
I'll share some sketches with you guys if you are interested
I've also worked on Emrold color references in order to prepare the texturing, lighting and rendering hope you'll like him even if it's just a quick sketch!

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=169132

[PascalR]

Really cool to see the process on this, thanks for sharing these YONA.
Is the robot going to be new and shiny or more dusty and scratched?

cheers

P.

[YONA]

I'd like him to be dusty and rusty. But as you may know, in France, you have to take care of children in front of their Tv! So he will not be as destroyed as would like him to be.

[YONA]

OK, now i need help...because forums are not only for sharing processes but also for asking help!

I've never done details such as these below. So i don't even know how to texture that?!! how do i paint these little stitches, bolts and rivets? do i polypaint them?
Or do i render a bump map pass as reference and bring the texture as a reference in photoshop?
the other option would be to bring all my character in Bodypaint and paint all the volumes in one time?
Well, i need your help...even if i've never polypainted or even used Bodypaint, it's not a problem... i'll lurn..

Thanks!!

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=169181

[PascalR]

Hi Yona,

I will let the textures experts help you more on this, but if I had to paint them, I would probably extract the displacement map and use it as a mask or reference in either Photoshop or BodyPaint. Unless you want to keep these as separate objects?
BodyPaint is really good for painting over multiple objects, so it could work fine.
I have never used Zbrush polypaint but I know you can paint over different objects in mudbox too.


Cheers

Pascal

PS: S'occuper des enfants devant la tele? hahaha une bonne console de jeu et hop !

[Richardr]

Wow I can't wait to see it finished, it looks already pretty damn cool !

[YONA]

I've just finished the sculpt of my 2 characters... still need some details to fix but here's a quick render without textures just to have an idea of what will look the 3D print.
Unfortunatly i will have to work on the textures later. Now i have to focus on the art development of the BGs. Anyway i have to redo the hairs of the boy with alphas, make hte retopology and unwrap clean uvs of these two so it will take time before the final version.
Maybe i'm gonna do an other composition instead in which one i'll texture them...we'll see!!!

hope you will like them. see you soon for the final sculpted version.

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=170131

[PascalR]

Nice model and idea, the only thing that I am not sure of, is the the gap between the eye socket and eyeball. I know it is stylized but some kind of eyelid may help?

cheers

P.

[YONA]

Well, i thought i was close from my 2D reference but you're the third person to say that!
So i'm gonna change that! i will test different eyelids with ZB's layers.

thanks!

[Captain Sensible]

Hi Cedric, nice work! Always so well presented. Even down to the logo on the floor. Are you gonna keep Emrold's music sheet as it's not in your last render?

[YONA]

Here are some new renders with all the retakes... now i have to had the music sheet (for you Captain Sensible ;) ), the base and the title.

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=170741

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=170742

[PascalR]

Nice renders and update! Only a small thing I am not sure of , is the cloth folds on the boy, they seem too parallel imho. Also the there is a corner on the clothing that looks a bit unnatural to me.
Here is a screenshot so show you the areas I am talking about.

139


Great piece anyways, love it :thumbsup:

[YONA]

Ok Pascal! I'll fix that this afternoon! In fact i'm not even sure that thé rôles on the arm are usefull. Maybe i'll just remove them and fix the others.

[YONA]

Hi everybody!!! and happy new year!!!
My associates and I have decided, for Little H project, that the kid will be in 2D (because i looooove 2D too ) and the robot in 3D. So i'll only work on Emrold textures and shaders and make some illustrations with him in 3D and the boy in 2D.
Here's a bit of 2D in the huge world of 3D sculpting! This is a research for the Little H project. This is not the final look but it will be close from that.

I hope that i'll have the final shaded version of Emrold for my next illustrations. I know that this is not 3D but ....

Hope you will like this illustration!

http://www.cgcoach.com/beta/images/fbfiles/images/TheHouseGarden01.jpg

[sebcravoisier]

completely amazing! good work!

[tonytrout]

magical, nice perspective. To me I think the colouring of the clockman doesnt feel right, just my opinion, I was sort of expecting brass colour...

[PascalR]

great concept:beerchug:

[Richardr]

Happy New Year Yona :bouncy:
I really love your artwork, it looks ^$ù^*ù^ing great !

[YONA]

Thank you so much guys!

Now that we have worked a bit more on the project, we have changed our mind AGAIN! The kid, his name is PITO, will be in 3D too...
So i have to finish him in order to use him in all my illustrations (except the 1st one)
I've decided to redo him in order to have the cleanest base to work with.
I'll go back to my low poly to make a model that i'll be able to use, including UVs and textures, for all my illustrations
Here is my next pre-production illustration for our project. You can see the boy, PITO and the robot, EMROLD in the center of the image.

Here is how i work :
1/ a quick sketch in photoshop which let me resize the frame till i'm happy. In this picture, for example, i was much more closer of the 2 main characters at the beginning of my skecth and i have decided to resize the picture in order to add bigger robots...
2/ i add a medium gray layer on which one i paint my main lights with 4 types of greys maximum (and no black for now)
3/ when i'm close from what i want, I choose the main color of the illustration to create the ambience.
4/ I start the painting. I use photoshop as i f i was painting with acrylic (from darker colors till lighter colors)
5/ Once all the illustration is done in a monochromatic mode, i add several layers in order to think of the best way to add colors.
6/ I add my 3D characters sculpted in Zbrush, painted thanks to polypainting, Zapplink, Photoshop (a bit of bodypaint) and lighten in XSI.
7/ I refine all the lighting work by using levels, brush and dodge tool in photoshop
8/ I do some final color adjustements if needed
9/ Done!

This was the process of my last illustration, i've always worked like that in Photoshop. By following these steps, i'm sure to respect all the aspects of my work, lighting, color, etc...
In my new illustration i've just started the step 4, you can see that the foreground is more painted than the rest.
I'll try to post all the next steps.

Hope this method will help some of you guys EVEN IF IT'S NOT COMPLETLY A 3D WORK ...

but it's always interesting to mix technics no?
a bit of painting with our friend ZB, XSI ?
isn't it fun hummm? no? ok...

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=176092

[PascalR]

That's just great YONA, I love your perspective and composition!
Thanks for sharing your workflow, it IS very useful, and I am happy to repeat that this forum is NOT only for 3d artworks, so any 2d painters are more than welcome here :beerchug:


Awesome, can't wait for the next update on this one clap

[YONA]

Hi guys! and thank you for your support Pascal! I'm glad that we can share 2d knowledges too. Sometimes, we forget that without 2D, 3D wouldn't exist!


Well, I'm not so far away of adding my 2 3D characters in the picture.
I'm still working on the details and i have 2 more days of work on the painting part.
Then, i'll add some colors and work on the rendering of my characters.
For now, here's a breakdown of all the steps since the beginning of my picture.

Can't wait to add my 3D characters in it.

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=176935

[PascalR]

Great work Yona, thanks for sharing the steps too :beerchug:

[YONA]

Hi guys! long time no see!
I was very busy on the preproduction part of several projects. SO still no 3D for now.
But all the pictures i post are parts of 2D/3D projects for whom i'll use Zbrush for all the characters.
The more time i spend on the preproduction, the more i'm comfortable with ZB when it's time to sculpt!

Here are the last sketches for the LITTLE H project...still so many things to do..
I'm waiting for my first 3D print from DESMODA (ZBcentral) from my 2 main charcters! i'll post photos as soon as i can!

the robots room:
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=182788

The key room (still in progress, i have to add the characters, details and soooo many stuff):
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=182789

And a completly different project i'm working on.The characters will be sculpted in ZB, all the BGs will be 2D
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=182790

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=182791

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=182792

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=182793

[Silva Spoon]

This is turning out awesome. No crits from me. Just wanted to drop a line and say how much Im enjoying it.

[PascalR]

Same here, the new project looks awesome:drool:
Keep us posted please!!:thumbsup:

[Intervain]

yeah wow awesome stuff - love it!:drool:

[YONA]

Thank you guys!
only one more room to draw before presenting the project! wish me luck!

http://forum.zbrush.fr/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4356.0;attach=1140 3;image

[clay]

Fantastic paintings, really imaginative world :) Not anything to crit at this point really

[YONA]

here are the photos sent by Desmoda! can't wait to receive my sculpture!

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=183526

[Intervain]

nice - they really do an awesome job :)

[PascalR]

yeah looks great! Did you receive it yet?

Cheers

P.

[Storm]

Can't believe I missed this thread, been following you work on ZBC, you got a wonderful style. The 3D print looks really good.

[Tomaya]

Awsome dude , as always , a big universe , time has come to make a movie ...
i mean it :thumbsup:

[majid_smiley]

very coool !

[YONA]

Hello guys!
lon time no seee! I was quite busy working on my first tv series production and direction, which btw is far from being finished
But now, i finally have time to work on my Little H project. As you know, i've already sculpted Emrold and the boy. Now i can't wait sculpting these new characters below.
Let me introduce to Sinheart who is the bad guy of this project. A genius, whose face has been blown by an explosion during an experiment.
You can also see Leopold and Gustave who are Sinheart factotums. They are untalented robbers who spend their time yealing at each other.
In a way these 3 characters are a homage to Miyazaki's version of Moriarty and his team except the fact that Sinheart is not very funny and very dangerous.
In this project i'll sculpt the composition where Sinheart is sat on the armchair surrounded by Gustave and Leopold (in the 3rd picture). As always, i'll do my lowpoly in XSI (or maybe in MODO) and sculpt them in Zbrush then i'll ask Desmoda to print them.

hope you'll like these new characters

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=228342
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=228343
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=228344

[Storm]

Hey Cédric, awesome sketches, really really lovely characters :)
One thing, I don't think the tilted tall hat works that well, although I really think the tall hat fits him well. Maybe instead of tilting the entire hat, you could just tilt the shade and make the rest of the hat be straight up, of cause just a suggestion. ;)
Anyway, can't wait to see these guys in 3D!

[PascalR]

Great characters, looking forward to seeing them in 3d too.
Congrats man :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[tonytrout]

Man, you do some awesome sketches clap

3898

[YONA]

Thanks guys!

you're right Storm! when i see the picture that tonytrout has posted i see how to improve the hat. My reference was a photo but was a bit classical. Further more his hat looks alike Emrold's one and it's not a good idea.
Anyway, some people around me think that the helmet of Sinheart is to simple. But for me Simple is good when you work on character who is very charismatic. It's like in illustration, if the illustration looks like the text it's not very interesting.
The old fashion style of his helmet fits with the end of the 19th century.
What do you think?

[Time2Time]

awesome works man ! very funny characters clap