CG Another Neytiri 3D WIP

[Neytiri Makto]

Exoblade, I'm glad that you recognize that this kind of thing is a skill and not some kind of mysterious talent. The same goes for drawing. Nobody is born with those kinds of skills, they have to be developed with many hours of practice.
The good news is that anybody who is willing to devote the necessary time to practice at such skills can become proficient in them. No magic required!
It's all up to you how you want to spend the time that you've been given.
For myself, this is the kind of thing that I choose to do with my time - and I hope that the results will be pleasing and profitable.

[Moco Loco]

Originally Posted by Neytiri Makto

Exoblade, I'm glad that you recognize that this kind of thing is a skill and not some kind of mysterious talent.

lol

There is definitely talent involved, don't short change yourself, but it would be wrong to imply that work isn't a large part as well.

[Neytiri Makto]

Moco Loco, thanks for your compliments!

Some time ago I read a few books about success and accomplishment, one of them was named The Talent Code.

The Talent Code: Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown. Here's How.: Daniel Coyle: 9780553806847: Amazon.com: Books

Recent studies in social science have developed the term called "deliberate practice" as a key element of becoming highly skilled at a task. This particular form of practice involves continually challenging yourself to do more and more challenging things with skills that you choose to develop, by investing many hours of practice in that skill set.

One thing that I noticed these scientists could not really study is the possible origin of what we call "talent" as a particular beneficial arrangement of certain neuron paths in our brains at birth. With our current level of science regarding the brain, how could we possibly measure such a thing?

Perhaps what you compliment me with as a talent could have started out as a slightly more developed neural path that allowed me to develop hand-eye coordination just a little better than normal when I was born. But I did spend tens of thousands of hours (from childhood to early adulthood) in the deliberate practice of drawing things. Even though I had not tried to create a character in 3d as recently as just 2.5 years ago, many hundreds of hours of deliberate practice has allowed me to reach this skill level today. Personally I am thrilled to be reaching a fantasy goal I had when I first saw Avatar by finally making my own Neytiri model.

I hope you guys are as excited as myself! I've begun work on her weapons and will be able to post new pics in a few days.

On a related note... While I was researching Neytiri's pants in great detail for the purpose of modeling them, I noticed something that had not occurred to me before. Did you realize that they are essentially crotch-less pants, like old cowboy chaps? And that she has to put them on before putting on her loincloth (seen from how the straps of her loincloth are arranged over top of the pants)? A little bit kinky, hm? She does look a bit extra-sexy when I turn off the visibility of the loincloth on my model while she's wearing those pants.

[Moco Loco]

It's a pretty basic concept that skills are built with practice, but I'd say those with talent are able to build those skills faster. I have been drawing for my whole life but I'm still not very good at it. Two years ago, I could draw some decent stick figures (I have a thread of them here, also look at Mikko's icon). Last year, I started doing some more realistic line art. Only this year, after so many years of substandard drawing, have I been able to do any amount of shading (only one drawing, took me weeks, really basic). I really like doing it and probably always will, but wow do I progress slowly.

[Neytiri Makto]

Moco Loco, for the longest time I drew exclusively with lines. It wasn't until I took a college level art class that I learned how to draw with value instead. I can't tell you how much of a difference it made in my work!

I am of the opinion that a person can accomplish any goal that they really dedicate themselves to working toward. If you find yourself at a plateau in your art skills, have you considered taking a class so that you can receive additional guidance from an accomplished instructor that can introduce you to more advanced concepts? It is often that we cannot truly stretch ourselves to new heights until we are made aware of new horizons that aren't visible from our otherwise limited view.

[Moco Loco]

I don't feel plateaued really, just that my progress is genuinely slow paced even though I draw a lot. I guess you could argue that by not taking an art class, I'm not as serious about it as some people, but some people never need an art class to be really good.

[Neytiri Makto]

Moco Loco,
Although you might encounter those people that are really good at drawing without having taken an art class, I doubt those people achieved that level of skill without countless hours of practice.

Here is my model of Neytiri's dagger, I still need to make the sheath.

[Moco Loco]

I'm not trying to say skills are some magic people are born with, also not trying to diminish the value of your effort. This stuff is great.

[Neytiri Makto]

Moco Loco, as always thank you for your compliments!

I had been at the stage of working on Neytiri's bow - the ceremonial bow that her father gave her. I've already gotten a good amount of the shape worked out, but the zbrush thing has been constantly at the back of my mind.

So I decided to take a short break from my Neytiri project to try to answer my concerns about zbrush through experience using the program.

I decided to create a new character model from scratch - and used Zoe Saldana as my experimental zbrush creation. I was in dire need of seeing what I could do with zbrush to bring out the necessary fine detail with Neytiri - and now I'll gain the bonus of a Zoe model too. So when they are both complete I'll be able to dress Zoe up in scaled-down versions of Neytiri's garb and equipment for additional cool scenes.

This is still very much a work in progress, as I'm experimenting with how to use zbrush to represent anatomy and fine details - so don't have extremely high expectations from this single image.

[Moco Loco]

Those neck and shoulders are really cool looking, like a bronze statue.

[Human No More]

I like the muscle textures on the neck.

[Neytiri Makto]

Moco Loco and Human No More,

Thanks for your comments! This is my first time using zbrush to make a character with really fine details. So I'm glad you like what you're seeing. My intent was to block in the muscles on the body using a brush tool that would simulate muscle striations. After the block-in phase, I'll smooth them over to create the appearance of skin over muscle.

I have taken the model to the next phase now, I exported the results of the zbrush sculpt back to maya for retopology. I added additional anatomical details and began creating the uv maps for later texturing. Next I'll bring this higher-resolution model back into zbrush for additional detail work.

As usual, there is some 3d nudity involved in this kind of work. Not much detail is visible, but you never know if somebody will object to seeing this kind of thing.

[Moco Loco]

I doubt anyone around here will object

[Neytiri Makto]

That's great news, Moco Loco!
Then I hope nobody will object to another WIP picture of the Zoe model.

Again (in case anybody is concerned), I have not abandoned the Neytiri model. Since I have very little experience with zbrush, I'm taking this opportunity to create a related model using zbrush before I follow the same steps with Neytiri.

I've never done any real sculpting before, so if I'm going to make a mess of things, I'd rather do it with a new model than the Neytiri model that I've spent so much time building.

As before, nsfw nudity in this image...