Frankie Say Relax - Zbrush Alien-Monkey dude

Problem? Don't worry, Frankie's here to save the day!

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You can view a bigger (and more accurate) version of this pic over on my DeviantArt page here.

I  remember  when Frankie Goes to Hollywood released Relax and these t-shirts where doing the rounds. Makes me feel old!

I don't suppose they ever imagined a 3-eyed alien-monkey with a green plasma gun would ever be sporting one of these Tees? Or maybe they did? We may never know...........

Zbrush for modeling, a bit of Blender for the gun and chain, Gimp for compositing and repaint work, After Effects for particle creation, and finally IrfanView for chromatic aberration, noise, resizing and jpeg export.

PS: What the hell is the story with Blogger and it's weird automatic colour adjustment crap? The above image has been given a weird hue that doesn't bare any relationship to the actual uploaded image. Piece of crap Google products!

Octo-Dude and Simian-Alien WIP updates

A quick w.i.p update on these two lads.

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Previous post on Octo-Dude here.
Previous post on Simian-Alien guy here.

I'm happy enough at the moment with their poses.
Still undecided whether I'll keep the final renders simple and monochromatic or add a bit more colour detail. I'm thinking a simpler approach would better suit the sculpts - especially the octo/squid dude.

Old Octo Dude - WIP

I'm still working on my alien/monkey hybrid character but I also have this fella on the go too. He's an octopus/squid type mix with an elderly, mischievous man.

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I had been working on an exaggerated cartoon-ish old guy face when it suddenly dawned on me: what if he had tentacles? The idea progressed and I decided he could be sort of like the mythological tale of the 'old man of the sea'. This paragraph from the Wiki page particularly caught my interest:

"The Old Man of the Sea in the Sinbad tales was said to trick a traveller into letting him ride on his shoulders while the traveller transported him across a stream. However, the Old Man would then not release his grip, forcing his victim to transport him wherever he pleased and allowing his victim little rest. The Old Man's victims all eventually died of this miserable treatment, but Sinbad, after having got the Old Man drunk with wine, was able to shake him off and kill him."

The old man is described as being capable of changing shape from one form to another at will. The only way to stop him is by capturing him ( sounds like a leprechaun!).
I figured that if he changes shape and he lives in the sea then he's likely to turn into an octopus/squid at some stage.
That's my logic anyways!

Simian Alien - Zbrush WIP #3

This character is coming together nicely.

Zbrush screenshot.
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Simian Alien - Zbrush WIP #2

A quick update on this fella I'm making in Zbrush. His face is a bit more baboon-like but if you look closely you'll notice he has a third eye.

I thought it'd be nice to give my lad 3 eyes after reading NewScientist magazine where I saw a photo of two iguanas fighting. The caption explained that they have what is called a  'parietal eye' above their forehead which is used for watching the sky for aerial predators. Pretty nifty thing to have!

Screenshot from Zbrush of this little dude (note the unused baseball cap from my previous alien)
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I've got a nice idea for a slogan on his t-shirt which should go nicely with the personality I have in mind for him. Still a fair bit of work to do on his arms, shirt and overall composition. I'm thinking I might keep a face-on viewpoint rather than any dramatic pose. Might lose the cap too and give a more ornate colouring to his forehead area.

Simian Alien - Zbrush WIP

This is a simian/alien hybrid character I'm working on in Zbrush.

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I'm just mainly focusing on getting the facial features correct at the moment - a sort of mix of a baboon, orangutan and George W Bush/Giovanni Trappatoni!

Zbrush - Alien Dude - FINISHED!

He's completed and here he is!

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A nice simple background that doesn't detract from the main figure. In my previous posts I've mentioned some of the things I picked up while maikng this guy: learning Marvellous Designer was a big one; getting familiar with some of Zbrush's extensive tools such as Noisemaker being another fun one.

I've never modeled a handgun before and, while this one is good enough as far as this  image  goes, I would like to revisit some hardbody sculpting techniques I only touched upon during this pictures creation. Mixing Zbrush's dynamesh/shadowbox with traditional poly sculpting in Blender is something I'll get more used to as I continue on making stuff.

Tools used while making this pic: Zbrush, Gimp, Irfan View, Marvellous Designer, Blender.

Zbrush - W.I.P Gun alien Dude - Update

Another quick update on this fella. I'm very happy with his face and expression and I'm finally starting to composite my renders in Gimp.

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Above is an early stages rough out of some composited render layers.

Getting back to the sculpting for a moment, I'm very happy with the scarf and how it came out. I've been teaching myself Marvellous Designer and also getting to grips with some of Zbrush's features for texturing such as Noisemaker. I love this plugin! I use it for getting some gret procedural bump map textures as well as colour patterns (as seen on the scarf and the vest the guy above is wearing). 

I also used Blender to make the cable wrapped around the fella's arm (I just felt he needed something to add more interest to that area). I used bezier curves - which is kinda tedious and time consuming but it works. I then converted the curve to editable polygons and imported it into Zbrush where I could continue to colour and texture it using Noisemaker. 

I think this image should come out pretty nice.

Zbrush - W.I.P Gun alien Dude

Some progress with this guy.

A Zbrush screenshot of the unrendered polypainted character.
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Full body Zbrush screenshot.
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Mainly now it's all about choosing a good camera angle, getting a nice lighting setup and then rendering passes. 

The fun stuff will happen when compositing in Gimp.