jon

the fu?chikomas are awesome! great work! -jon

now sophie is a manx, but otherwise complete: [attachmentid=10261] i need to rework her flanks a bit, as i have too many hooks and 5 point patches fighting amongst themselves, but i'll prolly have to start rigging this weekend. i hope to skip the 'bone-every-feather' approach, and just create a few bending wing poses instead. -jon

michel, i'm a better at splining than sketching, but since i'm miserable at drawing, i just have to be a passable modeller to show improvement. ' ' ) progresswise, i had to re-copy/flip/attach the body since attaching the wing to the feline body caused me to seriously rework back and shoulders. i'll have a new snapshot up tonight, once i reattach the torso. -jon

don't get me wrong... even if i was a decal master, i tend to like texture-free toony goodness on my characters. the wing is coming along nicely: [attachmentid=10159] it might be a little detail heavy for sophie, but i think the simple coloring will help it fit stylistically. my biggest fear now is that i'll have to bone every single feather (in a synchronized roll) to get the wing to bow properly at rest. -jon

i've been following your character for a while, and let me say she looks great! how black/african is your model supposed to be? if it's more than a bit, i'd expect her to have a shallower/wider bridge, as well as a smoother, less defined transition between nostrils and bridge. keep up the great work! -jon

well, i've had some trouble with applying distortion-free decals myself, and that's part of my aversion. i've only applied decals directly or to a flattened pose, but the new uv editor might make things easier, if i can wrap my head around it. i've been thinking about this issue a bit more, and i do think that i could use a simple decal to roughen up the edge of the color change a bit. i'd want to stick to a simple color change, and i'd like to use alpha to mask a simple white fill. i'll give it a shot -- but after i get some credible wings! -jon

i found a new way to avoid those wings: color! [attachmentid=10043] due to my hatred of decals, i had to tweak the breast and face splines to get the belly color contours right, as well as rework the face to support the obligatory triangle nose. amarillo: i started with four cuz i didn't think three was possible. ' ' ) a four point circle might not work for her legs either -- especially when i add in some toe shapes -- but i'm sure i could keep them if i believed in bias handles. sadly, i don't. what a grouchy ol' spliner i am. -jon her arms are looking a little long to me now...

i'm officially recanting the super-chibi title for sophie! i like the way she's turning out, and while chibi was my original goal, i'm happy with meeting it halfway. the dragon half pic was posted to show i really do understand what chibi is, but that's not where i see this model going. i appreciate each and every comment here, and ask that you keep it coming... but sophie won't be radically changing from her current form. she'll have fingers, prolly blobby toes, and will stand a gigantic five heads high. ' ' ) -jon

well, matt... chibi is my intended goal, but i guess i'll have to settle for "chibi-influenced". for those not in the know... here is the chibi-est character i could find: [attachmentid=9986] chibi mink from dragon half i'm not going to get there, but i want sophie to be as cute as possible, and still be something from me. raw chibi just ain't me. ' ' ) -jon

i'm not too worried by adding detail in the model, since my chosen render style (toon) tends to strip away a lot of the fine bits anyway. i've been working on sophie's face and hair, prolly to keep from working on the wings: [attachmentid=9972] interesting fact: big cats don't have slitted irises. their eyes look very human, 'cept for the color. -jon

my impulse to to usually strip away detail, especially for this project... but i think some toes might be nice, since i'm having a hard time keeping the face and torso as simple as planned. good advice! -jon

her head didn't double in size, but i'm trying to keep it real... real chibi, that is: [attachmentid=9892] i had some ears lying around, so i tweaked 'em a bit, and there they are. -jon

thanks jake! yer dead on with the head. i already sized it up to around 150% but it could easily be twice again as big. while i initially fought against the current human/feline body size ratio, i couldn't make a proportionally larger human torso (i.e. smaller cat body) 'work'. let's see if the big-headedness helps. ' ' ) i think i'll have to make the hands plumper too, and prolly remove a finger on each as well. -jon

a simplified upper humanoid body -- from earlier anime experimentation -- fused with feline body. [attachmentid=9840] the head is too spliney, but i'll prolly skip further culling to work on hair and (gulp) wings. -jon

legs, and a torso... yay! [attachmentid=9701] -jon added: looking at this shot now, i'm happy with the beastly splinage overall, but i think i'll loose one of the belly loops on the torso. the feline booty needs work, but i'll address that when i add the tail. because the torso is so small, the breasts might seem too much now, but the oversized head will be a much bigger eye-draw. i really want to add toenails, but that's counter-chibi. i'll be lucky if i can get away with fingers!

i need at least a little 'freaky' for a project to interest me... the more the merrier. hexapods (centaur-ish creatures) are a rare, but popular theme in the furry art i was exposed to in the early 90's. i don't see to much of them these days. The chibi style is as old as anime, and i'm starting to embrace elements of it in all of my work, but i want to explore my tolerance to extreme chibi with sophie. people can deal with freaky cute more than just raw freaky. ' ' ) -jon

that same someone came up with her version of sophie: [attachmentid=9564] i really like the animal feline part and the head , but have a slightly different take on the humanoid torso... still you steal inspiration where you can ' ' ) keeping as low spline as possible... i hope to keep the limbs at 4 splines, but that might be impossible for the rear haunches. -jon

it started out with me wanting to make some wings... then someone said 'sphinx' sophie was conceived! [attachmentid=9457] challenges: balance between chibi and paedo-creepy (beware baby bratz!) push the stylistic (as little detail/realism as possible) articulated wings (scary!) wish me luck! -jon

very impressed with the splinage... it's quite lean! in the animation, you seem to have limited the dynamics to only a portion of her breasts. i'd expect broader breast movement. don't wait another year to update us! ' ' ) -jon

great demon!... but his upper shoulders and neck seem very wimpy compared to the rest of his appropriately overmuscled body. i'd think the classic 'neckless' look would be in order, with a large muscle mass ramping up from his shoulder joint to his ears. you could be planning this once the new head is in place, while all the other critiques seem valid, this alone stands out to me.. -jon

looks great all around.. lots of anatomical touches while still staying stylized. welcome back! -jon

on the paw front, thumbs would be a good comprimise. my initial reaction was that his arms were over-muscled, and his legs not quite so... but it does capture the pinched joint look of a simple clay figure, so that might be a good thing. if you want to emphisize the clay aspect, i'd leave 'em alone. just noticed, his eyes and nose look like voids. maybe add some hilights and or increase the luminosity -- i.e. make 'em not dead black? great job overall! very bear, very clay! -jon

for me, the whole image is ruined by those coax connectors. unless she was fabbed in the 80's, she needs firewire or better! ' ' ) -jon great job!

i see the ridge... it'll pop better with an environment map. i've only ever seen roman swords with that 90 degree chisel at the point.. most middle age blades were rounder as the sides converged on the tip. not a recommendation, just an observation. ' ' ) -jon

i'd concentrate on the the atmosphere layer... do i see a faint fractal combiner there? make it a little less transparent, and - as noted - almost all of that planet would be unlit by the star/sun. i caution against lens flairs as a rule, but i think it helps the whole retro feel of the ol' ncc 1701. -jon