Terrabite - Snow Creature - Berfu Tribe

[TerraBite]

Hey guys! I've finally found the time to start in this challenge. I've been going through a lot of concepts, and came up with something I hope you'll enjoy. ;)

These little creatures are called Berfu (Turkish for "snow queen"). The tribe is made up of mostly females that hunt and catch fish with spears. Their bodies are mostly made up of a fish-like tissue and skin, and their cores are cold as ice. Because of this, icicles grow in an upward position on top of their heads, usually symbolizing a crown-like shape.

Anddd time to base mesh!

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a272/mountainskies/berfuconcept2-1.jpg

[TNTxGRAVE]

Are they cold or warm blooded? you have to think of a means by which they regulate body temparature. great concept but i think it needs to be fleshed out more. Why do the have a patch of fur on their chest and not the lower section? right now they just look naked and cold, but yet happy.

[TerraBite]

They're warm blooded for the most part, but also it's just a concept that I wanted to look interesting with a little bit of a side story to explain their outer appearance.

I don't see many other entries with explanations to their concepts. :P I just like making mine have a little meaning without writing a book.

[Appr_oved]

they're warm blooded for the most part, but also it's just a concept that i wanted to look interesting with a little bit of a side story to explain their outer appearance.

I don't see many other entries with explanations to their concepts. :p i just like making mine have a little meaning without writing a book.

+1

[strict9]

cold blooded is fine by me....the hair is just from a time in the past...we all came from monkeys.....and we don't really need the hair anymore either......

[TNTxGRAVE]

They're warm blooded for the most part, but also it's just a concept that I wanted to look interesting with a little bit of a side story to explain their outer appearance.

I don't see many other entries with explanations to their concepts. :P I just like making mine have a little meaning without writing a book.

i never said write a book. i like the concept. All i am saying is...push it even further. And flesh out your so called back story. You say the are warm blooded , and yet their core is cold as ice? Icicles growing on their heads means their physiology is dependent on external temperatures (that's a cold blooded trait). you say their skin is fish-like (fish are cold blooded).

Mayhaps a small back story for your characters would have been that, they were once warm blooded mammals that migrated to an arctic region. over generations of evolution, they began developing cold blooded traits such as fish-like skin and a lower core temperature (resulting in being able to maintain icicles on head). They still retain some older traits like hair, but they are in a transition phase to better suit them to their current environment.

[strict9]

go and model it :D

[Raul]

this is such a terrabite thing to do! I really like the concepts!

[Cordero]

I like the concept!
Will you do one creature, or more? Because if you do one, you will have some spare tris, which you could use for some more jewels, or some equipment like fish net.
A like the simplicity of course, it makes this creature a whole, but i think you can add some stuff which won't make them more complicated, but will make the scene / character more rich for the eye.

It is also a good idea to model a "family" showing off some personalities with different equipment and facial expressions.

Anyway, i like it:D
(don't forget to make them pigeon toed...:D)

Good luck

[thefmilyofblood]

Awesome! Now make it! Make it NOW! :D

[Randize]

Are they cold or warm blooded? you have to think of a means by which they regulate body temparature. great concept but i think it needs to be fleshed out more. Why do the have a patch of fur on their chest and not the lower section? right now they just look naked and cold, but yet happy.HAHAHA! That's a good one.

I like the concept too, and you do have a point TNT, but sometimes concept alone don't make your design beautiful. Some people can design something visually great but did not have any concept behind it. Yet, we did not dispute the artwork.

Some people good at concept, some at design. I appreciate both skill set coz I don't think I'm good at either one. Still learning here but we all do wanna be better at these.

[Randize]

Right, some note to you TerraBite I forgot. How big is the creature? Assuming the 3-4 head proportion body they are rather small aren't they? Or maybe I'm wrong, cos the fish is rather small. An anchovy is larger then that I suppose.

[TerraBite]

Thanks everyone! I'm starting the base today, may have an update for that later tonight....have some dinner plans this afternoon ;)

strict9 - Ah, true. And thank you! ^_^

TNTxGRAVE - I see, I should of put a bit more thought into the story. I just wanted a quick explanation to their appearance. Maybe if I said it more that they were demons? Then how their bodies work could be endless possibilities, as they wouldn't really be alive, just replicating living things. But thank you so much for the critique on something other than my concept, I don't get a lot said towards my stories and I only want to get better. I will try to adjust the story before the final renders are done. :)

Raul - Haha really! Finally my style is developing :D Thank you!

Cordero - Oh yea, at least one pigeon toed XP And yes my plan was to make a few of them. Most of the concentration will be put into the texturing and basic shapes, so there will be distinguishing features on each of them. Wonder if there should be one male? :P And thanks!

thefmilyofblood - It's on the way! ^__^

Randize - Ah, I sort of wanted them to be pretty little creatures, only about 2-3 ft tall....they may have to catch some bigger fish. And thank you, I'm working on my concept and design, hopefully my skills for that will grow quickly. :)

[TNTxGRAVE]

No problem TerraBite. You have one of the more interesting designs in this competition. You went the extra mile to give us a story. Most people aren't even doing that. Randize said above that "people can design great visually looking characters without concepts", this is true. However when they are drawing said character they are thinking of the character's story in their heads. Like why is there a scar on his face, why does he have a gas mask, why are his clothes distressed. Story and character design go hand in hand. There is no way around it. When it comes to character design, its amazing how some people completely neglect story. You can have the most awesome looking character in history but if his/her story sucks, or you have a bunch or meaningless details then no one can relate to your character and all your hard work will go unrecognized.

none the less, now that we got that out of the way, GO MODEL...lol

[Raul]

yep, what he said!

[TerraBite]

Thanks guys! :D

Here's a little sneak so far, hope to blow you all away with the final renders. ;)

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a272/mountainskies/update1.jpg

[xxxcubanxxx]

looking forward to being blown away :wave:

[TerraBite]

Hey guys! Working on the texturing, plan to make it look mad good for such low poly. ;)

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a272/mountainskies/wip-4.jpg

[Edragon]

i love the ear plugs :) (i have some that size tehe), maybe add a fish bone necklace.

[TerraBite]

Edragon - Haha thank you! :D Yea, I was thinking about that, let's see where I stand in tri count once there's 2 of the characters in the scene. ^__^

Here's a tiny update on texturing, loveee texturing low poly work <3!
(don't mind the fur and crown, I'm only texturing a few areas then reusing the same texture on other parts)

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a272/mountainskies/Untitled-1-1.jpg

[BiG ToE-3DT]

was hoping to see both characters, maybe if you get some time later on.

[TerraBite]

BiG ToE-3DT - You will! I haven't started texturing the other head yet, and I may have to make it on a separate diffuse since max wouldn't let me duplicate my unwrap. But would that disqualify me? :/

[BiG ToE-3DT]

how are you going about texturing both characters? You have space for both on the same unwrap, but the second character isn't unwrapped yet?

If thats the case, you could trick max. What you do is, collapse the stack of the unwrapped mesh, saving the unwrap to the mesh. Then, clone the mesh and under editable poly, use the attach option, attach the two meshs. Then, add an unwrap uvw modi to it. Now, use the select all option in the unwraps edit window. What you will see is your unwrap, nothing changed, but it you select a part of the unwrap, and move it, you will see a copy of the selected area laying underneath. Now just move the "copied" parts to free areas of the unwrap window. Then, there you go. Two unwrapped meshs, without all the trouble.