Sayoko Tachibana from cicatrice

[JCG]

Just another attempt at anime/manga fan art (seems like that's all I've been posting!). This is Sayoko from "Cicatrice of the Sirius", a short four volume manga that I've had for some time but couldn't read until now because the translation hadn't been available until now.
I thought of sending the author a little render as a lame way to tell him that I enjoyed his story.
I think the general shape is finally accurate but the modeler is always the least objective viewer. So I'm posting it up for evaluation to see what's wrong.
I plan to pose it in a scene before sending it but I thought it'd be easier to find mistakes in just [base].

[JCG]

and a closeup.
I know the nose is supposed to be more narrow and pointed but it just looks to wierd in 3D (at least with my sorry ability)

[JCG]

and we couldn't miss, of course, as plain fanservice, the obligatory, gratuitious nude scene :P

[mjroddy]

Really nice! Good model.
I looked her up on the web and found a great page (thanks for inspiring me to find that). I noticed (after a BRIEF look) that the hair is a different colour. And are the legs so spread apart? Looks very good, though. The artist should be pleased with your homage.

[JCG]

In the covers, the hair appears both red and green. The 1st pages of the 1st volume come in color and, there, the hair is purple. I thought in-story color had more credibility...
As for the legs, you're right. Thanks. I modeled the left leg based on the view on the 20th page of volume one, chapter 5.
Then I mirrored and didn't even realize that the right leg was closer to center. I'll start fixing that right away. Thanks again.

[JCG]

OK, here's my idea for the "scened" version.
I'm not too happy how the eyes turned out. They looked close to what I wanted up close but in this scene... >P ...still not too sure how to fix it...

[JCG]

I think the eyes are fixed but I must admit that... I cheated. I endo-shrunk the iris but not by expanding the pupil, I actually shrunk the entire iris, leaving the pupil unchanged (plus added the little spec only light). This can't happen but it was the only way I could find to give the eye some shape. Maybe mangakas also cheat like this when drawing? ^^;
I also cheated on the lips. I increased the saturation on the color channel like 70% because it was almost impossible to see them (If rendered up close she lookes like she painted her lips or something!).

So is there more to correct, or should I just send it like this...?

[mjroddy]

Impressive. Very nice work.
Personally, I'd like to see a more dynamic pose, but this really has a quality feel.