Cartoon Mutant Seagull

[Philours]

Hi folks !
Here is my new WIP. This is a mutant seagull which is one of the characters for a full CG short movie to come (my new personal project based on a strip cartoon from my brother).
Actually the modeling is finished, i'll start the work on the surfacing.
http://www.philours.com/wip/wip22.jpg

[Frogman]

Nice character design. Congratulations!

A few of us LightWavers in the Baltimore-Annapolis area get together every week to exchange ideas and make suggestions on each other's projects (personal and professional animation projects).

I wish we could see your movie when it is completed.


I have a few of my short comedies at www.ErnieBerger.com .

Best regards,
Frogman

[Philours]

Thanks a lot.
It will be difficult for me to join your lightwavers group cause i live in Paris (France) and it won't be convenient for me to come... I wish i'd could. :)
Concerning the movie, you'll have to be a bit patient cause this is the very beginning and it will be finished into 8/10 months if all goes well. ;)
Anyway, i'll post the progress, thanks again !

[Kuzey]

Cool character...it'll be interesting to see him move with those large feet:p

Kuzey

[Philours]

Here is an update.
The mapping is finished, everything is procedural :
http://www.philours.com/wip/wip23.jpg
:)

[marvin]

I like the feet texturing, but the feather texture seems like he has oil spots on him. It could just be me. I love the style of the character and you did an excellent job on modelling.

I would touch up the body texture more, but what do i know? See what other people say also, of course.

marvin

[Philours]

Thanks a lot Marvin !
You were right about the texture, so here is a reworked version with a lighter one.
I've also totally reworked the wings to add real feathers :
http://www.philours.com/share/birdfeather4.jpg

[Philours]

Here is the last update for today (got to go to bed ;) ) :
I've reworked the nostrils for them to be less intrusive regardings to the eyes (also added an iris color to the eyes) :
http://www.philours.com/share/birdfeather5.jpg

[Frogman]

The new feathers add a lot. That is great. You might want to check the book, THE ART OF COMPUTER ANIMATION, about Blue Sky Studio. Page 56 tells/shows how they made great fur for characters in ICE AGE. I am sure that a similar technique might help in making fuzzy edges to your character's feathers, if you would want to make them fuzzy.

[Philours]

You are right Frogman, i think i will do texture mapping for the feathers, so they will be fuzzy, i want to avoid using modules like saslite cause i want to keep my model as light as possible. :)
Here is another update :
http://www.philours.com/share/birdfeather6.jpg

[Frogman]

That is looking good.

None the less, you might want to experiment with an image of black on white lines (as the texture of a feather looks) and apply it to each of the individual wing feathers (and at the base of the "collar") as a texture map for transparency. I have done this to make fur/hair. It works nicely for fur and might give you good results for the edges of feathers. It is probably worth trying.

[Philours]

That's already what i've done for the collar. Just have to do it for the feathers and the tail.
:)

[marvin]

Philours,

It looks as though you went around and cut with a scissor around the collar. I don't mean to be mean, I simply mean the texture around the collar needs a bit more work. I think it's too sharp for the edges of feathers. Maybe a bit of a gradient so it's not so abrupt.

This guy is looking great though. I love it that your keeping us updated on the progress as well. I like to see that in people's work.

marvin

[Philours]

Okay, here is an update where i tweaked a bit the collar, i've reworked the feather's and the beak texture and added a vertex color map for the tail and some part of the body :
http://www.philours.com/wip/wip25.jpg

[marvin]

I love the feathers on the wings. They look really cool. I'm not too hip on the beak texture, though. Maybe add some more layers on top for more randomness.

The collar looks better, but I was thinking make the transparency map a slight gradient from white to black, so the collar has a sort of subtle disappearance. It's a sharp cut off on the collar.

I hope I don't sound too critical. Maybe everyone else likes it that way. Maybe you like it this way, and if that's the case, f@%k what I say and leave it as is. Just throwing in my opinion.

Like I've said before, I love the look and style of this guy and I am waiting patiently to see him in an animation.

marvin

[Philours]

Marvin, i'll take you advices into account as they are relevants.
Here is another update with some more feathers on the tail and a more "subtle" beak texture.
I'll tweak the collar (opacity and larger feathers) and add some feathers on top of his head too.
http://www.philours.com/share/birdfeather8.jpg

[Baldo]

it's a cartoon, why don't u make nails more "friendly" ?

[Philours]

Cause this is related with the story of the shot CG movie he will be in... Just have to wait about 10 months to know why... :)

[Baldo]

Originally posted by Philours
Cause this is related with the story of the shot CG movie he will be in... Just have to wait about 10 months to know why... :)

:D

[drclare]

I like the beak. It's different, which makes it good. Each image keeps getting better and better.

[Frogman]

The seagull is really looking good!

Is there a website where you post more of your work?

Frogman

[Philours]

Thank you all ! :)
Here is the latest update : i've reworked the texture of the feet and the feet/nails seam for it to be more obvious. I also added some color vertex on the nails and on the collar. And last but not least i added some feathers on the top of his head.
Still have some tweaking to do.
Please let me know what you think.
http://www.philours.com/share/birdfeather9.jpg
To Frogman : you can go to my website (http://www.philours.com) to see more of my works. :)

[scoober]

loooOOOVVVEE IT!!!!!! look at your email Philours ...... I sent you one!!!!

[Philours]

Another update :
I've reworked the eyes and the shape of the beak. I also added some transparency on the collar :
http://www.philours.com/share/birdfeather10.jpg
Here is the wireframe :
http://www.philours.com/share/seagullwire.jpg

(Scoober, i saw your mail and answered it).

[lunarcamel]

A seagull with dinosaur feet - yikes!

Does the beak have some transparency because it looks like the wing is showing through, or maybe a reflection?

Much better eyes too - Very cool :)

[Frogman]

Lunarcamel's point about the beak is true. The beak does seem transparent, since the edge of the wing appears to be visible through it. Also, there is an apparent texture image on the beak beyond the place where the wing's edge shows through.

The softer (fuzzier) edge to the "collar" is a nice addition.

[Philours]

In fact the beak is not transparent this is a visual coincidence between the texture of the beak and the line of the wing.
You can see this with this new image where i changed the camera angle a bit.
I've also reworked the eyes textures which looks far better now.
http://www.philours.com/share/birdfeather11.jpg

[Baldo]

HEY, IT scares ME! :D

[Philours]

Originally posted by Baldo
HEY, IT scares ME! :D
Hey, this is the point ! ;)
Here is the last update for today, i've reworked the front of the wings to hide the seam with the feathers :
http://www.philours.com/wip/wip26.jpg

[Frogman]

The seagull looks GREAT. The re-worked feathers and eyes are outstanding! Yes. I see now that the beak is not transparent.

This is a really fine character. Congratulations!

[lunarcamel]

This is one of few threads that Ive enjoyed seeing a model come to life. :)

I usually try not to make to many comments, but ... I would love to see another render with smaller feet. I think the extremely large feet are just too overpowering and are taking away from this otherwise great character.

Don't get me wrong, I like how you are exagerating his features but I think the feet look just a bit to big. Not half as large but maybe 75% I think could make a huge difference.

Great work.

[Philours]

Thank you lunarcamel.
Concerning the feet, i want to keep them at this size for two reasons : the first one is that i try to stick to the original design proportions as close as possible and the second one is just that i find it funny :). Hope you dont mind this poor answer. ;)
Anyway, here is a slight update of it, i've added some feathers ahead of the tail and i've tweaked the beak textures :
http://www.philours.com/share/birdfeather13.jpg

[scoober]

what about a few more poses!? like something OTHER than that pose? like ROTATE him a bit....

[Philours]

I wont make other poses of it since i've not rigged it yet cause i still have to work on it.
Anyway here are two other camera point of view :
http://www.philours.com/share/top.jpg http://www.philours.com/share/front.jpg

[Philours]

And here is an update with the head/feathers junction reworked.
http://www.philours.com/share/birdfeather14.jpg http://www.philours.com/share/side.jpg

[Philours]

Here is the last update, i've reworked the feet to add some details.
This one should be the final.
http://www.philours.com/share/birdfeather15.jpg
:)

[MarkJTaylor]

I love it :) There's only one thing I'm not too fond of and thats the beak texture. The white spots just look a little out of place to me. Other than that; this character is just awesome :) Love to see it in motion

[marvin]

I hate to tell you this, but you got what I was trying to say about the feathers around the collar. It looks great. I also love the changes you've made in other parts of this guy.

I had no idea he was supposed to be a scary guy. I think it's in the eyes that made him start to look scary.

Whatever it is, I like it right now. It's looking good.

marvin

[Frogman]

GREAT CHARACTER!:)

[Philours]

Thank you all, i'm glad you like it !
:)

[blinblue]

I don't know if you meant it this way, but the feathers seem a little bit too reflective. They look metal, prehaps you meant it that way, but I would advise turning down the reflectiveness on it...
But otherwise, I love it :) (I agree that the beak texture should be changed, somehow the dots don't seem to go with the rest of the bird). :D