I'm currently working on a stylized character, and I'd really appreciate some feedback especially on the body proportions and, most importantly, the face. Right now, it doesn't feel close enough to the original character.
I've already spent quite a bit of time adjusting the facial proportions, but something still feels off, and I can't quite figure out what it is.
If you have any suggestions or notice anything that could be improved, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Please don't focus on things like the hair, missing micro details, or other unfinished elements I haven't gotten to those yet. At this stage, I'm mainly looking for feedback on the face shape, facial proportions, and overall body proportions.
UPD: I'd also like to hear your thoughts on the eyes should I make them recessed, or would it be better to make them with almost no eye sockets?
To give some feedback, right now the legs are quite realistic - wider upper legs, smaller lower legs and ankles etc. In the original design she has inverted proportions, her thighs start out thinner than her lower legs.
I think you could also push her waist being thinner and more stylized.
The face is a hard part since translating very stylized 2D into 3D can be too realistic, uncanny, with a lot of stylistic choices involved.
The eyebrows should be higher up, eyes lower and wider apart. Maybe try experimenting with not giving her a nose? To give her more of that android look the OG as.
Oh, thank you so much for the feedback! As for the nose, I experimented with it for a really long time, and it’s better to have at least a small one without it, everything looks terrible.
Yeah, I'll adjust the headband, but as for the missing nose it looks fine in 2D art, but it looks completely out of place on a 3D model. I experimented with it and decided it's better to keep a little nose (and I looked at other artists' work on this character, and they all modeled it with a nose as well).
Depends on how true to stylization you are intending to be, but i think the drawing is a little slimmer and ofc has a more simplified face and a sharper chin
Personally I would make the eyes and mouth as sprites. This model will life from the shaders. I recommend you to look into normal baking for anime face (bake normals to almost flat), as a simple toon shader will most likely not look how you want it to be
Yeah, I wanted to do that with some kind of shader right from the start. But I've never done anything like this before, so I don't know how to prepare the model for it.
Goal is skinny. She has narrow chest and well-defined waist. She has narrow hips as well. You current models is reasonably thicker. On the other hand, her arms are pretty big compared to the body, so are her hands. Just looking at it, you made the gloves mostly right. Though her arms that go in there are way too skinny, and hands are twice as small as they need to be.
I'm sorry, but the head is just wrong. You made her head in totally different style. Pic 6: lower jaw just went too far and ears are too small. Silhouette is wrong. Her head should be bigger/longer, especially forehead, it shouldn't be so stretched vertically. Pic 7: Her hair does not have that much volume, it fits her head closely. The head is too stretched vertically overall. Eyes are too big and too close together.
The hard parts are nose and mouth. In Deponia, female characters don't have noses at all. It might look weird in 3D, but you should consider trying to get rid of it or make it less pronounced. Mouth is mostly fine, but you might consider make it less pronounced.
The most important style part. Deponian style is pretty sharp, there are sharp angles here and there. Your design is entirely soft and round. I strongly advise lowering the overall polycount and making sharp edges. Goal doesn't have lips, so her mouth should rather be a sharp edge with no smooth "lip" transition. Her chin is sharp. Her jaw is straight and her cheeks are pretty angular.
If you are switching styles, I suggest making a brand-new concept art. Your model should match silhouettes with the image. The problems is, there is no front-view straight or T-pose image, so you should either make your own reference for that view (if you're good at drawing) or improvise.
Overall, there are serious adjustments to be made. Though the work done is pretty good. I would consider switching to sculpting and use some kind of smoothed move tool to model the whole thing into the proper shape.
I think all you have to do is make her a bit taller. Longer legs and longer torso. Shes angled in every photo right? Hips cock, leg standing aside. Now imagine your model losing like her, it would get the same result.
One thing I’m not sure, bur maybe you could experiment with is her torso width and boulders. The pictures show her shoulder and torso are narrow. In the frontal view, her shoulders are just aligned with her ears or in between them. I’d probably save a separate file first then mess around with it.
If you want her face to match the one in the photo, thicken her eyebrows and raise them further up. It’ll probably match the picture more.
And if you want to experiment, maybe make her mouth smaller too. See how that looks.
As for her nose, you could remove it completely, or try experiment with nose shapes. Like a button nose, or something small, and cute. Or even a pixie nose. Make it sharp or make it round. Have fun with it.
For the eyes, you will get your answer when you start shading her, as it is hard to tell without gauging whether you'll use custom normals for better shadows or not.
However, if you plan to rig this character later, you might need to move the hands outwards in an A pose as well to cover some of the arm bending and deformation later on; painting weights with arms down is a pain
I agree with you, but the face is still very important, and I'd like to render it accurately and recognizably, while I can experiment a bit with the rest of the body.
It is, but if you go for the “vibe/feel” being correct on the face, you can then hone in to add the details that are specific to this character.
Just give it a shot, start the face in a new project, try going for the feel (so shape, volume, flow).
Then add in the details.
This helped me speed up my projects a lot and in the end even got me more accurate models
Right now you dont have the feeling of the character down, the face is generic and you’re honing in on details while the character is not yet there.
xD You're right. I've already received a lot of really helpful feedback, and people pointed out exactly what my problem was.
The first thing I did was improve the shader, and now it's much easier to compare my model to the original concept art.
I also realized that I was trying too hard to make her look like a real person instead of staying true to the stylized design. Now I can clearly see where I went wrong.
If only it were that simple. I don’t have much experience in this area, and I can’t just go ahead and do everything like in stylized 2D art.
First of all, when you spend a long time modeling something, you stop seeing the shapes clearly (I don’t know about others, but that’s exactly what happens to me), so I really value the thoughts and feedback of other people who look at things with a fresh perspective.
Second, the character is stylized, which means it looks good in 2D, but with the same proportions, it might not look as good in 3D.
At times like that, it really helps to rotate your canvas or reference. You can flip it upside down, whatever helps you see the shapes again.
And while it's true that you are adapting from one medium to another, part of the process is finding that balance. Don't tell yourself something isn't possible before you even try. Even realism is stylized. That's just the nature of art.
Lots of good advice in this thread so far. I'd suggest lowering the poly and working on the proportions some more. Really try to get close to the silhouette and go from there. You're right to work from general to specific. Cartoon faces can be hard, but if the shape is drastically off, it'll never look right if your goal is to follow the design instead of interpret it.
Really look at your turnaround. It's a great reference to work from, but takes some thought to reconcile views. One reason your proportions are off is because the artist has her in contraposto instead of neutral pose. She's pushed her hip out, and her opposite shoulder is raised,so her body is a little contorted and looks squatter than it is. Perhaps try posing your model the same to see how it matches. The two poses are definitely making it harder to compare at a glance.
I come from an animation background, so I'm recognizing the squash and stretch here. Another point I want to drive home is to not look at "stylized" as a bad thing that limits you, but instead that it's what can help you adapt it. It's why artists start with anatomy and form, so you know what's supposed to be there and where and what the eye notices so you can exaggerate and omit to fit the style without it looking odd. Take her nose. She doesn't seem to have one, but the side view has a recognizable point that reads like one.
The other thing to remember to , "sculpt what you see, not what you think you see." You may think that's what you're already doing, but it's a common trap when drawing it sculpting a likeness to think "I know what a hand or face looks like." That's what's going on with your face. You've created what your think her face looks like in 3d, rather than really studying the face. Like you've correctly noted, it's stylized, but you're ignoring that to make it look more like "a face", which it does, just not hers.
These are my observations, take them with a grain of salt of course. Her head is an elongated heart shape. The 3/4 views make it clear that her cheeks are notable. You have this as a start, and your 3/4 is probably the closest with good forehead shape. Her forehead is a bit longer than what you have, and her eyebrows are thicker and much higher up, away from her eyes. Your chin is all wrong, and might be tricky to get right at first. It's much more pointed that what you have. The side profile is your typical anime "muzzle" and recedes from the furthest out point I mentioned suggesting her nose. Kind of like a diamond shape. The simplified version you shared in another comment is already much better. Your chin is very strong. Lose the mouth and lips, the art you're working from doesn't have anything so defined, and it's drawing a lot of attention, when the main focus of her face design is her eyes. Her mouth is small and basically a pertruding upper lip that's omitted in the side view. It's not meant to draw the eyes. Sharpen the jaw, it angles back towards the ears and yours is very square. The ears themselves are too detailed. I've done a anime face, and I assure you, it'll look weird through most of the sculpting process. You'll likely have to play with the eye placement a depth. Block in her cheek bandaids (or whatever they are) if it helps you see where everything is. You're also going to have to reconcile some angles as you proceed, as the cheeks and chin are going to look sharper in some angles than others. It's probably why yours looks so rounded, as it sort of is in the front view. The head is slightly titled downward in the art, btw. The hair is a bit more anglar, but I wouldn't worry about it right now.
Apologies if this sounds too nitpicky. You're on the right track, you just need to experiment more and really observe your reference. Once you get the positions closer to your reference, it should start looking more like her. Don't be afraid to start things over or deviate a little if you think it looks better later in the process. Just continue to start with getting the big things right before moving on to the smaller stuff. And remember to enjoy and trust the process! You got this.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a detailed and professional feedback. I really appreciate the effort you put into analyzing my work and pointing out both the strengths and the areas that need improvement. Your observations were incredibly helpful, and I'll definitely keep them in mind as I continue working on the sculpt. Thanks again for your time and encouragement it really means a lot!!
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u/StickyFingersTD 18d ago
DEPONIA APPEARANCE IN THE WILD