Smurf Sighting - WIP

[inNate]

I thought it would be fun to do my own take on a smurf. Here are some initial sketches and thumbs. More to to follow shortly.

[arenhaus]

Interesting take on the critter. I appreciate the sketches. The "fungus" interpretation of the white pants in some of them is cool.

Is this supposed to be an exercise in putting a nonexistent thing in a photo background?

[inNate]

Interesting take on the critter. I appreciate the sketches. The "fungus" interpretation of the white pants in some of them is cool.

Is this supposed to be an exercise in putting a nonexistent thing in a photo background?

Thanks arenhaus,

Yes it is. I wanted to focus mostly on the character painting and development.

[inNate]

Progress so far...

[Saramel]

Wow, this is great! When I first saw it, I thought it was a little sculpture you had made. Pretty convincing integration into the photo background!

[inNate]

Thanks Saramel,

Here's the next round. Something bothering me about the face. I may have to go back and redo somethings, but I would like to finish him up here soon.

[Revidescent]

Great job with the photo integration; the hat and legs are especially well done.

As for the face, unless it's intentionally asymmetrical, the far eye is kind of sliding off the head. With the structure you've got, I think it'd sit more like this:

[freiheit]

You've lost a bit of your lighting consistency in the face with that last update, we don't feel the mushroom-hat's shadow as well as we should (your shadow and lights are to divided in that area).

Other then that, it's coming along very well.

[inNate]

Revidescent - Thank you very much! I felt there was something off with the face but your lay-over really helped me nail it down right away.

freiheit - Your right, I was trying to understand the shape under there without the shadow. I've painted the shadow back in now and added the direct sunlight. Thank you.

Here's the progress so far, almost done...

[AboutaDirk]

That's nuts. Awesome.

It looks like there should be some hard shadows somewhere though. Maybe the foot or something... If you look at the "ripples" in the fungus, you see they have quite dark shadow.

(disclaimer: I'm a newbie.)

[Suncut]

I really like it, great job with the photo integration. However it seems more like a little statue then a living thing because the whole skin is the same color all over. If it was a a live thing I'd expect to see different weathering effect on skin more exposed to sunlight, the color of the blood showing through on bony points, maybe some discolorations or blemishes even.

[AboutaDirk]

And the blue slightly less blue where the light shines on it, like you did with the white in the legs (slightly yellowish)

[Luskan]

Looking great so far!

[RomanRiot]

Love the reinterpretation of a smurf! Thank you also for taking a step by step approach that incorporates explanation, it gives people a much better understanding of your process. Keep it up!

[inNate]

Alright, I'm calling it finished. I don't think I've pushed myself to detail a character quite this much but I definitely learned a lot from it. Thank you everyone for the help!

Concept - What if Smurfs were real?

The Smurf is actually the result of a symbiotic relationship between two organisms. We believe that Smurfs put their 'embryos' in the button of a developing mushroom. From a distance, Smurfs seem like they are wearing a hat and pants but as you can see this is a fallacy. The fungus provides camouflage and protective epidermal layers for the creature, while the creature provides nutrients and mobility for the spreading of spores.

Smurfs are believed to be a hunter gatherer/society. As you can see, this little guy is returning from a successful venture. It is generally difficult to spot a Smurf; they are very apprehensive and cunning. Sadly though, it is also rumored that they are hunted for their medicinal properties. It is thought that there are not many colonies of Smurf left.

[Forrest_I]

Looks amazing great job

[MuffinSeeker]

Thank you so much for this fantastic thread. Not only was the end result amazing, but the development process and implimented critiques are a perfect example of a healthy work ethic for artists. Five stars and subscribed, I will probably use this thread as an example for future critiques too!

[Nateman742]

That's fantastic. Totally and entirely believable in a tall tale sort of way. The ear doesn't really read as an ear, though; At first glance, it looks more like a membrane on the back of the head.

[REONIN]

Well that smurf is awesome, I'm agree with Nateman742 about the ear, if u can try to define it more, or at least separate it from the back of the head. But still excellent work