Seda Stormhoof

[Tony Wallace]

Okay ladies and gents. I know it's been ages since I've posted, and most people won't even remember I ever existed. I think this is the first non-icon, non-portrait, non-paintover I've posted, and thus saying, I'm both nervous and eager to get feedback.

The concept here is part of a series of characters for a project that's been in development since 2006, that we're busy making a big push for. Each character in the series has their own specific totem animal and the ability to transform into both that animal and a hybrid form between the two. This one is (you guessed it) the horse totem character.

I'm about midway through it, but I figured I would get people's thoughts on structure and anatomy before I really dig into details and specularity.

[TinyBird]

This one is (you guessed it) the horse totem character.

Actually it took me half a minute to realize that's not a badly drawn female Tauren from World of Warcraft. Not fully your fault though, the Stormhoofs is also a clan name in WoW.

Though, its not helped by the horse having a cow-ish dark nose: http://www.123rf.com/photo_1079997_s...suspicion.html
Anyway, I can't say much of the anatomy, though the pose looks pretty awkward, especially having the other leg completely from profile.
But couple other things look odd, like I have a hard time seeing how the right side hand connects to the arm. The wrist part looks way too long and thin and it's impossible to say if that fur is from the character, or the wrist guards. Overall the tail and mane look pretty badly rendered too, they don't look like hair (you only realize they're hair because they're stuck to a horse) and they look like you just did them with liquify and smudge.

[tschahri]

I also though this was a badly rendered tauren, which is mainly because of the anatomy of the head and the "eyebrows". Horses have a straight nasal bone that continues all the way to the cranium, and the eyes are placed on each side of it.

To make it look more like a horse, I'd get rid of the stop you've drawn on the forehead. Horses don't have that, so even if you did draw the "angry eyebrows", the space between them would still be straight.


Get a ref for the ears, too!

The other thing is the hooves. I can barely identify them as hooves, and that's because right now they're too round. Also there seems to be no ankles to be seen.

Here's the ref:


So according to that I did quick redlining:


Hope this helps, keep going.

[Tony Wallace]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. The female tauren comparisons are about the most painful thing anyone could have said, as I think their model designs are some of the worst in all of video gaming.

Sounds like I need to go back and work on the shapes of various things, like hooves and facial structure in order to really sell the this is a horse based design and not a cow. The hoof and face diagrams are quite helpful, although we're going for a much larger clydesdale type look for the hooves (as you can see in the attached image, which includes the source photos, original sketch and the human character design I'm working from).

Comparing these, I think some of the personality of the original sketch was lost in the color rendering. I'll keep chipping away at it. Thanks again for the help!

[TinyBird]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. The female tauren comparisons are about the most painful thing anyone could have said, as I think their model designs are some of the worst in all of video gaming.

Well, it's not about the models, more from the "generic tribal-leather nomad hoof" look they both have.
Also you haven't paid attention to your ref properly (though the baggy pants don't help), since his leg is bending more away from the viewer than the one in your image:

[Tony Wallace]

Okay, still a long ways to go yet, but here is an update based on the feedback so far.

[Lhune]

I'm not sure what's going on with her head. Are those armor plates or are the dark bits markings? Also I'd really advise against painting on that big white background. At least reduce it's brightness so you can work out the values better.

Oh, and the hooves are still wrong. Clydesdale hooves are still the same as regular horse hooves only bigger, broader and more covered in hair.



Don't forget the joint above the hoof. It's rather vital for movement.