[Finished?] The treeman

[Feron]

Title says it all.  Still in production so no "add texture to the rest of it" please.  I'd mainly like comments on the anatomy and form.. but all C&C is appreciated.




Edit:

Early wip stages:





Finished?

[VictorR]

It's all good so far. What bothers me is the right arm(our left) it looks like his looking back at a 180 angle.

[miascugh]

Oh, nice, i was instantly reminded of Henk Nieborg. The abs are not very.. human, heh, but i guess it's ok; the gap in the middle is a bit too dark. I do suggest though to get rid of this bulge near his armpit, and also the one over the shoulder.

add tex- no, i won't

[Godslayer]

He lacks deltoids and triceps.

I dont know about anyone else, but raising your arms like that is increibly painful I think I was about to pull something when I stopped, I couldnt actualy assume that position. Have his arms go straight up like |.| that, where the period is his head.

His ribcage is too short. It ends that far up yes, but only right beneath the middle of the pectoralis, on the sides it extends down much further.

[Werewolf]

The pose is perfect I think. Reminds me of Atlas, carrying the skies. Not sure how the texture is going to turn out, but I can't wait to see where you go with it. Completely just speculating, I wonder what it would look like if your turned his head into sort of a stumped brach, with two leafs by comparison, or something (if you get what I mean). Not that a man tree is natural anyway, heh. Very cool, I'll be waiting for the next update intently.

[Cow]

the gap in the middle is a bit too dark.

People post crits really quickly here. Was gonna say that.


Made an edit to the abs, they're still not too great in my edit but it looks a little better I think. And never mind the shinyness of him in my edit.

[Feron]

He lacks deltoids and triceps.

I dont know about anyone else, but raising your arms like that is increibly painful I think I was about to pull something when I stopped, I couldnt actualy assume that position. Have his arms go straight up like |.| that, where the period is his head.

His ribcage is too short. It ends that far up yes, but only right beneath the middle of the pectoralis, on the sides it extends down much further.

Hehe... I am honoured you actually put yourself in this position... but he is a tree and doesnt feel pain.  I too put myself in this position ( a lot) but as I am double-jointed I didnt feel anything wrong with it 


About the muscles... (deltoids and triceps) I am not that great at anatomy... but I'll add them in the next edit.

I didnt actually notice the bulge by the armpit, thanks for pointing it out.

Miascugh - part of the pallete is Henk Nieborgs... He is definitley one of my major influences.  The gap in the middle is quite dark... But I was to go for more tree than human, with dark bits, like the tree was overwhleming his muscles.  But like i said still very in progress, and when i come to texture the abs it will probably look better.

mcow - I really appreciate the edit and will take it all into account 

Thanks for comments so far, Its probably a bit late to do more work tonight but I'll definitley get a big chunk done tomorow.

[VictorR]

I believe I fixed the little anatomy problems. I textured in the chest and arms, the leaves were just a little add in.

[Larwick]

Victor, personally i think you've just made him look hairy, and there are still anatomy problems.

As i said over at PJ, i really like the concept of this. And i think it would be better for everyone (including Feron) to think of this more like a tree which resembles a man, rather than a man whom resembles a tree.. perhaps .. if that makes sense. 

[VictorR]

Heh..hairy, thats funny..I agree with you but if you look at a tree, it wouldnt be smooth. It would have a jagedy texture.

[Gil]

What he means is that your texture looks like hair and nothing like tree (bark), which is correct for most of it...

[VictorR]

Well it was a simple edit showing that the whole body should have texture not just half of it. Hehe a hairy tree..

[Larwick]

But then that's pointless because Feron clearly mentioned in the first post he wasn't finished with that.
I must say the hairyness of the bark isn't entirely VictorR's fault because Feron did have that sort of feel about it there aswel. Perhaps widen some of the 'strips' to make it more like the chips and plates you get on some trees (i may be thinking of a different type of tree entirely though..)

Btw my second paragraph was trying to get people off the fact it needs to be poseable by a real person, or the fact it has to have perfect anatomy.

[VictorR]

Well I appreciate you agreeing with me but my bark looks alot more like hair then wood. When he said that he wasnt finished I directly assumed he'd leave the body how it is and go into the leaves. It was a mis conception?

[Feron]

I cant really see any anatomical changes apart from blacking out the bulges.  I did say in my post That I am not finished with it and I will plan to do all the texture all over.  I think some of your texture looks like hair because you kinda scribbled with the light brown, whereas I took a while to get it down precisely as i wanted.  Thanks for the edit though, I appreciate everything that gets thrown my way.   

Larwick - thanks for the comment about variation with the bark - i'll be testing out a few things later.

but one must go to school now 

[Sohashu]

Im no expert on anatomy, but I made this extreeeemely quick edit closing in abs and adding obliques. 

[Feron]

Thanks mccow, your edit really helped me on the abs/torso 

[pixelblink]

I really am liking the detail on this guy, Shark. The one thing I will say is that it seems odd that a tree would look so shiny and that blueish second light source. Maybe a softer and less contrasting tone would suit it better?
I think you should add some knots for his nipples and maybe some mossy growth from the ground, fading out up until his crotch area. Looking forward to some serious updates soon from you dude
peace out

[Ryumaru]

youre still lacking deltoid muscles, its comin along very nicely tho.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deltoid_muscle

[snake]

I'll wait with a critique on the texture and the leaves at the moment. I just wanted to touch upon your tree's anatomy and pose, as I feel there's still a few things that haven't been mentioned. Judging from the face, you *might* be going for a slight abstaction of the human figure because of him being a tree and all. Still, I tried doing your picture with  a few tweaks to his structure:



I noticed that he's leaning over to the right on your version. I Don't know if this was intentional so I tried to correct his direction. Also added roots because I thought it looked a little strange with the tree just ending flat like that.

Hope it was of some use. Looking forward to your next edit.

[MoD]

I notice that when you zoom in on the arm, there is a little vein of black down the center, but it starst and stops on each side very abruptly. The blackness between light sources works well on the legs and torso, but it gives the arm a look like it's an extruded bent square, if you get my meaning. To make it a bit clearer, the black line makes it look as if it has two facets, one reflecting each lightsource.

[Feron]

still working on it.  Im gonna texture the pecs and finish the arms tomorow.

snake - thanks for the edit, although redoing it like yours would basically be starting another piece.  Ill move the head around before i shade it...

I've also added a few of the earlier stages up top ^^

[Sherman Gill]

Feron, that is incredibly awesome .

[Terley]

I made a wire sculpure bearing on the same design once  , it was a disaster. 

this is going fine though, I'd take snake's advice for future treemen, but atm it looks fine.. more like a tree that happens to look like a man, not a man in the position of a man-shaped tree.. if that makes sense 

Im gettin the impression that it's a sad treeman. 

[Feron]

Perhaps.  Originally i was going to make him look in pain, as though the tree had ripped into his body and started forming it into twists and turns.
However then I thought perhaps i'll go down the more poetic route with the treeman spending his days alone in forest.

I can imagine it must have been a bitch to sculpt 

Thanks for the comments I really do appreciate everything that you guys say, especially the good bits 

[cb43569]

Wow, that is fantastic... you should probably fix that left arm though, looks like it's sticking at a strange angle.
Some very good pixelling involved there. Good job.
Keep at it, pal.

[Feron]

Thanks guys.

updates coming soon...

[Crazy Asian Gamer]

still working on it.  Im gonna texture the pecs and finish the arms tomorow.

snake - thanks for the edit, although redoing it like yours would basically be starting another piece.  Ill move the head around before i shade it...

I've also added a few of the earlier stages up top ^^

I was sketchy earlier about the brightness of the secondary lighting, but now, it looks perfectly natural with that superb background. Talk about takin' it to the next level
Of course, that's gotta be some kinda really bright fairy to light up the other side of the treeman like that Also, is it just me, or are her boobs... like... UBERHUGE?
There are tiny little AA hiccups here and there. On the right of his abs, the AA is fairly... "abrupt". When AA, I tend to keep an imaginary infinitely thin contour in my head, and select shades of AA according to how much of each color should be present in that pixel, if you get what I mean. It doesn't look jaggy right now due to the bare amount of contrast, but you might, for perfectionist's sake, re-AA some of the outlines.
I love the shrooms, and all the improvements you've made to this piece. Keep it up.

[Feron]

i didnt like the leaves, i think bare branches suit him better anyways.  I'd probably call this finished, but hey what do i know?

[philipptr]

wow, I wished you would finish it, and it looks great in its current state, though I still think it looks a bit unfinished.
I love the play of light especially on the grass and the use of the few colours is very well done too.
Imo it suffers from the missing background, some sillouettes of trees in the background in different green shades could work very well, as they would create a bit more depth too the whole piece.

[Mirre]

It kind of looks as if he's doing the "a-ok"-sign with his left hand, lol.

Nice work on this Feron. It's a lovely piece, and the lightsetting really adds a nice mood to it! I agree that it looks better without the leaves... also makes it looks like this tree-person is in pain or sorrow or something cheezy like that

[Stwelin]

Looks like he's being crucified. It's a very good piece. I wish you would have kept that curious looking faerie.

[yosh64]

hey

Sorry haven't read everyones messages...

I think this is a little tricky... should you really make the anatomy more human, when inside it's really a tree? I'd think not... is it possible for a tree to have the anatomy of a human?

So yea, I don't think you should be too concerned about the anatomy being true for a human, but rather that the anatomy is true for a tree in the shape of a human, I hope that makes sense?

BTW, contrary to what I think someone else mentioned, I seem to like the bolge under the armpit, as I think this seems to be more tree like .

edit
Quickly read through everyones messages now...

I wonder what it would look like if your turned his head into sort of a stumped brach, with two leafs by comparison

I quite like this idea, as I think the head looks a bit to unnatural for a tree. But maybe this symbolises a bit of a miracle of sorts as it is? Hmm, I dunno...

But yea, I strongly disagree about comments of the arm looking awkward, and anatomy not being true to a human or whatever... remember it's a tree... I do like the way it is... but maybe you could emphasize it as being a tree more by making the branches more extreme in regards to human anatomy. I dunno, just a thought, not sure it'd work out so well.

What about some roots sticking up from the ground?

Hehe, I just had a funny thought... that is to put a birds nest in it , or something that represents life.

Ohh, or maybe a leaf at the eye, to symbolise a tear?

But yea, it's your art not mine, hehe .

another edit
Gah, sorry... I just realised everyones comments were based on the earlier wips... I thought yas were refering to the latest :\. Anyhows yea, I see what yas meant about the abs, and the bolge at the arm pit and such .

cyas

[Turbo]

I'd soften the definition on the stomach area (abs and ribs above them), apllying that great wood texture you have going on the rest of the body, and call it done. Also, a bg wouldn't hurt. Great work

[Fry]

I personally liked it a lot better with the leaves, it just had a cool kinda sense of weight to it.  Now it kinda looks like he's posed to be holding something really heavy but isn't.

Really impressive detail.

-Fry

[Adrian]

I really love the surreal lighting and environment. The whole thing is really awesome.

[Noveroth]

The angle of the head in this piece is a little odd, i can't put my finger on it, but it just doesn't seem right, but other then that, Awesome work, Reminds me of Actraiser