- 13 Feb 2013 08:26
#5623
The models themselves seem quite good, but my main quip with them is the textures. Nidoking in particular, he looks like he's been rolling around in mud :V Nidoqueen is alright, although the contrast on her makes her look sort've like a lava lamp lol. Charizard has must the same problem. I'd definitely recommend toning down the contrast on the shading/noise, and maybe consider giving them HD textures?
On to the actual models, as I said, quite good, especially for such old models and having been submitted to Pokemobs to boot. There's one common problem with them though- to me at least, it looks like you made really tall pillars and just stuck parts onto them. The one this is least noticeable with is Charizard, since he's actually lifted off the ground and has his legs properly placed and such. But let's break them down individually.
We'll start with Charizard. The big one is obviously the neck to chest connection, it just seems very strange to have the neck and head so far back and leave so much space on top of the chest. Would recommend bringing the neck forward so it's in the center and fiddling with the body a bit so the shift from body to neck isn't as sharp. The head and neck look great though, I think you've nailed the shape of the neck, and the head I would say is a step in the right direction from what the models in game currently look like. Both the old model and the new one that's just been added in today have the same common issue- the eyes are in the front. Here, you've got them on the sides, which is much more natural and closer to how Charizard would look from the side. One little detail would be that I'd like to see the eyes rotated slightly inwards, so that it's angled to see both forwards and to the sides. The muzzle also seems a tad boxy, if you could thin it out a little, at least vertically, and make it a little longer, that'd be wonderful.
Moving on to the lower body, the legs look fine, nothing wrong with those. Perhaps the thigh is a bit short vertically, but that's just getting overly nitpicky now. The body seems rather thin, looking at artwork of Charizard, he gets a bit chubbier starting from the top of yellow on his belly down. The tail looks good, missing that characteristic flame at the tip though. Only other minor problem is that the tail seems to tip off very abruptly. Up until the last three or four blocks, it got smaller very gradually, and then once it got to that point, it just got smaller very sharply. The main problem most likely is similar to what has happened with the neck though- to much extra space. Try centering those parts so they're in the center of the previous parts, having that much extra space can give the illusion of the part being smaller than it is. Looks like that's it though, can't see anything else. Just as a final random note here, I like the claws on Charizard's feet, I dunno, I sort've miss seeing people using the corners of blocks to represent something like that. I haven't seen it much as of late, and for claws, I think it's something that should be utilized more personally.
But enough about that, let's move on to Nidoqueen and Nidoking, since they both same fairly similar in issues. The body could use quite a bit of work. They both have that 'pillar' issue I mentioned before rather prominently. I think the main thing that bugs me is that the bottoms of their bodies touch the ground, but really, they should be lifted up and on their legs, similar to how Charizard is. They've both also got the neck problem Charizard has, albeit it's not a noticeable since their heads take up a lot of the space, but it's still there. Again, try moving it to the center and smoothing the bodies up near the top so they flow into the neck better. Nidoking also seems a bit pudgy in the front, like even if you moved the head and such, if his belly still sticks out as much as it does now, he'd still seem a bit too chubby. Might wanna give him a bit of a tummy tuck there lol. Nidoqueen looks fine though. Their thighs seem to come up a bit too much, maybe take out the smaller part above the thigh? Even then, I think the legs are a bit too tall. Could do with 1 or 2 less blocks of height I think.
Same thing that happened with Charizard's tail has here [I'm noticing a slight pattern lol], the tips seem to become abruptly shorter. Same fix as before, moving on. Here's another minor nit-picky thing, but is there any chance you could do something similar for the claws on their feet as you've done with Charizard's? At least on Nidoking's, it just looks odd having them be square like that, Nidoqueen's would be passable. Though, it'd be utterly fantastic if you could do the same for not only Nidoqueen, but for the claws on all of their hands as well. But now I'm getting really deep in to 'so nit picky that you should just ignore me' territory, not to mention that detail with the claws is my own personal preference, others might not like it as much. You're free to do as you please.
Welp, there we go. That's all I can think of at this moment. Again, you're free to do as you please, and even for today's standards, these are pretty good first models. I didn't comment of the arms because I think they're fine as is, there's several parts of these models I really like, especially on that Charizard, and while the contrast on the textures is a bit off, it's pretty clear you gave it your best shot. And for that, I say bravo, and that I'm looking forward to seeing these models improved to today's standards. Having an accepted pair of Nido's around would definitely spur some interest in others finishing the line. I hope anyway. Okay, I'm done, I've gone on long enough.
NodeCraft
