Hey everyone its been ages!
Due to the holidays and moving I have been very busy. But I have been working throughout the month to complete the lady Z model I have been intermittently working on. (this mesh has the head, hands,harness and codpiece hidden)
I redesigned parts of her armor namely the back and the armor plates on the sides
I might thicken the plate on her butt it seems too thin to be functional.
This model will be very reliant on how crazy bump will bake out the normal, I have painted a lot of spec on the armor it should coincide with her diffuse (via mudbox). Painting spec in mudbox is really fun and easy. Combining spec painting with a stamp will produce great results with minimal effort. With sci-fi spec maps with geometric designs are very effective such as hexagonal patterns and kevelar patterns.
(I claim no ownership over this texture all rights belong to the original author)
I haven't touched her face or hands yet, (they were messed up when imported into mudbox). But after some critique she seemed a little androgynous, a very effective way to combat this is to push some of her femininity via makeup and accessorizing. (a lot of artists would exaggerate her curves and increase her bust size) In some respects it doesn't make much sense, would a spy/ mercenary wear makeup- no, no she wouldn't. But its ok to push reality (depending on the project). for some reference I have been looking into the work of Luis Royo's , it is amazing (most work not work safe). And the technical art of metal gear Metal Gear.