Gladiator evaluation

 At the beginning of this project I set out to create a semi-realistic murmillo gladiator, throughout the journey there has been things I think were very successful and others that I now look back and think I could have done better which I will dissect here.

Starting from the base I think the anatomy of the model turned out really nicely, I referenced muscle anatomy sheets whilst modelling to make sure I wasn't adding muscles that don't exist or making them look way too big in proportion to the rest of the body. I am most proud of the upper body as I think I made it nicely toned whilst also leaving wiggle room to define muscles further using the textures. I do think that the calf muscles could have done with an extra loop to smooth them out a little bit as I made them look angular overall.

Another thing I am proud of is the shaping of the face as I spent more time modeling the shape of the face than anything else as people are naturally inclined to look at faces, this meant if anything looked off here it could set the impression for the rest of the model. Since I was basing my character off Sparticus I looked at the few depictions of him that remain and interpreted the face shape based of this . the hardest part to get right was the shaping of the nose as the references I was following had a strong profile with a pronounced nose, bumping in the centre and a down pointed tip which I managed to get right in the end but I battled with balancing giving him a pronounced nose and giving him simply a big nose which wasn't the aim.

One improvement I would make to my final outcome would be the rigging and skinning as this was definitely my weakest part of the project as it was very new and frustrating for me, I think that the final model didn't move as naturally as I wanted it to and also I had clipping on items such as the shoulder guard and the skirt which I tired my best to fix but in the end I could only reduce. I think next time I need to pay more attention to the shaping of the object and how they would work in the rigging and skinning stage to save myself any frustration down the line.

Another improvement which is a small but crucial one is the painting of the area around the eyes as it looks unnatural and uncanny, this is important for the same reason as why the face is so important as the eyes look into other eyes. We are drawn to them as they are ‘ windows into the soul’ and what we look at when we talk to one another and therefore what we notice is wrong first. If I were to go back I would look into further references and try and paint them more accurately to get rid of the slightly uncanny valley felling they have currently.

Looking now at the items, the painting of the metal on the shield and other metal areas such as the helmet and shoulder guard worked very well. They all use the same painting as I painted a basic rough metal texture and then adapted it for each object by changing the colour slightly or dulling the shine to make it look dirty and well used. This metal texture provided a nice contrast the the rest of the textures on the model and other items which, bar the short sword, were all much softer and flowing.

Overall I think the project outcome is successful and the product matches the image I had at the beginning of the project . I think the things I found to be not as successful are definitely part of a learning journey for future projects going forward and indicate what I should have more consideration for in the future.