Character Showcase: Alima (Patreon)

Wait a minute, this isn't Wonder Woman OR Power Girl!  Don't worry, I'm still working on it.

For anyone new, I've been working on the process of creating OC's and sometimes I'll do these showcases.  Check out the showcase on one of my other characters, Maev, if you like reading and fun pictures.

I decided to update an older character I ported when I was just starting to experiment.  She was then named Sahana, which is just the name of the stock model/textures so I decided on a much needed rebranding to Alima.

With this model we've sort of got an Arabic thing going on, with the updates to the model giving her the ability to represent a broader amount of roles other than 'stock Egyptian queen'.  Given that she's an older model I didn't really try to innovate at all as far as the body from was concerned.  I was more focused on the face, hair, and genitals.

Speaking of face and hair, you can see below I gave those features an overhaul.  Back when I ported the model, things were in pretty rough shape.  I've got a more concrete workflow hammered out, but I'm still finding certain steps are a lot more crucial or ineffectual than I thought.  Specular maps for example have diminishing returns the smaller the detail you focus on.

Face

The facial updates included defining the eyes, nose, and cheekbones, as well as updating all of the textures and materials to reflect more detail.  She's got the complexion of a woman in her early 30s, which is one of many similarities she shares with Maev.  Maybe I subconsciously feel as though it fits the type more.  In the future I'll have to get more inventive, broaden my scope a little.

One thing I definitely need to figure out for the future is the eyelids.  My eyelids suck and I need to figure out how to model them to make them better.  It's like I have a good idea for what I want the eyelid to look like but I have trouble executing it. 

Hair

For the hair I wanted to try something a bit different and experiment with braids a bit more.  It took several iterations, but I landed on a style I liked.  The braided ponytail also allows me to put in simple, easy to control hair physics.

I wasn't aware there was this whole relationship between your haircut and the shape of your head, but your bone structure really can determine what hairstyles look good on you.  I may still update it though, the sides and top could use a little work.

Genitals

I've also spent a bit of time updating the textures, materials, and shape of...

THE DICK

In my line of work, you'll find that a lot of attention has to be paid to...

THE DICK

...as often times it's the focus of the angle, or it's just where people's eyes are going.

I've taken some things that work with some of the newer models I've worked on (like Wonder Woman) and applied them here.  A more defined/unique shape, improved normals that reflect the detail and wrinkles of the skin better, texture masks to adjust material values of different sections of the dick, and much more.

Making a dick unique is (surprisingly) just as important as making the face or body type unique.  I'd like to get the pubic hair in a better place but I just haven't spent much effort on it yet.  It's weird not having anything though.  Ideally I could just have stubble there to help transition from the pelvis to the dick, otherwise it ends up looking a little bit too clean.  Perhaps I can pursue a texture-based solution for that in the future.

Future Improvements

At the end of the updating process I'm pretty happy with some of the results.  There are some more 'under the hood' improvements I've made, but I'll have to test those out in an animation.

Immediately, I need to look into eyelids.  How do they work, anyway?  Farther out I need to work on wrinkle maps and advanced facials rigs, because that's really where the model can come to life.  At some point I should confront the ultimate terror: clothes.

Congratulations if you've read this far!

 Here's a gallery of the renders I used in this showcase.