Before I get into the evaluation, here is the final product:
I was working every day to get the design right. I put so much effort into this character. I wasn't thinking of the project as a simple college project, I was thinking of it as a professional piece for a portfolio. I believe that all of the hard work paid off but in my opinion, and knowing what I know now after doing it, I missed the mark. I now realize some things I can add or redesign but I don't have the time to change anything and I had to publish it as a final model for texturing. I was focusing on getting it ready to export, rather than focusing on the design and how to make it more appealing to the audience. I believe that my observational skills have improved dramatically compared to my concept. I have a better understanding of design sense and I know what things I do that are good or what things that aren't and how I could improve on it. Doing art is complicated, I have bad days and I have good days. What matters is how you take those bad days and use them a lesson to make better days.
I learnt that I work too much and become mentally exhausted. I am always on my computer 24/7. I am up until 3am almost everyday just sculpting. I learnt that I need to take a break sometimes and refresh my mind so when I go back into sculpting, I could notice more than what I did when I was up for so long. I have been told many times that I work too much by many of my peers, but I never noticed it until now. I could see my work change when I took a day off and relaxed. I learnt that I need to take a break if I start to feel mentally exhausted so I don't experience an art block. After making Váli, I learnt that I should study anatomy more and start making my own production base meshes for male and female. I would do this as a personal project to study anatomy and understand the silhouette of a human body. Another thing that I've learnt is to practice my workflow and make it more ergonomic. I felt that I was wasting time fixing technical stuff that I could've fixed beforehand. I used Zremesh 30 times during this sculpt. Every time I Zremeshed I lost details after projecting which meant I had to sculpt them back in and it was a back and forth thing that could've been resolved at an early stage so I want to get a better understanding of my workflow and how to improve it.
I really liked making Váli. I loved the design. I loved making him with all of the details and textures. For being a student in college, I was impressed with what I had produced. The anatomy looked good and didn't look symmetrical. One thing I would've changed was some of the details in the skin. Some areas were too big and rougher. That's a simple fix, but I didn't realise the issue until I rendered it in Maya. I could have added some tertiary details like veins and arteries so he won't look stylised. I think adding veins would've made Váli look more realistic and add more little details that will make him stand out. I think the schedule prevented me from doing more stuff. It made me worry about whether I could expand Váli's design or keep him as is and continue with it. I believe the lack of technical ability played a part with this. Once I completed Váli's model, I learnt a lot more than I expected. I know what I could do to fix some of the artistic and technical mistakes. I didn't think of it as a simple college project (as I've mentioned before). I'm thinking about it as a professional project and a lesson to understand the animation pipeline.
After completing this project, I have learnt so much, like rendering Displacement and the key factors I should know when unwrapping a model. I know more about UDIMs and how I could apply them when texturing. I understand the pipeline with animation and rendering. I learnt that High-quality maps come with the expense of my computer specs. I need a contingency if something goes wrong. I need to make sure I know what I am doing before I start. I must establish what type of shots I want instead of winging it in the moment. if I was to do another animation like this, I have to apply everything I have learnt after doing this project.
I am extremely happy with the final result, now I need to keep studying and practicing to get better and better.