Sculpting Sleeves Help

[SGHawkins09]

Not sure if this belongs here or under conversions but since I need help/feedback on the sculpting, I figured here was better. 

 

I am adding puffy sleeves to a figure and I am very much a novice when it comes to sculpting. I have been working on one and while it looks good to me, I need a second opinion. What do you guys think?

 

[Rigel]

Looks like you're headed in the right direction! My instinct--though I'm no authority--would be deeper folds and more wrinkles, especially near the elbow. Are there any historical paintings or sculptures (or costume-rich movies!) featuring specific puffy sleeves you want? 

[SGHawkins09]

1 hour ago, Rigel said:

Looks like you're headed in the right direction! My instinct--though I'm no authority--would be deeper folds and more wrinkles, especially near the elbow. Are there any historical paintings or sculptures (or costume-rich movies!) featuring specific puffy sleeves you want? 

 

Yeah folds and the elbow are what was bothering me about it. I looked for examples but her arm position is not as common as you might think. But from what I was seeing, more folds were definitely needed.

 

Unfortunately while I was trying to improve it, I wrecked it and had to strip the green stuff off. While I was looking at puffy sleeve examples I found good examples of my original sleeve plan, ones that are a little more structured and stiffer, less wrinkles. I also ended up finding a mini in my stash with a similar arm position and sleeve type. So attempt will happen tomorrow. Well, later today as it is after midnight here.

[GHarris]

I would have to agree with Rigel, a reference for what kind of puffy sleeves you are going for would be helpful. My initial thought is the sleeves aren't following the arms underneath then, they are "floating" off of the arms. Of course they could be designed to do this but generally gravity causes large sleeves to directly touch the top of the arms and hang under the bottom of the arms. The "high points" of the sleeve, in other words the top of the arm, would be indistinguishable from the body underneath at this scale.

 

If I was sculpting large sleeves onto her arm I would literally be hitting the arm underneath with my tool! The only real raised areas for most of the top half of the arms would be the raised wrinkles. Even working digitally I will still sculpt the arm underneath the sleeve, then literally drag the mesh for the sleeve into the arms to make sure it still looks like there is a body under those clothes!

 

Wrinkles tend to gather in the armpits and elbows due to the way cloth naturally hangs, the cloth becoming wrinkled from repeated bending, or the presence of seams.

 

Looks like you got a pretty nice edge on the top of the shirt! Getting that panel of her shirt that flat is trickier than it looks!

[SGHawkins09]

@GHarris Thanks for the feedback! You nailed what was bothering me and what I noticed when looking for reference photos. Due to my mess up last night, I scraped the puffy sleeve idea and went back to more structured sleeves. With a few examples in hand, I finally got a sleeve that I am happy with. The light is reflecting weird off some areas but it’s what I was after. Added some cuffs that will either be shirt cuffs or part of gloves depending on how much hand work I need to do.