Hey guys... some of you may or may not remember me, I used to post here quite a bit a long time ago. I started trying to create a Kano model but unfortunately gave up pretty quickly due to frustration with how poorly it went, and simply a lack of time to work on it. You guys seem to have been doing great in my absence though, and evidently the fact that I couldn't finish the Kano model wasn't a great loss, cause there's no way I could've done this good a job!
Anyway, it's really exciting to see this place so bustling with activity again, and that's prompted me to come back here again too. I might not be very active but I hope I can at least contribute with some feedback.
Mortal Gojira, I commented on your Kano model on deviantArt the other day but it looks like you're making steady progress. The lighter skintone and a bit of volume to the hair makes a huge difference. His face still looks slightly pudgy and old, I think, but you're very close to nailing it. Comparing to photos of Rich I think the crease where the brow meets the bridge of the nose is too pronounced, and the same might go for the folds separating his lower lip from his chin.
The faceplate looks good in the last picture you posted too, I think. Maybe it could be smaller on top, but it does seem to change in every piece of reference you can find though, so you probably shouldn't stress it. The wear and tear could probably still be toned down though - maybe it shouldn't be 100% smooth, but on the other hand he probably has not been moving heavy equipment back and forth across his face. As for the colour, of course the diffuse texture needs to be somewhat dark for the metallic shine to be noticeable, but I feel it kinda needs some midtones too. Regardless, because of the specularity and everything it's really going to be dependant on what the lighting conditions are like for the final sprites. It should be fairly easy to tweak the textures if necessary, or simply the material settings, once everything is in place. Since it will be subject to tweaking with the final lighting anyway, I wouldn't necessarily worry about getting it perfect right out of ZBrush. Finally, as someone mentioned, Divizio was a pretty hairy guy! His forearms should definitely be noticeably hairy, and possibly his chest as well (depending on the final cut of his top). Here's a few more pictures that might provide helpful reference.
As for his body, apart from the previously mentioned tight pants, the biggest issue in my mind is that your model is wearing his belt too low. If you look at his original sprites or the "behind the scenes" pictures you can see that in MK1 he's wearing his belt quite high, around the height of his elbows. Combined with the shape of the pants, it alters his silhouette and overall proportions quite drastically. You also seem to have a tendency to make feet quite big. Making them a little less chunky should hopefully make him look more proportionate overall. I made a quick paintover to illustrate my points:
I realise it might be very tricky to get the bagginess of the pants right, and still maintain decent poseability without crazy deformation issues, but frankly that's not quite my area of expertise either. Perhaps Bleed can chime in on that. Still, simply adjusting the waist/belt, and beefing up the pants a bit so he's not so top-heavy, will make a big difference.
![]{0MBAT](/forums/data/avatars/m/1/1386.jpg?1611709583){kind=avatar}
