Hey everyone,
This is just the culmination of all the work ive done over the past few months regarding studying the face; fat, bones, expressions etc. This post is just a drop in the ocean of drawings, sculpts and studies ive done of the face. Im posting this to show that targeted dedicated practice pays off and also that the right education/ information is very important; ive seen so many people make the same mistakes on each successive sculpt when all they needed to do was watch a few anatomy videos and practice the information given.
Whether its my tutorials (links below) or someone elses, be sure to use the correct information and you will improve!
As you can see with most of the studies (I have a few videos on my channel showcasing a few of my sculpts so you can see the processes there) i first start off with some anatomy traces; the fat, muscles, bones and also the proportions. These will help you when you actually start sculpting. Its a good way to get to know your subject before diving in… I realise not everyone can do this at the start of every project but it is a massive help.
After that ill build the model up from a base mesh (yeah yeah i know) and make use of the profile and front views the most; ill still check the 3/4 views and any other angles but as long as you know how the human skull works (I have a few vids on that as well!) this shouldnt be too difficult! Another trick is to use the skinshade 4 (or any shader that isnt matcaps) and check the model using the lighting in zbrush; see what the shadows are doing. This works best when you actually know what the face is made up of (the types of muscles, fat, bones etc) so you arent blindly copying forms.
Anyway thats a really quick summary, ill include more details in the upcoming vidoes/ articles!
Thanks for stopping by! I have a youtube channel covering quite a few of the techniques ive used in the sculpts below, feel free to check it out!
ALL SCULPTS
QUICK BREAKDOWNS:
RACHEL (~10 hrs ± 6hrs to add the emotion for each version)
For these studies i actually used the reference packs from Rachel Bradley; the pack has different poses and lighting scenarios and as you can see with this set of studies i aimed to get some expressions in. Making use of the FACS and muscles i think i did a good enough job!
Kinda trashy skull trace but good enough for now!
ROBERT (~33 hrs - its the hair!!!)
I quite liked Robert with longer hair so i decided to use this version and i think it came out pretty good! For anyone interested i just made a few tuts on how to draw and sculpt hair on my YT channel (Thivolan3d). With this sculpt i focused more on the fat and aging.
And since im studying anatomy i decided to also include a clean shaven version!
SENNA (~17hrs)
Didnt actually do any studies for this dude as the deadline was within 4 - 5 days i think so it was just the sculpt and marvelous fabric; i tried to capture the pensive look Senna always carries and also added some movement by pulling the balaclava down and turning his face in the opposite direction…
ERNEST (~42hrs - quite a bit of experimenting on this one)
Yeah, quite a bit going on here but i really wanted to capture the evil side of Ernest from KOTFM and also really push the emotion; so i went with some really exaggerated lighting, posing and values. Overall i think it works, some people might disagree but it sticks to what i set out to do…
Some traceover studies and quick 10-15 min drawing studies
