First attempts

[SpiritDreamer]

Hi Gary..

Great job there done on your Gandalf the Grey piece..Captured alot of mood, feeling, and character..

Maybe some painted in with a fine tipped brush...long hairs extending from the ends of his eyebrows..the wise old owl look, a sign of wisdom, that comes only with maturity...and maybe also paint in with a fine tipped brush,.. a few lighter grey hairs onto his moustache..will give it more of a sense of volume in that area.....Just a couple of thoughts that crossed my mind..may be useful to you,..who knows.....Really like the way that fabric came out by the way...

Glenn

[voodoodad]

Thanks, Glenn. One of the most frustrating things about making hair with fibermesh is the fact that the preview looks almost completely unlike the rendered product. In my unrendered Gandalf the mustache and eyebrows appear to stick out about four inches in front of the face, but post-render they look like tooth brush bristles lol. I think I will take it to PS and see what magic Gandalf can do! And thank you for the comment about the cloth! I was tweaking the noise on that for what felt like an eternity, and I love the way it turned out.

[voodoodad]

After messin' with the Photoshop...

[voodoodad]

Working on the base for Saruman now.

[Rykka]

I absolutely /love/ the parting of the hair. Extremely convincing... could be a photo. The mustache area looks strangely grainy though? Maybe it's just the lighting.

[voodoodad]

I absolutely /love/ the parting of the hair. Extremely convincing... could be a photo. The mustache area looks strangely grainy though? Maybe it's just the lighting.

Thank you, Rykka! Thank god you can duplicate and mirror fibermesh just like any other subtool! Yeah, the mustache is a bit wonky at the moment . I need to pull it out from the face just a little more and it should be fine.

[voodoodad]

Progress on Saruman.

[voodoodad]

'Tis a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt over so small a thing.

Working on Boromir right now.

[voodoodad]

Morning progress.

[SpiritDreamer]

Hi Gary

Hey, those few extra touches that you added to the last version of Gandalf the Grey really made a huge difference for the better..Looks Great..

The Saruman piece also came out great ..I really like the face and emotion that's projected.....could use a little refinement on the moustache, but that's a minor, and an easy fix with a paintbrush...

Your Boromir character is coming along nicely so far..Maybe some more cheek bone to give a better sense of the underlying bone structure...Also watch that eye socket area and the brow ridge that it creates...and the upper eyelid should extend out over the lower eyelid at a 45 degree angle..really apparent in a three quarter view...Just some thoughts that might be useful to you..who knows...Looking forward to seeing this cast of characters that you are creating, evolve, as your technique also evolves...Looking Great so far..Excellent progress on both counts....

Glenn

[KC-Production]

Great work man, this guy looks like one of a character of game of thrones, that one guy from LotR - Boromir
Definently keep it going my friend, great seeing your improvements every day!
All the best,
- KC

[voodoodad]

Hi Gary

Hey, those few extra touches that you added to the last version of Gandalf the Grey really made a huge difference for the better..Looks Great..

The Saruman piece also came out great ..I really like the face and emotion that's projected.....could use a little refinement on the moustache, but that's a minor, and an easy fix with a paintbrush...

Your Boromir character is coming along nicely so far..Maybe some more cheek bone to give a better sense of the underlying bone structure...Also watch that eye socket area and the brow ridge that it creates...and the upper eyelid should extend out over the lower eyelid at a 45 degree angle..really apparent in a three quarter view...Just some thoughts that might be useful to you..who knows...Looking forward to seeing this cast of characters that you are creating, evolve, as your technique also evolves...Looking Great so far..Excellent progress on both counts....

Glenn

Thanks Glenn! Your tips on the facial structure really helped to get the likeness more apparent. It's still far from perfect but looking better now, I think. I like the Saruman sculpt, but I'm not as crazy about it as Gandalf. I need to go in and rework a few details, plus turn down the perspective some. I looked at it earlier today and suddenly it looks like his forehead is about to explode .

Great work man, this guy looks like one of a character of game of thrones, that one guy from LotR - Boromir
Definently keep it going my friend, great seeing your improvements every day!
All the best,
- KC

Hey Kenny! Thanks so much. Yeah the actor's name is Sean Bean and he did play both Boromir and Eddard Stark. Ten years apart and it looks like about 50 pounds difference lol. I may end up doing him as Stark once I'm done with Boromir. The extra age makes his face a lot more interesting to sculpt!

Again, thanks to both of you guys. You're both great motivators!

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After an afternoon of struggling to get this guy posed, doing some polypaint and firing up some lightcaps here's my progress for the day.

[voodoodad]

A long, tedious night of forging and hanging chain later, I have another update. I need to tweak how the chain hangs a little. Doesn't quite droop correctly off the fingers, but my hands are sore from all that manual labor for right now, so probably tomorrow.

[voodoodad]

Final render (maybe).

[Rykka]

My prreeccciousssssss.......

Coming along great! Even from your most simple base model it was obvious who this was, you are very good at capturing the facial nuances that really make certain characters recognizable! If I had done that, everyone would be asking me "Who's the scruffy guy staring at a ring." =P