Hi, I’m still very new to head sculpting (and ZBrush.) Could I humbly ask for some feedback on this fella?
All feedback is welcome, but in particular I’d like suggestions on making him look younger and more frightened.
Thanks for any advice.
W
I think there are some key issues:
First off with children it is important to think of everything being round and sort of “squashed” in the facial region. What I mean is at younger ages the skull is still developing and would not contribute to any “chiseled” features I.E. pronounced brow line, cheek bone and jaw lines.
As for the roundness, the amount of “baby fat” is the reason you dont see much in the way of shadow lines and creasing in the face.
Really look at your model with those things in mind and you’ll see that softening things up a bit will really help. That being said.
The eyes:
they have a flatness to them. the overall shape of the fleshy parts around the eyes is dictated primarily by the shape of the eyeball. in a child especially the amount of fleshyness here is going to be minimal, as well as an unpronounced orbital socket and zygomatic process.
The nose:
The length seems okay, however, the bridge would probably be less pronounced and the tip of the nose seems a bit to pointed. Try lessening these areas and see what you come up with. Make the nostrils smaller as well.
The mouth:
The mouth is actually quite good for a child model. The only thing I could say is try to give his lower lip a bit more fullness, it looks flat in the profile.
The ears:
Sculpt it against some references.
Other: The chin looks far too big to be on a child. It also is far too pronouced. Move it back and reduce it a bit and see what happens. The skin should show only the bare essentials regarding creases etc. it should be silky smooth (for a prepubescent)
The expression is really close, just needs to be amplified a bit. It also depends on how frightened he is.
Overall I think your almost there. Children can be tricky.
Keep it up.
_K
Thanks Kansuke, that’s just the kind of help I was looking for. I’ll work through your comments and post again tomorrow.
W
Here’s version 2.
Thanks for your comments Kansuke. They were a big help. He’s much closer to the age I want.
I’ve neutralized his expression for now as I’m fairly certain I can work that in later (I’m hoping to animate him.)
As before, any comments are greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
W
Few quick notes about the most recent set:
- Watch the shape of the back of the head. At the moment you have a distinct diagonal sweep in the silhouette. As it is, you’d be compressing the back half of his brain. Add mass at the top and bottom of the skull in the back of the head. See this picture for reference:
- Watch the mass under the chin. Right now you really don’t have much transition between throat and jaw. There would be some soft flesh of the throat defining the bottom of the silhouette and softening the transition:
-
Ear placement. Should be roughly 2/3 back in the profile. Looks to me like the ear in your model is creeping forward. Also you need to add mass to the helix and lobe. It seems very thin at the moment.
-
Brow. Check the outside top of the brow ridge and the transition into the eye socket. Looks like you’ve blended out your bone shape here, giving the impression that the socket has collapsed. Re-establish a sense of bone here at the temple by raising that back out in a ridge. It needs to be softly transitioned into the face, yes, but the bone needs to be present.
Thanks Nimajneb. Great points. I’m working on them now.
W
looks a lot better koko,
the eyes still have a bit of flatness to them. The crown of the head seems to be a bit to high yet. the zygomatic process (cheek bone area) looks to be still a bit sharp. Those ears need to be punched in a bit better.
Anyhow, looking really good. a lot more childlike. :)
Cheers
_K
Cool, thanks. I’ll post again on Monday.
Cheers,
W
Hi, here’s the latest.
I’d like to go to a new level of detail soon.
I’m finding the straight on view the least satisfying now, but is it possible this is simply because it’s such an unnatural way to view something? Or are there just problems I’m missing?
Thanks for all your help so far.
W
I dont know why but i never saw the front view, only the profile and 3/4 view.
the front vie does give some more info on the overall. I would make his nostril holes smaller. His eyes appear to be “toed in” or on planes that are at a slight angle inwards. (hope that makes sense)
Also, the eyeball appears to be a subtool, am I correct? If so, the sphere may be to large and round which would cause the eyes to look flatter than they should be. Try making the subtools smaller in proportion and then backfill the flesh (I would suggest storing morphtargets for both tools and also do the resculpt on a layer)
Sorry, dont have time for much more today, hope this is helpful.
_K