I am doing my best to imitate a Simon Bisley Illustration. This is just the skull “mask” that the character wears. Still have SOOOO much to do, but this will be my personal project when im not working on our current project. Did this in a couple of hours and used #3 Material from Arran Lewis’ great collection that he was so nice to give us.
Comments and Critiques are very much appreciated.
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Great detail. The sharp lines and texture work really give the feeling of bone.
Thanks Twitch. That material helps alot too lol. Have you checked out Arran’s materials yet?
The SloshMats bone material is doing the job for now, but you’ve got to love the variety in Arran’s materials; so if I ever am doing some serious skeletal work, I’ll have to get that.
You can’t attribute everything to the material though, the modeled along the beak especially looks boney, like carved bone.
Nice skull so far, could you post the original Bisley picture?
I am looking forward to see more! 
M
Here’s the illustration i am attempting to recreate. Without the title ofcourse.
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Hey man, that’s really ambitious.
If you like that Heavy Metal sort of thing, then for sure you’d enjoy the work of Pascal Blanche.
That guy is great. I remember seeing him a few months back when i got into CGI.
VERY VERY INSPIRING iImagine. Thanks you so much for the link!!
Good Luck man, Bisley is the Biz!
Was my hero many moons ago when i was at artschool!
Does he Still illustrate for stuff? be interesting to see what his stuff’s like now!?
Keep up the good work though, skulls looking nice so far, can’t wait to see how you tackle all them mad muscles!
Keep on Z-ing!
fishadder
Thanks fish!!
Yeah, i love Simon Bisley. Always have. I figured i learned how to draw from reproducing comics, might as well do the same for Zbrush. Ive always loved that illustration and figure Ill have a go at it!!
I think he is just doing Heavy Metal covers every now and then. His latest work was a series on Jesus Christ. Some good illustrations in that series.
Oh yeah…!
I love Biseley!!
It will be a great try…
would love to see you finish it…its an awesome illustration…
will keep my eyes glued on this one…
Here’s an update on the skull. Moved onto the feathers and that is gonna be a big challenge. Dont know if i should do them individually and then put them together or just have a flat plane and then texture it.
Anyone have any ideas??
C and C Welcome!!!
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I like it, but in the original illustration it looks as though the nose horn piece is more smooth and the horn itself is more defined and stands out more. I don’t dislike the design if that’s what you want to go for, but it does look somewhat different. Also it is not clear (not from the illustration presented at least) whether there is a single or dual horns, but personally, I think I would prefer the look of a single horn.
Thanks Twitch!
The illustration, especially on that new piece is very open to interpretation. It could be horns or it could be bone. Im not sure if there are two either ha! I do see what you mean about having just one horn. When i started out on this illustration i decided that the main features i would recreate but the rest would be interpreted. Im not looking to do a replica of this illustration but rather an interpretation of it.
Thanks again Twitch for the comment.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to recreate the feathers on the side of this skull? Im doing a flat plane right now and texturing it, hopefully it will work.
C and C is most welcome.
Well, do you have a traditional modeling program like Max or Maya available to you? I would just do sort of like you’re saying, take a few feathers and make an opacity map and texture out of them, then do another set and a few more and just layer them. That’s how I would try to approach them, though I would likely fail. If that doesn’t work though, consider this a free bump, I’m sure someone else will know something.
Hey Twitch
I talked to my manager, i just started at a small CGI firm a couple weeks ago, and he said exactly what you did. Make about 6 standard feathers off of the main parts of the head dress and then replicate those and make slight adjustments so it doesnt look like im lazy lol.
He has been in the business for 5 years and has modeled hundreds of items so im gonna take his advice and start there.
Thanks again Twitch for helping me out!
Oh and sorry, yeah i have Maya 8.5, lightwave and 3dsMax, but all these basemeshes were done in Maya. I have a better conversion from Maya than the other programs.
Well i decided to do groups and individual feathers. This is just the first part. Spent most of the night with the base mesh for the head dress. Really dont know how to go about texturing the feathers. Im going to spend a few hours with some samples and see what i can do tomorrow night. Heres what i have so far.
C and C is most welcome and thanks to those who have encouraged and commented on this model.
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I think you should include that cylindrical part the feather comes out from and make the detailing go in a single direction. Right now the detailing looks too much like the detailing on the beak. Also that material isn’t really working for me, though I assume that is temporary. I think in this case less texture is better than more. You won’t even notice the texture of a feather unless you get very close, so if you’re going to do any texturing, make it light. Also, I wouldn’t make the edge of the feather perfectly curved. Feathers have sort of triangular breaks in their edges every now and again you know?