Hi! I really like what you got here. And overall I like how your models have very clean, almost stylized shapes. Though because of it sometimes it is hard to make suggestion since I’m not sure whether it was intentionally stylized/simplified or not. Plus many things are purely the matter of taste. Hence I will not comment stuff like face, breasts, body type. Well, maybe briefly…
Speaking about the head, the only thing that looks odd to me is the bottom part of the Frontal bone where it goes into the upper margin of the orbit. For me it appears too straight across. And along with very prominent fat-pads above the lateral eye-corners it overhangs the eyes too much, giving her frowned, grumpy look. And overall this type of eyebrows is more masculine feature. The jaw is also slightly too wide but again that’s a matter of taste.
Ever since I’ve been interested creating 3D characters I’ve always tried to aim to a realism, which has usually ended up with more or less stylization. Maybe because tertiary forms (the last finalizing step BEFORE skin detailing/pores) have been challenging for me, and that’s why my sculpts are quite simplified at the end. I might have emphazied her superciliary arches a little bit too much, because I never had them on my previous model projects… because of the lack of understanding the head anatomy properly. But I’ll probably relax them a bit. And I’ve just started learning more about the head recently. And yeah, I agree that the overhang of the lateral eye-corners bulges too much. Needs softening for sure. Well, the jaw is something that might change in the near future as well. I’ve also tried to balance the jaw corner not to be to pushed out too much, compared to the level of the sternocleidomastoid. Pushing it back usually makes the front view of the face to look weird. About the “bottom part of the Frontal bone where it goes into the upper margin of the orbit” is not something I can visualize at the moment even with some research. Could you elaborate that with an overpaint or something?
Coming very briefly for her backgorund story, I partly like to keep her slightly “grumpy” and having some ever so slightly masculine facial features, because of her development around the world infested with zombies. She also uses lots of dirty profanity when stressed/angry and of course when amused she spits out dirty jokes… but still at the same time she has some feminine sides as well. As I said I haven’t finished her bio yet, so more of her story comes soon. ;D
Some words about proportions and posture. How tall she is? I did some measurements and she is only 7 heads tall which means that she is very petite girl. Is that intentional? Doesn’t really matter, but because of reduced distance from chin to nipplles and due to very diagonal clavicles she looks slightly scared. You know… like when you expect something to fall from above so you automatically retract the head down. Though that might be only my imagination.
Hah, the proportions are not intentional at all! I’m genuinely surprised that she’s 7 heads tall. Honesly, when it comes to proportions I’m just eyeballing things and when something looks good, it looks good. Well, I actually aimed for the realistic 7.5 heads, using the See-through function in Zbrush with some good proportion charts on the background, but only every once in a while if I got suspicious about my proportions and thought about checking them out. But coming back to the 7 heads, I think I’ll keep her like that (her being petite is a delicious addition for her look/personality). Better than disproportioned, right? Heh. This project is actually getting interesting with your input. Thank you, Vir Norin. (:
The breast is awesome. Usually I’m more into big ones with some individual features (asymmetry, perky or conical/puffy areolas, slight sagging etc), but her’s are small and very accurate - pleasing to watch. I even had desire to touch them :).
Oh thanks. They were looking worse for many days until I decided to fix them recently. I’m really glad that you like them. So, that means I’ll keep them as they are. Of course nipples get some more love in further subdivisions. I happen to like big, medium and small ones with all kinds of shapes. Not flat chested or too big and definitely not fake ones. Always natural is the way to go for me. If I remember right, you didn’t like fake ones either. Well, that makes two of us.
Don’t be afraid to sculpt scapula’s muscles. When done properly - they are always wonderful looking. Honestly, I think that moderately relief female back is equally beautiful and important as breasts or bum. There is something magical in this columns of spine erectors, how medial portion flows into the lateral and how it then dives under prominent Rhomboids/Trapezius, popping out between reliefs of vertebral borders of scapulas - that’s a real fetish for me. IMHO in your sculpt the lateral form of Iliocostalis can be more defined. I remember Goldfinger describing the back profile as a triple curve: the bottom curve is glutes, the upper is lateral portion of spinal erector and middle curve or line is Multifidus and Medial erectors. It is not that prominent in females since fat pads blend the bottom two curves into the solid one, but the upper contour is still described by Lateral Erectors.
Right now the scapular region look good but stylized. If you want more realistic look then sculpting at least slight Teres major, Rhomboids and Trapezius is crucial. But yeah, it is very hard to do. Especially in transitions where bony scapula goes from ridge to receding groove between muscles.
Yeah, about the erector spinae muscles. Since female’s latissimus dorsi is so thin on the lower back from what I’ve learnt and observed, the ribcage is pushing out more prominently, it’s kinda hard to put the lateral erector spinae muscle there without making it too masculine. But I agree not having it also makes it uncomplete. Then there is the triangular “empty space” between the external obliques and latissimus dorsi, which gets filled with the flank fat pad. So at the same time I’d like to keep the ribcage, flank fat pad and adding the lateral erector spinae muscle without making it too masculine, but forgetting the latissimus dorsi though… gah, gotta figure this out somehow. Also, I might be misguided with my thoughts here, so I apologize if I’m wrong. And then the scapular region… well, I tried adding the teres major once, but it didn’t work alone. It really needed more definition from the surrounding muscles you mentioned. Maybe it also needed a very slight depression of infraspinatus because it’s one of those muscles that doesn’t get developed so easily if not at all. And it’s usually below the level of surrounding muscles. I also can’t decide having posterior deltoid fat pad or not. The shoulder area is also quite hard for me because it affects in three ways (anterior, medial and posterior).
I think I have trapezius there (mostly defined on the upper part around the 7th cervical vertebrae), but I smoothed the tail area because it looked too masculine. Also, the overhang of the tendon of the trapezius slightly covering part of the infraspinatus/spine of the scapula makes it even harder to do. I prefer having more bony scapulas with thin surrounding muscle bodies than grooves of their shape with developed muscles around them. Of course having the 50-50 middle ground with bony and muscular shapes would be the most ideal look. Like you brilliantly said “bony scapula goes from ridge to receding groove between muscles”. So close but yet so far away to achieve that balance. And the rhomboids, jeez… well, maybe somehow they’ll fit in as well. We need to discuss more about the upper back via PM more, because this is getting so extensive, heh. It’s frustrating and interesting area to learn at the same time.
Yet another thing based completely on personal preference, but I think that bum is a bit flat and might be rounder. It looks like she is tightly pressing her glutes. And in side view they pretty much don’t affect the profile, blending with hammstrings. The last critique would be about feet. I think in regular standing position she wouldn’t have such pronounced tendons of Extensord Digitorum Longus and Tibialis Anterior. I might be wrong but it appears like you where sculpting her feet while looking at your own below the table. I did this myself too. But the nuance is that bearing weight feet look completely different - more flat, squashed and kinda boring actually.
Yeah, the bum is moderately easy to fix, so updates for that is coming next.
I like the pubic fat pad. Looks really cute. Too sad the genitals are just one_brushstroke_slit. BTW don’t forget to fill the navel. I see lots of finished models where navel is just a dimple without any evidence of knot. Other than that, really solid work here.
Only if I had more polygons to pull out some more beefy and fleshy meat curtains, I’d definitely do that, haha. I guess I could emphasize at least the clitoral hood which eventually dives between the one brushstroke slit. ;D I could also use subtools for the specific parts, but nah. Would look more like “slapped on” to the body mesh. Sorry about that.
Anyway, Thank you for your valuable information, Vir Norin. I’d love to hear from you again, and also see your own progress with your wonderful artwork as well. I’ll keep posting to this thread though, but more detailed questions regarding to anatomy, I’ll ask from you via PM with WIP shots for sure.