thanks Montyband! I can definitely get it to work when I’m not using a linear workflow but when I do turn on the LFW settings the backscatter just gets washed out a lot. That’s the true issue I’m dealing with it seems…
A bit more work today. Could probably back off the pores a bit more…
…still needs eyebrows and eyelashes and hair of course. Looking into HairFarm.
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what a good rendering…
:rolleyes:
I really think you could be getting so much more out of that shader.
I really think you need to adjust the settings or scale or both
nice stuff! 
how you get the wet look under eyes ball?
nice work man I love it ! One thing im not sure about is the bump in the face and maybe a bit more detail in the ear but the rest look cool
Thanks for the comments and suggestions guys. Very helpful!
Sasin: It’s just modeled geometry with the same material as the cornea (vraymtl - pure black diffuse, pure white reflection and refraction w/ fresnel checked on)
more progress:
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Hmmmm… looks to me that you have lost all scattering.
Also check eyeballs , looks kind of greenish.
You are very close to make great portrait, keep it up pal.
Thanks for your crit Montyband. 
yeah the scattering was washing him out too much. Keep in mind that he’s supposed to be a bit dirty and there is some dirt in the cracks of his skin. Also I don’t have this lit up all bright so some of the sss is more subtle. It all depends on the lighting really.
I made the eyeballs a little darker so they weren’t too brightwhite but I can see that there is some greenage going on there too. thanks!
Anyone else not liking the lack of sss?
I think you shod make something close to left image, your last render is on the right. If you fail to set correct subsurface you can fake it in photoshop like i did. Since vray sss2 does not have unscattered layer i suggest to render dirt as a separate pass.
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I see what you mean. I’m going to try separating out the dirt and do it as a separate pass and also do a little more tweaking on the sss. I want to get this right! Thanks for your help.
Here’s where I’m at on Jerry. The hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, earfuzz, etc are all handpainted at this point to show intent to our client. Still gotta get me that HairFarm plugin! 
Did some minor color correction too in PS.
I slapped on the rough suit shape to give context to how his head fits in. Client wants Jerry to have more of a musclehead feel to him so that’s why the neck is enlarged.
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Looks cool can’t wait to see the body. You might try placing your dirt on the diffuse layer and use a map in the diffuse amount to make the dirt areas 100% diffuse. That should give the appearance of the dirt sitting on top of the skin.
thanks man. I took Montyband’s advice and put the dirt layer on a composite layer so I could control it separately.
His right eye and lids look a little flattened and unreal compared to the rest of this wonderful render. I don’t know this person though, & maybe he looked like that
Already a beautiful job Jesse, look forward to seeing him finished small_orange_diamondsmall_orange_diamond
thanks man. I think I may have lost some of the eyelid fold effect in the displacement and max/vray render but here’s a look at the real Jerry. He’s had a few plastic surgeries in his past. 
[attach=198386]jerry-jones_nc[1].jpg[/attach]
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![jerry-jones_nc[1].jpg](/uploads/default/original/4X/5/5/b/55b3d2b1758a415a165aafe188b009bcf012b9e0.jpeg)
This is coming out really nice. Looks very believable and real. Keep going with it!
Very nice indeed. Nice job.
I really liked the headpiece as a “surgical cap”, but it probably does not go with the spirit of the piece like the denim.
Here’s another look at the zbrush sculpt with polypaint.
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Beautiful sculpt and textures -