Tribute to Velazquez
I think I might be finished with it. Certain things you only realize after renders are done, so I will maybe get back to it in the future.
This is a tribute to my favorite painter, the Spaniard Diego Velazquez. There’s a whole lot of artistic freedom here to reimagine his face. His style was baroque, yet quite impressionistic, meaning, the energy of the strokes and the perception of the light were more important than super fine details (ironic, considering the way I work…).
All references I found of him were either self-portraits or other artists’ interpretations and because of the style, very hard to get a glimpse of the actual facial features. Maybe he was completely different, but that’s not really the point of this exercise. Anatomical things conflicted at times and also age differences played a role.
So yeah, not the best “likeness” you will ever see, but the focus here should be: does it look alive? Does it communicate emotion? Time and place perhaps? If it does at any level, I believe that my goal was reached.
This is the type of work that if you asked 10 portrait artists to do, you would get 10 vastly different results. At the end of the day, each artist has a different voice and perception. Different sensibilities to capture form and emotion. Comparing is often fruitless, because we are all so unique.
Modeled in Maya, sculpted and textured in ZBrush. Rendered in Maya/Arnold. XGen for all hair and fibers.
This was the subject of my last course I taught online last year. It was put on hold since then due to personal issues including depression and other complicated things. I got back to it 3 weeks ago and pushed it to the finish line, so all combined, it took me a month of classes + 3 weeks to conclude, with most of it being done from scratch.
Everything was hand painted (polypaint) and hand sculpted in ZBrush, HD geometry mode, either using ZBrush’s own brushes or custom ones created by me.
I believe I am in a better place mentally now, so stay tuned for an announcement of my upcoming September LIVE class. If you want to learn how I do it and help supporting my family in the process, please go to my school’s website and buy yourself a course 
https://www.flyonthewall.studio
Thanks for watching yet another one develop. I never actually know where they are gonna go. The work takes over after some time. Weird.
-Kris
The amount of detail in mind blowing, you’re really a master!!! considering this is all done by hand, both sculpted and polypainted 
Thanks for sharing!
But,do you know where can I learn carved bird feathers?