Different face vs recognizable face

McGreed

I'm working on a project where I need to create several characters from real people, but in different setting (personal project, so I can take my time). For example the real person might have a round, filled out face and the new face would be a slim elf-like one.

What kind of process would you use to do this? Would you create their actual heads first, to be sure you got the features that makes them them, and then adjust them to match the new style/type of heads, or would you try an create the head from scratch with the recognizable features, and how would you pick those out?

I guess one way would be to try and create concepts from their faces, however I must admit I'm not that great at that.

MrHobo

I think a good way to tackle it would be to get as much reference as you can take it into Photoshop and then start tracing out where the bony landmarks (jaw, eye sockets, cheeks, etc) of the face should be on the person.
Regardless of fat you should be able to use that as a road map to figure out the faces for sculpting your different face types.

McGreed

Hmm, sounds like a plan, do you know any tutorials which shows a good way to go about getting the structure?

McGreed

Ah cheers! I'll have a look at those.

McGreed

Just wanted to post another site I found, that might help others as well. Especially for me, the section 6 seem to be helpful.
http://ctrlpaint.com/library/