Southern Somali Presidential Guard.

sjuskadur

Hey guys, Figured I would make a process thread on my latest project to try and get some feedback! - I want to eventually get into cinematics/movies etc. so this is hopefully my first step in that direction.

My goal is to replicate this image as closely as I can



Stretch goal is to make a short video to breath life into it, maybe with some facial animation If I can, but this might not happen.

This is after 2 hours and then 4 - 6 hours - blocking in anatomy and figuring out what his profile should look like.



Did a drawover of the original image then matched it with my own model to see where I had facial structure that was off (I have not broken symmetry here to offset the asymmetry of some of the features



Edit - title, mixed somali and sudan! ugh!

sjuskadur

This is where I currently stand, Im starting to do some deets on the face.

Getting some details on the skin so it is not as smooth, some grooves in the eyelids and lips.

Any notes on anatomy or accuracy on the sculpt greatly appreciated.

DWalker

The veins on his neck are fairly prominent in the reference.

The upper ridge of his left ear should angle upwards a bit more; at the moment it seems almost horizontal.

sjuskadur

Thanks DWalker. this is precisely the kind of crit I am looking for! Next post will contain more details and the hat done

C86G

Sorry fot OT, but what´s wrong with the eyes in the reference?

sjuskadur

C86G - Im not 100% sure, But what I THINK it is, is because this person has so much melanin that even the whites of his eyes become "Red like" because they are in fact brown, as a evolutionary answer to the intense sun in this area in Africa. I think this might be a part of the reason, other things might be just as valid, - Crying, drugs, torture etc.. Since this is a quite fucked up place (South Sudan) any of these or combination is just as valid IMO.

sjuskadur

Small update on the sculpt, Pushing the eyes, lips, ears, hat. Trying to be super meticulous.

Crit very much appriciated!

rollin

coming along nicely!
One thing I've noticed: The corners of the mouth and the muscles there need some work if you compare it to the ref

DWalker

I have to say that he's got the most extreme case of jaundice I've ever seen; probably from hepatitis.

sjuskadur

Rollin - Thanks! will definitely take a look at them corners!
Dwalker - Yeah that could totally be it! - pretty severe case alright.

Here is a lightened version of the image that makes some of the smaller details way more visible.




Keep it coming guys, you are being super helpful!

sjuskadur

Hey guys, been retopoing, some detail sculpting (not worth a picture yet)

What I am looking for is just any comments on my topology, edgeflow etc, anything to make this as good as it can be

- G

sjuskadur

Amilie - Thank you very much

Eyo. Did some details, Think I need to make some bigger pores to make sure they are visible (layering layering layering) Worked on the hat a bit it is slowly getting there.
And then I did some more retopo (I suck at topology so this is me trying pretty damn hard any comments on that would be very appreciated)

DWalker

I think the texture on the beret might be your toughest challenge left. The fuzzy nature of the cloth presents not only the obvious loose bits of material along the profile but also an interesting reaction to light that I don't think you'll capture with just a normal map.

minorthreat

Wow I'm really looking forward to how this'll turn out. Sub'd for sure.

sjuskadur

DWalker - I definitely agree, I think it is going to lie somewhat with the shader, Im just seeing how far I can get with the sculpt. Ill be retopoing the hat in the next couple of days to start baking and sculpting back and forth to see how far I can push it! Then I will have to problemsolve the small bits hanging off as well!

Thanks minorthreat )

sjuskadur

Aright. Done with the retopo (for now). Can start doing my test bakes as well as I finished with the sculpting for now, going to try a few different methods for the sweat will probably end up doing some combining of methods for that but that is to come later.

as always c&c welcome and appreciated

spiderDude

The curve on his bottom lip is a lil bit too much. The eyelids look too thin and somewhat disconnected from the head, I think you might have over sculpted the bottom wrinkle on the lower eyelid. Other than that it looks like you've reached a good point to start sculpting the asymmetry of his face. Good progress, keep up the good work

DWalker

I'd probably finalize the skin texture before moving on to sweat. He has a fairly rough texture on his face, especially on the cheeks, and a noticeable texture on his lips. Also, although very clean-shaven, he has peach fuzz which is apparent in the profile.

For some reason, his corneas are flat, rather than bulging out as they should. While that can be fixed in the normal map, it will completely throw off the reflections an highlights in his eyes if it's left as it is.

While figuring out how to render the sweat is an interesting challenge, it really should be one of your final polishing stages.

sjuskadur

SpiderDude - Cool! i will definitely look into that, Im going to set up the udk scene and lighting to see what I am getting from the bare bones and do some evaluating then I will probably go back and do some more sculpting after that.

DWalker - Definitely agree! the sweat is going to be in the end and the head definitely needs a couple of detail passes. I wanted to see what I could get from the shaders before pushing the normal maps more. as well as seeing what I am getting from the normal Maps. The flat corneas is just a habit when I sculpt (probably a bad one since it is nothing like it really is) I was just roughly placing the Iris as I was moving the eyelids around.

sjuskadur

Just finished first bakes. Starting to come out aright, Still no shader work, all I have is diffuse, normal and a shitty specmap going to set up the scene before I Ham on the shaders and textures. Just getting base set up in udk. Probably need to go and do some modeling on the eyeball to help make it look more believable. Any notes or pointers are much appreciated. Starting to set up the scene blah blah you kno.