FKA Twigs: A likeness study
polycounter lvl 6
Hi all,
I've noticed some of my biggest weak points include sculpting likenesses, as well as rendering realistic portraits, so I'm taking this opportunity to combine both of those into one project and create a likeness of one of my favorite musicians, and take it to final render. This is also my first try with fibermesh, so I'm hoping to learn that better also.
I'm using these three images as my main reference, with the "LOVE" photo being what my final comp will look like.
Would love any help.
I've noticed some of my biggest weak points include sculpting likenesses, as well as rendering realistic portraits, so I'm taking this opportunity to combine both of those into one project and create a likeness of one of my favorite musicians, and take it to final render. This is also my first try with fibermesh, so I'm hoping to learn that better also.
I'm using these three images as my main reference, with the "LOVE" photo being what my final comp will look like.
Would love any help.
Replies
@Noren
That's a good point about the perspective. I think this is a good lesson to be learned for me, is pay more attention to the perspective between photos and Zbrush, and also between Zbrush and Maya. That seems to be a big part of it, that I think is often overlooked.
I've also started to paint her skin in ZBrush. In addition to that, I've started thinking about how to do her hair, which is in a pretty complex style. This is all fibermesh within ZBrush so far, with the intention of using that with a hair system in Maya later. No idea how I'm going to do the hair-buns on top of her head yet.
So is the likeness any better/more recognizable? How's the skin painting? Any advice on how to tackle the hair better? Thanks!
1. The front of the face and bridge of the nose look flat. A side view would really expose this issue. Collapse the sides of the nose and extend the bridge to make it pronounced. The 3/4 picture shows the bridge of the nose cutting into the corner of her right eye. Your model should also have a similar look. Also slightly extend the eyebrow ridge it will make the eyes look more sunken in. That should help exaggerate the bulge of the eye. I can't tell if it is the eyelashes or the shape of the eye but the corner of the eyes should droop down. Your corner peaks at the very end, but that might just be an illusion due to the lashes.
2. The neck looks flat in the front. The neck should curve enough to look round. Another reason this might look flat is because the neck muscles look too sharp. It gives a pinched look that looks unnatural. The nostrils look shallow the holes should be deeper.
3. I can't tell if this is the hair or the head but it looks like the head isn't round. It looks like it makes an s curve right near the ear. I would check the shape of the skull. Also the cheek bone looks like it is pushed to far out from the front angle and makes a larger curve that needed. I'm assuming the eyebrows are just a place holder but I would make them thicker like the ones in the picture. It will help in the long run.
As a side note sometimes the extra detail can be distracting at first. With such a unique look it is easy to be fooled into making a model that seems to look like her, when the hair and extra features are added. Try to look at a more striped down version from time to time to check if it really has the essence of that person. I hope some of this helps. Can't wait to see the updated version.
I'm not sure what program you're using but if you use 3Ds max this tutorial might come in handy for the hair buns
http://www.francescolegrenzi.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=191
It's a rope ball tutorial but if you replace the alpha with something more fine and flowing you might be able to get a good hair bun, then if you don't want all that excess geometry you could just project a High poly sphere over the top.
Something else I really feel is kinda missing here... Twigs isn't Caucasian. She has rounded features, darker skin... After looking it up it seems she's Jamaican/Spanish. Make sure you're sculpting features without accidentally following generalised rules that apply more to Caucasian faces.
Specific to your piece, the eyes are a bit far apart, and the upper lip probably needs to be pulled back, she doesn't have your classical top-lip overhang. In fact, the proportions are quite the opposite, with the bottom lip jutting further out than the top. Dunno if you fixed that already or not, just kinda still looks like it doesn't match up.
Just some things to think about, interesting choice for a likeness study. Good job so far, and keep it up!
I took another look at all my reference as well as my sculpt, with your critiques in mind, and took another crack at it. The tips about the nose and eyebrow ridge made a huge difference, as well as the shape of the eyes needing some work.
You're absolutely right about the second reference. It's a still from a music video, and I'm realizing now that using it as reference was a pretty poor decision, since I knew the features were quite exaggerated during parts of the video. Making her bottom lip jut out a little further than her top helped a lot too I think from the side view.
I stripped the model down and took out all the unnecessary accessories for now, as suggested, and just focused on the core sculpt:
and a comparison of the old vs the new:
throwing it into Maya:
It feels like it's not quite there yet still, but I'm finding it hard to pinpoint what's throwing the likeness off a little.
This is a really interesting link, thanks! I might have to try it out when I get to that part of the model.
The shape of her head should be rounder too, as Hawkes already suggested in his paintover.
Make sure your always changing your materials when sculpting as it makes a big difference
Goodluck!
Because I got tired of move-brushing the same gray shaded model, I tried jumping to another stage to get myself fresh and interested again. This is my first time using really using VRay, and especially my first time trying to practice skin shading.
And holy moly does this render show more clearly that her eyes are way too far apart.
Here is my reference, my raw render, and then a quick photoshop paintover I did to see how things lined up.
As for the render, the SSS is killing you a lot. Try to leave the radius (or scale) pretty low. I have heard people say things like "The skin is 2MM thick so if your model is to scale, use a radius of 2MM", but this is pretty wrong for a couple reasons. If your head is built to scale, I would suggest a radius or scale under 1 for a healthy human. Also if you look near the lips of your character, or on the ears, you'll notice that the SSS is taking on a greener tint. This is a pretty tell-tale sign your SSS is way too high.
-the crooked tooth has a less radical angle and is more rounded compared to your model
-teeth have slightly less width
-teeth aren't as off center as you made them to be
oh and btw, take a look at the position of teeth on side shots. I'm might be wrong but i think that teeth should be pushed back into mouth.
That's a really good point! I've gotten some great reference from your threads. I changed my scale from 1.2 to .8 and am still getting the greenish tint in some areas (particularly the ears). I messed up my scale a bit though, I think. The head is a little small, at 11 cm, which may be the problem. I'll post my shader settings later also.
ANYWAY, still working on the likeness. I think I'm making progress! Looking back at the previous images really makes question what the hell I was doing. I don't think it's great yet, but I think I'm getting better at least.
I messed around with the teeth, and think I got the position a bit better this time around.
Also you have no specular on the eyes.
Yeah, you are definitely right.
Also, I am actually using the eyes you had uploaded on your page a long time ago :poly122:. I was having some trouble with the shading network, but I haven't really spent any time with it yet. I'm not sure why there is no black for the pupil showing up, and why I can't get any specularity to show up.
I think I'm going to do one more likeness pass, the focus my attention on the shading/rendering. Right now it's taking way too long to go back to ZBrush to sculpt, then re-export and re-import everything.
I'm having tons of trouble with the eye and skin shader, as well as the likeness, but I think it's getting better at least.
Here is the raw render:
my comp:
Based on this picture ...
... I think her eyes need to be way darker, and her skin tone is also a bit too light. I also think that her lips look a little too small, especially her upper lip.
line up character to correct real world scale
group camera and model together
keyframe the scale of your group up and down stepping .1 per frame
this will alter how the skin is being affected but still give you a slider of options for which scale looks correct. plus, you can upload it to be scrutinised.
really nice model though mate! and great choice of model.
I revisited this model and reworked some bits here and there. Mostly I've been exploring some new illustrative techniques.
Let me know what you guys think!