First try at female anatomy
polycounter lvl 2
Hello Polycount,
It's been a while since I last posted anything, so for me it was time to start something new and completely different from my usual projects.
The main goal of this project is for me to learn the anatomy of the female body.
Below is my first shot at it.
I started from a sphere and worked it till it had a basis human shape. From there I blocked out the main forms before subdividing. After some rinsing and repeating I got it till where it is now.
As always, comments and critiques are greatly appreciated!!
(Please ignore the head, feet and the lack of hands for now!)
It's been a while since I last posted anything, so for me it was time to start something new and completely different from my usual projects.
The main goal of this project is for me to learn the anatomy of the female body.
Below is my first shot at it.
I started from a sphere and worked it till it had a basis human shape. From there I blocked out the main forms before subdividing. After some rinsing and repeating I got it till where it is now.
As always, comments and critiques are greatly appreciated!!
(Please ignore the head, feet and the lack of hands for now!)
Replies
Improved the feet and the legs a little bit.
Ps, Did you find it encumbersome to start from a sphere? Are you familiar with zspheres? I like creating a simple zsphere humanoid and save it. Then when I start another character, and the proportions are just a bit different, I can adjust it and start sculpting the new zsphere file.
@Stranger
I actually based the outline mostly on the image below. Of course this is a drawing, so I will try to find some references of real-life side silhouettes.
(I am also aware this is 8 heads tall, so it's a bit of an idealized set of proportions)
@GhostChili
I have reworked the ribcage to be more round as you said. When I removed the breasts it was indeed really noticeable that the ribcage was kinda squarish.
I hope it is a little bit better now
@nickcomeau
Thank you for the in-depth feedback! I'm still trying to grasp the basics of all the muscles and such so please correct me if I made any wrong improvements!
I've added red circles where I thought were the areas you were speaking off.
I'm having a really hard time with the back. Mostly because I am not quite sure how much of the muscle I should show on a girl this skinny.
As always, critiques and comments are greatly appreciated!
The good news is that they both go hand in hand. Here's what I'm noticing so far with your work.
This isn't a block in. You've clearly put effort into keeping your forms smooth and polished. Maybe you think this is important because of how you see others presenting their WIPS. The truth is that it's probably substantially slowing you down, and it's ultimately hurting your ability to gain an understanding of 3 dimensional form.
You're doing the equivalent of copying a photo. You aren't thinking in masses, proportion, planes, at each step as you work towards refinement.
I want to encourage you to develop a very strict process for how you approach this type of work. Start with MASSES. Then focus on PROPORTION. PLANING. REPEAT.
So MASS out your character, place representative masses for everything (start with head, ribcage, and pelvis).
Nail the Proportions as closely as you can (get this wrong and it will never look right).
Define the PLANES of the forms.
REPEAT Only now you are at the next level of detail, so your focused on the Mass of the Deltoid, the Proportion of the Biceps, the Planing of the Triceps. As you repeat you refine the surface.
What's so important about a process, and making sure you don't move ahead in any area is that you maintain consistency at each stage. You can post a WIP at any point and it will appear consistent and therefore easier to focus on what you need critique on.
Good luck.
First of all, thank you for the feedback!
Below you can see my progress regarding your explained process.
For me it was quite a challenge because it really forced me to break the anatomy up into big building blocks (which I had never done before).
I have also tried to be more rough with my sculpts in this early stages.
Critiques and comments about my progress so far are very much appreciated!
Regarding the process I have a couple of questions.
- At this step, how should I pick and use my reference images?
Should I look at many different references and combine them into a generalized set of building blocks? Should I pick a good one and use it as some sort of overlay?
- Do you know of any good tutorials or documentation regarding this sort of process? All the tutorials I have come across during my search basically started the way I started my first character above.
but I'm not sure if you're ready for the female form yet. Judging from your questions and what you have so far I think you should focus on the male figure and make sure you understand the major forms of the arms, head, torso, legs, hands and feet; before attempting a female.
male figures are not as nuanced as female so its easier to study men first.
If I were you, I'd check out Rafael Grasetti's Tutorial Series on Gumroad and study them closely (ie: take notes and watch the videos multiple times). As a sculptor/character artist it was the best $20 I've ever spent
cgartland has the right of it. I 2nd Grasetti's tutorials, as they are completely relevant to zbrush and what you are trying to do, but also, he's pretty serious when it comes to this kind of thing.
You should definitely accept that you aren't going to nail this in your first go. I would almost say that practicing the process is more important right now, as eventually that becomes 2nd nature and you're able to focus more on the academics of anatomy. Expect to make at least a dozen of everything before they start to look decent. Again, it's just mileage.
I would also throw these two books into the mix:
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Modelling-Sculpting-Human-Figure-Instruction-ebook/dp/B008U9T84C/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1425822229&sr=8-2&keywords=sculpting+the+human+figure]Modelling and Sculpting the Human Figure[/ame]
If you buy just one book, make it that one. And actually read it.
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Human-Anatomy-Artists-Elements-Form/dp/0195052064/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425822534&sr=8-1&keywords=elliot+goldfingers]Human Anatomy for Artists: The Elements of Form[/ame]
Both of these can form the foundation of all your sculpting/anatomical needs. Supplement it with good critique, and some modern day workflow adjustments (for speed), and you'll be in good hands.
Thanks to both of you for the feedback!
I agree with you about the fact that I'm probably not yet ready to tackle the female anatomy.
My adjusted plan is to study the male anatomy and try to nail the muscles and proportions there first before attempting the female forms again.
I agree with retleks about the mileage and the importance of practice.
Luckily I already own Grasetti's tutorials and I will definitely study them closely to get as much out of it as I possibly can.
During my practice runs I will continue to post my WIP's to hopefully get some more c&c's.