Learning how to sculpt
polycounter lvl 6
Not too long ago I decided to get down and learn how to sculpt. I mostly want to focus on character sculpts right now. I did a few head sculpts already but here is the first one that I feel is worth showing. Critique would be great.
This is just a quick and dirty vertex color paint I did.
This is just a quick and dirty vertex color paint I did.
Replies
The best example of this is all those Greek and Roman white marble statues. Did you know that those were all painted in gaudy colors? Despite that, even without a layer of paint on top, they still look great, but under them they are simply good sculptures.
In terms of technique, split the hair into a separate subtool or model.
Drop back several subdivisions, and just delete the high res work you've done. Not because it's bad, but just because it gets in the way. You might be tempted to save it which slows down the sculpting process, when the reality is you want to learn how to sculpt a good base on to which high res detail goes on. The biggest mistake new artists make is jumping too high in subdivisions, then jumping into texture work. Just remember, the best texture work in the world won't hide a bad sculpt underneath, or maybe it will, but that's still a pointless waste of time.
Fix the forehead, and the area just above and outside of the eyebrows. There's a very important bone landmark you're missing there.
The eyelids need to be more than a thin strip sculpted around the eyeballs. Also there is almost always a gap in the inside of the eye towards the bridge of the nose.
You've got some blobbyness overall, but that's fixed by my previous suggestion to step back in subdivision levels.
Be aware of how the nose connects to the upper lip. In particular, the nostrils tend to flow down, there is no ledge between the nose and the upper lip.
When you get back to the hair, keep in mind that hair isn't a fluffy thing on the head. It can flatten in areas, have volume in other areas, all depending on style.
Currently using Blenders dyntopo feature untill I buy zbrush. I'm probably going to sit down and learn more anatomy because it's lacking a bit right now,
I think you really need to slow down and make sure you know how to sculpt cleanly, and sculpt forms exactly like you need. I'd suggest actually trying to work from some reference for once and trying to closley match it in order to practice that.
Here is what I have right now.
My main crit would be that your sculpts seems lacking of bony structure. The back of the hand for example is very round, as if the metacarpus were soft and bent.
About the same for the faces, the bones are not formed enough and everything feels a bit soft. For the faces I'll suggest to focus first on the planes of the head, then bony structure, and then soft parts.
This sculpt is quite useful as a reference for the face planes
Once you've done that you just need some smoothing.
This website is great also: https://www.anatomy4sculptors.com/anatomy.php?menu=194&sub=200
Btw which software do you use ?
Keep practising !
I'm using ZBrush
I'm also in the position of spending my time trying to improve my sculpting, specifically heads. here are some things that are helping me, and may also help you.
1. do some lifedrawing. draw faces on paper with a pencil, or something else, but draw faces, lots of them. you'll start to memorize shapes and anatomy on the way.
I use this. I also saw recent threads about drawing from life being better than from pictures. I agree with this, but it's not always available. Or go sit in the mall food court.
2. don't spend a lot of time making 1 perfect sculpt. spend some time making a lot of sculpts. right now I'm taking at most an hour per, and they're not great, but they're getting better, and looking like people.
3. mentioned above but I'll reiterate because it's important. get stuff right before you move on. don't start on details too soon.
4. I found watching this guy's stuff helpful.
5. sculpt from reference. find some people/pictures and try to copy the faces in them. follow the details and forms of a particular face.
I really look forward to seeing more.
Here's another head, I followed a concept by Jake Gumbleton.