A go at making a likeness portrait of Yolandi, any cc is very welcome. The sculpt underneath is a WIP and I´ll use this post as a worklog and update as I go along.
I love both the video and the song "I fink u freeky"! It looks great so far I'm wondering whether are you planning on adding rats around her shoulders or not... just saying...
Good start so far. What are your goals with Yolandi, sculpt only or real-time character with a full body or just the bust? Also are you rendering with the perspective or orthographic view in Zbrush? Because it seems to be in orthographic view as it is now, but I am wondering how she looks like in perspective.
I would recommend to look over the overall headshape. The face is too thin,and the scalp shape is off. I think the nose is slightly too large, and the creases on the bridge of the nose are too sharp. The eye shape could be revisited also, she has quite a lot of pictures with black lenses, so maybe if you color the eye-subtool black, it'll be easier to compare to reference. The ears are currently very wobbly, specially when you look at the from the front. Check references of her ears, the lines are much more smooth. The shapes inside the ear are usually quite thick and smooth. Yours look more like a creased fold at the moment. Yolandi has very strict looking brow shape, with more sharp angles than you'd usually see on the face, yours is smooth in comparison. I made a quick paintover to show what I mean (didn't have time for a sideview, but its the same points), although the likeness is still off in it, I hope it can help with overall face-shape. Likeness wise, I think your very first screenshot is best.
Thank you so much Xenia, very helpful advice. And I agree the first one feels better. Got so inspired to push the shapes further now, I´ve already made a lowpoly and facerig, hopefuly I can make some changes still. Here´s a first test to see how the hair and skin is working out in marmoset. Want to add some more volume to the hair and work on the overall placement, texturing and facepose.
try to keep the camera's field of view low when taking close up shots of the face . something like 15-30 as close up shots come out distorted and goofy looking with high field of view
I'd recommend trying to capture the likness and the anatomical features at lower subdivision levels. All the mistakes you haven't fixed in the lower subd now really show, the anatomical inconsistencies are very strong around the eyes or the mouth, by trying to adjust the highly subdivided mesh you are only making things worse. You should restart at low subdivision to really nail the likeness and gather some more anatomical reference to understand how the muscles and bones around the eyes and mouth function.
You are trying to go too fast and the issues of your base sculpt are exponantially visible on your baked low poly mesh.
Analize your model again and try to find the general shapes and simplify them as flat areas that you will refine step by step, you might then notice how off your eyes are (the eyelid shape and how they sit in the skull).
I would start over and spend a lot more time on the lower subdivision sculpt.
You´re right I´ll have another go at the lowpoly and thanks for the feedback. The reason I´m speeding is because of a deadline. No point in turning it in if it isn´t any good.
I think it's nice that you're giving this another try! My pointers would be to make her eyes more slanted upwards, they're very straight right now. Look at the shape of the eyes you have in the very first screenshot, I think you captured it the best there. The bridge of her nose is very sharp and flat, and has a sharp edges, specially where it blends into eyebrows. I would make the transitions much smoother. Keep in mind that there is very strong light and shadows in most of the reference pictures, and sometimes make up contour on her, and the actual shapes are harder to see. The tip of the nose is very thin, while Yolandi seems to have a fuller tip. Upper lip shape is not really there yet, looks slightly unnatural, even thought it's thin, it should still have some volume. Study corner's of the mouth more thoroughly. Look how the bottom lip connects to the corners, creating a small bump. The overall shape is correct, but it's taken o an extreme, and looks too sharp and stylized. It has the outlines correct, but lacks the volume (upper). The eyebrows also have a slope to them, rising at the outer corners. I think the ears are a bit too low too.
Again I made a super super quick paintover to show what I mean
I'd also look more at reference like this for the basic shapes, where the light is more even
What Xenia said is pretty much spot on. Did a very dirty paintover too, with some things that come to mind. The general shape is not bad, the neck feels strange and a bit stiff, it should be more curvy What stands out the most is that both eyes aren't on the same plane. I've drawn the overhangs for the eyes and mouth , it's difficult to see on a frontal photo but these are essential. Lips aren't flat they are full of muscles and flesh, it's important to get the overlap right as well as the small curve Yolandi's lip have. And ears like you made them don't exist
Thank you sooo much, you both are awesome. I´m so thankful for the help I´m getting Will continue working with this during the week and go back and double check your pointers. This is so hard but I´m learning a bunch.
Major improvement! At this point I would look at reference pictures of her from similar angle and just see how the facial structure "flows" on her face compared to yours. The way light falls on her face in pictures give a good indication of her bone structure to follow from. I couldn't really find a good picture of her from the front without sharp lighting and make up, so this old one will have to do. She is obviously slightly less skinny/fit than she is now, which you can see mostly on her eyes not being as hollow. But it's still good reference to see how her forehead is shaped etc, also where she gain/lose fat on her face. Just study the curves of the face, because the small things like that are the key to likeness. For example, having a slightly different eyeshape and everything else correct would make the likeness incomplete, so it's important to get the shapes and slopes of the face as close to reference as possible. Compare the shadows in the photos and in your sculpt, the way light falls on the face from same angle as in the picture will help you spot inconsistencies.
Yeah greyscale is good! I'd say working with a grey matcap like BasicMaterial makes it easier to see what you're sculpting! The likeness is almost there! Keep in mind that her face (specially the eyes) aren't 100% symmetrical, so to take the likeness to next level you need to see the sides of her face individually
Started testing in Marmoset. With the new lighting I can see some additional things I want to change in the model. Like her cheekbones and nose for example. Also hair is annoying.
Replies
It looks great so far I'm wondering whether are you planning on adding rats around her shoulders or not... just saying...
Raised her cheeks and made her eyelids a bit bigger.
I think the nose is slightly too large, and the creases on the bridge of the nose are too sharp.
The eye shape could be revisited also, she has quite a lot of pictures with black lenses, so maybe if you color the eye-subtool black, it'll be easier to compare to reference.
The ears are currently very wobbly, specially when you look at the from the front. Check references of her ears, the lines are much more smooth. The shapes inside the ear are usually quite thick and smooth. Yours look more like a creased fold at the moment.
Yolandi has very strict looking brow shape, with more sharp angles than you'd usually see on the face, yours is smooth in comparison.
I made a quick paintover to show what I mean (didn't have time for a sideview, but its the same points), although the likeness is still off in it, I hope it can help with overall face-shape.
Likeness wise, I think your very first screenshot is best.
And good luck, this could turn out really badass!
Here´s a first test to see how the hair and skin is working out in marmoset. Want to add some more volume to the hair and work on the overall placement, texturing and facepose.
something like 15-30
as close up shots come out distorted and goofy looking with high field of view
All the mistakes you haven't fixed in the lower subd now really show, the anatomical inconsistencies are very strong around the eyes or the mouth, by trying to adjust the highly subdivided mesh you are only making things worse.
You should restart at low subdivision to really nail the likeness and gather some more anatomical reference to understand how the muscles and bones around the eyes and mouth function.
You are trying to go too fast and the issues of your base sculpt are exponantially visible on your baked low poly mesh.
Analize your model again and try to find the general shapes and simplify them as flat areas that you will refine step by step, you might then notice how off your eyes are (the eyelid shape and how they sit in the skull).
I would start over and spend a lot more time on the lower subdivision sculpt.
cheers
And the knowledge you will gain will help you a lot on your next sculpt
My pointers would be to make her eyes more slanted upwards, they're very straight right now.
Look at the shape of the eyes you have in the very first screenshot, I think you captured it the best there.
The bridge of her nose is very sharp and flat, and has a sharp edges, specially where it blends into eyebrows.
I would make the transitions much smoother. Keep in mind that there is very strong light and shadows in most of the reference pictures, and sometimes make up contour on her, and the actual shapes are harder to see.
The tip of the nose is very thin, while Yolandi seems to have a fuller tip.
Upper lip shape is not really there yet, looks slightly unnatural, even thought it's thin, it should still have some volume. Study corner's of the mouth more thoroughly. Look how the bottom lip connects to the corners, creating a small bump. The overall shape is correct, but it's taken o an extreme, and looks too sharp and stylized. It has the outlines correct, but lacks the volume (upper).
The eyebrows also have a slope to them, rising at the outer corners. I think the ears are a bit too low too.
Again I made a super super quick paintover to show what I mean
I'd also look more at reference like this for the basic shapes, where the light is more even
Hope it helps!
Did a very dirty paintover too, with some things that come to mind. The general shape is not bad, the neck feels strange and a bit stiff, it should be more curvy
What stands out the most is that both eyes aren't on the same plane.
I've drawn the overhangs for the eyes and mouth , it's difficult to see on a frontal photo but these are essential. Lips aren't flat they are full of muscles and flesh, it's important to get the overlap right as well as the small curve Yolandi's lip have.
And ears like you made them don't exist
At this point I would look at reference pictures of her from similar angle and just see how the facial structure "flows" on her face compared to yours.
The way light falls on her face in pictures give a good indication of her bone structure to follow from. I couldn't really find a good picture of her from the front without sharp lighting and make up, so this old one will have to do. She is obviously slightly less skinny/fit than she is now, which you can see mostly on her eyes not being as hollow.
But it's still good reference to see how her forehead is shaped etc, also where she gain/lose fat on her face.
Just study the curves of the face, because the small things like that are the key to likeness. For example, having a slightly different eyeshape and everything else correct would make the likeness incomplete, so it's important to get the shapes and slopes of the face as close to reference as possible.
Compare the shadows in the photos and in your sculpt, the way light falls on the face from same angle as in the picture will help you spot inconsistencies.
The likeness is almost there! Keep in mind that her face (specially the eyes) aren't 100% symmetrical, so to take the likeness to next level you need to see the sides of her face individually