Trying some different stuff with a body pose; didn't finish it, though. And there was one more that ZBrush just ate by crashing and corrupting the file, so all I could render was quicksave from entirely too long before the crash, ugh.
A study from a 3D reference that I tried to take some time on. The knee area is still not quite right. And I messed up the lower leg. I scraped the front too much and didn't add enough volume, so it's a bit too bow-shaped, and I didn't add enough volume at the back on the gastrocnemius, so it doesn't look right. But it's a bit better than others I've done. I'll try referencing it again later and see if I can do better. I bet I can.
I tried doing some arms today. I'm really not good at them; I haven't practiced them much because they're a pain in the arse. Need to do more of them. And double down again on torsos. I still can't get the hang of them.
I started doing Scott Eaton's sculpting course today. This is my first go at the first week's assignment, but it's no good. I'll have another go at it later. I made mistakes in the pose, and didn't establish the structure well enough at the start.
Another go at that study. This time, I tried following Eaton's video more beat-for-beat, thinking maybe if I followed it as perfectly as I could, I'd understand better, but it still didn't turn out well. Less shitty than the previous one in a few small respects, maybe, but a long way from good. I'm feeling a bit discouraged.
There's still several days until the next assignment, though. I can try again. And I'll probably still end up repeating it until I'm satisfied after that. If I can't do this part well, it doesn't matter whether I get the hang of other parts. Need to get my bloody shit together.
This one's my latest go at it. It's definitely better than my previous tries, but....I still feel a bit nonplussed. I don't feel like I'm achieving anything here; it still doesn't live up to the original reference. I'm improving, but not enough. Need more. I was able to get a bit closer to the reference this time, though. Last time, I was following Eaton's example where he rotated the hips so that, in front view, the torso was front on. But it threw me off, because it meant few of the reference photos were aligned easily. I tried doing it by rotating the torso, leaving the hips perfectly aligned in front and side views, which matched the references better. That's probably a bad habit, though; can't rely on convenient views like that too much.
Something I didn't notice until I'd finished was that I fucked it up. He's too bulky compared to the reference. Especially the back; I think I'd adjusted it at some point and not done it properly, so it just looks inflated. The spinal erectors are totally fucked up. One side of the trapezius is really awful, too. I think I got distracted while doing it and forgot to properly patch it up after making some changes. There's that muscle underneath, I forget the name of it now....That one that makes a /\ shape underneath the trapezius, and is visible on the reference with his arms raised. It's a little visible at the edge, which I ended up focusing on too much. Idiot.
The underarms aren't right, either. I don't really understand the neurovascular bundle, which is visible on the reference, apparently, and ended up messing it up while adding and subtracting volumes, so they're weird.
I did learn a bit, though. For one, the way the obliques and serratus interlock. It turns out it's not as intimidating as it looks, if you just start adding on mass. I didn't get it quite right, though. I also think I realised what some weird bulges were; those ones near the edge of the abs, I think, are the ends of the ribs where they connect to the arch, bulging from under the skin. I'd seen that kind of bulge sometimes on models and could never work out exactly what the deal was, since, referencing charts of muscles, the obliques didn't end in weird jagged edges or anything. It looks like they have a bit more prominence than I thought, so I'll have to watch out for that. Maybe I should try finding out if there's any reasonably exact logic to the placement of each ab relative to the ribs? If I knew that, it could help me mark them out beforehand to get the eventual placement right.
Really, what I'm finding most of all is I should really suck it up and double down on finding out where all these key bits are relative to each other. I really hate academic shit like that....Measuring stuff so much, thinking about them in ratios or whatever. But I need accuracy; even if I don't remember it all exactly, I need enough on hand to aim things right. Like knowing how many heads a body is, and how many heads down the pelvis is, how many heads wide, etc. If I could learn that, perhaps it would become a really elaborate version of "join the dots".
Overall.....It's not that great. Less shit isn't really the same as better to me. The next assignment will come up tomorrow though, I think, so I'll just keep the references and go at it again when I have more time.
First pass at the first step of this week's assignment. Next I have to start sculpting for the different arm rotations.
It's not godawful. But it's not good either. I need to revise the serratus, abs and external oblique, and the back isn't looking correct either. The deltoids still bother me; they're just off. I'm missing some volume on the lower back, too. there's some nuance to the way the skin is hanging off the lattissimus dorsi and all that I haven't replicated well. The arms are also bad, but I'll try not to think too much about those, other than the parts that actually connect to the model, since it's not arm week for a while yet, I think.
I had a second go at it. It's not really better than the first, though; actually, I think this one is worse in some respects. Still didn't get the ribs, abs and obliques right. I'll have one more go today, and then just do the other arm rotations either way. A few days remain until the next assignment.
Third go. Needs some revisions on the back and front. Especially the back, around the arse. That's horrible. Rushed it. I got the front a bit better, but I'm still not really happy with it.
I did start a fourth go, but I decided I should just stick with it for now. After I finish the course, there's nothing stopping me from going back and redoing them all for practice, having hopefully improved by then, and I probably will. I'd like to be making more refined-looking work here; I haven't been timeboxing it so well lately. But I suppose the understanding of the anatomy and what's going on with the masses is what really matters? Looking good is just refinement. The torso really isn't that good, though; I can't get the nuances of the ribs, obliques and serratus quite right.
I'm going to be honest, I totally rushed these, and they're dogshit. I'm just frustrated with the whole thing, so I ended up not paying as much attention as I should. Maybe because I've been looking at it too long and just fixating on what I'm shitty at. Which is a lot.
Since the original torso wasn't great, none of the other poses are. It's just not good, but I'm in no mood to go for, what, a fifth take? Maybe in a few weeks when I'm feeling better. It's not a good day today.
After a few days of being too much of a mess to sculpt at all, really, I made this. It's not quite my first take, but it is the first one I was able to finish; ZBrush bugged out and ate the actual first go of it. It nearly ate this one, too; I found out one of the subtools had corrupted at some point, so it caused crashes when it tried to save it. It was lucky it managed to quicksave it somehow.
It's not great. Comparing to the reference images, it's just off. I don't think the forearm muscles are in quite the right place, for starters. And for the supper arm, the brachialis is too flat, the coracobrachialis is probably too big, the deltoids aren't right, and the triceps definitely aren't. They're kind of in a problem area, because there's a very strong, dark shadow on the lower portion of the arm, so there's basically nothing to read. I tried to work it out from silhouette, what I'd been told, watching the timelapse demonstration, but I didn't get it right.
I don't think it's absolute dogshit, though. Just regular dogshit. But it's still more of an arm than I've done before now; I've procrastinated from them because they're so fiddly with all the stupid little muscles on the forearm and their stupid layering and their stupid Latin names. Naturally, that approach isn't paying off now, because it means even being told, I'm finding it hard to track them as the arm moves. And since the other part of the assignment involves changing it between supination and pronation, and the arm outstretched, that's going to be a problem.
I really need to dedicate some time to study the forearm in detail until I've memorised all the stupid muscles and their stupid long Latin names. I think I might start at the wrist, actually; I feel like if I can remember how many tendons there are and where, I can back track from there up the arm to make sure everything is in place. One small advantage of the arm, at least, is that if I can remember where the landmarks go, it's mostly a game of joining the dots. They're basically just lines wrapping around a tube. Just got to remember where the tendons are going and what the bony landmarks are doing. Especially with that damn Radius.
Another go at that study. I think I did the forearm muscles a bit better on this one, at least in the initial pose. I was able to reference the charts and understand better what I was looking at, and where things should be, but still didn't manage to capture them quite right. I'm not making a whole lot of progress at memorising their annoying names, either; they're all still "that one" and "that one". Though I did manage to locate some of them a bit better by remember which "that one" they should be near. I need to pay closer attention to the wrist; too much stuff going on there to be careless with.
I totally screwed up the rotating of the wrist; it was quite tricky on the lower res version of the mesh because of the twisting, and I didn't undo those faults thoroughly enough, which I noticed after rendering. I must've been too focused on something else.
Speaking of screwed up things, the underarm's wrong. The insertions for the deltoid and all aren't right; should've carved out more space in the first place for them. Kind of just added volume over the top without preparing enough. There's also a lot of detail on the deltoid around the acromion process I don't really get; it's either sections of the muscle being raised unevenly relative to each other, or the skin deforming that way due to the arms being a bit raised. Either way, I didn't include it here.
I could try again, but the next assignment is tomorrow, so I'll try to just keep it in mind as something to improve on. Want to make some time somehow to practice the prior ones again, too. I'm still stewing on them.
Not a productive day. I tried doing a hand study, but gave up; it's just to crappy. My brain hasn't absorbed the anatomy lecture at all. So trying just to reference without really knowing, predictably, had poor results. I need to rewatch it and try to make it sink in.
After getting some feedback, I wanted to try that sculpt from the other day again. Turns out I'd made a lot of simple errors. What I realised after listening was, I stopped thinking. When I wasn't entirely sure what I was looking at, I didn't think hard enough to work it out. I just looked without thinking, so of course it wasn't right. And I didn't think enough about the overall shapes from the start, so it was very flat. I'm trying to avoid that with this one.
Unfortunately, I didn't have a whole lot of time to sculpt today; only an hour or two between other things, so instead of posting something as my sketch for the day, this is really more of a WIP of a sketch. I'll work on it more tomorrow, as well as have another look at those hands. After going the gym and coming back, I can already see errors I didn't think about while I was initially doing the bits I've got so far, so I'll have to fix them up. Curve of the back's wrong, latissimus dorsi doesn't seem to have enough volume and the edges are weird, trapezius is super wrong and sticking over the edges in a really weird way...I'll sort it out. Should have a little bit more time tomorrow, though still less than usual. Slightly busy few days.
Finished the one I started the other day. It has errors too, though. Don't like the looks of the spinal erectors or obliques, or trapezius...Or pecs....Whole thing, really. Need to do better on the next one.
I lost track of the proportions too quickly, and tried eyeballing it. Bad approach, especially with so much skin moving around. I'll need to retry it again later. Kind of just lost heart with it, really.
Started another go at that study. I made slower progress; I'm trying to focus more on the distances and angles and stuff, and keep things in context. I've a bad habit of focusing too much on a part by itself, and messing it up because I'm not considering it relative to everything else.
That said, I might scrap what I have here. I feel dissatisfied already. It's just off.
Didn't have a tonne of time today, but I made some progress. Started this week's assignment on the course, which is a leg, and continued my latest version of that torso. Though having rendered it, I still see a tonne of flaws on the back, so those'll need reworking. I tried carving out some edges just to help me keep some things in place, but they're still off. When this one's done, I'll probably redo it again. If I'm lucky, I might have a bit of extra free time tomorrow. If I'm unlucky, a bit less than usual.
I decided to try a fourth one right after the third one because I wasn't feeling satisfied with it. Felt like I'd just been looking at it for too long, and put so many marks on it it had just become muddy and lost clarity.
This one isn't that great itself, though; I ended up just eyeballing too much and not thinking enough about measurements and ratios and such. But it's still less terrible than the previous one, I think. Not satisfied yet, though. I want to have another go at it tomorrow. I also need to finish that leg; I don't have a lot of time today. It wasn't good luck, after all.
I think for the next thing, I'm going to reference something else. I've been looking at this guy too long, and it's starting to annoy me. Good reference, though. Not too skinny, not too buff. Got a bit more to do today if there's time, but if not, tomorrow.
Looking at it, I don't think this was really a step up from the previous one. Need to do better.
I'm horribly depressed today. Wanna die. Instead, I did some revisions on a previous torso while experimenting with a slightly different way of sculpting.
I used to use a flatten brush I made from the Clay Tubes brush to carve a lot, but after seeing how Eaton and people who'd taken his course were sculpting, I tried that. It's convenient, but I miss this technique; feels natural to me. I thought I'd try combining them a bit, using each one to build and carve more than leaning the majority on carving. I should try it on a proper mesh tomorrow, make a new one and see how I do.
I also want to try other techniques, like using lower detail levels more to force myself to focus on smaller shapes first, but I actually hate that. It's so frustrating when what you sculpt doesn't actually match your brushstrokes because it's limited by topology.
Trying a slightly different technique for a change of pace. It's been a while since I've used that way much. I'm not capturing detail well with it; I should try incorporating some more tools to get the nuances. The first one was using more clay buildup first, but I don't think that's a good idea; I should try to balance both to establish planes more and such.
I'll have another go at a torso study tomorrow, I think. Going to try to discard the details and just nail down the form itself.
I really don't like this kind of sculpting. It feels really unnatural and clunky to me to start at a low resolution and then work up. Nothing you sculpt looks anything like it's going to when you're done, what you sculpt on doesn't match your brush strokes because there's no resolution for it, and when you res up you get a load of faceting that has to be smoothed out and you have to resculpt everything, or use the blur function and still have to resculpt everything. It's slow and awkward.
But....It is effective, ugh.
I tried starting from a dynamesh resolution of like, 72 today, then doubling to 144. I don't like working this way at all, but how I'm doing it at the moment isn't working. It has clarity, but what I'm really realising is it lets me get away with all my bad habits. Fussing about details before I even have the basic form down, having the resolution to be perfectionist about how closely it resembles reference, which lets met get carried away and neglect other parts, meaning I don't put things in proportion relative to other things because I'm not thinking of it as a whole...One benefit of sculpting this way is it forces that on me. I can't fuss over that stuff when the polygons needed to do that simply don't exist. This result is definitely way better than the previous ones by virtue of that alone.
Of course, it's still not perfect, but I'm sure it's a step up. I spent a lot more time on it than I have the others, though; I'm not used to sculpting this way, so I was slower than usual. I find it a frustrating but effective way to sculpt. I just hate having to smooth it all when you go up a level, and having to make do rather than just being able to add what should be there anytime you want. I wanted to go one level higher, but didn't have the time today.
I'm not sure if I'll work more on it tomorrow, or do another try with this way of sculpting from scratch. I noticed some errors I want to fix for my peace of mind, at least. I don't like the looks of the obliques, especially at the hip, and the crotch is pushed in too far. Not sure I have the resolution to make the neck quite how I want.
One thing I did realise though is that I've been really dumb. I wasn't thinking of the lattissimus dorsi properly. Because it appears thick and strong, I've been thinking of it that way. But that's all mass from what it's on top of, and skin and fat. It's actually really thin, and a lot of the bulk you see at the edge of the front view is actually the serratus' mass, not the lattissimus'. I'd also forgotten to really make a note of just how well they wrap around the ribs; you can basically make out the shape of the ribcage by following them when you view it from the front, if the arm is raised enough. Should've noticed that sooner, ugh. I think I took that aspect for granted and didn't really think about it. Stupid, stupid.
A bit more experimentation. I'm not sure how best to proceed on the technique I tried yesterday. It's effective, but I found it slow and awkward. Not very natural. So, while I was stewing on that, I tried approaching a higher res model with a similar sort of mindset. I adjusted the depth of my clay tubes brush to almost nothing, so I could block in shapes more without having as much problem with the high resolution enabling unevenness and getting too awkward. It was quite effective.
Obviously, this is only an hour or so's work, so very rough, but I'm liking it. Felt easy to work with. A setting of 2 gave me enough depth to work with if I cranked up the intensity, and on lower levels basically gave me back my flatten brush. It's really convenient. I want to play with this brush more. I have more time tomorrow, so I want to try to really make something of the free hours.
Whether it's high or low, I feel like I'm stuck. I just can't quite get it right. The difference between my work, and better ones I've seen is, I'm just not establishing the planes properly. They're so important in making it look solid, and I'm just not quite getting it right. It's extremely frustrating, ugh. I feel like I'd suddenly make considerable progress if I could just get the hang of those. I'm still thinking too much about the anatomy itself and not enough about how to make it as a sculpture. Need to get my shit together already...
I did a few more legs, but they're all dogshit. I just can't seem to get the hang of them....
On another note, I was introduced to Bridgman's Constructive Anatomy today. It's super unintuitive to me. I'm not used to this kind of method at all. Focusing so much on the way it's constructed, on establishing planes that initially bear virtually no resemblance to the real anatomy....That's a problem I have, though. Focusing too much on the real thing and not thinking like a proper sculptor. Once I got it to this stage, I started to see why it makes sense; I want to learn to apply some of this to the rest of the body, too. Need to practice more. This isn't perfect.
I really need to change my approach with the legs. The whole body in general, honestly. It never comes out right. I'm still thinking too much about the final form. Not establishing planes properly at all. Sidetracked with stupid shit because I'm not thinking like a sculptor. Idiot.
Haven't had much time the last few days. I think this last pair of legs is a little better, though, but the ankles are still extremely shaky. Need to practice more. Not good enough yet.
I want to practice more torsos, too. I don't want to get too rusty at them just because they're not my current fixation.
Getting slightly better....I think. A recurring problem I've realised is, I don't pay enough attention to the top and bottom views. I think it's because most references are just spinning around the model, rather than above and below, so I stuck to those views. But I need to learn to infer more about high points that aren't as visible but would show from higher and lower angles. I need to work on that.
I also find I seem to lose gesture every time I sculpt. I make a simplified mesh that has decent gesture, but then I end up destroying it without realising or meaning to because I'm thinking too much about the anatomy. It's not great. I have to stop that.
I tried spending a lot of time on that last set of legs, though I got impatient on the lower half.
They're still just not quite right. I'm just bashing my head against a brick wall. There's a gap between understanding what I'm looking at and replicating it correctly that I can't quite bridge. Got to get just a bit better. And pay some actual attention to the foot instead of just leaving it as a vaguely foot-like shape.
The peroneus longus and adductor magnus are extremely inconvenient muscles. They sit on the outside of the ankle in a very awkward position. The overall shape they give, once you stick skin on, just makes it look like they're one thing, but they're not. I can probably simplify it if I remember them, though; I've been finding them a bit awkward to place when trying to remember which things go where. They're not quite right here, either.
Looking at it after a little break, there's a lot that's a bit off. It's too smooth. The planes aren't strong enough. And it's still lacking gesture. I also still didn't get the sartortius right at the knee, when it wraps around. I never get that right; I'm always underestimating how thick it is there. Have to get better. And work out the foot properly. Maybe I should do a study of it by itself.
Wholly insufficient. I ran out of time to even complete this. The upper legs are still too blobby, though I feel a bit better about them, but the lower legs are dogshit. Maybe tomorrow I should just start at the ankle and work up instead? I know the muscles a bit better now, but I'm not actually sculpting them well. Damn it all.
I've been really depressed lately. No matter what I do, I don't seem to improve much. Maybe I'm just smashing my head into a brick wall expecting it to break before my skull does. But it doesn't seem to matter what I study, what technique I use, reference, I don't get very far.
Today, I decided on a whim to change up my technique. Normally, I try to use a fairly light brush, because they're easy to control, and I thought it would be better than having to chop off a load of volume after. I like the precision, and I don't want to have to resculpt the same things multiple times. Maybe that's actually a bad habit for a sculptor? Supposedly it is a process.
In any case, I tried being much more aggressive in blocking them in. Surprisingly, it was helpful. I was able to make a pair of legs that are marginally better in some respects than the other day by going in really heavily at first and then using my usual lighter brushes. The back of the legs and the ankles are still shitty, but maybe slightly better. I feel like the knee looks a bit more correct, but don't ask me how or why. I'll save patting myself on the back for if and when I can repeat it on demand.
I could use subdiv, but I don't think it would make a whole lot of difference at this resolution. I have a bad habit of getting distracted with details too soon, so I've been making a point lately of using a low resolution to force myself to focus on what I should be focusing on. Plus, as a subdiv I'd be bound to whatever topology it originally had; at this stage, the freedom to add or remove as much volume as I like or add whole bits on like toes or torso parts or whatever is very convenient. I'd retopologise and subdivide if it were an actual model. I don't think my faults are coming from using dynamesh over subdiv.
sorry Rima! Didn't mean to assume gender, 'bro' was always unisex for me, same with 'dude'.
Right on, if it works it works. Polygrouping muscles and being able to see clear topology flow always helped for me, for large and small modifications. And zmodeler is always there for on the fly changes.
Hmm, nothing good came out of today. Need to try harder tomorrow. Though in my defence at least the godawful torso was something I only did quickly for a change of pace, and not something I really put a lot of effort into. I do need to go back and practice some properly again, though.
Well done on studying, just wanted to say whenever you are completed with this way of doing things i found doing things like this helps much more (for me) & felt like adding it in as a possible option down the road to give a shot for you to decide which is best course of action when creating similar designs.
Though i took that process to the next level and did each muscle group so you can adjust sections to your liking or results expected. That is all no need to really address this comment otherwise.
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Right on, if it works it works. Polygrouping muscles and being able to see clear topology flow always helped for me, for large and small modifications. And zmodeler is always there for on the fly changes.