Sketchbook: Digital Arcana

Digital_Arcana

Welcome to the Digital Arcana sketchbook!

I'll 3D sculpt a head a day for a year!

I have 2 hours per head! This should increase my workflow and time management skills.

I got the idea from Riot Games artists on their 'Character Art' education page --> https://www.riotgames.com/en/artedu/character-art

July 27th was the first day. I love feedback and advice as I'm quite new to sculpting and will be strategizing not only my time, but also my tool set.

Thanks for reading and embarking on this journey with me!

- Digital Arcana

Digital_Arcana

Welcome to the Digital Arcana sketchbook!

I'm sculpting a head a day for a year!

I have 2 hours per head! This should increase my workflow and time management.

I got the idea from Riot Games Character Artists -> https://www.riotgames.com/en/artedu/character-art

July 27th was the first day. I desire feedback as I am new to sculpting and will be learning to optimize my time as well as my tool set.

Thanks for embarking on this journey with me!

- Digital Arcana

Digital_Arcana

This is my first head sculpt, and I am using Blender.

I started running low on time during the process of making the mouth and eyes. I also massively simplified the ears. Please let me know of anatomical corrections to consider for my future models and which tools work effectively to do so!

I find I primarily use the clay strips and grab brushes. I feel like masking would help a lot but I'm very unfamiliar with using masks.

Digital_Arcana

Day 2:

Went for Caucasian female references but ended up making something that looks like an Asian male.

Still I think it looks much cleaner than day 1!

I played with some extremely simple shading and lighting for display, but that was after the 2 hour mark.

I also got my main shapes sculpted much faster this time and therefore got some nicer detail on the lips, ears, and eye shapes!

Unintentionally I made a really nice triangle from the top view with the ears and nose.

Digital_Arcana

Day 3:

I used some reference images for proportions today, and I increased my speed enough to get parts of a body done within my time limit as well.

The main thing I sacrificed was time on the ears compared to how yesterdays went, but I got to practice some body forms, so I think it was worth the sacrifice for now.

I also wanted to watermark my content just in case it got reposted to something like pinterest or google image search. Definitely open to better ways to watermark and will try to make something nicer looking over time.

It's all a work in progress. I still haven't made a post on IG yet, but I will start uploading my daily sculpts there as well soon(maybe tomorrow?)!

Digital_Arcana

Day 4:

Not as hot today. xP

I'll also try to improve the watermark eventually.

- Ears too big and not enough detail
- Brow line too low
- Forehead too narrow
- Neck muscles look bad, too rushed

Tomorrow I'll keep these notes in mind, I am happy with the shape of the eye lids and sockets, as well as the nose base, however the bridge could be more prominent.

Though it may seem not as refined, I'm learning, and that is progress even if it's a setback in quality. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's results!

I think I want to try for some rounder cheeks next.

Digital_Arcana

Day 5:

No sculpt today because I was running errands and built a PC. I'lll have one tomorrow.

Here's a different view of my logo, which I made in Blender!

Digital_Arcana

Day 6:

Back at it again, didn't use any references this time, went for a rounder cheek view this time.
Spent a lot of time on the proportions and didnt get to ears or eyes this time xP But I like the shapes so far, looking better I think!

Digital_Arcana

Day 7:

I went a little further today on the body, sacrificing facial elements.
I extruded the whole body from a sphere which I think was a mistake, I lost a lot of time, shape, and proportion compared to laying out the body with simple shapes and remeshing.
The head shape looks okay but clearly rushed, and the clavicle and neck area seems the most detailed and prominent.

Next time I will blockout the body first, then remesh and touch up details. It should get better results much faster.

Digital_Arcana

Day 8:

Kept the head very simple today so I could get more practice with the body. I did a blockout but I think I moved things around a bit much, mostly obvious in the side view. Gonna try to use more shapes for blockouts. I had seen some interesting body blockouts for zbrush that I might try involving overlapping a ton of spheres in the shape of the body.

For tomorrow, I will just try another head and see how well I can do.

Digital_Arcana

Day 9:
Went for practicing a stylized anatomy blockout. May just continue off of this one for tomorrow and see what 4 hours can do for a full body sculpt. And I can give a lot of that time to the head bc I shaped this head in maybe 5 minutes if that xP

Digital_Arcana

Day 10:
Had to work late and then spent the time gaming with my partner before bed. xP

BUT
Day 11:
Did a lot to bring my previous block out into a cohesive form. Still certainly needs work to be a "finished" model, and I might pursue that path just to get the practice. Will keep updating as I go!

Digital_Arcana

Day 12:
This will be the final day for this sculpt, tomorrow will probably be just another head, but I may make myself a 2D proportional reference and share that if I do!

I like this a lot so far, my only dislike has to do with losing detail during remeshes. The character lost a lot of the original shape work and looks much more frail. Still, I learned good things to use tomorrow!

Digital_Arcana

Day 13:

This time I followed some online reference drawings. I think it worked well for mapping proportions, but I certainly need to work on training my eye for them.

I believe this is one of my best proportionally speaking, although I am not satisfied with the ears. xP

Digital_Arcana

Day 14:

I did not use any references today, though I did spend a lot of time watching SpeedChar on Youtube and utilizing some great points he made about anatomy sculpts.

Pretty satisfied with this coming only from my imagination/visualization!

Digital_Arcana

Day 15:

Time to get under some skin. 💀

Decided a skull would be a good thing to learn today. I used reference of an Asian female skull and while there were a lot of hard parts, I especially struggled with the mandible.

This let me know I need to consider more about jaw structure overall and how they're formed and composed!

Digital_Arcana

Day 16:

No sculpt today, I'm moving! Might be a few days to a week depending on how things go, have to get internet at my new place. xP Thanks for following along!  

Here's a model I made a while ago that may be recognizable to some anime fans.

Digital_Arcana

Day ~~~:

I finally have internet again! This is an old low poly model I based off of harajuku and rainbowcore/glitchcore themes! I'll be back to sculpts soon! Or maybe I'll showcase something else I've been working on. >:)

Digital_Arcana

Day(What day is it again?):

I am actually making this one for reference for a real outfit I will OWN! I already have the cowl and it's sick!

As you can see, this character is lacking a head, which will be a great segue into getting back into sculpting again.