W.I.P - Female Head

NiGHTS2o06

Hey,

ive recently decided that I need to take a step back from creating full characters and just focus a little more on specific anatomy, namely the head. So ive been working on random female head sculpts however i'm at the stage now where I feel as though there are naggling little issues regarding the proportions and anatomy but I can't see them.

Heres my latest head:



...and heres my attempt at putting in placeholder planes for hair...



BTW if anybody has any great advice on modelling female hair (whether I should use planes predominantly or mix in planes along with a solid mesh, etc) that would be great.

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http://www.bajsingh.co.uk

BlackulaDZ

hm, the only thing that irks me is I think the neck is a teeny bit too thin. other than that I think it looks good so far.
here's a couple of zbrush tutorials on hair:
http://www.pixologic.com/docs/index.php/Tutorial:_Hair_Sculpting
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=1312

crazyfingers

I'd say F it just dive in, make her an old lady and go crazy. How much can you learn trying to make the generic perfect female head? Just go crazy and start making something you can't pop out of poser in 5 seconds.


Anyone can use reference or get feedback on how to make it "perfect". Do something cool with it

P.S. It's important to get proportions and anatomy right as you move forward, but as an artist you need to balance these things as you add details. If you're doing wrinkles, you might find you put too much meat on the face for example. Just ease it back, that's what's great about zbrush is you don't have to work in phases because it's just that powerful. So I guess I reccomend learning to push everything all at once, detail and proportion. Go back and forth and you'll become a more powerful artist in the digital age.

poopinmymouth

As far as hair tips: I suggest trying to find an actual hairstyle, and sketch it out first. Working from 3d first tends to keep everything generic and what we remember of hair. It's best to have a real style in mind, then use 3d to emulate it best. Imagine what geometry with appropriate texture mapping would help you create the shape and look you're going for. I tend to use an inner volume, then strips on the outside to help create volume.

As far as Crazyfingers' advice, I don't think you have to make an old woman, but maybe try to get some unique anatomical features going. Many famous models or actresses have some kind of feature that sets them apart, that might be considered ugly on some, but it just works somehow on their face to create a really memorable and attractive look. I'd try going for that over just generic old person, which I think is also overdone, even if it's not as overdone as hot generic female.

sub_roland

Thanks for the post nights i was planing on starting to do the same thing, but i still have to get generic proportions down. 8( But yours is looking fine, the inner ear looks a little off, but that seems to be in a rough state. And thanks for the tips and links everyone else.

NiGHTS2o06

Thanks for the advice guys. Ive tried this again, refining the sculpt and attempting some texture work. I feel as though the actual texture works well however in combination with the normal/specular map it just doesn't look as nice, or right.



From top left to bottom right:

*Max Viewport diffuse only
*Zbrush sculpt
*Marmoset render (not great as it appears my video card wont render shadows properly and the hair specular seems to be breaking it...a lot).
*Max Render (Scanline)
*Xoliul viewport shader.
* Normal mapped model.

The annoying thing is...no matter how hard I look at it im finding it hard to see the problem but I know its there.

Calabi

To my flawed eye, it looks like something is wrong with the nose, underneath it doesnt blend right, it looks a bit stuck on.

http://media.photobucket.com/image/noses/Manshee/mizzd_noses.jpg