Storm learning character creation
Hey guys!
I have been a lurker on the site and after some motivation from a member I have joined to get feedback and learn more about character art!
I am pretty new to this, only been doing character art for about four months. I use zbrush for sculpting and Maya for base mesh and block out work!
So here is my current piece that I would really appreciate any crit that I can learn from! I want to start with the face because I personally think I am very weak with creating the face. This particular piece I didn't really have a reference (Next one will, I promise!). Any techniques or any crit as I said, I will take with open arms!
I have been a lurker on the site and after some motivation from a member I have joined to get feedback and learn more about character art!
I am pretty new to this, only been doing character art for about four months. I use zbrush for sculpting and Maya for base mesh and block out work!
So here is my current piece that I would really appreciate any crit that I can learn from! I want to start with the face because I personally think I am very weak with creating the face. This particular piece I didn't really have a reference (Next one will, I promise!). Any techniques or any crit as I said, I will take with open arms!
Replies
I can't overstate this enough, and I have/had the same problem, USE REFERENCE! Everyone told me the same thing, and I always felt like it was cheating, but I promise you, it is NOT! Even if you aren't modeling the exact person in your reference, use their features for you own benefit. Look closely at how lips work, how they connect, how the fat pads and creases.
Study anatomy, its boring (it can be anyway), it is tedious but it is by far the best thing an aspiring character artist can do.
Imagine where you will be 4 months from now if you keep up this work, if you really take a critical eye to your work and iterate it and focus on the parts you're weakest at.
I'd say with this model, overall proportion is close but could be tweaked, the ears definitely need love, and the lips for sure. You should pick one of these features and just do it, study it and work it until you've nailed it... Then pick a reference with a different style and start over!
Good luck! Don't forget to check the wiki here on polycount, youtube has a ton of great speedsculpts (just search for that) lunchcrunch.org too, and don't forget zbrushcentral. If you'd like to take it even further, I recommend eat3d's character and zbrush tutorials, so much good info there.
Thanks man! I will use reference from now on! Those ears haha, yeah I need to really make them into shape, I will find a reference and stick with it :P
I have a few questions, how would you create wrinkles? I use the Dam_Standard brush most of the time to make any wrinkles and alphas for pores etc. Is this the best way?
When studying anatomy, what is the best way to do this? Would it be to simply examine important features in detail? I guess that ties in with using a reference!
I will start on your crit right away! For now here are shots of other views of the head as requested by Ravenslayer, what I think would be much more helpful would be for me to start again with a reference and understanding of anatomy. Should be fun
They are just quick renders, no fuss:
http://wiki.polycount.com/CategoryReferenceAnatomy
Knowing all the technical details isn't as important to you as an artist as just knowing that something is there and how it looks/works/connects.
As far as wrinkles and micro details, I'm definitely not an expert here, but again I'll point you to http://eat3d.com/zbrush4_character there is a lot of great information there. But I'd say dam_standard, the standard brush, inflate and masking are going to be your best bet for wrinkles and folds. Don't be afraid to mask a piece off then grab the move brush and pull a piece over top and over lap it (if that makes sense).
i agree with what innervision is saying in regards of reference. use it ALL THE TIME
look at tradional sculpters and how they build up sculpts, i find this very educative
when sculpting a head or anything organic you need to think of the most basic structure thats holding everything together first. so for the head thats ofcourse the skull.
try to get all of those shapes in there first, know where all the landmarks are so you can then start adding more formto the sculpt, i`m not saying you need to sculpt the entire skull but what i like to do is get the big indents and extrudes of the skull in the basic headshape first like the malar bone and the temporal bone
- build up slowly while sculpting, dont jump to the highest subdiv from the beginning or you`ll have trouble getting the forms to read right.
- nature doesn't like straight lines, what i mean with that is shapes and forms flow into eachother, they overlap . sometimes in a subtle way and sometimes its more obvious. a good example of those straight lines is in the mouth you sculpted , the bottom lip just goes from one edge to the other instead of flowing in and out of the mouth cavity
- drop the details, microdetails dont make something look realistic if the underlying form isnt there. I wouldnt worry about any details for now just worry about the big shapes. be rough in the beginning and refine in the later stages.
anyway gl cant wait to see you progress on these boards
Just a quick question, I think the most educative way I could do this, is by starting of with a sphere rather than a base mesh. Is this a good way to go? I will update this thread with progress I make!
i did a livestream recently where i made a torsostudy from a sphere, maybe it helps you a bit to see how i approach it http://www.livestream.com/polydrawer/video?clipId=pla_9e12f93b-7f88-49ff-b39d-cebf2e7041a2