[WIP] - stylized character, could use some help to understand what to improve for future sculpts

KROKUS · Apr 30 2025

I've been playing around with blender for about 2 years now but never realy did anything seriously, just trying out tools and playing around with it. Over the past few weeks ive become more and more intrested to create solid character sculpts. Ive done a few before but never finished one since ive alway run into techincal issues (coming from traditional scuplting with clay/wood digital 3d work is stil a bit weird for me). This, while not beeing finished, is the first time ive tried to do a character in (as far as i understand it) techincally correct way, meaning modeling first, then retopo baking normals etc. Ive also for the first time tried to do some hand painted textures and am not too sure if i like it.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/h0/uapyywqfe873.png

I once before tried to do retopology and find it quite hard so far, i think this time i did a decent job but since i have no idea on how to rig/ animate a model i cant realy test that. But since i can see a few shading issues in solid view i suppose its not the best.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/wr/u7m7zhywf16v.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/xv/lv6nny3usgak.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/jt/32kj9lwnueb7.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/93/rxjgnmsj77ck.png

If you see any major (or minor) flaws that i should try to fix/ improve for the next one id be happy to hear it

kanga · May 1 2025

Well done on finishing your figure to this stage.

You haven't done a lot of characters so starting out it's important to shoot for a generic figure. It's not in your best interest to begin with exotic characterization. Get good at standard generic figures first, this gives you a good base. Its much easier to correct your work when you have a reliable reference to compare to. You can use a free program like Daz 3D. It comes with Genesis characters that you can pose in the viewport and vary attributes like anatomy and part scale. You should have a screen next to your monitor (an inexpensive one will do) so you can rotate around the reference while you work. Below is an example of the range of musculature. The textures have been disabled to help with referencing form. The pose you use as a default for sculpting should have the hips slightly forward, arms in the 'A' position and slightly bent in the direction of movement, legs apart, feet angled slightly to the outside. In the side view adjust the head, neck and figure angle so the body is balanced. Draw a center line through the form, either in your mind or on a screen shot to help you judge. This pose is easy for sculpting and gives the figure visible weight. The pose 'grounds' the figure stopping it from floating.

Many artist disagree on this so it's just a suggestion. Start generic, do the entire figure, alternate between male and female reference models. Spend time doing figure sculpt sketches. This helps you to visualize the parts of a figure but also their relationship to each other. Doing a month on noses may work but its more likely to become a real chore.

Don't use concave shapes, there are none even on emaciated figures.

It looks like you are using blender. If you are you can also make a view box to help with proportions. Just take screen shots in Daz and use the image plane feature in Blender (or whatever you are using). Make the planes semi transparent so you can use then to position body parts. Use a real world scale for the box.

Sculpt the anatomy, mouth cavity and if possible toes as well. Below is a sculpt in Blender showing the base mesh, the face sets for part masking while sculpting and a figure using the multiresolution modifier, that allows you to work up and down in resolution.

It's a good idea to show a flyaround series of screenshots to help people get a 3D view of your work. That will help you get the best help.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/fq/zuae22ce5746.jpg

KROKUS · May 1 2025

Thanks for your input, this is not the first time modelling for me (im just new to digital 3d), I went to a traditional woodcarving school and made quite a lot of anatomy sculptures as well as nude drawings with live models. I agree that the A-pose with wider stance looks more grounded compared to the narrow feet. I intentionally did not sculpt toes or the inside of the mouth since those are not needed for the things i want to test in engine with this. I do feel as if the arms/ hands in my case are a bit too big.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/sl/u4v2z1ptxrmf.png

I did model with a multires and then baked a normalmap since i want to learn how to make models suiteable for games.

Like i said i did do a few digital models before this one, but those where not done with rigging/animation or use for games in mind but purely for the sculpt itself, most of what ive been doing with real materials as well as digital in the recent time has been, lets say a bit on the weird side of things, so going for a more grounded/ realistic human feels weird right now.

Eric Chadwick · May 4 2025

To back up what was given before, and in relation to your latest works, it made me think of Picasso. Before he became famous for his explorations, he mastered drawing and painting realistic work. That was the grounding he needed, to be able to truly explore the wilder side of perception & representation. Core skills of proportion & anatomy & color & composition will only make you stronger as an artist. Well worth the time spent!

KROKUS · May 5 2025

Thanks for your feedback, you are both oviously correct, i am by no means a master of human anatomy and as most would benefit greatly from studying it further. What makes it hard for me is that dont realy see what i am doing wrong. The time where i was in school is a few years back and since then i didnt realy have anyone to talk about my work. So right now im looking at my models knowing that something is off but not knowing what. That is a quite annoying state to be in if im beeing honest. Would you mind maybe pointing out some of the issues regarding anatomy you see in the "turnaround" image i posted?

Alemja · May 10 2025

So one thing that really stood out to me that hasn't been commented on are the UVs. They are totally fine if you need a quick auto solution, but will be an absolute pain to work on if you have to do any serious texture work. Ideally, it's best to orient UV shells so they are horizontal or vertical, and straighten some of your edges and shapes. This sometimes leads to a bit more distortion, but at the tradeoff of it being easier to paint on, and in some cases the distortion can even help you out. General guidelines I try to follow when making UVs:

Straighten what you can
Follow natural seams if possible (like a t-shirt will have a natural seam), if you can't (like on a body) hide them as best you can
Limit the number of seams unless needed for baking, shading, packing or texturing purposes.

Some information on the wiki:

http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/TextureCoordinates#UV_Tutorials_.26_Threads

A thread that has some good pointers, and a visual example on how it's recommended to unwrap hands:

https://polycount.com/discussion/207250/maya-how-to-straighten-organic-uvs

Here is a quick example I made in blender to further show, in both cases the texture is very small (64px), but because pixels are square the line on the the angled UVs will always look extra blurry and the seam will be far more noticeable. While the straightened UVs look crisp, they can take up more space and you will not notice the seam

[WIP] - stylized character, could use some help to understand what to improve for future sculpts

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