Sculpting a female body

The goal of this project is to accurately portray the female body.
This is my first sculpt, and I would like to know what areas are good and which need improvement.
Ignore the face and head- they were just there as the starting point of this project.
Do you think that this is a good start?
In addition, how do I sculpt the hands and fingers?

Attachments




Hello! It is a good start! but you have a lot to cover.
First just use some good references!!! References are everything!
You can start with this:


Secondly: Change the viewport camera lens, go to something like 80 or 90 or even 100.
Third: keep going!

Thank you Tonatiuh. And for anyone else reading this, feel free to suggest anything else.

Hi,

Please post images with correct focal lenght like Tonatiuh suggested. At this time it is nearly impossible to suggest anything regarding anatomy of your sculpt.

Use ortho view, press 5 on keypad. Why dont you use a reference in background if you are aiming for real detail? There are alot of real people with real anatomy to look at :slight_smile:

Keep at it :slight_smile:

You really need some kind of perspective, Orto makes all really deform, I use to defend the Orthoview, but I don’t use it anymore.

@artofpiki
I’ve tweaked only the torso of my model since my first post (and it is very subtle), but regardless, here is the model when the viewport lens angle is at 80. By the way, what is the purpose of the viewport lens angle? All I know is that the focus changes, and that’s all I know about it.




@pixellegolas
Perspective is necessary, pretty much what Tonatiuh said. I will keep at it though! :slight_smile:

The viewport lens is just that, the view is just like a camera, you can choose how to see, you can go for a superartificialtelescop (ortho) or you can goo for a super open view, like the default. Or you can go for something less deforming, and more natural.
I don’t know if you are aiming for a style or you are going for realism, if you go for realism you really need good references, and some study of proportions, I recommend to you Andrew Loomis, you can find for free his books on the internet.
Also, some anatomical study will serve you well. Your sculpt lacks in landmarks, so you are lost in the proportions, you need to know where the clavicula is, where the chest bones are, where is the pelvis, etc etc. Or if you don’t want to study that, you need a really good observations skills and very good references.
That is if you are aiming to make a realistic female body, If you are going for other styles, good references are also needed, at least at the early stages of learning.

If you go for realism i highly recommend book from 3D total - Anatomy for 3D artists.

Yeah but when first following a blueprint to get the right proportions I would suggest ortho, otherwise the background dont even show up :slight_smile:

Then of course when actually sculpting details perspective is nice of course

Yes, but you can get some errors from using Ortho, and most times you never notice and it will harm your sculpt. Also you can use images as planes, and have it transparent. So really orthoview is not really needed for sculpting organic forms. Of course you can use it, but is pretty dangereous stuff hehe.

@Tonatiuh
I am going for something that’s anatomically correct, wherever my model is going, whether it’s realistic or stylized. Thanks for guiding me to Andrew Loomis.

@artofpiki
Thank you. I will look into it.

@pixellegolas
That’s true too, every artist has their own method.

Here’s another update for y’all.






My main focus for this update was the legs. I will add arms, hands, and fingers. In addition, I will modify the face and head as well. Here’s the last image, whole body from the back.


I am now currently working on the head, but I am now stuck trying to figure out how to make it better, as in accurate and feminine.







What needs improvement?
Excuse me for not posting any references- I am using a variety of different, unrelated images. I felt the need to understand variations in feminine features.
And considering that all of these references are not stylized, just assume that I am now going for a realistic feminine face, so disregard my previous post.
This head is not attached to the mesh that I was previously working on.
And the viewport lens angle is at 100.

Oh man! you really like to complicate yourself! hehe, having too many references is a mess! and as I see you are missing so many things, it is going to be hard to really help you out, You did the initial blockage of the primary forms, but you have to go somewhere, to little is going on.
If you like to understand the female head anatomy you have to understand the variations it can get, there is an average proportion, that is the base for an artist to start with, one of the examples is the female head of Andrew Loomis:



You start doing a beautiful female, (it is harder than it looks) and then you start making variations. I encourage you to chose an actress that you like, and start studying her, you don’t have to perfectly copy here but use here as a guide.
But anyhow, I’ll try to make some paint over your sculpt, because you really put those views, and I like it hehe.
Probably the loomis draw will help you more.


Now, please, try to see more in your references look for this:

  1. Silhouette!!! this is soooooo important, that anything else is irrelevant if you don’t search for this.
  2. Relations of points, (angles of this relations, distances)
  3. Transform curves into lines (at least at the begging, then you make them subtle)
  4. A little of anatomy research won’t hurt you.

Here I am again, with a better head, based on Lily Collins.
The reason why it’s taken so long to get to this point is because I took a break and sculpted something completely different, but then I decided to return here.
It’s still a work in progress (obviously) and I’m still a beginner.
How did I do here? Am I on the right track? I feel like I’m stuck.
Even though my 3D sculpt is not accurate according to my model, how is my sculpting (when looked on its own)?
Am I doing the jaw correctly? What about the brow?
Any tips on how to do the eyes? Are they too popped out? Are they uncanny?





Before and After

Hey!!! I think you are making progres! you can see now that she is a woman, the shape of the skull is not nice, but you will get there.
Put some ears, and work very hard at side view, 3/4 view and front, looking hard at the references, comparing shapes, mesuring mentaly distances and relations and angles. and post them again.
Also try to model the neck just a bit more.

I’d also point out that generally if a person’s lips are parted, their jaw is open a little. It will change the position of the chin, and the angle of the jaw line from the side. So if you are sculpting a closed mouth head using an open jawed reference it will make the face too long.

You often can’t see it because of hair but the skull is widest just above the ears and towards the back (it’s not wider than the ears I’m just using them for location). Speaking of which I’d say your ears on the previous sculpt are a tad too forwards, if you divide the skull into three from face to back of head, the ears should be touching the second line back.


Something like that anyhow.

Here is another update. As usual, I’d like some critique and observations. I also modified my reference images so that her head and face are more uniform across all images.


And a comparison/progress image


@Tonatiuh
I kind of sculpted the neck, but I don’t know exactly what to sculpt in. I know what some of the muscles are, but I don’t know how to convey the detail, so I just did the best I can. Here’s a better matcap.


@Falconius
And as for the problems that you’ve pointed out, I’ve made the head wider at the top of the ears and modified the jawline. I also thank you marking the previous comparison image.

You are doing great!!! don’t go in to secondary forms yet, because the proportions are of, the position of the ear especially is totally of, also the shape of the skull, you can go some times in orthoview to check if everything is ok.

For the neck well here you have some references:
Basic1
Basic2
Don’t mind the glases actually this is a very good reference!
Nice anatomy
So many references

So come on! you can doit!
But first block out the forms well, you have improve massively from the fist model you publish here, go on!