Hey there. I’ve been modelling with Blender for a little over 3 weeks now and am aiming to be good with Anime Faces.
However, I am ways away from where I want to be and am hoping I can get a list for tweaks and fixes I can do for this existing face I’m working on. I’m getting the general face shape no problem, but consistently find the end result doesn’t resemble the reference images Im using.
The screenshots here are slightly outdated, as I’ve completed the back of the head, neck, and ears. The face itself remains the same however.
The model in relation to reference image. Had to move eyes inward as they looked too spread apart in 3D space. The reference image has the eyes spread further out.
notice in the pic posted by ketsubutsu the faces all have 4 edges, and are even, like a net. this is what you want, ideally. stay away from triangles, and n-gons ( faces with more than 4 edges ) keep topology simple, and when you are doing organic shapes, use a subsurface modifier on your object, from the very start.
I hope you were not discouraged by our comments. You should not be. We are trying to share with you our acquired knowledge, so you can improve. remember, all of us were exactly where you are at now at one time. When I started with 3D, nobody knew anything about proper topology. We just shot in the dark until we figured it out. Now you have the benefit of our experience. Please don’t take it in the wrong way.
Id agree with this. I started more recent (about 2 to 3 years ago) but the tutorials posted everywhere, even for different softwares helped me a lot. I’d say a mix of that and experience will have you see better results fast. Just keep practicing and eventually you’ll get better.
An introductory book in programming I read a long long time ago said: “Plan on throwing the first one away – you will anyway”. That’s good advice for a lot of project based skills, including 3D modeling. You are off to a good start. But it looks like you are at a point with this one that you’d be ahead of the game to start over, incorporate what you’ve learned so far on your second attempt, and then run through the same process: run into roadblocks, ask for advice, review the tutorials again, and start over. When you are working on your fourth or fifth head, you’ll be amazed at how good it looks, and how easy it is to modify to make it look just right.
Now, the good folks here have given you a lot to read and view, and you should read the articles and view the videos, but don’t expect to learn it all before you start trial number two. Learning to do this well is a layered process: do some work, do some study, do some more work, rinse and repeat.
Getting the eyes right is going to be the biggest challenge. Anime is mostly a 2D art form, and it is not a straightforward translation into 3D. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t succeed with the eyes right away.
Best of luck with your modeling. Welcome to BlenderArtists
Thanks for all the advice.
So far, this is my 4th go at a face, and my second attempt with the same reference drawing. I’ve been documenting my progress here.
Working with blender has certainly been a good learning experience, especially since I have next to no experience with drawing.
I’ll keep at it, and check out the material thats been posted here. Once I get an end result I’m happy with, I’ll be incorporating it into a Unity game.
