Hi. I’ve started messing with modeling a female head. Trying to learn topo properly and the whole moving poles eliminating tris jazz. This is my third try with this reference image. I got some head modeling dvds recently and I think they have helped.
I am going to try and do a few cartoony ones before I go for realistic. I think that will keep the pressure off and allow me to do more so the repetition of the starting stages will help me get better.
I am using the reference image that comes with the files if you buy the projection paint tutorial on CG Cookie. Just using it as a basis to roughly place the features. Curious if what I have so far is half way decent topo. Sorry for rambling so much.
I have started restuding my topology and it has that made me rethink a few things I took for granted or invested to much belief in. If you really what to get a leg up on topology than animation and making shape keys has to come into play. I once looked the gollum topology and never really understood it but when you start working on facial experissons etc than its like a 1000 lightbulbs go of. Topology as for models that are for stills is a bit overated and here you can be a bit unothrodox and get away with things that won’t work with animation.
Thanks for the responses. I think trying to animate the face, or at least rigging it to push and pull it around, would be a good idea to see how the topo holds up. That may be another reason staying cartoony is a good idea. I did some work on it some earlier and it is far from being done but I like how it is progressing. I know I have to work on the brow more and make a more defined jaw and tweak the other features. Of course make ears as well.
I did some work on her earlier. I made a quick light setup for a render. I am not sure where I am taking her. I am thinking of making it a cartoony version of La Roux.
I did some more work on her today. Kind of hitting a roadblock. She reminds me of those Eastern Island statutes a bit and I can’t put my finger on it. Is there anything you can see that I am missing? I am thinking it might be good to just use the proportional tools and go crazy and see if I can make her more cartoony.
The nose is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. I would make it the other way round, or straight. There’s usually a slight indentation at the top of the nose too.
Thanks. I will try tweaking those areas to see how it looks. I am not sure what style I am going for. I used a reference image of a female but mainly for a rough guide.
I tried shading it with just the SSS preset at a scale of 50. I tired using the edge render setting. I may try playing with Freestyle to maybe get a better control over it. I like the idea of trying for semi realistic texturing with maybe some edges to see how that works out.
I guess for style I’d say realistic manga. I didn’t want to try for a realistic face because I know I’d fall into the uncanny valley.
I think I could start on the ears now because I could tweak the face forever - unless there is something you see that really needs to be addressed. I really want to get to animating it to see how the topo holds up. Thanks for viewing.
