Hi all,
This is a human portrait test in Cycles. The ears needs more work, I think. I hope to see hairs implemented in Cycles someday. 
Some of the hairs in her eyelids are curves converted to 3D meshes. Rendered, color-corrected, and com posited in Blender 2.63
It took about 30 min. with 110 passes in Cycles.
Stunning! I caught this add-on posted on Blender Nation not long ago:
It bakes Blender’s particle hair down to a mesh for use with game engines and such, but I imagine it probably works with Cycles. Haven’t actually tried the add-on yet myself, but I am looking forward to it. Anyway, hope that helps out.
Thanks. I haven’t tried the add-on yet. 
Wow, that is fantastic. I have only seen a few people get a good looking mouth where it doesn’t make the person look too old, and it look like you have gotten it. Nice job!
Thanks, Ewilde. I believe those “few people” deliberately chose older person’s portrait to demonstrate their modelling–or sculpting–ability to attract potential clients and employers. You see, realistic portraits of elderly persons with a lot of fine wrinkles is much more difficult to make. If they can make realistic elderly’s portrait, I believe they can make younger people’s portrait, too.
No, it wasn’t the wrinkles, there was something wrong with the mouth, I just couldn’t put my finger on it. The face looked physically closer to 60, when the person it was on looked like she was 6. She didn’t have wrinkles, but the face in general looked old and tired.
I think it is a very good test.
I like the composition and the design is very fine
Thanks, marcolorenz.
Here are some of the online tutorials that made a huge difference for this test:
SSS in Cycles tutorial on Blendernerd.com
and Kent Trammell’s head modelling tutorial series on Blendercookie
And here’s a proof screenshot:
