So I’m working on a new character portrait which is a continuation of my Kara portrait I did a few months back (I’m slowly creating portraits for the main cast of characters from the book I’m writing…), and require some fresh eyes to take a look at what I’ve got so far.
She’s an original character, so isn’t supposed to look like anyone specific, though I do have various references I’m using to try and get the correct look (which is one of my main areas of struggle…)
I normally sculpt neutral poses, but because this character is generally a pretty happy and positive person, I wanted to reflect that, and have her smiling a little, though that too is causing me some issues.
I have a couple of things Id like some advice/help with:
Firstly, I feel like something is off with the sculpt. I’m not entirely sure what it is, but sometimes I catch a glimpse of her, and she looks…weird. Helpful, I know…
The character should be in her late 20s (28 or so), and should have a fairly sweet and innocent look about her. I wouldn’t say she looks old at the moment, but certainly more mature than I want her too – How can I make her look younger and cuter/sweeter? Is there a magic ingredient there?
A couple of viewport renders - Note: Lashes and brows are temporary, and I’ve done very little to the skin texture/shader for her at this point. The hair is also temporary, stolen from a previous project, and doesn’t reflect the actual hair style she will have, apart from the color. I just wanted something there to help with the overall look. I don’t believe a more ‘accurate’ hairstyle will help me at this point.
I’m not massively attached to what I’ve done so far, so be as destructive as you wish. I’m not above starting again with her, though if I can work with what I’ve already got, then great.
The neck shoulder area looks off. I don’t know if the bottom’s too thick, or the sternocleidomastoid is too curved, or too defined, but that’s an area that catches my eye. The collarbones look like they might also be a bit low and straight. Moving them up might help with the sternocleidomastoid looking off too.
Rounder cheeks maybe, or smoothing out the cheekbone into jaw area a touch might help.
IRL, I have fat cheeks, so it’s a pretty smooth curve from the top of my cheekbones/bottom of my eyesocket, to the bottom of the jawline, and a lot of people assume I’m 5-10 years younger than I actually am.
The bridge of the nose and the line of the eye socket feel too defined to me.
There’s something about the shape of the mouth in combination with the eyebrows, especially in the non-render pics, specifically the front facing ones, that make her look less happy, and more uncomfortable smiling. I think it’s how straight the line where the lips meet is, right until the corners. This woman:
looks to have a fairly similar mouth shape to yours, and the middle part of the line has a curve to it. It’s a subtle difference, and I’m not sure how far you can change what you’ve got and still maintain a mostly neutral expression.
I don’t know what the underlining topology looks like, but unless that’s gone completely wrong, I don’t see any reason you’d need to start completely over.
Thanks for your detailed response! It’s much appreciated.
Ive not actually done any sculpting to the neck/shoulders yet, other than some very basic stuff, but will definitely bare what you’ve said in mind when I get to that part.
I’ve made some changes to the sculpt based on what you’ve said, and also some of my own feelings. I think I’m a lot closer to where I want to be now.
One of the big changes I made was to shorted then face a little. Something was telling me that the lips were a little too low (or at-least the gap between the bottom of the nose, and top lip seemed to big compared to most of my references…)
So I’ve shortened and rounded her face a bit, which I think makes a big difference. I’ve also added a little more fat in the cheeks to make them softer and plumper, and also tried to improve the smile a little too
Still some work to do, but happier than I was yesterday.
[EDIT] Few more tweaks, and I’m pretty happy with the face overall now. Happy enough that I don’t foresee any huge changes, so I can go ahead and get the skin shading and such done. Of course I’ll tweak, but I think she looks pretty good
