I always wanted to do a recreation of early man. This model is based off of Homo Ergaster, who was the precursor to Homo Erectus, our closest ancestor. I spent a lot of time creating a uv texture for the face, based on several stitched images of myself. The skin is a mix of this and SSS. It still needs work. I have a list of improvements, but I thought I’d create a WIP and get some feedback. Once I’m happy with the head, he’s going to be covered in a bearskin and standing by a fire at dusk. He will be holding an Acheulean hand-axe (oval sharpened stone) and possibly some food. And if my laptop can handle it, maybe a female Ergaster next to him.
Hey blenderallday, I have some passion for archeology and the history of early man, so I’m definitely gonna follow your thread. Nice that someone works on an archeological topic.
I had no luck searching for good reference images of homo ergaster. The ones I found were completely different to each other and most of them are most probably only fictional. I think you know the project of reconstruction the skull of the Taung Child with blender? It was featured on blendernation.com some time ago.
I’m curious. Of course I don’t expect you to do forensics like the guys of ATORdo 
But how is your workflow and did you find some good reference images?
I have seen those images of Taung child, but didn’t know the history. Very cool. My own workflow falls under the category of fake it and cheat every step of the way! I too had trouble finding reference images for Ergaster. There is a lot of debate as to whether Ergaster is even a different species than H. Erectus. I recently learned that they are often used interchangeably. My go to reference was a drawing based on H. Erectus skull. I added more a pronounced brow ridge and more mouth protrusion. This is definitely a case of art first and science second. I want the finished scene to be a glimpse into the possible past, drawing more from the archaeological tool record (Acheulean hand-axe) and behavioral knowledge (control of fire) as well as a real scene, with freshly killed meat and fire, universal and timeless concepts. As for the workflow this is about 6 hours of work, and is 100% fully rigged/shapekeyed. Of course I didn’t do any of that!
- Makehuman ~30 minutes Gross shape, export MHX
- Photo session ~20 minutes 7 images, controlled lighting. Profile, 45 degrees, straight shots of face.
- Photoshop ~1 hour , stitching together images for face unwrap. Getting image lined up for makehuman skin texture
- Blender ~4 hours. Import mhx, fully rigged and ready to pose. Add 5 cycles materials, including my face unwrap. maybe 1.5 hours proportionally editing mesh to get the skull looking like Ergaster/Erectus. Another couple hours getting hair systems looking not awful. But he’s ready for climbing up a tree realistically, but it’s not going to happen on this CPU. Maybe when my new design box is ready I’ll animate him. For now it’s just a simple outdoor fire scene set approximately 1 Million years ago.
That’s a pretty smart workflow that you have and really fast. Compared to your reference image it looks good. The brow, mouth and nose are very good as far as I would say.
I’m thinking about the ears and the neck. The ears are too far behind, I think. Shouldn’t they be where his jaw meets his skull? And I would think that his neck muscles should form a more rounded shape at his rear neck, because the are connected to the skull. Atm there is a clear buckling.
You’re absolutely right on the ears and neck. I’m finishing up a high-res render and then I’ll work on those. Get the lip texture better, maybe throw in a SSS/Gloss mask. Change the hair a bit, relight it, and probably post an update tomorrow. Appreciate you taking the time to look at it.
I made about 20 updates. Ears moved forward, neck thickened, nose restructured. Skin texture redone at higher res. Masks created for SSS and lip gloss. Beard redone. Some multi-res sculpting on the face. And a bunch more. Here’s a low-sample, low-res render of how Ergaster is looking this Sunday. The “bearskin” clothing is just a temporary stand in and will be redesigned entirely. Any critiques please?
Hm, difficult to tell because very little is known about this species and you said you want to focus primarily on art.
I learned from the net that the fossils were found only in Africa. So I think the skin tone should be much darker and pigmented to protect him from the sun. You want to do a study and demonstration of habits as you said and I think that even early man had the habit to do some more body care then your one. Not in a modern meaning of course, but at least “homo ergaster” means “working man” and as such he probably already had some tools for that. And if he had hair growth like that in your last image and not simply a short fur, he perhaps would have invented something to keep it out of his face - especially during hunting. But I’m on the wide field of speculations now.
What’s your feeling with your result so far if I may ask?
EDIT:
What I completely forgot to say is: I do like your skin shader. Besides the question of color it is very well done. Very good skin and you added nice details to the skin.
I think you’re right on the skin color. I am going to work on a darker shader today. And I am not happy with the hair. I am going to do a complete redo of the systems. Generally longer and more of it, and keep it out of the eyes. I am happy with the direction it’s going, but not with where it’s at. It’s flat in terms of emotion, with several thing I can’t quite put my finger on. It still feels like I took a human and turned in into a Ergaster. I have a feeling the next version will really start coming into his own. I am also going to do some more research on Ergaster and work on anatomical/historical details I want to add. Really appreciate the critiques. I’ll probably post another version tonight.
This is the first Africanized shader version, and I like it a lot better. The hair is starting to feel better and more connected as a whole. And I think there’s more emotion in this one. I squinted the eyes and adjusted the mouth a bit. Also created a gloss mask for the cheeks (I think this is what you would call a specularity map?) But it’s not quite right. Added a brightness/contrast node and I’m still playing with it. The background is borrowed, but I will create one from scratch in PS, or just snap one myself for the final render. I will probably spend one more day working with the face, I feel it’s about 80% where it needs to be. Then a couple days working on the scene. So, any thoughts on H. Ergaster Africanus?
edit: and the profile
Good progress, blenderallday, that looks good. Feels like he is coming home 
And thanks for the additional profile view. I’m not sure about the nose. Here is a little suggestion for the nose. Thought that this would fit better to the skull - but it’s really, really just a suggestion.
Keep it up!
Edit: There is one other thing if that’s not already on your list. You should change the eyes. Exchanging his eyes with some more lifelike will turn him immedately into a person. There are some good eyes on blendswap and if you want to do it yourself you’ll surely find a tutorial easily.
Thanks. The nose was definitely hurting. I changed it more or less to what you recommended. It’s still a bit too sharp at the tip from the profile. The hair looks odd from the side too, need to improve that. And yes the eyes must be replaced. I realized that when proportionally editing the brow ridge, I accidentally warped the eyeballs, you can really see it in the left eye. They will be replaced. I have moved more towards SSS and away from the image texture in the skin shader. I think this version is the most realistic of all of them. But the skin still needs more gloss or something. I also made a first pass on the Acheulean Stone Axe. And made a quick sunset from scratch in PS.
I had to do some actual design work for real, and wasn’t able to spend much time on it. So I’ll postpone the deadline on the head for a day or two. I really want it to pop out. Anyway, here’s day 5:
I have moved more towards SSS and away from the image texture in the skin shader. I think this version is the most realistic of all of them.
Yes, that’s better, it is more realistic. The former specularity was too much. It looked as if he was sweating.
I really want it to pop out
You’re on the very best way towards this! I like the grey hair color by the way. Could be nicely accompanied by some additional wrinkles 
But it’s also good as it is.
More real work today, so I couldn’t get my blender fix. I think I’ll have some time tomorrow. Here’s a timeline of snapshots so far. I really appreciate your comments @minoribus.
Edit: I liked that progression, so I made the profile too:
Hi blenderallday. Nice compilation of the last progress. Still busy with your work? Are there - perhaps - any (tiny) updates to keep us informed? 
Two days turned into two weeks. Spent a lot of time with the cheeseburger, but finally had time to rework Ergaster. The entire skin shader has been redone over half a day, more sss, and noise and reworked levels on the image texture. I remodeled parts of the face. Added eyebrows (that need serious work.) I’m still not happy – at all – with the eyes, which will need to be perfect to sell it.
But it’s ever so slowly it’s coming to life. I feel that this version has the most emotion. There is a sadness in the face, and a recognition of the difficult life our predecessors lived. I’m hoping to contrast that with a feeling of hope; the stone Acheulean makes it’s first appearance, and I made some BI fire which will be composited in the next versions. That will also help explaining the lighting which is impossible given the dusk sky behind him. I’ve been staring at it so long that I can’t see it properly. What needs fixing?
Somehow I missed this project… Yea his eyebrows still need work, but it’s really cool where your taking this project. The only thing I wonder, do you think they actually lived long enough to get a lot of grey hair?
You could actually do some fun animated morphing with this project. I’ll look forward to checking this one out.
That is something I thought about. Average lifespan was probably teens to low twenties. But they probably exhibited premature aging signs.
I think I will dial the age down some down the next version.
And yes the eyebrows are floating in space and need some design time.
Blenderallday, the sadness you were going for is clearly visible! That’s pretty nice because this shows him as a human being with emotions.
Concerning the eyebrows … I often found that hair meshes with particle hairs work best with a shrinkwrap modifier assigned to the hair emitting basis mesh. The offset should then be negative to place the hair emitting mesh inside the main mesh of your homo Ergaster.
And yes, their lifespan was much shorter and they were toothless, rheumatic, and venerable wise old men at the age of 25 or at least 30. And even today some physicians say: “We are designed to live for 35 years or so. Everything more is pure luxury.” Good to live in such luxurious times …
Changes to the face mesh, new nose, improved eyebrows. New eye texture although you can’t really tell. I’m starting to feel like I’m in K. Horseman’s “uncanny” valley. What do you think of this version?
Hmmmmm, hmmmm, saw it in the morning and didn’t like it, honestly. I then decided not to post and to take a second look in the evening. But I still think the last one was better. The left image looks in some way feminine to me, although of course there is this beard … Profile view is much better. But in both images he looks tired and has swollen eyelids.
That’s my personal opinion and it is of course up to you and your artistic freedom. Perhaps you were going for exactly this effects. I’m curious what you wanted to achieve with this change and what others think.