Is this normal or should i just start over

Support Modeling
1

Not sure if its the correct tag and whatnot but well, I am making a character, and im going for something more semi-realistic. I made a head mesh following a tutorial of sorts but like not doing the same model so made a bit of my own approach. I am new to modeling characters (on previous posts I had not made the body mesh, just the adjustments to it and like the eyes and all that) and I am not sure if my head is supposed to look like a horror show when im starting :sob: Does it often look bad when you are starting on making the character? Here is the mesh

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I know that as I continue on and make the face and all that it should look normal, or I guess I think so, and not sure which is why I am here asking this: Should I just start over? Is this thing bad or is this a normal part of character creation?

2

Well, it’s true that generally you reach a point where you have most of the face, but it looks off and then you need a polishing phase that will help to refine the model.
However the basis is still the same, so if you feel that your character is somehow 70/80% there, but still it’s feels off that’s probably natural.
If it’s more 10/20% there , then you might consider starting over with a better basis.

That said, if you’re a beginner I suggest you to not mix too much learning and practical exercises.

Start by practicing modeling on existing characters/concepts, or try to follow the tutorial as close as possible first. Don’t worry too much about the end result but try too learn as much as possible. Repeat with different tutorial, or do the same a few time getting closer to a good result each time.
Once you are more confident about your skill, try do to something more personal. The focus is then more on the result than learning the technique.
It doesn’t mean you can’t use some tutorials, as they are a tool like any other.
But the tutorial should be more like a crutch rather than a walking system if you will.

All that might sound counter productive, but it’s a beginner mistake to look to fast into getting good results or looking too fast for personal project.
Stuff like IDK 3D but I’m starting my game, short film and I’ll learn as I go…
Generally people doing so have very little chances of success.

My rule of thumb is that in order to be really successful you need to have at least 70/80% of the technical aspect figured out. So you can concentrate on the artistic side and learn the 30% remaining on the fly.
If you don’t have that right balance then it’s better to practice and leave the artistic side for a while and focus mostly on technique.
That’s a way to approach things I discover quite lately, and that’s generally not how beginner think.
To put that differently, you’ll learn by doing and re-doing. In the beginning you want to redo as much and as fast as you can to get some mileage. So it’s best to practice on subject that are not important to you.
If it’s a personal project you might put extra effort to get it right, but it’s also possible you’ll have to start over later as you missed a bit of information early in the process.

For instance, if you want your character to be animatable there is a bunch of things to consider when building the mesh. If you don’t know them, at some point the model might look good, but at some point you’ll have to start over so the model allow for correct facial deformation.
However when focusing more on technical aspect you’ll be less invested emotionally, and if a character isn’t well suited for animation it’s not a big deal, you can always pick another reference and build a new character to learn specifically how to make the face deform/animate properly.

Hope all that make sense !
Good luck on your learning journey, keep in mind that most of the time the hardest path turn out to be the fastest in the long run…

3

It looks like a unique character. :slightly_smiling_face:
I think it’s best to keep practicing technical problems.

4

My models always look bad when I first start, but I find the parts that are unrealistic, and, using photo references, I adjust them to my liking. Here’s an example from one of my projects:
This was my current project two months ago

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And here it is now (with test eyes)
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Just keep working on it. It is not best to simply sculpt the mesh into a shape you think is correct, use real references for your sculpting.

5

This is a good example of what I was saying…
In the first one we could say that the basis is there, it’s in the 70/80% ballpark.
But it feels a bit off because it lack some polishing.
Anyway, you can still consider that a good basis and keep refining the details.

However, if the first image was more looking like that :

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It’s going to be difficult to refine it to something like your second image.

That depends also on the kind of workflow, maybe with sculpting having the shape that off isn’t an issue. Anyway, looks like it’s better to keep practicing the technique at this stage.

6

hmmm ok makes sense, I guess its a good idea to shelve the project im doing to just focus on character work for a bit/while and when i feel confident enough, move on to complete my project. I’d rather have completed it faster but well I guess if i just try to make it immediately it might not work. Honestly? Everything was pretty good and easy until the character stuff sooo im kind of like going crazy over here. I will continue with this character, I think the character will turn out better if i adjust it more and make a face, but I can not be sure I guess so I will just finish this, see how it looks and move on from there and see if i just need to focus on doing character work and all that stuff. Also any recommendations on a tutorial or a post of some kind of explaining the whole “how to build character for animation” and stuff because thats what im trying to learn

7

Oh yeah im using a reference just hid it to show the face. But I see ok I will continue making the character and see where this leads. Thank you :smile:

8

I guess so. Thank you a lot :smile: I am not really a beginner anymore in the sense that not a beginner in more general stuff in blender BUT I am a beginner in characterwork. What I did was mostly objects/environments. I again thank you and I guess I just have to admit making characters is just harder than making objects/environments (for me at least) and just practice it until i can do it. I’ll post results of how this one turned out

9

Yes for some things you might learn by doing, character work is part of complex subjects that need some practice and mileage before getting good results.

For tutorials it’s been a while, but I think this channel covers many aspects of character animation :

Modeling :

Modeling for animation :

Rigging basics :

Character Rigging :

Ideally you should at least get a glimpse of all that before getting into your project.
Try to do a prototype of a functional character, and eventually move on to your project, then your final character is likely to have half mistakes and will be much cleaner than the first iteration.

Keep in mind that it’s a long journey tho. There is a lot to learn and the eye also needs training so the shape looks good even when you’re ok with the technique.
Anyway it’s also super exiting, that’s pretty cool when you see your character starting to move once it’s rigged and such…

Have fun !

10

ok so the videos seem good however the guy did not provide the reference pictures he is using and honestly? It is incredibly hard to find references :sob: I couldnt even find anything usable in very popular characters so I have no idea how to find any model sheet/reference stuff. Do you know how I’d find any? Like for future as well. Especially when im doing a non-original character. I have artist friends who have agreed to make me original stuff if i request it BUT they are busy rn and its gonna take time obviously so I need some stuff to practice on now. So yeah any idea how or what I need to do?

11

Maybe find separate references for different parts of your character? You don’t need one whole reference for your entire character, that may not be accurate. What I do first is find a reference for the shape of the face, find a few more for certain details on the face, like the ears, nose, or eyes, then make my way down to the body and repeat the tactics until I’ve got the model up to my liking. I use about a hundred references for my more detailed characters.

12

It will be helpful if you watch the video.
This video does not show how to make it, it is a video that lists your work process.

13

Yeah I tried that but the problem is I cant… There is no head reference I could find all of them are bodies and the faces are too small so it looks like my first screenshot when I do it :frowning:

14

Alright, will definitely check this out!

15

Oh wait nvm I do not have a tablet and my pc is not good enough to handle sculpting so I think I will stick to poly modeling, if/when I can sculpt in the future (have the technical capabilities to) i will definitely check this one out!

16

Pinterest has thousands of front/side/3/4 references

17

…and…

at least month of practice, practice, practice, practice… summing up to years… :wink:

18

Yeah to access their models you probably should subscribe to their patreons.
Maybe it’s possible to do a screencapture of the video even if that’s not ideal.

Well, you can find some reference by searching stuff like Head Model Sheet, Head Turn …
But indeed it’s going to be mostly random character. To find a particular character from say a series or a comic it’s much harder since most of the time it stays within the studio as working material. Sometime in artbooks you might find a few but it’s indeed hard to get your hand on some.
However, to find something that you can use is easy. I found a bunch of useful stuff in 10mn by looking at google image, as Joseph said, pinterest is probably even better.

Anyway, you can also make your own references, by taking a photo front/side of a friend of yours or a toy that you like, a statue in the street maybe ? .

When choosing a reference or a particular character keep in mind how much “3D” it is. For instance many anime character can be translated into 3D , but it’s not straightforward, as generally the drawer will adapt some stuff from one POV to the other. In that matter, modeling from photo of real humans or 3D models might be less confusing as it’s really a 3D shape to start with if you see what I mean…

Lastly, when you start using other’s work like modelsheet or concept art, don’t forget to credit them if you post the result of your work online. As we are all part of a big “artist family”, it’s generally considered some kind of stealing or a fraud to use someone else’s work without noticing. The best is to contact them and ask for permission but it’s not always possible, but the least you can do is to name your sources when you put it online.

19

Something like that isn’t easy but a good learning exercise :

Making a good realistic human is tough but since the goal is to learn it’s fine. Later you might try a more stylized face and focus more on getting a nice result .

20

Haven’t gone through all these replies, so I’m not sure if it has been mentioned. But understanding anatomy is so important for these type of exercises. Even if the character is somewhat stylized.

Understand the muscle groups that make up the face. Nothing fancy, just understand the structure and why everything falls into place like it does. :slight_smile: