I am aiming to create a photo-realistic James Bond. (Over-ambitious perhaps, but proving to be bucketloads of fun trying.) I’ve been at it for a fair part of 3 days now, and I thought I’d start posting renders for feedback. This first one is me playing about with the skin tone. I haven’t quite finished the bump map, need to add some creases around the eye, some veins, vary the texture up a bit. There isn’t a colour map applied for the lips, eye sockets, stubble yet. Mainly asking for now what people think of the model sculpt and the human-ness of the skin thus far. More pink, less specularity, higher sss level etc.? The black is an alpha map where I’m going to put the hair texture in later, the modelling is just hidden for now. I’m definately posting the .blend when completed, no sense hording this sort of stuff so that everyone has to figure it out individually.
Cheers,
Ben.
(I’d post my reference image, but whilst it’s heaps good clarity, its in Black and White…)
Very good start. If you want more suggestions/crits it would definitely help if you posted your reference picture, nothing wrong with black and white. Right now I do not think he is very recognizable (of course, you’ve just started), I think you need to give him (eventually) his trademark look, with slighly raised eyebrows and wrinkled forhead, which he already had in the first James Bond films and also the “I am not impressed” smile.
Could this be you ref? : http://kobitours.tripod.com/ (can’t direct link images on tripod, it’s one right on the first page)
Yup, the forehead and other areas need more wrinkleage, I’m tweaking the shape a lot, but trying to get on with the textures for a while to make some progress. That other image is my front reference, but my main side reference is a book. I was going to scan it soon anyways, but for now, here is a detailed sketch I did in pencil of that photo (also black and white).
@BlackBoe: Oh, I definitely have faith too, the guy created some for the best Blender art/renders I’ve seen. I think modeling a photo-realistic human face (especially based on a real person) is harder than anything else. If somebody can do it in blender, it’s probably him.
Great model. It’s EXTREMELY HARD to model a photo realistic face, especially one that so many people are familiar with. Your renders so far are nice, but consider these:
Face looks slightly squashed; scale on X ?
Nearly impossible to tell where one lip starts and another one ends., maybe add some texture there.
Not much red in the lips, but maybe that’s how he supposed to look.
Chin stubble is symmetric.
Sean Connery has a very square lower jaw, while yours is pretty rounded. Consider alteration.
Skin tone is perfect! Great modeling, even the sketch is great stuff!
B13nd3r 633k - Thanks for the hints, I mainly went on the side view for reference, but working on the front view now. His cheeks are pretty mucked up as far as ‘Connery’ goes. Currently painting in symmetry just to speed it up a bit, but I’ll un-symmetrical it later. And yup, the lips need work too. Good call on the jaw too.
All - Thanks for the votes of confidence, means a lot.
Also, he is fully sculpted in Blender, not SharpConstruct like Davy Jones.
You’ve got a good start there, but I think there’s still a way to go for a good Connery. Look at this tutorial for tips on how to lock down a good likeness. The author Darren Pattenden has also modelled Connery here and there’s good reference in this small quicktime movie here.
Not the most amazing video ever, but for 270kb it shows the head’s much reworked shape, particularly how wide it is and general front-on-ness. The colour textures were obviously warped about when I was sculpting the model, so I’ll put them back on when updated and worked on. Might polish up the bump map next. I think my Connery might end up a tad older looking in the final than the reference image, just have an inkling.
Also, I plan to just leave the ears off altogether and fade to black at the edges. Saves memory only sculpting half the face.
I would say that your the lips on the model are too “hardly cut”, i.e. the “bend” between the lips’ edges and the rest of the face over-defined, causing them to look a bit “flat”. I would suggest you soften it a bit. (I notice that they also seem slightly over-emphasised in your drawing.)
Your model’s cheeks (in profile) seem a bit larger (more forward) than the photo’s.
Also (and this is a bit difficult to judge due to your model’s lighting), take into consideration that in the photo he is sitting in a forward-tilted position which - if you model exactly according to that - may seem strange in your model… unless you model the torso also to give context.
Anymation - Yup, the lips are quite hard edged no arguement there, I think I agree about the cheeks as well. I reckon what might be happening is I’m overcompensating some of his features to try and make it look more definitely like Connery. I’m trying to model him with his head forward as well, I might have to model the collar of his shirt, I dont want to go shoulders and all because it’s all about the face really. I get what you mean though.
shadowman99 - I didn’t mind Brosnan as much as some people seem to, but you’re right, he’s no Sean Connery by a long shot. I’ll have a crack at combining your shader suggestions into my node setup with the sss toon shader, see what happens. Is ‘Female Sith’ still happening? I’m a massive Star Wars Fan, still wondering whether or not to do a fan film… last I checked there is decent prize money at AtomFilms/Starwars.com.
Thats the dumbed down version of the skin, the bump/normal map I’m working on goes on the node that isn’t the toon shader. The final Bond .blend will also have an alpha map to let the hair, eyebrows and maybe lips show through with a different texture underneath.
Attached is a progress shot, getting close to finished the bump map (need to wrinkle his forehead more and un-symmetrical his stubble and a few small things like that. Also I’ve toned down his lips and cheeks a fair bit. I’m very happy with the shape now, he’ll kick into full ‘Connery’ look with coloured eyebrows, slick black hair etc. Hoping to finish him in the next day, two on the outside.
Cheers,
Ben.
P.S. the other render is the .blend in the zip file
I think you should work on the nose, there is something very wrong about it. It almost looks like a cylinder. My english isn’t very good and I’m not sure how to explain better. But if you look at the picture from the link I posted earlier I think you will understand what I mean. If not, I can draw over the pic if you want.
nifrek - I get what you mean. It was looking very hard edged before because I’d used ‘grab’ a lot in the sculpt tools, not add/sub in draw mode. Then I smoothed it out again to the ‘tube look’. I also got rid of the bump mapping on it because it was too harsh, but it does need some.
