Face Model

[Mystory]

I am VERY new to blender and have only dabbled in a few tutorials.

I used this image below (from Google images) to trace, for a realistic human face model.

Was very pleased with the result and could have spent hours more on it. Below is a render of my mesh.

I really enjoyed tracing, and am quite a blender addict now.

My question is how do the artists here source material? That is, do you take photos yourself? Or get images off the net like I did? Sketch ideas and create them? Work? Concept art?

Any feedback is appreciated.

[minoribus]

Hi, Mystory, welcome to BA It looks like you followed the reference closely. And the wires of the reference are well done. Is this the perspective or are the ears a bit too far behind? How does it look in orthographic view?

When I search for references I use the net. There is so much good stuff out there and Google images and Bing are very handy for that.

What are your further plans for this head? Keep it up

[James_Z]

Welcome and well done.

Looks good to me. very nice mesh.

I think your render perspective made that ear look a tad odd.

The render is a bit dark…could you do a brighter one?

[Mystory]

Hey minoribus, thanks for the reply.

This render was in perspective and I did struggle to find a camera angle that didn’t make the ears look disproportionate.
In orthographic view it looks similar to the images above, and the ears do look rather far behind in that.

I wouldn’t mind adding materials, textures, hair (eyelash/eyebrows), and a body, and maybe rig it.
What would you suggest starting on next?

[Mystory]

Hey James_Z, I struggled with the camera angle, and lighting. I used 2 x default light and environment lighting, I haven’t done any in depth camera/lighting tutorials yet.
I will definitely re-render, what would you recommend for an effective angle and lighting?

[minoribus]

You could try to set the camera to a 50mm or even 80mm lens. That is often used for portrait shots because it has less distortion and keeps the proportions of the head.

What may comes next depends on if you are doing a bust or a full body. But in any case I’d recommend to stick to a linear workflow and to complete the modelling first before going over to texturing. (There is nothing wrong with an occasional side step into texturing just for fun though )

[James_Z]

@Mystory

Hey James_Z, I struggled with the camera angle, and lighting. I used 2 x default light and environment lighting, I haven’t done any in depth camera/lighting tutorials yet.
I will definitely re-render, what would you recommend for an effective angle and lighting?

Yeah, we all struggle with lighting…except of course for those who don’t,

I’d go with simple three point lighting.

You can read about it all over the place. I just redid my lighting too cause it made things look bad. I am also struggling with blender’s camera…cause that ain’t no 35mm. no way. That camera is funky, I don’t know why. Most likely its just me who can’t use it.

I’ll give you my quick and dirty set up

So three basic lights and environment…this is just one way…not even the best way. I am no pro so take it for basic.

1. Key Light: main light, using a spot light, this starts at a 45 degree to the camera
2. Fill Light: also a spot, this is to help fill out the shadow…not over come it…starts at 90 from the key light. No specular, just diffuse, I don’t want highlights from this light.

3.Back Light…to give an edge to the objects, should be behind your subject and pointing at the camera…so the theroy goes…its harder than it sounds…

a Hemi light far away but bright.

Environment: energy: 1.0, sky color

The world, paper sky and blend sky, dark to light, I like a neutral grey to show off my subject…just depends

I give all my lights a slight color so I can see 'em and tone down the color once I get something I like.

A couple of quick samples…these are very fast and dirty work…I would spend more time but here ya are:

Its pretty quiet in result…you want shadows but not too dark, you can see an edge light but only if you look for it.

so that’s my crappy setup…

Really there are much better on the net…

peace,

J

[Mystory]

Cheers for all the help.
I re rendered my mesh using the 3 different lights, although I didn’t use the exact formula, as a I was not familiar with how to do it all. I also increased the lens size to 80mm up from default.

I chose this render as it gave a lot of character from just the shadows.

I also really like your Tim Burton inspired models J, they have a creepiness thanks to the pose, lighting and colours. Love the eyes and that glassy effect.

[islara1]

wow now it’s look really cool in the last render
ilike the clean topology i think cycles is better than blender render

[Safetyman]

This is a very good start. I’d say the profile looks a little flat, but it’s not out of the ordinary, and you may have matched your reference perfectly.

FYI – the Tim Burton character tutorial series by David Ward is excellent and I highly recommend it: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5E8FF48D4DF5E566