WEEK 1
Anatomy-Proportions / skull
Human form has long challenged the artists’s creative powers. It is natural that the artist should investigate human structure in order to express its form. Our first exercise was to point out the parts of a skull by marking them with colors. We also learned the differences between a male and a female skull.
The term ‘skull’ designates a group of 22 plate-like bones that compose the frame-work of the head.
Skull segments (except lower jaw) interlock in a system of suture joints. Eight of these segments encase the brain. This protective shell, resembling an egg (large end behind), is called cranium. Just as the egg is circular in transverse section and oval in longitudinal section, so is the cranium.
Cranial bones consist of: 1 frontal, 1 occipital, 2 parietals, 2 temporals, 1 shpenoid and 1 ethmoid.
Identifying the sex of a skull
There are a number of features of the skull that are more commonly found in males compared with females and these are the indicators used by forensic archaeologists to determine the sex of an individual.
A female forehead
Forehead and brow ridge
When viewed in profile, female skulls have a rounded forehead (frontal bone). Male frontal bones are less rounded and slope backwards at a gentler angle. This ridge along the brow is prominent in males and much smoother in females. As this ridge lies above the eyes (orbits) this structure is known as the supraorbital ridge.
A male forehead
Jaw
Males have a square jawline and the line between the outer edge of the jaw and the ear is vertical. Conversely, in females the jaw is much more pointed and the edge of the jaw slopes gently towards the ear.
A male skull
A female skull
Female Male
Smaller and lighter skull Larger and heavier skull
Rounded forehead (frontal bone) Sloping, less rounded forehead (frontal bone)
Smooth supraorbital ridge (brow) Prominent supraorbital ridge (brow)
Round eye sockets (orbits) Squarer eye sockets (orbits)
Sharp upper eye margins Blunt upper eye margins
Pointed chin Square chin
Sloping (obtuse) angle of the jaw Vertical (acute) angle of the jaw
1st Zbrush Sculpture
For my first Zbrush sculpture I tried to create a monster using some of the basic tools.
WEEK 2
The nose
At the promontory between the eyebrows, the nose mounts outward and downward to end in the apex. The wing of the nose is limited above by a groove called the alar furrow. Undersurfaces of the wings are seen to slant downward and meet at the midline. The opening of the nostril is in each of these planes. The partition of the cavity, separating right and left nostrils, is the septum. The nose has the cartilage of the septum, 2 lateral cartilages and 2 alar cartilages.
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Sculpting the nose
I learned about the structure of the nose and then using Zbrush created one.I built this nose using the standard brush to build it up and then to define the area around the alar fat, I used the dam standard brush. Below are some screenshots of my nose sculpts as well as videos showing my process.
These two noses I sculpted using the images below as reference.
WEEK 3
The mouth
The lips arch backward from the center line and terminate at thee cheek in pits, called the corners of the mouth. Each lip exhibit a red margin. The philtrum is a vertical depression accentuated by slight ridges at either side. The red margin of the upper lip consists of tubercle and 2 curled wings and of the lower lip consists of groove and lateral lobes.
Sculpting the mouth
WEEK 4
The ear
Behind the joint of the jaw is the wing-shaped ear. This feature consists of a bowl called the concha, and a broad double rim. The various ridges abd hollows of the ear are formed by a thin plate of crumpled cartilage; the pendant lobe below is soft and fleshy. The outer rim is the helix. The inner rim is known as the antihelix and is separated from the helix only by the depression of the scapha.
The hinder surface of the ear, owing a fairly uniform thickness of parts, shows the various elevations and depressions reversed: the eminence of the concha, the fossa of the antihelix, and the eminence of the scapha.
Sculpting the ear
WEEK 5
The eye
The eyeball lies nested in fat within the orbital cavity of the skull, where it occupies a position above and lateral to center. It consists of a nearly perfect shape surmounted at the front by part of a smaller sphere, the cornea. At the center of the cornea ‘floor’ is the pupil, a circular aperture of variable size, opening into the depths of the eyeball. The iris serves as the ‘floor’ of the cornea and it looks like a ring of color.
Sculpting the eye
WEEK 7
Sculpting a basic head
This week we learnt how to sculpt a head using two techniques: 1) Starting from a sphere and making a male skull, 2) starting from a template (female head plane)
First technique: Starting from a sphere
Second technique: Starting from a template
For the second approach, I used HeadPlanes_Female template and tried to sculpt a human head from the reference images.
Villain: developing an idea
For my villain task, I am going to model a creepy female character who makes me think at uncanny valley, even though it is not a cyborg. I will create her messy hair and big and staring eyes. I used the images below as references.
WEEK 8
Fat, PolyPaint and Spotlight
I have outlined every fat pads of the human face below:
Texturing in Zbrush: PolyPainting and Spotlight
Polypainting : painting on the model's surface
Spotlight : adding an image to the surface of the model and then using the brushes.
In order to assign base colour and material we need to have the RGB on and after we choose a colour and material we go to Colour -> Fill Object
This week we learnt how to paint colours: Spray + Alpha 07
spots: DragRect + Alpha 01
veins: DragRect + Alpha 60
I sculpted this model and then I polypainted, I over exaggerated so that next time I will remember better the colour each zone of the face should have. However, there needed to be more definition around the nose.
The forehead is a whitish or golden color.
From the forehead to the bottom of the nose is reddish.
The zone from the nose to the chin tends toward a bluish, greenish, or grayish color.
However, it is hard to notice these zones in reality because almost everytime they are very subtle. They are more pronounced in men.
Here is how I polypainted my villain:
Using Spotlight
I have used the image below
WEEK 9
Neck, Hair, Clothing and IMM brushes
Hair:
We can either use FiberMesh to create the hair or we can sculpt it with Clay Buildup brush and then using the Dam Standard to give more definition. I find the second method easier.
Clothes:
subtool ->extract
deformation -> Polish Crisp Edges
IMM Brushes
I played around with some IMM Brushes:
WEEK 10
Taking a model from Zbrush into Maya
Workflow of my villain:
Final result:
WEEK 12
Facial Action Coding System (FACS)
FACS represents the facial muscle movement
Action Units (AUs) present different emotions, feelings, moods.
As an exercise, I created some emotions:
Happiness -> action units: 1 + 6 + 26
Sadness -> action units: 1 + 15 + 17
I moved a model made in Zbrush into Maya and played around with the expressions.
With blend shapes we can control the expressions.
WEEK 13
This week, we created an eye in Maya.
Workflow:
