How to sculpt a stylized head in blender
How to sculpt a stylized head in blender
How to sculpt a stylized head in blender
How to Sculpt a Stylized Head in Blender
For those that want to get good at sculpting stylized heads faster!
It’s time to Level Up!
You’ve probably been taught that sculpting the head starts with a sphere and ends with a head. That’s like reading a book without chapters! This unorganised approach makes the information more difficult to understand and retain.
This course takes a different approach by breaking the process up into 8 manageable levels. You can think of these levels like checkpoints, and each builds on the one before it. This organises what you need to do and takes away much of the stress that comes with the daunting task of sculpting a head!
Each level also becomes it’s own exercise, so you can really focus in on those areas you struggle most with!
References that Work
We all know the importance of using reference when working but 2D references are limiting, especially when you’re learning. Most of the time you have just a single image to work from. If you’re lucky you might have a character sheet that gives you Front, Side and 3/4 views. This is slightly better, but it’s far from ideal.
The problem is that when you work in 3D you need to know how the model should look from any percievable angle, otherwise it falls apart. Unfortunately, character sheets don’t include references showing the model 37° to the left and 23° tiilted downwards.
Having a 3D reference right there in the viewport removes any doubt by allowing you to rotate around the model however you like, whenever you like. I sincerely wish I had this when I was starting out
Self Critique with Confidence
You know that critiques are invaluable when it comes to progression. However, you’re not always keen on the idea of showing people your work just yet, especially on social media where people can be… ruthless!
What 3D references allow you to do is very accurately compare your efforts with your goal. You can literally slide between your work and the reference to see where you got it right, and what you need to work on. Imagine how useful this will be to your improvement!
2D References
You will also be provided with 2D references of each shape from from a variety of different angles. These are very useful when you want to check a shape without moving your 3D references. They’re even more useful when used on a second screen!
FREE UPDATES!
Despite putting a lot of hours into creating this course I regard it as far from finished! Aside from adding more lessons (see below), I would also love to hear your feedback on existing content. This will allow me to review the content I’ve created so far and improve on it. Of course, these updates will be free of charge!
Planned updates include:
The price of the course will be updated as new content is added but existing customers will recieve these updates free, so it’s worth getting in early!
Note: Some of the lessons may be offered as stand-alone products once the store is up and running. Some lessons, or partial lessons, may be uploaded for free on YouTube to promote the course.
How to Sculpt a Stylized Head in Blender
It’s time to Level Up!
You’ve probably been taught that sculpting the head starts with a sphere and ends with a head. That’s like reading a book without chapters! This unorganised approach makes the information more difficult to understand and retain.
This course takes a different approach by breaking the process up into 8 manageable levels. You can think of these levels like checkpoints, and each builds on the one before it. This organises what you need to do and takes away much of the stress that comes with the daunting task of sculpting a head!
Each level also becomes it’s own exercise, so you can really focus in on those areas you struggle most with!
References that Work
We all know the importance of using reference when working but 2D references are limiting, especially when you’re learning. Most of the time you have just a single image to work from. If you’re lucky you might have a character sheet that gives you Front, Side and 3/4 views. This is slightly better, but it’s far from ideal.
The problem is that when you work in 3D you need to know how the model should look from any percievable angle, otherwise it falls apart. Unfortunately, character sheets don’t include references showing the model 37° to the left and 23° tiilted downwards.
Having a 3D reference right there in the viewport removes any doubt by allowing you to rotate around the model however you like, whenever you like. I sincerely wish I had this when I was starting out.
Want to see an example? Check out Shape 1 on sketchfab! https://skfb.ly/otAuy
Self Critique with Confidence
You know that critiques are invaluable when it comes to progression. However, you’re not always keen on the idea of showing people your work just yet, especially on social media where people can be… ruthless!
What 3D references allow you to do is very accurately compare your efforts with your goal. You can literally slide between your work and the reference to see where you got it right, and whereyou need to work on. Imagine how useful this will be to your improvement!
2D References
You will also be provided with 2D references of each from from a variety of different angles. These are very useful when you want to check a shape without moving your 3D references. They’re even more useful when used on a second screen!
FREE UPDATES!
Despite putting a lot of hours into creating this course I regard it as far from finished! Aside from adding more lessons, such as retopology mentioned above, I would also love to hear your feedback on existing content. This will allow me to review the content I’ve created so far and improve on it. Of course, these updates will be free of charge!
Depending on the scale of the update, it may affect the initial buying price, so it’s worth getting in early!
Whats Included
Planned updates include
The price of the course will be updated as new content is added but existing customers will recieve these updates free, so it’s worth getting in early!
Note: Some of the lessons may be offered as stand-alone products. Some lessons, or partial lessons, may be uploaded for free on YouTube to promote the course.
Привет всем! Сегодня рассмотрим скульптинг. До версии 2.8 скульптинг был довольно простым, и там были проблемы с производительностью. Сейчас скульптинг сильно прокачали. Большой вклад в его развитие внес Pablo Debarro. Многие гифки в этой статье взяты из твиттера. В первой части рассмотрим только основные функции. Материал составлен в Blender 2.90, но также подойдет для более поздних версий. Учтите, что некоторые кисти будут отсутствовать. Сам интерфейс не сильно поменялся.
Интерфейс.
Создание нового файла.
Если нужно отскульптить уже существующий меш, воспользуйтесь вкладкой Sculpting в Рабочих Пространствах (Workspace), либо сменой режима с Object Mode на Sculpt Mode.
Вкладка Sculpting в Рабочих Пространствах (Workspace).
Переключение на режим скульптинга.
Перед вами откроется стандартный интерфейс с некоторыми настройками, большинство из которых можно включить в Viewport Overlayrs.
Для удобства работы используйте Ctrl+Space (Разворот окна на всю область программы).
Интерфейс Blender в режиме Sculpting
Основные Панели скульптинга.
Навигация.
Но учтите, что в Режиме Редактирования (Edit Mode) не будет работать выделение лупа (ЛКМ+Alt), а так же Lock Object Modes в меню Edit.
Lock Object Modes при снятии галочки позволяет переключатся между режимами с помощью Alt.
Переключение между режимами.
В 2.91 теперь можно переключаться между объектами не используя Lock Object Modes. Теперь переключаться между объектами можно через клавишу D.
Переключение объектов через клавишу D
Fade Inactive Geometry
Toolbar (Панель инструментов).
В режиме скульптинга панель инструментов отличается. Здесь расположены кисти.
Также цвет курсора дублирует цвет иконок.
Цвет курсора в зависимости от выбранной кисти.
— треугольник внизу справа под кистью означает, что есть дополнительные кисти.
— Кисти Фильтры. Кисти, добавляющие различные свойства к мешу.
Свойства Кисти Mesh Filter
— Кисти Трансформации. Добавляет обычный Гизмо для Перемещения, Вращения или Масштабирования.
— Кисть Cloth. Позволяет симулировать Ткань на участке меша.
Пример использования Cloth Brush (оригинал, оригинал 2).
Пример использования Face Sets (оригинал 1, оригинал 2)
Brush Propirties:
Brush Settings:
— включить силу нажатия (для планшета).
Пример твердости кисти
Place Offset от 0 до 0.5
Tip Roudness c различными значениями.
Включение Front Faces Only.
Falloff:
Falloff позволяет вам контролировать падение силы кисти. Спад отображается от центра кисти (левая часть кривой) к ее границам (правая часть кривой). Изменение формы кривой сделает кисть мягче или жестче.
При нажатии на Shift+F вы увидите мягкую кисть и кривую, которая образует эту кисть.
Что бы изменить данную кривую перейдите в меню Falloff и раскройте выпадающие меню. Здесь выберите нужную кривую. Кисть изменится в зависимости от выбранного параметра.
Наглядное представление формы кривой
How to sculpt a stylized head in blender
In this first new timelapse video I am sculpting the entire head of Snow. This is not yet including a polishing pass on the sculpt. Instead this time around I sculpted the head first, then the body & outfit, and then I merged it all and refined the entire sculpt at once. This is a better workflow overall.
This time, since I directly worked from a concept I included the drawings as empties in a separate collection. You can import images by simply dragging them into Blender. Just as a note I also used some custom menus to quickly switch between matcaps and other viewport settings.
Nowadays I also don’t really use dyntopo anymore but mainly rely on the voxel remesher. So you will seem me using that a lot and then switching to the Mesh Filter Tools to globally smooth the sculpt. Just be aware that it’s hard to work on very detailed shapes with teh voxel remesher sicne they can get lost easily. So work your way up in detail over time! Usually I also don’t use Xray shading but in this case it really became useful to see my concept through my sculpt that way. Overall this is similar to when I sculpted Rain, only that my mind was mainly on interpreting an existing concept into 3D instead of finding the concept as well. This made things a lot easier and faster for me and I highly recommend you to go the same way.
I also was struggling a fair bit with finding the right skin tone throughout the creation of Snow. I wanted him to have a darker tone but this would make sculpting on him difficult since Matcaps are multiplied on top of the local colors. So for a lot of the creation of Snow he was too pale.
For Snow’s eyebrows I didn’t paint them on this time. Instead I extracted them and joined the objects. With the inclusion of Face Sets (for hiding things) and automasking in sculpt mode it became incredibly easy to manage disconnected pieces and many elements in one object.
How to sculpt a stylized head in blender
I feel as though I understand the shape keys well enough but had a question about something that might be a bit more specific and or advanced concerning their use. 🤔
( Please see below link for references. )
My character’s lower jaw is synced with his chin ( if that makes sense ).
When I move his jaw, his teeth move accordingly, but not the proper way they would in a person. That is, there should be more spacing between the last molars and the overall jaw should be less exaggerated in the angulation.
So for the end frame ( ie 1.0 marker ) I manually edited that pose. But when I close the jaw it now juts at an insane angle.
What is it I’m doing wrong?
Here’s my google folder with a link to the original file, the experiment file, and a visual guide of the abve question.
Julien Kaspar
@Jonathan Doe Thanks for the detailed comment with the link. That made it very clear. These are exactly the things that are found out while expression testing! I have some solutions to your problem:
First off you are probably adjusting the open mouth angle & position of the lower teeth on the base shape and not on the shapekey. That’s why the original shape is now messed up. Try to never make adjustments on the base shape but always on the existing or new shapekeys, since that is easier to undo.
But I think there is another solution to your problem. Look up skull pictures from the side. You can notice there that the teeth & jaw are actually angled slightly. Your model has very horizontally straight teeth. So if you angle the teeth and gums to point upwards towards the back of the head, then you will have more space to rotate the lower teeth with the jaw.
Definitely keep in mind that the lower teeth are stuck to the jaw. So they have the exact same rotation point under the ears. In your tests the teeth are rotating at the molars which looks unnatural.
But really great work so far! Keep it up 😀
Jonathan Doe
Thanks so much for the workarounds, Julian! : D
Also oh my god, you’re right about the teeth! Google is indeed one’s friend lol.
I angled the teeth and gums for both jaws slightly. But because they are both altered to be slightly angled at the same degree, this still replicates the initial issue I was having. The good news however is if I were to exaggerate the bottom jaw to get what I want, it does allow more room for it!
The bad news is I’m still having the issue illustrated in my initial post of the lower jaw becoming misaligned despite making all of my edits on the “mouth open” shape key.
I rewatched section-3 video-4 to see if there was something I missed concerning the drivers, but they all appear to be synched. Yet I’m clearly doing something wrong. What is I do not know. 🤔
I’ve put in a new blender file for the new arrangement of the teeth.
In the meantime ( when you get the chance to check this new file out ), I’ll keep messing with it and researching to see if I can find a solution.