Roy Nottage
Thanks for the feedback! Even though Bodem was later revised to the axe shape, it was still interesting to consider the method you outlined initially with the framework. I definitely need to practice the principles of these block-ins more regularly. When I've tried 'speed sculpting', it's so easy to fly off the path early on. Particularly with digital - starting with a default sphere and limitless tools has often been a one way ticket to some seriously messed up blob faces.
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Roy Nottage
Here for the ear! For this one I kinda wanted to get a suppleness across - which I don't think I really managed with the other features so far. Pretty happy with it overall, except for the back. Struggled with the conch and the back + underside in general. Couldn't mentally relate the internal ear to the external shape of the conch. Although next time I would perhaps stick holes right through the clay early on to gauge the thickness of certain areas.
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DANI DIKMAN
Hi everyone.  my first assignment
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Roy Nottage
These have a lot of character to them!
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Roy Nottage
Finally finished up the skull assignment. For reference imagery I was predominantly focusing on skull that I found on Pinterest. Although, the reference teeth didn't appear to be correct (?) - so looked at other reference for those. The teeth also took way longer than I was anticipating. There was a lot of quite heavy revising, even late on, but overall I'm pretty happy with the outcome.
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Roy Nottage
Ok, so I really should be cracking on with my next fresh assignments. But I thought I'd share where I ultimately took my skull model to. I will use this as a base for the face and neck muscles assignment. I enjoyed this project far more for having started with real clay, felt like a real journey.
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Roy Nottage
Here's a few follow up shots. Refinements I made to the skull in Zbrush, and couple to show the photogrammetry scanning process.
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Roy Nottage
Thanks for these great variation of armature approaches! Although this particular tutorial was regarding polymer clay, just thought I'd add a note about using aluminium foil with oil-based clay. Personally I've found if you're planning to reclaim and reuse the clay down the line, oil-based clay doesn't always peel away from the foil without it ripping. This can leave very small aluminium shrapnel in the clay. Which isn't ideal if (like me) you reheat oil-based clay in the microwave. So in that scenario, I tend to add an external layer of a different material to the foil (like sellotape) before applying the clay. Just so it parts from the clay easier.
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Roy Nottage
Life size mouth assignment. Decided to ignore the facial hair and focus on the facial forms. Not sure I pushed the dental mound out far enough. And it was tough getting inside the lips. Feel like my noses are getting better though 👃.
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Roy Nottage
Did most of this assignment quite a while back, but got massively waylaid by other stuff. Went to finish it today, then remembered it was mostly just to sort out the excessive moustache... so I decided to leave it as is and post it. Move onto the next assignment... for the mouth - where moustache will attack again.
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Roy Nottage
Pretty happy with the side profile overall, but front feels iffy. Think I extended too far out under the eyes, and eye shape and nose are bit off. I definitely found it tricky to focus on a 'square' of the face, seemed somehow like proportions were harder to gauge. Although chipping away at this in work lunch breaks meant I could move it forward, I think it would have benefited from sitting down and properly commiting to it for longer sessions.
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Roy Nottage
The content and format of Andrew's Portrait Sculpting course has been a really great way to break down a complex subject. It's made me feel a lot more confident in approaching the portrait, and shown me new ways to tackle areas that I've previously struggled with. Getting feedback from Andrew himself has been really beneficial - highlighting those areas for improvement that I hadn't noticed. Very happy with the premium course content, and I look forward to progressing with it!
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Roy Nottage
Hey Andrew, thanks for all the great feedback! And for covering so many. It does seem like a great exercise to try as a warm up / to familiarise with a person's face, before tackling a larger likeness of that person. Out of interest, do you ever do much in the way of 'front view' pancakes? Appreciate the profile probably offers more information as a basis for establishing the main proportions for likeness, but wondered if there was anything unique to learn from doing the front (or if it just presents more challenges). Perhaps an insight into a person's a-symmetry.
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Roy Nottage
Re feedback on amount of information, I thought it was a good length and pace. Was able to sculpt alongside the demo without missing stuff or having to pause, etc.
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Roy Nottage
I've prematurely got quite far through my 'realistic skull' - I wasn't totally sure if the Anatomy of the Skull lessons were the sum of lessons for that (and I wanted to keep with the pace of the lessons). Awesome that there's more - @Andrew Joseph Keith roughly how many weeks do you think will cover sculpting the 'realistic skull'? I should've used a metal rod as per your suggestion in the video. I tightly wound loads of stiff paper around a big nail. I thought it'd be fine, but it's become quite precarious under the weight of the clay... and on a wood block that is definitely too small...
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Roy Nottage
Not sure if you still need an answer for this - but kind of clay did you buy? If it's oil based clay like Monster Clay and you want it more malleable, I just put a fresh/mostly full tub in the microwave for 2 minutes (maybe just a minute for half-full tub). Depends how soft you want it. If you overcook it in microwave (I often do...), you might find it goes to hot liquid in the middle. If that's the case, I usually just set it aside for a few minutes and try to resist the temptation to stick my fingers in it.
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Scott Camazine
This was a fun exercise. I got a bit carried away making an armature since I have a woodshop, but it probably was not worth the effort to try to use less clay by making a fuller armature. I included a few shots of the earlier part of the process. It took me a while to figure out why the front view in the initial stages looked so weird (the top of the head being too wide and large). I am not finished with this yet, so please send me LOTS of criticisms and suggestions. I think I will mold this in silicone (using cheap hardware store 100% silicone. It works well for me) But I do hope that Andrew will give us some instruction on mold-making as well
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Roy Nottage
Did you find the armature shape informed your proportions in a useful way, once you were starting to apply clay? I guess if you get it correct from the beginning, it could be useful - I think I'd be worried I wouldn't have much flexibility (but probably because my previous attempt with a 'fuller' armature was poor - my proportions were so off that I had to cut sections of my armature off...😆). Result looks cool though!
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Roy Nottage
I've got a bit behind schedule, oops. Will catch up. Started this assigment with the boden method (which I've decided I Iike a lot), and blocked out from there. Used my previous ref (and the early pancake... bit risky?) to help with the profile. In hindsight, I should've taken photos early and flipped them horizontally once the main shapes were in. Having flipped the front/back photos now, I feel like the symmetry is pretty off. For the smoothing I used a loop tool I made a while back, by clamping loops of nickel wound guitar string into each end of a narrow copper pipe. Then cleaned that up a tissue that has been dabbed with isopropyl myristrate.
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@sscottie
Loomis head quick block-in. Think I might have back of head too large again. Will keep working on that. Enjoying the process. Scottie
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Roy Nottage
Looks like a great improvement to me! Do you think you have a preference of the three approaches yet?
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Roy Nottage
Did Loomis first, then Bridgman and finally Bodem. Loomis felt like it went ok, I had some familiarity with the Loomis head on paper and always thought it seemed like it could be a good starting point in 3D. Didn’t really get on with my Bridgman, perhaps because I made the head too blocky / big for the neck. Of the three, it’s the one I kept having to tweak because it felt off. Think I came at it all wrong - it just wasn’t vibing at all. In Bridgman’s illustrations and when Andrew uses it, it looks a lot more natural / organic, so maybe I overdid it with the angles. Should've gone more curved triangle? Enjoyed having a go at Bodem. Found it easier than the other two to visualise how I could ‘work into it’ and use it as a starting point. More adding, less removing. Also it reminds me of Gray Fox’s helmet from Metal Gear, so hard not to like. For my preference of the three, I guess I’d have to try starting a portrait with each to know. But I reckon it’d be somewhere between Bodem and Loomis.
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@sscottie
I keep posting in the wrong area🙃! Anyway hope this is the right spot for this and certainly hope I understood the assignment!!
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Roy Nottage
Nice. I like the presentation you did with these within the photos. Although I'd perhaps crop off the white fill border/background. It limits how easily we can look at each of the models (particularly on mobile), since that white takes up most of the screen space.
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Julia Arrighi
Hi fellow students, What could be improved to achieve more likeness? I'm looking forward to your feedback. Best wishes, Julia
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Roy Nottage
Hey Julia! These feel like they've got nice character to them. I do agree with Scott's remarks regarding eyes and chin. I think the one based on the selfie photo is my fave of the 3. Which order did you do yours, out of interest?
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Roy Nottage
Hey guys! Got some pancakes. I spent about 1.5 hrs on first two (myself, then friend), then limited myself to 1 hour on the last (my son). Felt like I learnt a lot on each - and I did get quicker. I think improving my pace to some degree, is definitely something I'd like to develop over this course. I stuck to just using my hands/fingers for these - which felt incredibly tricky for the eyes/lids.
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