Hello again HeckPoint(tm) nation - it’s Carter. Today, you join me in media res as I try a little experiment.

After taking a small break from sculpture to elucidate some other facets of the 3D character pipeline, I have decided it is time to get back on the saddle as it were re: digital sculpting. Since I apparently hate myself, I’ve decided the only way to do this is to re-attempt the single lesson I completely failed to complete this January - the female bust.

After reviewing THE BOTTOM LINE from my “Month of Progress” post, I have determined with utmost certainty that my failure lies within the five points below.

  1. Be intentional about your growth.
  2. Set time goals and break sessions into chunks.
  3. Dissect and journal your findings.
  4. Don’t fight the process. Things will be ugly and they will take time.
  5. Try not to quit on a sculpt unless you feel theres a good reason.

What you are about to read are my thoughts as I resolutely adhere to these points. If my hypothesis is correct, this story will have a happy ending. If it isn’t, well, I guess we’ll see!

You see, instead of my usual project postmortem, I will be using this post as an ongoing journal to document my progress. I will be following a few simple rules. My time will be divided into fourteen 30-minute chunks for a total of seven hours.

Every thirty minutes, I will take a screenshot of my sculpt and come back here to write not only my thoughts, but also actionable steps I need to take in the next session.

Session 1 (1hr, 30m)

Okay, so I cheated a bit and got started already, but I can explain. I hatched this entire plan in direct response to point no. 5.

  1. Try not to quit on a sculpt unless you feel theres a good reason.

Currently, I hate this sculpt. I feel rusty. There is a beast inside of me that wants to see it torn apart.

The beast. Is. Wrong. I must fight it’s cowardice. Instead, I will continue on with the belief that I can fix this. This.

For some additional context, my course instructor has me using a technique that is doing me no favors. We are to build the forms of the face using seperate parts, like a micro-level blockout. Ideally, this is to help me view each of the forms and the ways the interact with the face on their own merits. In practice, its clunky, and I feel like I lack the direct control a brush gives me.

But I will carry on! After viewing the above, this is what I’m thinking.

From the profile:

  1. The cranium as a whole feels too small, especially in comparison to the neck. Either grow the skull or shrink the neck.
  2. The fat pads above the eyes are too far backward. From the profile, they should extend basically all the way to the edge.
  3. The mandible is too sharp and pinched. Round it out and follow the flow of the chin down into the neck.
  4. The curve of the nose is too steep, and pushed too far forward.
  5. The angle where the collar begins isn’t well defined. Tilt the whole connection backwards.

From the front:

  1. The whole face - most of all the forehead - is too wide and the plane changes are too harsh. Shrink it in and soften it out, especially around the temples.
  2. The angle of the mandible is poorly defined.
  3. The cranium is too square. Move towards a nice, smooth egg shape.
  4. Read the lighting around the pads under the eyes. They appear to flat right now.

I may abandon the “blockout” style and start merging pieces to better work on the face as a whole…we’ll see. Welp. Let’s get back to it!

Session 2 (2hrs)

Well, how’d I do? I was worried early on that my corrections from the previous session would take up the entire time, thus leaving me no time to ideate further, but I actually had about 10mins at the end where I felt I had satisfied the above and was able to continue moving freely.

I’m back and forth as to weather or not it would be useful to review the previous points before creating new ones, but we’re quickly getting to the point where this dissection is more of a distraction than a boon, so I’ll keep it as is and give myself a set of new objectives. If they overlap with previous ones, so be it!

From the profile:

  1. The cranium still feels small. I tried to rectify this, but I’m still not there. Maybe I’m due to actually measure the skull front-to-back with a common reference point, say the eyes.
  2. The cranium also does not feel rounded enough - there are clear peaks in the back of the skull.
  3. The angle of the mandible needs to come down and widen out to flatten the front of the jaw a bit.
  4. The nose curve is now too sharp, and the nose too far inwards. The curve should be most noticable at the wing of the nose.
  5. The eye region might need to come forward?
  6. Work on the form of the cheek as it curves up into the eyes.
  7. The neck is too wobbly. Keep a strong cyllindrical primary form.
  8. Give some love to the ears.

From the front:

  1. The forehead is still too wide in comparison to the cranium. Maybe measure this as well.
  2. The eyes regions are too close together, and they need to be brought up in the skull. The eyeline should be roughly halfway down the skull. The brow and nose ridge should be brought upwards.
  3. The nose and lip regions are poorly defined, time to up the res and get them looking less blocky.
  4. The chin indent should fade away into the underside of the cheek and bottom lip, right now its protruding outwards.
  5. The angle of where the neck connects to the traps is too sharp.
  6. The under-eye region is still not rounded. Take not of the highlights under the eyes in the reference.
  7. The neck may be too short?

Time to get back to work!

Session 3 (2hrs 30m)

One kaftka and a monster hunt later, on we go. I’m supposed to be getting work done in my home (as is always the case) but my landlord’s cronies are over an hour late with no messages, as usual.

I spent a lot of this session focusing on the shape of the cranium. It’s so, so important - especially for female sculpts.

A small realization I had this time follows: just because I’m doing the “separate forms” thing doesn’t mean that I can’t sculpt the way I prefer. I’m still finding that doing what I do best is working. Making minor form adjustments with simple clay brushes vs. sticking to solely the grab brush.

Anyway, let’s get on it with the feedback!

From the profile:

  1. The cranium still isn’t looking smooth enough, even out its silhouette, paying particular attention to the connection between the back of the neck and the skull.
  2. The cranium should now be relatively the right size, but it still doesn’t look it - I chalk this up to proportion. Too much of the eye is protruding and the lids are too thick. The ear is too big?
  3. Pay attention to the relationship between the chin, lips, and mandible. Right now, its one big angle, but the front features should be flatter and straighter with a subtle curve up the jaw.
  4. Mayyyybe bring the whole face forward just a touch. Subtlety here is key.

From the front:

  1. Bring the angle of th mandible upwards and widen the jaw a touch.
  2. Reveal less of the eye.
  3. The traps need a more subtle angle downward.
  4. The angle of the brow needs softened. It may be time to merge the fat pads above the eyes.
  5. The sides of the nose at too skinny. It should feel like a flat trapezoid backwards in space.
  6. Maybe bring the eyes, nose, and ears up a bit.

Angled view:

  1. The muzzle needs to protrude more. It should almost break the silhouette.
  2. The cheek bones need to angle downwards from the ear to the face. Bring the back points upwards and define the plane change more.
  3. The eye sockets go too far back, making the forehead creep backwards on the face. Really keep a strong capsule shape here.
  4. The eye sockets (and fat pads) should be smaller on their radii, but also angled sharper inwards.
  5. Pay attention to how the eyes creep towards the silhouette.
  6. Better define the steroidal mastoids.

Eight more sessions to go! Am I in love with the sculpt yet? Not even a little! Am I happy with my ability to accept the changes I’ve noted? A little!

Session 3 (3hrs)

Its here that I must admit to you, my imaginary reader, that I feel the fear of failure creeping up my spine. I see ghosts of my many failed attempts whispering into view once again. The dread is consuming me, and I wonder if I’ve lost my way. Did I merge the forms too early? Am I too high poly?

Theres approximately one million ways not to sculpt, and I almost always feel like I’m “doing it wrong.” Now more than ever.

But I must not let this fear consume me. A day has passed since my last entry, as I push this off in favor of other things, anxious about the above images sitting on my hard drive.

I won’t go down like this. No sir.

From the profile:

  1. The angle of the mandible is too sharp, but the shape it pretty good.
  2. The nose needs better defined - take note of how the nostril rounds out into the lips, rather than extending backwards as is now.
  3. Round the cheek under the eye. Pay attention to the symbiotic curve between the forehead and the cheek.
  4. Round the clavs a bit.
  5. Read the lighting plane between the sternocleidomastoid and the traps.
  6. The posture is too upwards. Bring the neck back slightly.
  7. The skull feels just a liiiiiiiiiiitle too large now.

From the front:

  1. The slant of the eyes is not well defined. Clearly curve the upper and lower eyelids.
  2. The upper eyelid is too thick.
  3. The fat pads should gently cushion the eyes. They are missing volume near the sides and they protrude over the brow ridge. More clearly define this border.
  4. I’ve neglected to work on the fat UNDER the eyes every time, despite mentioning it. Fix it.
  5. I am too hesitant to work on the lip area. Better define that form, muzzle included.
  6. The angle of the traps is still wrong.
  7. The neck is now too skinny.
  8. Read the shading of the cranium behind the ears and rolling up into the forehead.

Angled view:

  1. Read the lighting near the cornea and rolling into the cheek.
  2. Read the lighting of the forehead into the brow, and square it on the sides more.

And now, I suspect, the hardest part of all. Putting pen to screen despite my unwavering reluctance.

Sessions 4 & 5 (4hrs)

I felt like I needed time to include last rounds feedback while also doing a straight refinement pass on the block-out shapes, so I did two session back-to-back, one for feedback, and one for refinement. I’m wondering if my thirty-minute sessions are actually more of a detriment in the later refinement stages. It’s really good when I’m blocking out primary forms, staying zoomed out and squinting - keeps me focused and keeps my eyes fresh. In refinement, I think I need time to find the more subtle forms.

I have to be honest, the fear has not subsided. I hate what I’m looking at, lol. My time is drawing to a close in just 6 sessions. I want to go back, but I can’t let myself. If I really hate it, I can drop the res and rework the major shapes, but I don’t know if we’re quite there yet. There are primary forms that I dont mind here…and I do feel as if I’m getting closer, but I just don’t see the vision and I’m really not feeling myself.

From the front:

  1. The eye shape still doesn’t feel right and is a major problem. The lids still havent been merged - maybe I can start over on these.
  2. You can probably square off the forehead even a little more, and kill the rounding/shading at the top where it connects to the rest of the cranium.
  3. The form of the skull rounding behind the ears needs to be a steeper curve backwards.
  4. The lips are still poorly defined. I think its time to stop being afraid of them, merge them, and make them right.
  5. Read the shading of the cheeks rolling into the mouth - too sharp.
  6. Work on the cheekbone as it recedes backwards. It should curve subtley to above the eye.
  7. The skull feels a little tall.
  8. The chin feels a little small!
  9. Bring the clavs to a point and add some thickness - read the lighting
  10. The sternocleidomastoid needs a subtle curve into the neck, and it should “wrap around” the neck. Give it a bit of a hugging flow.

From the side:

  1. The foread is protruding at the top. Keep it rounded from the profile.
  2. Like from the front, the top of the skill is too big.
  3. The ear needs to be a little bigger and more angled.
  4. Better define the flow of the cheeckbone into the ear cavity.
  5. Continue to soften the jaw. And relax the angle of the mandible backwards just a bit.
  6. Continue to focus on the front of the cheek. It should be a smooth curve. Read the lighting here.
  7. The connection of the nose and brow is way too high and curved. Pinch it. If needed, add the nose bone line.
  8. The posture is now too far back. Correct forward just a little bit.
  9. I think I also overcorrected on the cyllindrical shape of the neck. I should flow up into the skull nicely towards the end.
  10. Bring the back of the neck backwards - take note of the gap between the back of the skull and the neck.

Angled view:

  1. Take note of the curve of the skull behind the ear and the lighting on the backmost planes. The curve is too steep, and the planes too shallow.
  2. Actually, take note of the entire head silhouette from this angle. The jaw is too short and too wide. The eyes are sitting a little low and there’s too much flesh around the sockets.
  3. Pay attention to the lighting on the eye fat pads. It should be soft curve, with light pooling on top of the eye.

Sessions 6 & 7 (5hrs)

Alright!! I have to say, this is the first time since session 3 (two and half hours ago…) I really felt like I was cooking. Maybe it was finally merging the lips and being able to work more directly on the forms the way I prefer. Maybe it was the longer session time. Are we there yet? Not even close! But I feel for the first time that I’ve refound my footing.

Near the end of this article, I will share many of my past failed attempts at this very sculpt, and I think it’s interesting to note that the sculpt as it was after session 4 is about as far as I ever got with it, and in fact they look very similar. Maybe I had it back then, too and I had not yet learned to push through the hard parts.

Going into these sessions, I was legitimately thinking, “maybe this just isn’t for me.” Once things started clicking, I couldn’t have felt more wrong.

On to the feedback!

From the front:

  1. The skull feels a touch too skinny now.
  2. The angle of the cheeks can be pushed more. Read the lighting on the side of the jaw, it should be softer.
  3. The mastoids have a better hugging motion, but now they feel too skinny in comparison to the neck. Fatten ‘em up.
  4. It may soon be time to merge the lids. Before doing this, really consider how they sit in the face. Currently I think there is not enough form around the bottom lip, giving it a really thick appearance. Gently push the forms up to thin them out.
  5. The sides of the eye cavity are curving inwards, when they should bulge out slightly from the brow before curving inwards.
  6. Check your silhouette. The neck needs some cylindrical action from the front, and the traps need to be more soft.
  7. The jaw may be slightly too long.
  8. Lips are coming along. Keep defining here.
  9. The wings of the nose angle up too much. Keep it triangular.

From the side:

  1. Back of the cranium is too small, but better proportioned to the neck. Take it all back a bit. Ear should be halfway.
  2. Keep an eye on the sillouete at the front of the head. The noise is pointed too far upwards, you’ve lost the subtle curve of it into the forehead, and the face as a whole feels like its drooping.
  3. Also look at the curve of the jaw into the neck, should be less severe
  4. You could stand to better refine the ear.

Angled view:

  1. Again, face feels like its drooping, take a look at the relationship between the placement of the ears and eyes. Bring it up and bring the eyes/brow out
  2. Angle of the mandible needs to come up
  3. Head too thin, mastoids too thin, lower the traps slightly
  4. Take note of the angle of the cheekbone
  5. Fat pads under the brow can be expanded a bit. Feels too thin rn.

I feel like I’m repeating myself here, but it is what it is. Lots of things moving around all the time.

Sessions 8 & 9 (6hrs)