ZBrush Practice: Simple Head

Apologies for neglecting to post my progress with the ZBrush sculpting class I am attending. The class is conducted by Dmitry Gaborak at CG Protege; the goal of the class is to eventually model a full body human character. For now, the classes focus on the human head.

After studying the human skull, the class continued with simple head. So why start with the skull rather than going straight to a simple head? Because by starting with the skull, we are forced to see the structure of the skull and see which bones contribute to the shape of the head.

I personally found starting with the skull very helpful. I have studied the human head for drawing a lot of times, and I sort of memorized the shape of the head. What I missed is perhaps the understanding of the shape of the skull.

Figure 1. Simple head sculpted during class

Figure 1 shows the model I sculpted during class. I took around 2 hours (I did not note down the time). We started with a polysphere (a rounded cube), applying DynaMesh when necessary.

Dmitry made us follow a selection of steps presented in Burne Hogarth's Drawing the Human Head book. The first step is really simple, basically a round shape for the cranium and a box for the jaw. I thought it was too simple and in some ways negated our exercise with the skull in the previous class; but I was surprised to find myself struggling a lot with the first step. As figure 1 shows, I could not get the shape of the top and back part of the skull right.

When it became clear to me that the class was really going through a series of simplifications which got more and more complex with each step, I could not salvage the model I worked on. I decided that I would follow through with what I got and would revisit the steps on my own after class.

Figure 2. Simple head sculpted after class

Figure 2 shows the outcome. Again, I did not note down that time I took, but it was extremely long. I started from a polysphere, taking my time to get shape and proportions right. It is worth noting Dmitry's tip for this class: check the shape of the eye socket from three quarter views, both the front (second from the left on figure 2) and the back (right most on figure 2). I personally check these views myself because they are the angles I often draw.

Figure 3. Simple head with eyelids

I then added simple eyelids and nostrils to the model. The result is figure 3.

So, here are points I concluded from this exercise:

• At the back, the boundary between the bottom of the skull and the top of the neck is vertically around half way the head's height. (This is roughly the same height as the base of the nose.)
• The bone that frames an eye is a landmark. (By landmark, I mean a prominent shape that serves as am important guide to get proportions right. I got this term from a life drawing class at CG Protege. I do not know if this is a generally accepted term in drawing & sculpting.)
• The cheek bone is another landmark.
• The nasal bridge is a potential landmark. In some cases it is not important; in others it means a lot.
• Going front to back, the head is the widest around where the ear is. The face is narrower in comparison.

In addition, this exercise convinced me to take the time to go through whatever the class went through at least one more time on my own. I guess repetition is a part of exercise :)