Newt, Sculpey and the Horse

Prep work for this week's deadline, to model Newt's head before next Thursday. Another character with a very pronounced jaw... so damn difficult to understand neck topology. This took about 2 hours in photoshop.

To help me understand skull anatomy I made this bust in sculpey. It was useful to sculpt the face with something physical and has been valuable in helping me understand the structure of the neck, jaw and cheekbones.

It was originally meant to be based on Sigourney Weaver, but I have enough trouble making things look human in ceramics, let alone sculpting someone who is so easily recognisable. This hasn't been baked so I'm going to mash it up and make a new and hopefully better version.

I also did some sketches of friends using graphite, fine-liner and 4h pencil. I'll upload these on Saturday as I don't have access to a scanner.

Now on to this week's main project, to model, unwrap and rig a horse. Here's some progress shots:

Basic mesh modeled from reference image.

Progress of sculpting geometry in Zbrush. I used books such as 'An Atlas of Animal Anatomy', which is fantastic, alongside physical 3D statuettes for this stage. Because no photography was involved I found it much easier to understand the subtle forms of the animal in the skeletal and muscular structure.

Progress shots of the very dull retopologising process in Zbrush. I managed 6,600 triangles which is pretty good for a current gen horse model.

Unwrapping retopologised model in 3DS Max.

Looking back at this week's work, I'm disappointed that I couldn't stick to my deadlines, but I decided to spend a lot of time on the horse model to make the topology really good with a minimal triangle count. I had to start this model several times again before I was happy with the proportions. I've improved my unwrapping skills, and I'm starting to understand Zbrush a little better.

Next week:
Finish rigging, texturing and posing the horse model.
Make a start on Newt's face.
Start on Ripley's hair, finish her head.
Model, unwrap and texture a super low poly frog, in one day.
Do more paintings of people and more pencil sketches.

Thanks for reading, crits are always welcome :)