Refining the Character Bust
At this point, you have added the new geometry to support the horns on our sculpture. Using the Move brush, shift and reshape the horns. Smooth them to help increase the tapering ends (Figure 3.71).
Figure 3.71 Horns smoothed and positioned
We will now make some adjustments to the bust to help improve its sense of character. This includes making large changes of the length of the neck as well as smaller anatomical form details like folds of flesh and shaping the lips.
1. To introduce a sense of gracefulness in the figure, you’ll extend the neck. Doing so will also help echo the long horns. Be careful not to make the neck too thin or weak. Use Transpose masking to isolate the neck. Rotate and extend the neck using the Transpose tools (Figure 3.72).
2. Mask the nasolabial fold next to the nose. Press the faces here in slightly to help create the sense of a fold of flesh. Using the Standard brush with a small Draw Size, sketch some crossing wrinkles radiating out from the lips. You’ll refine these wrinkles later at a higher subdivision level.
3. Using the Standard brush, create the shelf of the lower lip. Create the soft fleshy parts of the lip with the Claytubes brush (Figure 3.74). The lips can be further puckered together, giving the impression of pressure, by using the flatInflate brush (Figure 3.75). Sculpt the nodes of the lips from the side view (Figure 3.76).
Figure 3.72 Elongate and rotate the neck.
Figure 3.73 Working the nasolabial fold with masking and the Standard brush
Figure 3.74 With the Standard brush, refine the lower lip.
Figure 3.75 Further refine the mouth with the Claytubes and flatInflate brushes to make sure the lips overlap.
Figure 3.76 The mouth from the side view. Note the nodes of the lips.
4. A useful technique when sculpting mid-resolution details like striations in the skin or tendons is to sculpt the form you want at a higher subdivision level and then step down and smooth the lower levels. When you step back up, the form will still be there, only much more subtle. You can then accentuate the highlights and shadows as needed with the Standard brush (Figure 3.77).
5. Build up the masseter muscle and the jawline with the Claytubes brush. This gives the creature an imposing silhouette from the front view (Figure 3.78). Using the Standard brush, start to detail the horns (Figure 3.79).
Figure 3.77 Smoothing at a lower subdivision level helps make the forms appear more subtle when you return to the higher subdivision levels.
Figure 3.78 Building up the masseter
That completes this sculpting exercise. Figure 3.80 shows the final creature with primary and secondary forms sculpted in. Remember that the success of this sculpture is based solely on the anatomical form you create with the limited number of brushes demonstrated in this exercise. Keep in mind that primary and secondary forms like these are the most essential aspect of the sculpting process. The greatest sculptures work because the form is well resolved and realistic. See the accompanying DVD for videos of this character head process.
Figure 3.79 Detailing the horns
Figure 3.80 The final sculpt
