ANATOMY AND CHARACTER SCULPTURE / Continuous Projects (Project 1,2 and Final Project)

  11.5.2023 - 17.6.2023   l  Week 6 ~ Week 15

Kim Seoyeong    l  0335903

Bachelor of Mass Communication [Digital Media Production]

Anatomy and Character Sculpture

Continuous Projects  l  

Project 1: Stylized Character Blockout

Project 2: Character Detailing and Texturing

Final Project: Polishing and Dynamic Posture

LECTURES

Week 12: Cloth/Skirt Tutorials

We are taught how to sculpt cloth with wrinkles and how to make cloth with detailing. We should refer to some visual references based on our pose and based on our character.

Week 13: Polygroups, Rigging, and Polypainting/Texturing

We learned how to rig our character to re-pose it and polygroups for each sector and how to add texture to my characters. Polygroups are a really powerful technique to work with our mesh.  Rigging is an important part of our final project.

Week 14: Rendering, Lighting & Shadow for Poster

Mr. Kannan taught us how to render the character in Adobe Photoshop. And we learned how to add lighting to characters with an angle that I want this week.

INSTRUCTIONS

Continuous Projects: Project 1,2 and Final Project

Project 1, Project 2, and the Final project are continuous projects. 

Project 1: Stylized Character Blockout

We must create our character design to build a stylized character block-out in which we must demonstrate anatomical studies used in digital sculpting. Characters can be humans, bipeds, hybrids, or quadrupeds. The sculpture should capture the following elements:

1. Proportion

2. Character identity and believability

3. Theme

4. Readaable silhouette

5. Identical Landmarks

6. Initiated Style

7. Muscle Flow

First of all, I started to sketch my own character with a specific theme as a turnaround sketch for sculpting for my left projects.

Figure 1.1    |    Stylized Character Idea Sketch_Turnaround (12/5/2023)

I tried to sculpt my character's head first with proper proportion and balance. In the beginning, I tried to add basic shapes to my character before sculpting each section.

Figure 1.2    |    1st Attempt of Character Blockout (Front)_Week 6 (12/5/2023)

Figure 1.3    |    1st Attempt of Character Blockout (Back)_Week 6 (12/5/2023)

Figure 1.4    |    1st Attempt of Character Blockout (Side)_Week 6 (12/5/2023)

Figure 1.5    |    1st Attempt of Character Blockout (Face)_Week 6 (12/5/2023)

After I add basic shapes with the specific proportion of my character, I started to sculpt its body.

Figure 1.6    |    2nd Attempt of Character Blockout (Front)_Week 7 (18/5/2023)

Figure 1.7    |    1st Attempt of Character Blockout (Side)_Week 7 (18/5/2023)

Figure 1.8    |    1st Attempt of Character Blockout (Back)_Week 7 (18/5/2023)

I realized that the proportion is not well balanced and it is not matched with my character turnaround sketch. So I decided to redo my character block-out and sculpt and add clothes and hair to my character. 

Figure 1.9    |    3rd Attempt of Character Blockout_Week 8 (25/5/2023)

Figure 1.10    |    3rd Attempt of Character Sculpting with hair_Week 8 (25/5/2023)

Figure 1.11    |    3rd Attempt of Character Sculpting with clothes_Week 8 (25/5/2023)

Then, I was supposed to submit my project 1 and I got a lot of feedback on the above. I add muscles to be visible and redo proportion with better balancing. 

Final Stylized Character Blockout

Figure 1.12    |    Final Stylized Character Blockout (Muscle Flow 1)_Week 9 (1/6/2023)

Figure 1.13    |    Final Stylized Character Blockout (Muscle Flow 2)_Week 9 (1/6/2023)

Figure 1.14    |    Final Stylized Character Blockout_Week 9 (1/6/2023)

Figure 1.15    |    Final Stylized Character Blockout_Week 9 (1/6/2023)

Project 2: Character Detailing and Texturing

We continue to improve on the prior sculpt from Project 1. We can add enough features and textures to the character sculpt by thoroughly studying anatomy principles in your sculpt. Details should enhance the character persona, adding visual narrative to the content created. The following are the components that must be completed in this project:

1. Character Persona

2. Skin Details

3. Scars and bumps

4. Creases

5. Color implementation

6. Light setup

7. FINAL RENDER

I continued to improve my character sculpting by changing and redoing proportions and balance to solve my main problem during the process of projects. After then, I tried coloring my character with the
ZBrush Paint tool.

Figure 2.1    |    Coloring process on character_Week 10 (8/6/2023)

Mr. Kannan gave detailed feedback on my proportion problem with my character with Photoshop. So, I try to figure out the proper proportion for my character after then. And I also change some muscle flow referring to a visual reference from Pinterest. Because the muscle is not well balanced previously. And I decided to change clothes instead of one piece dress.

Figure 2.2    |    Final Stylized Character Blockout_Week 12 (15/6/2023)

Figure 2.3    |    5th attempt on Muscle Flow & Proportion 2_Week 11 (15/6/2023)

Figure 2.4    |    5th attempt on Stylized Character with a new clothes_Week 11 (15/6/2023)

Figure 2.5    |    5th attempt on Stylized Character with a new clothes_Week 11 (15/6/2023)

After then, I modified the proportion and balance a bit and colored the character with the paint tool again to finalize Project 2.

Final Character Detailing and Texturing

Figure 2.6    |    Final Character Detailing and Texturing (Muscle Flow 1)_Week 12 (22/6/2023)

Figure 2.7    |    Final Character Detailing and Texturing (Muscle Flow 2)_Week 12 (22/6/2023)

Figure 2.8    |    Final Character Detailing and Texturing (Clothing)_Week 12 (22/6/2023)

Figure 2.9    |    Final Character Detailing and Texturing_Week 12 (22/6/2023)

Figure 2.10    |    Final Character Detailing and Texturing_Week 12 (22/6/2023)

Final Project: Polishing and Dynamic Posture

For the final project, we are supposed to polish our character. Clean up and retouch our sculpture with an appealing posture that clearly expresses the character's personality. Characters should have props that reinforce their personas and add to the visual narrative of their nature. The sculpture should stand on a platform. The lighting will be improved further, and the final images will be edited in Photoshop or another equivalent digital painting application. The following are the necessary breakdowns:

1. Collective shots rendered to show components in details

2. Final render to be polished and presented on a portrait-sized image. Printable high res.

3. Final poster with an appealing layout.

4. Projection to low-poly model

5. Backed texture sheet

6. Character turntable

I designed clothing in detail with coloring and added shape to it for rendering. And I also rigged my character to pose instead of the basic 'A' pose. After rigging, there was some error in my characters. So, I solved that problem with Zbrush tools.

Figure 3.1    |    Process of Rigging_Week 13 (29/6/2023)

Figure 3.2    |    Adjusting after rigging_Week 14 (6/7/2023)

Figure 3.3    |    Process of clothes folds_Week 14 (6/7/2023)

Then, I added effects on my character, which are lighting that I want to set and texture as well. Finally, I rendered it in Adobe Photoshop and added a background as a spotlight stage. 

Figure 3.4    |    Process of Rendering and Creating a Poster_Week 15 (13/7/2023)

Final Polishing and Dynamic Posture

Figure 3.5    |    Final Polishing and Dynamic Posture (Turnaround 1)_Week 15 (13/7/2023)

Figure 3.6    |    Final Polishing and Dynamic Posture (Turnaround 2)_Week 15 (13/7/2023)

Figure 3.7    |    Final Polishing and Dynamic Posture (Turnaround 3)_Week 15 (13/7/2023)

Figure 3.8    |    Final Polishing and Dynamic Posture (Character Poster)_Week 15 (16/7/2023)

Submissions

Project 1: Stylized Character Blockout

11.05.2023 - 11.06.2023   l   Week 6 ~ Week 10

Figure 4.1    |    Final Stylized Character Blockout (PDF)_Week 10 (11/6/2023)

Project 2: Character Detailing and Texturing

11.06.2023 - 22.06.2023   l   Week 10 ~ Week 12

Figure 4.2    |    Final Character Detailing and Texturing (PDF)_Week 12 (22/6/2023)

Final Project: Polishing and Dynamic Posture

23.06.2023 - 17.07.2023   l   Week 12 ~ Week 15

Figure 4.3    |    Final Polishing and Dynamic Posture (PDF)_Week 15 (16/7/2023)

FEEDBACK

Week 7: I need to improve a lot since the block out is not consistent and unbalanced in proportion. 

Week 8: The muscle is not visible and the proportion is not that good. The sculpted character doesn't match well with my turnaround sketch. 

Week 9: Improved, but I should redo the knee sculpting part and need to add more muscles to my character.

Week 10: Good tryout, but the proportion of the arm is too short compared to other parts. Try to research for visual references on muscle and proportion with given lecture materials (references).

Week 11: I should add a detailed pattern or shape to a piece of clothing. Start with the coloring of my character.

Week 12: I had to modify some such as reducing wrinkles and adding more muscle or fat of my character.

Week 14: I need to refer to the videos on how to render and how to make a poster with Adobe Photoshop from ZBrush. For the rigging part, I need to redo it because it is not well rigged.

REFLECTIONS

Using all the skills and tools I learned in the previous exercise, I made my own character from the basics to the details, sculpting the detailed character from the beginning, and revising it repeatedly, it was very difficult. Also, my patience was limited and stressed because of the problems I had with using ZBrush constantly repeating, the harsh time constraints of all modules, and the heavy tasks compared to me when first encountered everything. I tried a lot of things to use the ZBrush app and studied by watching a lot of related videos. After 14 weeks, I got used to it a lot compared to the first time, and I was proud that my sculpting skills improved day by day compared to the first time. I'm generally lacking in the tasks I've accomplished in this module, where everything was a big challenge, but I'm satisfied with what I've accomplished for the first time. If I model again next time, I can be confident that I can improve more based on all the skills I have learned.