I suck at sculpting heads, so I did it 100 times

💭 FAQ + Additional Thoughts AT1 • Do I recommend this challenge? Yes & No. No - it can very easily become a game of clearing quotas just for the sake of it, rather than to practice effectively Yes - forces you to not spend too much time on a bust, prioritising what matters, improving your speed. AT2 • to further emphasise on practicing effectively, blindly sculpting 100 heads is simply a waste of time. I'd rather you sculpt 5 heads with the intent to learn something than to brute force your way to head no.100 just to farm karma points on reddit. AT3 • I feel the need to emphasise that learning Anatomy was NOT my only intent during this challenge. It was also shape design & expressions. each topic is very in-depth, I couldn't possibly cover everything here. but I hope this little video journal of mine could help you in your research before you begin your journey! Q1 • Did you sculpt with a Mouse or Tablet? A1 • tablet, specifically the Wacom CTL490 Q2 • How long have you been using Blender? A2 • I've been using Blender for about 3 years now, but I've had past experiences with Maya when I was a VFX student for 5 years (went to 2 diff schools) Q3 • Computer specs? A3 • Laptop with RTX 3070, AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD Q4 • Song at 29:26? A4 • A cover of "Taeyeon - I" I produced specifically for this video Q5 • Did you only sculpt with 1 reference photo? A5 • nope. 7:29, 7:47, 9:27, 9:54, 10:04, etc. these are just a few of the many examples in the video where I showcased a glimpse of my PureRef file before "scrolling" into the reference photo, so that you know who I'm sculpting. if I see anymore FAQs I'll add it here, so feel free to ask

How is nobody commenting about the insane production quality of this video? Fantastic visuals that probably took painstaking days to edit together.

Here's some additional tips I've gained from working in inudstry: - do timed sculpts daily, and don't linger on projects. - Try starting head sculpts from two cylinders and an egg shape merged together (this is illustrated in anatomy for sculptors) - Make a custom UI if using Zbrush. - Get critique on your work from other people. They may spot things you might have missed. - Experiment with different brushes each time you sculpt - Adjust the lighting in your scene regularly and constantly rotate your model - Practice realistic forms before moving to stylised.

I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times. -Bruce Lee

Something I noticed with both attempts at Phoebe and Monica @10:05 is that while they were both smiling, they lacked the natural squint that comes with smiling that widely which ends up making the smile look fake, and ultimately throws off the intended result. Something to think about!

I would have never guessed you would consider yourself bad at anatomy cuz your work is amazing!

Good job man. Definitely there is improvement. So it should sit as inspiration for everyone to do this challenge :). And then continue with more heads :)

Im not a 3d artist, but as a 2d very cartoonish artist, your workflow and how you organized learning was really helpful!

you may want to smooth out the smile lines when sculpting neutral expressions; they tend to make a character look much older

I have no idea why this video popped up on my feed but I ended up watching all the way through without skipping any parts. Your pacing, editing, humor, and overall production quality is outstanding; especially your attention to detail in the onscreen graphics and callouts. (The quality of the sculpts is fantastic too and that's just the icing on the cake!) Really well done.

Some unsolicited advice: - spend more time using the grab brush to get the foundational proportions/silhouette right before adding details (eyes, lips, creases) - use additional smaller views/panes to always have an eye on the front, side, top and 3/4 views

Know nothing about sculpting, watched whole video in one breath. Truly motivational, love it!

This inspires me. I always feel defeated when I am not good at something right away or see improvement fast enough, but this video really shows how much putting in the effort to learn and practice makes.

Day 1 was better than anything I can do! I did 3D Graphics and Animation at university in 2001 - MUCH harder back then with slow render times and limited tools. Maya and 3DS MAX. I gave up because I just couldn't improve at art no matter what I did. 20 years later I discovery I have Aphantasia and my entire art career (lack of it) suddenly made sense. I literally cannot visualise anything. Improving in art for me was like climbing Everest in the dark. Luckily while at University I met a guy that showed me you can make music on computer - and I never looked back! Changed career path. 20 years in production and mastering. All those years of playing piano and guitar suddenly became useful and not a complete waste of time. Luckily my inner ear work, when my minds eye doesn't! -- Edit - WOW... man, your use and knowledge of anatomy and musculature is mindblowing! Way to go!

Small feedback of a non sculptor. The last sculpt and a lot a lot in between, after applying hair are simply missing some cranium. Hair at the last sculpt seem to be growing straight form the brain. Also You seem to do wide faces even if the models faces are narrower. And lastly the chin, also wide. If you notice, Taeyeon chin is barely wider than her nostrils. In your sculpt is way way wider - sides of the chin have some bulges. It gives her male look. Female faces are usually more delicate ideally with no muscles or hard contours visible. On the good note.. watching you work so hard just motivated me to put my hours as well. It's a really good job you did here.

Nice, this was really cool to watch. I have some unsolicited feedback I hope you will find constructive: a quick way to improve your female faces is to soften certain features (especially the jawline and cheek folds) and to accentuate others. Jawlines are often more pointed, narrow, "heart-shaped", softened, or angular for female character design (and even more-so in stylized representation). I noticed a lot of your ladies had strong, square chins that can read more masculine. Also, the cheek folds, while realistic, can quickly age a character, so they can easily be softened significantly to make a character appear more youthful. Compare some of your references, you can see a softened or more pointed chin/jawline (such as your earlier jinx sculpt) and softer cheeklines, so maybe seek those for reference. Also a quick and easy way to lean more feminine, esp in stylized representations, is to accentuate features such as lips, eyelashes, cheekbones, etc. A lot of this I picked up from comic/cartoon illustration, but is also applicable to sculpting, again, especially more so when you are making something stylized. Anyway, hope this helps. Again, it was really cool to see your progress and learning methodology. It definitely is inspiring me to sculpt more faces/portraits

Instructions Unclear, I Accidentally rewatched all 10 seasons of Friends.

Great progress overall. Keep it up! However, I think having to go fast is distracting you from going deeper. There are some basic flaws in all the heads that cannot be unseen. To me, the main one is the size of the skull. It needs to be bigger, with the eyes roughly placed in the center of the head's total height. This is more obvious in when using naturalistic references instead of stylized characters. Also, it might not be shown on the videos, but aim to go from general volumes and proportions to more fine detail. Dylan Ekren has really valuable lessons on that available on line. source: I've been working on CG characters for 20 years, including Disney ;-)

the toddler skull with adult features is basically the AKIRA style, the psychic experiment children

Genuinely impressed with the amount of progress you made over the course of this challenge!