Sculpting is Fun!

Greetings and salutations! So I had a little bit of time sculpting over the weekend and the first thing I did was change the base mesh proportions. The original mesh was modeled from somebody with short legs. However, Aphrael has long legs so I had to change things accordingly. Compare these images to the ones in the previous post and you will see what I mean:

New front view

New side view

New back view

It's quite rough right now but I am happy with it at the moment because I will sculpt in details like muscle forms later. There are corrections that need made but I wanted an overall shape first before going into more detail. Aphrael is supposed to be around nine heads tall and the original model was only around seven I believe; and yes, she has a big butt to go with her long legs. In addition, I had to change the shape of her feet a bit because she is supposed to be in platform like shoes. Looking at the images at the moment, I may have to lengthen her arms a bit. The wrist should come down and be level with the crotch when at rest on her sides so I need to make sure her arms are long enough.

After I was done shaping the body for the moment, I actually started sculpting her face. As I said before, Aphrael's facial features are based upon Audrey Hepburn, so I am looking at lots of reference to make sure I get a good shape for her face. Here is what I have so far:

The start of Aphrael's face

Aphrael's face from a three-quarters view

Profile view of Aphrael

I am actually quite happy with the results so far. I have a good definition of her bone structure already in place now. The lips are being a bit more difficult and I may reshape them into a more pleasing shape. The next main part of her face I will start to bring out though is her ears and then start really sculpting her eyes. The eyes will probably be the hardest part because they are the part that defines the character the most so I have to pay special attention to them. Once I have the main forms blocked in with the correct shapes I want, I will go into further detail. Once the face is at a satisfactory level of detail, I will go do the same with the rest of her body; defining the surface anatomy of her bones and muscles. I will probably go back and forth with this until her body is done (no textures yet though) and then I will start creating the clothes. As I said before, you must create the body first, whether drawing in 2D or sculpting in 3D so the clothes can rest on the body in the correct fashion. Otherwise, it is going to look quite weird and incorrect.

In my next post, I will announcing some future plans I will be doing for the blog and my art so stay tuned!