Hey there. I’d just like to tie up a few things for the end of my independent study. It was a lot of fun, and it’s something that I would like to keep doing as practice. Taking known people and essentially just sculpting them, really helps me get in the habit of making something different.

I also have to say that I really do enjoy Mudbox much more than zbrush. I may still play around with Zbrush now and again, but I think Mudbox is going to be my principle sculpting program from now on. You can see the differences between the two that I’ve done here. Hugh was done with Zbrush and Summer was done with Mudbox. Some of the improvement between the two was just my skill, but also the ease of the program I was using.

I’m also posting a couple comparison shots for my models to their real world counterparts. I can see I have a long way to go, but I’m quite happy with the way they turned out.

I’m sure I’ll continue to get better at sculpting, which will help me greatly as a character modeling. I think my next independent study will have to do with vehicles. I don’t do nearly enough vehicles, but that’s for a new year. See y’all lata!

Updated: Independent Study Reflections

Why did you choose the topic that you did? Professional reasons? Personal curiosity?

I chose to sculpt busts because it would help me develop better modeling skills for facial structure, and detailing, and also gave me practice creating something that was not of my own design.

Did you work alone or in a group and did that work out? Would you have rather worked with someone else or worked alone?

I worked alone.

How ambitious were you in your goals? Was this based on previous knowledge? Ambition alone?

I did want to get three busts completed, but due to time constraints from other projects, etc, I was only able to finish two. This was based on some sculpting I had done before.

When you started on the project what issues did you run into that could or did cause delays, frustrations if any?

I ran into some issues with the program I was using, Zbrush, as it could not do some the things that I wanted it to. Mostly that was the ability to bring in reference images. I overcame this by switching to Mudbox, which does have reference images.

What did you learn about your own abilities to set goals? Plan the work? Or not?

I believe my goals were realistic, and if the other projects did not take priority then I believe I could have completed three busts.

Did any skill or part of the project come naturally to you? What did not and what would you feel you need to work on in the future? More than just technical skills but project planning?

Learning a new program fairly quickly was not too hard for me, but the base skills of sculpting and detailing still require a lot of practice.

Was there any part of the project that you really gravitated towards and could see yourself specializing in? or are you more interested in being an all-rounder?

I quite enjoy sculpting, as the amount of detail you can get from it is amazing, and the face that you can actually use these high poly models as a normal map adds that extra bit of knowledge for a pipeline to me.

If your original goal had to be altered or reduced half way through the project what were the reasons?

Time restrictions mostly. Other projects that took priority grew in size, and thus this project suffered.

Did you learn anything more about yourself through this experience? Sometimes life challenges can interfere with our best laid plans, how did they affect your ability to get the work done?

I learned that I work well under pressure, since it forces me to stop picking at things for too long and to move on to the next phase when further tweaking is no longer necessary.

Here she is. Done. Or at least as done as it’s going to be. I think it turned out better than the first one I did. I really do like Mudbox more than zbrush I think. Still not perfect, but a lot easier to use in my opinion.

I already see some things wrong with it, but at least it looks like her. For the most part. I’ll probably put a comparison image up soon as well. Tell me what you think!

Here she is after a second day. Added some hair, tweaked the face some more, and changed around the basic shaders to give a better distinction of each part.

This is the start of my second bust for my independent study, the lovely Summer Glau who was River from the series Firefly and the movie Serenity. I actually decided to try a different program for this one, as I was starting to get frustrated with some of Zbrush’s limitations, and confusing interface. Enter Mudbox. I have to say, I’m liking it a lot more than Zbrush. The tools seem to work better, the interface is much easier to navigate, and you can use reference images in it. It still doesn’t do everything; small things here and there still are a bit annoying, but much better than Zbrush in my opinion.

Anyway, here is what I have so far.

Man, stuff just keeps flying at me. Projects everywhere I look. Because I have so much school work coming at me, I’ve decided it would be best to cut down the number of busts I’m doing. I want to put a decent amount of effort into them, so I don’t want the other projects breathing down my neck while trying to squeeze them in. So the next one is Summer Gau. Look forward to seeing some WIPs soon.

Finished the first bust for my independent project today. It didn’t turn out as good as I wanted it to be, but I’m a few days late on the schedual I made for myself, so I’m just gonna call it done. It’s time to move onto the next one. I think the main thing about it that gets to me ist the hair. His hair when playing House is so messy I found it very hard to do. I think the next one I do, Summer Glau, will be easier because she has longer hair that will be easier to make part of the model. Also, it seems she is a little easier to find pictures of.

So here he is. Comments always welcome.