I am in the process of creating an illustration that includes two alien characters – “Wally,” who is displayed in the previous post, a male alien character. And a female alien who is featured in this video.
Sculpted in ZBrush, I begin with a pre-sculpted female human skull that I created. I like to begin by shaping the skull, then adding the major muscles, then fleshing her out, until I completed the final textured head (shown below). This sculpting session took about an hour. I decided to name this character “Beth.”
I envisioned these characters to be humanoid, with a very close resemblance to humans, but not quite. Wally and Beth, which is the working title of my in-progress illustration, needed characters to fit this description. I’m hoping to have the new illustration completed by early next week.
“Beth.” Digital Illustation. (c) 2014 Michael J. Barnes.
Final Head Render Test. (c) 2013 Michael J. Barnes.
I think I finally found the right “mix” to achieve a photo-realistic look (or about as close as one as possible). The thing is, I now realize that I was over-thinking the process. As it turned out, I didn’t need to do as much composite work in Photoshop. What I did need to do was alter some of settings in the skin material before I rendered the image in Zbrush. It’s a whole lot of technical stuff involved, of which I really don’t understand.
So the phrase, “Less is more,” really applied to this image. Any rate, this is my final render test. It’s time for me to move on to the next phase of this project. As it stands, I’m very pleased with this result. Let me know what you think.
Render Test of heroic male head. (c) 2013 Michael J. Barnes
In my attempt to try and make my male heroic head look more realistic, I decided to do a new render test. With this test, I created “environmental” lighting to try to reduce some of the harsh shadows. I created several multi-pass renders in ZBrush and created the composite in Photoshop. I don’t think I completely achieved my goal, but I believe it is a step closer for when I complete my final illustration.
Detail of adult male hero character. (c) 2013 Michael J. Barnes. (click to view enlarged image)
Continuing with creating new character meshes, I have completed more refinements and details to the adult male hero character. This character is created and rendered in ZBrush, and composite completed in Photoshop.