HMC #20 - Expressions - Jensen Ackles

[Intervain]

woohoo awesome choice of a face - he's very expressive, there'll be lots to choose from for sure :) Looking forward to it :) [yes I'm a Supernatural fanatic - rather biased ;)]

[robo3687]

really good choice, i'm also a supernatural fan and he was actually going to be my second choice if i found time for a second entry....lol....back to the drawing board...

good luck!

[waterlilly]

Intervain: Thanks! I had never seen supernatural until about 2 months ago, when I went to visit my mom. She's really into the show, and she got me hooked.

Robo: Thankies! I had a inkling that he might be a popular subject. When I saw my first supernatual episode ("On the Head of a Pin") I was so mezmerized by Jensen's eyebrows. All I could think about was how interesting it would be to model his face, so when this challenge came up I couldn't resist.

Today's update, refs and sketching out edge loops:

http://www.indivara.com/wip/jensen/ref3.jpg

I had a rough time using the glam shots for reference, it slipped my mind that they are so heavily photoshopped that there's a good deal of stretching and scaling. I wound up having to do the edge loop plotting all over again with new photos. I'm using a different technique to model the face from one of CGsociety's tutorials, due to deformation for the expressions I need to be extra careful about the edge loops. Zbrush might not be able to compensate for base mesh mistakes in this particular challenge, and I don't want to run into those issues at the end.

I'm still not sure how I'm going to model the hair. I've never used the maya fur/hair system, but since Jensen's hair is a simple crew cut it might not be too rough to learn. If I don't have enough time I might model the hair from polys.

Whether or not to texture the model, I'm still on the fence. I think it will come down to how much free time I'll have.

[waterlilly]

Here's tonight's work. Bed time for me now... Zzzzzz :wise:

http://www.indivara.com/wip/jensen/work-1.jpg

[robo3687]

bit small but it looks like a good start...

just one small bit of advice... you might want to raise and relax his eyebrow area a bit...in the ref he's already frowning with his brow and you should aim for a relaxed face and go from there

[robo3687]

Yeah he was in Smallville for a little while, most known for his roles as Eric Brady in Days of Our Lives and Dean Winchester in Supernatural.

EDIT: thats wierd....posted the message at 4:39pm and it transported back in time to 4:35pm....and made me appear to double post...lol

[BrettSinclair]

Never heard of this guy. But he looks familiar. Smallville?

If I may say. I think you need to place an eyeball in there. So that you can correctly place the shape of the eyelid and brow.

[waterlilly]

Robo:

You know I was so eager to get started I hadn't even thought of it- you're right! I'll dig through my references and find a front photo with more neutral eyes.


Brett:
Thanks for the advice, I was having some trouble with the lids and I think it shows. I'll drop an eyeball in today when I work on relaxing the brows.

Cheers!:beer:

[turx]

me another fan of the series and Dean =)
He has really nice facial structure. I'll watch this thread, good luck!

[Airflow]

Yeah, Images is small, but it looks like your doing ok with this. Id say textures are important. Part of the reasoning of my entry being a fictional character is that I dont have to try to recreate every thing on an existing face.

[waterlilly]

I'll post some bigger images with the next WIP update so you can see more detail.

But first.... As you know it is mother's day... So, this one is for the ladies:
http://www.indivara.com/wip/jensen/happymothersday.jpg
:bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown:

[Airflow]

Meh, I had a better body than that when I was 6 :P

[waterlilly]

hahahaha. Suuuuure.:D

[TiMrozek]

Ha! He's really strugglin with his shirt there in the bottom left. Hope he manages to get that off without takin his head with it.

[WyattHarris]

I'm glad he switched to Supernatural. His part in Smallville was getting really stale.

Great start, looking forward to your progress.

[psebesta]

nice choice I am to a fan of supernatural. good start on the base has a good likeness already

[Airflow]

Ok, when I was 16, but that down to a brutal martial arts teacher :) , man did that guy like horse stance...

Any updates?.

[waterlilly]

Thankies everyone! :cool:

Airflow- ball-breaker instructors are the BEST!!!

I went out to an indie game developer's meetup last night, and I've been slacking today so I haven't made much progress, but here ya go: :wip:

http://www.indivara.com/wip/jensen/wip-1.jpg


I used a different reference for the eye sockets, but that reference isn't in the screenshot. I still have a lot of work to do on the jaw/neck/ears. Once I'm happy with it I'll bring the mesh into zbrush for the medium & fine details.

:beer:

[mnartgirl]

Hey he was in Dark Angel, and Smallville for a bit too should give a wide range of emotions.

Luck

[vincent0731]

nice body! did u also model it?

[RageOfAges]

Nice mesh so far Waterlily. Good polygon economy, too. The only thing I can crit on at this early stage is that I would give it another edgering around the eye. Apart from that, we'll see as he develops.

-RAge

[shin4]

Don't know about this guy, but ur mesh looks nice and clean, I am sure I will be follow up with ur WIP~:cool:

[BrettSinclair]

Looking good.

Not sure how far along you are in taking the mesh. But if I may..
You need more loops going into the corner of the mouth you only have one edge at the moment. Also you have a split on the brow which isn't necessary:). But like I said I'm not sure how far you are in the mesh:)

[Airflow]

As said the brow has a vertical split which could cause problems, Id rethink the brow, so you have the geom to make a good anger furrow. Apart from that, his upper lip corner need a bit of an overhang. Otherwise, its ace.

[waterlilly]

Vincent: I'll probably model the head, neck and some of the shoulder, but I doubt I'll have time to model the whole body- although I would like to :) So that may be a side project for me once I'm done with this challenge. :arteest:

Rage- Thanks! I had nagging suspicion about the eye- I don't want the mesh too clean or it won't hold detail, and I've been debating myself on where to put more loops.

Shin- Thankies! I do like a light mesh, but it's tricky deciding where to put the polys.

Brett- You may :love:and I appreciate the advice! I'll fix the brow and add more loops to the lips.

Air- Thanks for the crit! You're right about the lip (and the brow), I overlooked that detail. When I put more loops in I'll refine the curves of the lip corner.

I am quickly discovering that Jensen's face is VERY difficult for me. I reworked the mesh, mirrored it and merged but it looks off to me. Back to the drawing board...

[waterlilly]

Some updates- red= base mesh, 3rd image to the right is subdivision 3.

http://www.indivara.com/wip/jensen/wip-2.jpg

At the moment I'm fleshing out the details in the lower subD levels, still lots of work to do on the lip, nose, eyes, etc.

http://www.indivara.com/wip/jensen/wip-3.jpg

more views of subD level 3, man those lips look awful (since I'm still working on them :banghead: ) . So nothing really finished yet, sorry folks. :hmm:

[FICTIS]

Hot damn, the model looks very good so far, I loved your Ulysses work, can't wait to see the expressions you come up with. Good luck!

[waterlilly]

Thanks Fictis! I appreciate the kind words.:beer:

I've got tons of work to do on the model yet! Eventually I'll move onto the face expression stage, below is my collection of Jensen's facial expressions:


http://www.indivara.com/wip/jensen/faces.jpg

[waterlilly]

Today's update:

http://www.indivara.com/wip/jensen/wip-4.jpg

Worked on the lips, nose, chin, and ears today. I'm not using the mirror-x function on the brushes, because I was a moron and captured some of the facial asymmetry in the base mesh too soon. I probably should have blocked out some details in zbrush FIRST until I was happy with the face and THEN smoosh the face around for asymmetry. Too late now, ack! Tomorrow I'm hoping to have enough time to flesh out the neck, hair, eyes and brows. At least its starting to look like Jensen.

[Airflow]

Yaay, you got the lip, well almost, its pretty close. Keep going, some more work on the nose and your good to go.

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