Rita Hayworth

Going to give my first CG portrait a go and can use all the advice I can get.

Here's the base mesh in ZBrush - I think I'm on the right track but I know that there are probably a million things that still need to be fixed:

can you put your reference, so we can compare

Whoops, I guess that would help. It's tough to find the "right" reference since there are so many photos of her over so many years - it makes it tough to get the look just right. Here are two that I've been using the most:





And here is the mesh subdivided a few times - no further editing:

A little more proportioning and also added in some temporary eyes to help. Made me realize I need to work the anatomy of my eyelids/eye sockets in general so that they fit right.

I think the nose needs to be wider, the top lip less rounded at the top and fuller, also how many reference images are you working from?

To be honest I dunno too much about Rita Hayworth but I did spend a few moments searching the internet looking at the best images, different angles, some at different ages to maybe help refine your work.



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i love this woman Rita Hayworth keep on

Artdigital, thank you for the help - especially those references! I am working with quite a few but it helps to have them all in one place like that. I'll definitely remember to do that from now on.

Some more refinements. It's a lot of very subtle changes but as a whole I think it's definitely improved over the last post. Also don't worry about those ears, I think they'll be replaced with new geometry in Maya:



Edit: still need to fix the lips...

Much improved, I think you've got the shape of the nose down but I think it still needs to be wider (and softened), the top lip also look better now though the bottom has a weird pointy look to it and outline shape needs to rounded out. The ears are too small but that's a minor thing compared to getting her look down (which you are headed in that direction I think!)

Here is a small paintover



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Thanks again! Really appreciating the help. Made a (pretty creepy looking) comp test just to see where I am and what I need to fix.



That'll be the pose I'm going for anyway so it's helpful just to see how everything lines up.

I was thinking it may help to focus on one area (say, the nose) and concentrate on the contours there, look at the nostril shape and broadness of nose. Also have you thought about the level of her smile, as there are varying degrees in the images I have seen, this will also help in relation to the nose.

Here are just a few segments just focusing on her eye/nose area



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Ok after taking a couple of steps backwards I think I'm back on the right track... especially with that nose!





Again, don't mind the ears - they'll be replaced soon enough with clean geometry. I also have a question - I'm planning on rigging this model along with making blendshapes, so should I find a better neutral pose for now? Or will what I have now be fine?

I'm far from knowledgeable when it comes to ZBrush but I would go for a neutral pose, also did you start your model in this software as I know some people work in something like Max or Maya then import the mesh to a sculpting software for refinements

Thank you and nope, I've been working from a basemesh that I imported from Maya which is in the first post. So I'll be rigging that lower poly mesh and applying displacement maps, etc. from the new high-res sculpt. I'll probably try some animation way down the road but the rigging will mostly just be a learning exercise and a nice way for me to find the right pose.

I'm not too knowledgeable when it comes to ZBrush either. Hoping to learn a lot about it through this project (which has been true so far). Thanks again!

I found a side image that may help and did a small paintover of the nose


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Taking everything into consideration I restarted from scratch with a new mesh and I'm pretty happy with the way it's progressing. I just bought V-Ray so I'm starting to play around with shading but any c&c would be appreciated!

Here's just a quick test with some IBL using a single dome light: