HMC#20: Expressions - Young Bale

#21

Hectic. Didn’t see the skull before. Well done.

#22

You are getting close…watch for the shape of his lips! :slight_smile:

#23

interesting choice, likeness and great sculpting man.

#24

Excellent work here. I’ll be sure to keep an eye on your progress.

Cheers!

#25

thanks for the walk-though. this sure is one to follow.

-r

#26

Definitely looking like him. Interesting that you start out with his eyes closed. The only section that might be off is the cheekbone area. Not sure how though, need to see it from the front view. Other than that great work!

#27

Thanks so much for the feedback everyone. Very encouraging/useful on all fronts.

nothingness - To answer your question about the technique… I don’t know :slight_smile: To be honest, I’m finding it very difficult to sculpt such a young smooth face. So everything that I can’t get nice and smooth like it is in the reference, I’ll call “technique” :slight_smile:

The main problem I’ve been finding with this challenge is nooooo tiiiimmmeeee. Planned to be much further than this by now. We have a bank holiday in the UK on Monday though, will try and use that time to get things in order a bit.

I don’t know how much different this looks to last time, but it’s quite a few hours work just on the face. Hair I’m not sure about, but reluctant to spend too much time on. In most of my reference, his hair is short and fluffy, which I thought would be impossible to sculpt, so I’ve gone with the posh english side parting that he sports at the start of the film.

Next stage, open the eyes and the mouth to help find the likeness more. The problem with choosing a likeness for this challenge is I could easily spend the whole month just on the expressionless head, and still not be completely satisfied with the result. Here’s hoping I don’t…

And an example of the reference for hair -

Since we’re supposed to post everything we use for reference, I thought I’d put up one of the reference sheets I made. I’ve made one for the eyes, nose, ears, and mouth, which I normally do when trying to get a likeness. I find working from 2d reference so stifling, and for me this is the best way to get a feel at a glance how the features are sitting in 3d space.

So here we go - lots of young Baley noses (I’m pretty sure I had a dream about his nose after working from this in the evening):

#28

Man, I’m a fan your sculpt is so alive!

#29

Nice work mayne, I just watched “Land of the Rising Sun” in school and Bale was in it, that picture with his mouth open is from that. You have a pretty good resemblance going on.

#30

I can totally tell it’s him :slight_smile: very nice job

#31

hey chris!

beautiful. very recognizable.
only small crit would be his bottom lip looks a little off compared to some of your refs (especially the last one). it looks like the middle part is a little too big and flat. maybe even it out a little up against the small peaks.
this could also be because of the shader, though.

anywho, amazing work. can’t wait to see how you tackles the expressions.

-r

#32

Hey pal,

Excellent as ever :smiley:
subscribed

Cheers!

#33

Very nice. Also think likeness is there in a somewhat stylised way.
I’d say it looks romantic. Norman Rockwell romantic.
Personally don’t like that part of it. Of course just taste.

But really nothing to pick on.

It shows a good drawing hand, notably at rendering and looks very high poly.
Specially the hair. Can I ask how many million polys you’re pushing there?
Also how do you get the shaded drawing look. Is it a texture?

#34

totally awesome work, what a tough subject you’ve picked

#35

vshen - Thanks man. Such a nice compliment :slight_smile:
Intervain - Thanks! For some reason this is one of the hardest likenesses I’ve ever tried to get, I’m glad you can recognise it
rasmus - I’m working on an expression at the moment, but will return to the base sculpt to check out that crit as soon as I’m done with it. Thanks a lot for taking the time to point it out.
menthol - Thanks :slight_smile:
spin99 - Interesting that you mention Rockwell. I’m not a massive fan of that style either, heh. Although maybe it’s appropriate because the character I’m creating is actually meant to be Bale in that film (I’m putting him in his school uniform too), which is based in at the start of the 1940’s when I presume that style was fashionable. So that’s what I was going for. cough

edit - Sorry forgot your questions. I’m a bit limited on polycount due to my laptop not being the most powerful. His whole head/body mesh is 730,000 of which about 450,000 are the head/neck. Hair is around 220,000.
omnilight - Thanks a lot. Tough is the word…

Well no update in this post. I lost nearly all of yesterday’s work through zbrush saving everything corrupt, which I didn’t realise until the end of the day. I’m working on an expression now (crying, quite is quite apt…), hopefully will have it up this evening.

#36

energypulse - Sorry, I forgot to answer your question. Yea, all reference pics are from Empire of the Sun. Cracking film.

Ok here’s the update. I have no idea how I’m going to do 15 of these in the time, this one alone has a way to go. But here you go, have some sadness -



The neutral pose has changed a fair bit too, but I’ll post that up when I can be bothered :slight_smile:

#37

Awesome so far. Keep going:wip:

#38

Excellent! Mr. you are really fast… and with a good eye for the detail…5*

#39

I didn’t think you’d have to explain to anybody liking or not the style hee hee.
I understand you’re going for a 40’s look.

Pretty amazing work imho like people say nice attention to detail and lots of likeness.

I would have never guessed you’re only on a million polys it looks even higher.
Any case wouldn’t know, I like simplified stuff and am right now under your hair count.
That’s for head, ears, eyes, hat, gums and teeth. Talk about saving energy.

Not complaining either :confused:

#40

Great job on the chin and brow crinkles. It makes me wanna see him cry. hehe
Uhh… cry more, I guess. :stuck_out_tongue: