I can see that you’re already headed (no pun intended!) into the fine detail on this, and if I can I would suggest stepping back a little.
If you’re planning to use a diffuse map pulled from the scan to add a lot of detail, then what you currently have will probably hold up. But if not, or if you just want to improve the model then there are a few regions that need attention. Most of which I think are misinterpretations based on a lack of knowledge of what’s anatomically going on under the skin - which is totally fine, because this stuff has a learning curve like a cliff face!
Looking at the side of his face in the scans vs your current model, your version has a lot of ambiguity. There are a surprising amount of plane changes going on in this region that if you don’t have, just make it look like a mass of nothing. If you take the scan date you have and run a clay polish over it in ZBrush, you’ll probably see some of these regions. Take the time, if you can, to have look at some diagrams of fat distribution in the face and you’ll start to understand what each section actually is and how they relate to each other. Looking at the scan, this guy has some pretty pronounced jowl fat/sagging (look up superior mandibular jowl) as well as some decent buccal fat.
Also (and this is a very common mistake) you currently have a lot of tightness and thinness (for want of a better term) in the regions that are most defined. It makes logical sense, after all we can see that the lips are the lips, the nostrils are the nostrils, the eyes are the eyes…etc. so it’s tempting to accentuate them with sharp creases…etc. But really, that definition comes from plane changes rather than sharpening. Compare the shape, size and meat of the nostrils in your model vs the scan. I bet you’ll be surprised just how fleshy and substantial the real ones are. Another important area where this occurs is the eyelids. Take a look at how thick your eyelids are in the mirror, they’re actually pretty substantial. If you thicken the up the ones on your model accordingly, I bet you’ll see an improvement - especially if you add some eyeballs in there to reference off (always a good idea anyway). It’s also common for people to do this with the ears - they’re so complicated and visually fussy that some weird instinct kicks in to make them much thinner.
Don’t get me wrong, I think this is a great start especially if you’ve never made a person before! But if you find yourself glossing over an area because you’re not really sure what’s going on, it will ultimately let your model down, so don’t be afraid to stop and look the anatomy up from time to time. Even if you don’t understand the terminology, just seeing a basic drawing of how the muscles/fat under the face appear can be a huge help.
There is no displacement applied at the moment and please ignore the clothing.
