Character Concept Bust

Unit 66/69
Your task is to create a character bust sculpt using Autodesk Mudbox.
You must select an animal theme on which to base you design, and
research on this given theme to generate a range of designs suitable for
development.

To begin my research, I first chose what animal I was going to base my design on. I chose to look at great eagle
owls so I started off by collecting general images of great eagle owls, including a perched position and different
flying positions.

Because the assignment requires a head sculpt model, I focused my
research by looking at images of an owl’s head from the front and side
view.

At this point, I knew that I wanted to take little details of the owl to
use on my head sculpt so I carried on with my research to focus on close
ups of the face; mainly the eyes and the beak.

After collecting all my images, I created a mood
board to show the theme of my assignment.
However, I wasn’t entirely clear at this point on
what I wanted to create so the mood board is
focused on the idea of the owl.
To create the mood board, I used some of my
research images from the close ups and focused on
the details while also including some different
textures related to owls. I then placed all of this
together by using a soft-edged eraser to soften
edges and remove lines and changed the opacity of
the different layers.

To start off the sketching section of
the assignment, I began with a full
body sketch of an owl so I would be
able to continue by breaking it down
into finer details. I knew that I would
find it hard to draw something in such
strong detail straight away so with
this drawing, I followed a tutorial
that I searched for online to give me a
starting point. However, I did my own
improvisation when the tutorial began
to make the drawing harder to
complete.
[1]http://www.dragoart.com/tuts/7855/1
/1/how-to-draw-a-realistic-owl,-draw-a-
real-owl.htm

I completed another full body sketch but I used biro
pen to show that I could use different media. This
slide shows the reference image on the left with the
biro drawing on the bottom left. Afterwards, I
scanned the image into Sketchbook Designer and
completed a digital version of the drawing using the
pen tool (see below).

I began breaking down the owl by
focusing on details in my sketching. I
chose to do these in biro to practise with
different ways of creating texture.
The drawing of the eye involves multiple
techniques including cross-hatching,
hatching and scumballing. The drawing of
the wing however, consists almost entirely
of cross-hatching apart from the upper
part of the wing where hatching was used
instead. I mainly used the cross-hatching
as I found it was my preferred technique
and I found it easier to create different
tones with it.

Continuing with the biro
close up sketches, I
looked at drawing the
beak using mainly
hatching and cross-
hatching the parts that
required darker tones.
I found that drawing
the structure of the
actual beak was the
easiest part as it became
very difficult when
drawing in the feather
texture around the beak.
I feel that the beak itself
stands out more due to
the contrast in tones;
particularly on the
underside of the beak.

Moving onto close up sketches of the eye, I repeated
the technique I used for the full body sketch and
completed it in biro first (see bottom right) before
scanning the image into Sketchbook Designer and
creating a digital version using the pen tool (see
below).

Next, I began to have a go at
sketching some thumbnail designs.
On the left, you can see my very
first thumbnail board.
In creating my board, I started off
by developing the shape of my
character and the positioning of
features such as eyes and eyebrows.
It was during my thumbnail
sketches that I decided to add a
cape to my character. The character
is based on an owl due to the
rounded head shape, large eyes and
the large eyebrows that represent
the ear tufts.

On the right, you can see the first Mudbox model I
did that was related to the assignment. Originally, I
started it off by basing it on my thumbnail
drawings, (shown by the cape).
However, I decided to do some experimentation and
chose to add some animalistic features in replacement
of the human features.
When creating this, I was unsure about colouring
and texturing so I experimented with the colours;
sticking to a dark colour scheme. I added the green
because I didn’t like how dark the face was inside the
cloak.
By completing this model, it has shown me that I
need to look at an appropriate texture related to my
chosen animal and I will probably use more
humanoid facial features instead of owl features.

After the issue I had with texturing my previous model, I researched different
textures that can be found on great eagle owls. This meant looking at the
patterns of the flight feathers on the wings, but my main focus was the plumage
that covers an owl’s body.

I had the option to use the in-built stamps found in Mudbox but I didn’t
find one that resembled feathers to a good quality. Due to this, I decided
to create my own stamp in Photoshop (shown below).
I first used the stamp to texture a basic sphere (see right) and then I used
the stamp to paint over it (see bottom right). I painted it brown but I
didn’t realise that the feathers would appear black automatically.
However, this worked to my advantage with this texture as it helped to
define the feathers.

At this point, I began to focus a lot more on my modelling by attempting to create a new and improved version of the hooded
figure I had done previously. This involved experimenting with various techniques such as ‘Grab, Pinch, Bulge, Smooth and
Freeze’. These are the main sculpt tools that I tried using with this model.
I would like to change
the back of the hood by
dragging the back so it
hangs lower.
The front of the model
needs to have a bigger
face and I want to look
at changing the neck by
dragging the front of
the hood down more.

Because I was having problems with modelling the
hood, I chose to do some research to collect some
reference images in order to help. I collected pictures of
capes with hoods from different angles.

The second model was mainly about altering the back of the hood. Using my research images, I widened the hood around
the head and dragged the back of it lower by using the ‘Grab’ tool.
For the front of the model, I dragged the hood down which
helped to make the face bigger and also covered up the neck. I
also dragged the edges around the face out to define the hood
and separate it from the face.
I would like to drag the
back of the cloak round
so that the hood drapes
over the shoulders.
Looking at my
reference images, I
have decided that I
need to round out the
back of the hood and

For the front view of the model, I
would like to add some detail to the
chest area if time allows it.
Also, looking at the face has made me
reconsider the animal I would like to
mainly focus on. I am not happy with
the way the face looks pushed under the
hood so I would like to look at a face
that would extend out from under the
hood.
For the side view of the
hood, I am happy with how
it looks though I may drag
the drapes on the shoulder so
they are resting more fully
on the body.
For the back view of the hood, I don’t
want to make changes to the general
structure but I would like to create
some creases and dips to make it look
more like flowing material and more
realistic. I will try to do this by
experimenting with different tools such
as ‘ Pinch’ and ‘Grab’.

My reconsideration of my model
means that I need to do more
research on an animal which can
represent it. Because I want the
face to extend from the hood, I
decided to look at horses as they
have large extended heads and I like
the layout of their facial muscle
structure.

I continued collecting
research images of
horses which means
that I have images of
front and side views
that I can refer to
during my modelling.
This will also allow
me to get accurate
positioning of the
facial details such as
the eyes and the
nostrils.

Because I changed the animal that I wanted to
model, I felt it was important to create a fresh
mood board in order to put the theme across.
For my second mood board, I used some different
techniques to what I did in my last mood board.
While I still used a soft-edged eraser to soften the
edges and remove lined, the main technique I used
was to desaturate the images to turn them black
and white. Then I went into the ‘Adjustments’
menu and altered the colour balance to give them
the faded brown effect.
Another technique I did was to place an image of
a horse fur texture over the top of all the images
so it was the top layer and changed the ‘Mode’ to
‘Overlay’. This allowed the images to be seen
while adding the fur texture over the top.

To start off my
drawing for my new
animal choice, I chose
an decent quality
image to import into
Sketchbook Designer
and lowered the
opacity so I could
paint over it.
I chose an image that had a lot of detail and imported it into Sketchbook Designer. I then drew an outline of the horse on the
‘Vector’ layer using the pen tool. On the ‘Paint’ layer, I then proceeded to use a combination of the pencil, pen, brush and
airbrush tool to create a coloured piece of digital art.

I took the same line image from before and produced another piece of
digital art work using the pencil tool. The centre image shows the
digital pencil drawing with the pen outline. Originally, this was
going to be my final drawing but I decided to hide the layer with the
pen outline so that the
final piece would only
consist of one digital
media.

Going into more depth with my sketching, I completed a pencil
drawing of a section of a bit and bridle. This is because I would
like to consider adding more details to my head bust if time
allows it so I decided to look at buckles and straps that are
related to my chosen animal.
I then repeated a digital pen line drawing of the
same image in Sketchbook Designer which has
allowed me to look at the basic shapes and
structures of the straps.
These drawings will help me to create a clasp for
the cloak if time allows it. While I would like to
create a clasp or tie of some sort, I wanted it to be
related to the animal which is why I have drawn
part of a bridle.

Showing the
development of my
head bust so far, I
started off with a
basic head mesh. The head was then
transformed into the
cloaked hood that I showed
the development for in
slides 15 – 18.
For the head, I have positioned a built-in T-Rex head in
the hood. I feel that this will be an easier mesh to start
with as it has a similar shape to a horse head. However, I
think I will model the horse head in a separate file so
there is no risk of accidently altering the hood.

After watching a Mudbox video by Wayne Robson
([2]http://vimeo.com/15518060), I decided that looking at the muscle and bone
structure of a horse’s head would help me to start my modelling. I collected a couple
of images that show the head structure from a front view and a side view.

To create the basic shape of the horse head, I turned
on the X-axis mirror and flattened the sides of the
head to remove the mouth indents. The next step was
to lengthen the snout and change the angle it was
positioned at. I then used the tool ‘Foamy’ to create
the nostril outline and used an inverted ‘Bulge’ to
hollow them out. For the tip of the nose, I flattened
the end and bulged it slightly to give it a broader look.
The next thing I had to do was to stretch the nostrils and
move them more to the side to correct their positioning. I
then used the ‘Wax’ tool and using the images I collected
on muscles, I began to create the muscle structure of the
face. I also defined the indent for the eye and used ‘Grab’
and ‘Foamy’ to raise the brow of the head.

I have begun to add more definition to the muscles
along the top of the head and down the nose and
adding the beginning of an eyelid above the eye socket.
The cheek bone has become more defined using a
combination of the ‘Wax’ tool and the ‘Scrape’ tool.
The chin has been extended down and rounded to
broaden the nose more and I have created an eye
socket for the eye to be positioned in later on.

I had finished creating the structure of the face by using the
research images of muscle structure but because of the
colouring of the head, I found it quite hard to see what was
missing. So I followed a tip that I saw in the video ([2]
http://vimeo.com/15518060) by Wayne Robson and
assigned a new material but instead of Mudbox Material, I
chose the Simple Blinn Material option (see below). This
automatically applies the material that is shown on the right.
This colouring on the mesh makes it easier to see if anything needs to be
added, removed or changed. For example, it is easier to notice the detail
around the eye and that the brow above the eye looks more defined.

Comparing the model below with a front view
image of a horse, I noticed that the positioning
of the eyes and brow were a bit off. The part
above the eye was raised too high and I was
missing some structure to the head.
I’ve lowered the tops of the eyes down
so that the bone structure dips down
instead of curving up and round. This
meant I was able to define the
structure of the top of the head more.

Now that I am happy with the look of the horse
head, I can now focus on modelling the eye. My
plan is to use a resized sphere and use the
‘Grab’ tool to distort the shape so that it will
fit into the eye socket. However, looking at the
close up image above, I have decided to add
more detail around and inside the eye socket. I
want to add the detail shown in the inner
corner of the eye and define the eyelid more.

To texture my model, I imported an image of horse fur
that I chose to use as a stencil. I then use the ‘Sculpt’ tool
with a large brush at low intensity to sculpt the fur into
the head. To make sure that all the fur was positioned in
the correct direction, I rotated the stencil as needed. I
refrained from adding a load of texture on the nose as fur
is not really noticeable on this body part.

Next, I began to paint my model. I started off with an large airbrush to cover the
head model in a base colour. Then, I used the burn tool to darken areas slightly
such as indents in the head and the nostrils. I then used the paint brush to apply
a darker fur tone and reused the ‘Burn tool where it was needed.

To finish off the eye, I used the
‘Airbrush’ tool to paint on a light
brown base layer. I then added
another layer of darker brown on top
but left the lighter brown showing
around the edge of the eye to give it a
rounded look.
I then used the ‘Paint Brush’ to paint
in the black pupil. Because the pupil
isn’t meant to stand out too much
because of the eye colouring, I painted
some darker brown around the edge of
the pupil with a low intensity brush
to blend it in. I then used a white
colour tinted with brown to paint on
a tint to make the eye more realistic.
I also added some black colour to the
edges of the eye socket and the inner
corner of the lid and blended the black
and brown together by using a low
intensity grey colour.

To finish off painting my model, I changed the colouring of
the nose from brown to black to give the model more
variety and I painted the inside of the nostrils with black
using a higher intensity brush.
By using a mix of dark grey and black on the nose, I was
able to create tones on the nose so that the raised parts
would be lighter than others (e.g. nostril edges).

Before I added my cloak to
my horse head, I decided to
do a turnaround sketch
board.
Originally, I had planned to
draw a side view, a front
view and a back view of
the head but I decided that
the drawings would have
been too squashed up on the
page.
This is why I decided to do
other views that included a
perspective view and a top
view as well.

For my cloak, I decided to paint it
before exporting it into the final file.
To paint it, I used the ‘Airbrush’ tool
to paint on a base colour and I also
painted the face section of the hood
black.
Because the cloak looked very
smooth, I experimented with the ‘Dry
Brush’ tool. However, because it only
painted the raised areas of the
model, it didn’t look right. To change
this, I inverted the ‘Dry brush’ by
holding Ctrl while painting to invert
it.
This allowed me to paint into the
crevices of the hood and gives the
appearance of material.

I exported the cloak and imported it into
the same file as the horse head. However,
the horse head model didn’t fit into the
cloak very well; making it look odd and
just stuck on.
To fix this, I turned on
the X-axis for the
mirror and using the
‘Grab’ tool, I pulled
out the sides of the
hood and lowered the
top while dragging the
bottom of the hood up.

While the file already had a directional light in it, I added a
Point light to highlight the model more. I found that this
looked better because it brings out the tones more and the
light was important for the painted eye tint to be more
effective.

While the use of the ‘Dry brush’ tool
gives a slight effect of more fluid
material and was more affective in
relation to time, I think it would be more
effective to model in the creases and
folds. I also think that the drapes on the
sides need to be dragged down even more.
For the front of the model, I am
extremely happy with the head of the
character but I feel that the cloak lets
it down a little bit. To fix this, I
think that the hood needs more detail.
I would like to sort out the structure
on the chest area and add a
clasp/buckle that would be there to
hold the cape on.

[1] Finalprodigy, 2011, How to Draw a Realistic Owl [online], DragoArt, Available
from: http://www.dragoart.com/tuts/7855/1/1/how-to-draw-a-realistic-owl,-draw-a-
real-owl.htm, [Accessed 26th March 2013]
[2] Robson, W., 2011, Blue #2 part 1 [online], Vimeo, Available from:
http://vimeo.com/15518060, [Accessed 28th March 2013]
[3] 2012, Create and edit lights [online], Autodesk Mudbox, Available from:
http://download.autodesk.com/global/docs/mudbox2012/en_us/index.html, [Accessed
25th April 2013]

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