Welcome to reference material.
Now at the risk of sounding like a broken record because I've said it plenty times throughout this course
reference images are critical.
And this particular section they are even more critical than they've been in the past now drawn or photos
are both okay.
The important thing is that you have a reference image.
They're going to help define your model or help the major parts whether there's a strong jaw line whether
the heads around head or perhaps an elongated head.
There are lots of different shapes that heads can be.
So of course they're going to help define it.
They're going to guide an influential character as well so if the if the particular head has a scar
on it or it cuts or something like that or crooked nose or anything along those lines it's going to
help guide and influence both the character and the model itself.
Now just following along or without using reference material will lead to a lot of frustration and wasted
time.
I will stress at this point because it's quite a complicated thing that we're doing.
It's important that you have some sort of guidance behind what you're modelling so you can actually
see what's going on because it is going to be challenging not only is this the last section of the course
it's going to be one of the most difficult it's also because the human face is very hard to make object
it's because we as humans know when something's wrong with it.
And as an artist you also know when something's wrong with your work even if no one can see it you'll
spots every little thing that's wrong with it.
So don't beat yourself up over it especially in the first couple of tries because you're gonna end up
with something that's more like an alien than a human head.
I can guarantee that.
But don't fret.
So did mine when I first started.
Now I don't recommend that you try to be realistic the first time sooner.
Take any incredible amount of effort to get to realism.
And of course if you're struggling with the basics because you're new to it it's going to be even more
difficult to attain realism perhaps go more like a caricature of your chosen head to begin with extenuates
certain features if the person has a big nose then make it a big nose big ears etc. etc. a strong jaw
line.
Big eyes small eyes always looking angry those sort of things can really help bring the character out
in the model rather than making ultra realistic think about things like Pixar films and most animations.
They're not ultra realistic.
Be prepared to make several rough models as you go honing your skills.
Now you'll want to go through the entire process a couple of times to make sure you know from the very
beginnings to the very end stages but also when you get to a certain point you'll want to save often
and save versions as you go.
So the reason why I say that is if you save often of course if you make a horrible mistake and destroy
your model topology you will be able to go back in it won't hurt you too much in your time.
Now saving versions is important because you can at a certain point you'll notice that you are have
a standard head and from that you can make a lot of other heads and it's silly to take or start from
scratch all the time once you've got to a base head that you can work with and generate lots of other
heads from whether it be human or other.
It's a great starting place to be.
Now of course it's time for a challenge.
Prepare your reference material.
Go and get your reference material prepared.
Now you could use Google Images you could sketch your character perhaps even take a photo of yourself.
It doesn't really matter which way you go if you do take a photo of yourself and make sure it's not
too wide an angle lens because that will accentuate your features and make it a bit difficult to work
with.
But any photo would do absolutely fine.
I would recommend like I have done taking a photo from the front and from the side.
Just one of the sides it doesn't have to be both.
So.
Video now and give that a go.
Okay guys welcome back.
And as you can see here this is the reference that I'll be working from.
Very handsome chap there.
It looks a bit grumpy though.
But it's going to be just the front side there and front and side there.
And of course I'll be using this as my reference material.
Feel free to use it yourself.
You can make a model of me or using it as a base.
Of course if you've got your own.
I'd love to see what you've done especially if you've sketched your own characters.
I'd love to see what sort of characters you guys are going to create so share in the discussions and
of course I will see you in the next lecture.