Harrison Ford 3D sculpt - Deckard (Blade Runner) - v2.0

[joberg]

Yep, sometimes, walking away for a few weeks is good.

 

[Bloop]

Update:

I rotated the eyes back to the left because I had to align them with one of the reference pics - I changed the size and position again. I also relaxed the mouth a bit, plus lots of other tweaks. I'm hoping it's getting better.

 

[brandonstudio]

Amazing work Sir!

 

[Bloop]

New update:

I had been working on this since the last update, kept thinking it was getting better, but I looked at a previous version, realized I had gone too far in the wrong direction. So I basically threw out almost a month of work. But I think it was for the best. Not sure I'm there yet, or if I'll ever be totally satisfied, but as I've mentioned before, it helps my progress to update on the RPF.

I adjusted the lighting a bit again, adding some illumination to both sides of the face to help me to better see what's going on. One thing I realized was that the right side eye looked too high up. I realized I had been going back to one of the reference pics, adjusting just the eyes, but it wasn't lined up quite right, so my adjustments were off, with the right-side eye ending up too high. I needed to rotate the reference pic more. It wouldn't have really mattered if I had just adjusted the entire face to that image, but I was only working on the eyes, so it ended up wonky.

I've also realized that each of my cameras' focal length settings varied between angles, which can distort things - I had a lot of cameras with lower focal lengths which makes the face look thinner. So when I switched cameras after making adjustments based on one angle's focal length, things wouldn't look right from a different camera with a different focal length. I also didn't realize that when I use the "align active camera to view" function, the camera copies the viewport position but not other camera settings like the focal length or the other "lens" settings.

Anyway, looking at my updated pics right now, I see a couple things I want to change (right side needs a couple areas smoothed out, left side ear may be too big, etc), but I think it's better than the previous update. Hopefully I'll still think that later. I really want to be done with this so I can devote more time to other projects. I also want to put this up for sale if/when it's good enough.

 

[joberg]

The mouth has to be flipped: the crook of his lips, on the right side, should be down, while the left side should be up.
The eyes are good compared to other updates. AFAIK, they shouldn't be touched anymore.
Getting there bloop, getting there

 

[Bloop]

EDIT: saw a flaw in the nose so I fixed it (I hope) and re-uploaded the pics

Latest:

Lots of relatively small adjustments, but I think the likeness has improved. I took Joberg's advice and adjusted the mouth again. I also left the eyes mostly untouched, just tiny adjustments to smooth out a few areas. I adjusted the nose quite a bit, though again, it was a lot of small adjustments, so it may not be obvious. The jawline, chin and sides of the face have been improved, and the ears were adjusted as well. I also worked on the lower part, from the shoulders down, which is still a separate model. I brought the whole lower half up since the neck was looking a little too long. I also had to make it smaller, mainly in width, as it no longer looked in scale with the head.

I've been using a mirror to check things as I go. I used to just render images and flip them, but that takes a lot longer than checking a mirror. I find it helps me see things in a different way. I can get fooled into thinking the 3D model is looking great, yet looking at the mirror image of it will look "off," like it's distorted, even if the model is only a little off in likeness. These images seemed to pass the mirror test (though I always need to double check later after taking a break from looking at them), so I'm hoping any major work is done and I can move on. I'm tempted to try to add skin texture, pores and a few more creases and wrinkles, but that might take a whole lot longer.

 

[joberg]

My father used this trick often while painting/drawing portraits: he would place the picture of the person's face upside down and his drawing/painting, side by side also.
Compared the two and saw what had to be fixed. Works well.

 

[Bloop]

Update: 2024! It's been a while, but I keep coming back to this, trying to get it right. Last version wasn't good, and I realized I wasn't really getting any closer, so I went back to a much older version and started reworking it. I still didn't think I was getting it right (and wasted some time trying to start from scratch), but I just used some more reference pics and tried to stick to them as close as possible, mainly using pics that didn't vary as much in terms of facial expression, and from different angles.

Anyway, here's where I'm at now. I think it's a lot better now (joberg , I've been doing the reverse image trick for some time now, and it is helpful a lot, but it doesn't always get me the right results), but who knows, maybe I'll look at it again tomorrow or in a few days and see tons of flaws. At least posting here helps me get to that point. I'm not sure why my mind sometimes convinces me things look good when they really don't, but I'll ponder that another time.

 

[joberg]

If you look at that pic I've posted, you'll see that the mouth is different than your rendering. Take a piece of paper and mask the left side of his face: you'll see a down crease of the mouth (I call it "sad Harrison"). Take that same piece of paper and mask the right side; the corner of his mouth is now upward (I call it "happy Harrison"). Yours is too similar on both sides. It also seems that you've modified the nose compared to previous, ideations (I thought they were good). Careful with that part also; the previous ones were there already! See B&W pic.

 

[Bloop]

Update: Trying it again, more tweaks

EDIT:

 

[joberg]

^^
I think that the face is too large in width compared to pics I've posted earlier I know that Harry has a bent/slightly curved nose (from right side to left side of his face) Looking at your first renders, the nose is very good...don't touch that part anymore

This one:

 

[Bloop]

Update: Still tweaking. I changed my render settings to lower contrast - I also had been editing the levels in Photoshop after rendering, and the results were way too high contrast. I also smoothed out a lot of bumps and creases so the end result is much smoother and younger looking. Still not perfect, but I don't care. I'm going to keep working on it on my own, posting here when I feel there's some progress made, but I'm not gonna get worried if I post something that's not perfect. Just because I post here doesn't necessarily mean I want constant feedback. I do it to motivate myself. If I get this to a point where I'm satisfied, I'll stop, but it may be something I keep revisiting for some time to come.

I worked a lot using this pic of Ford from Star Wars (shown overlaid on my sculpt). His appearance is different in Blade Runner (a tad thinner, for one), but it helped get me closer on the overall shapes. I also worked on it from other angles and reference photos, as usual. Still not totally satisfied with the mouth area, but again, I'll keep tweaking as long as I feel like I'm making improvements.

 

[Bloop]

Update: I did a lot more work on the lips and mouth, working not only from reference pics, but also just checking from extreme angles in Blender, trying to get the anatomy more correct. I'm not sure if I got it right yet, but I think it's getting there. I also worked on the general head and face shape, plus more tweaks to the nose and other areas.

EDIT:

 

[Bloop]

UPDATE:

Lots of adjustments. The lip area has been a problem for me all along. I think it's a lot closer now. I smoothed over the whole area - not completely, but enough to get rid of a lot of the detail - and redid it all. I'm still undecided about the eyes - I keep tweaking the expression, particularly the eyebrows. Currently going with a more intense look. Comparison of the last version vs the new one:

I'll see how I feel about this version after stepping away and getting fresh eyes on it. While I was working on this version, I did a lot of reversing of the rendered images to help see any flaws, and comparing the newer ones to older renders as I went along, so hopefully that helped.

EDIT:

 

[Lt Washburn]

Woah, that's a huge improvement!

 

[joberg]

Now the mouth is very good.

 

[Hanamaid]

You got his side profile locked on. I was looking at your last 3 versions side by side and it’s hard to believe they’re from the same 3d sculpt. It looks fantastic!

 

[Bloop]

UPDATE:

I especially worked on improving the likeness from the front angle. I also changed the lighting a bit - I think it also was throwing things off.

 

[Bloop]

Color + filter edit:

 

[Bloop]

I just realized who my old version reminds me of - it kind of looks like somewhere between Harrison Ford and Lee Majors. Obviously still not close enough in likeness to either, but maybe I should tweak that version to make a Six Million Dollar Man or Fall Guy bust.