Character modeling is an intimidating thing for me since I have never done it before, but I can tell that with enough research and understanding I can quickly learn the methods and techniques needed to make a high-quality model.
Learning how to model a head.
The first bit of research I did was for face modeling. Modeling the face is the hardest part of the body to model since it is the most detailed part. I needed to learn how to model the face from scratch, starting from the eyes then to the mouth, nose, and ears. I found myself learning from a YouTuber named James Taylor.
James Taylor, (2014), Maya HEAD MODELLING for ANIMATION tutorial, [YouTube video]. Available at:
[Accessed 28th January 2019].
This taught me the technique needed to shape the face by using cylinders and spheres. Although, I will say that this video was too fast for me and I had to slow down the video to 0.5 speed and also Taylor uses a lot of hotkeys that I have no knowledge of. Despite this, however, this video proved to be a valuable bit of research for me as I followed this video to the end which resulted in the completion of my head model.
Learning how to UV map a character
I already know how to UV map a mesh but since characters are more intricate I wanted to make sure I map it correctly. It also worth noting that before you can take any model into software like Mudbox or Zbrush, the mesh you are importing must have been UV mapped prior.
James Taylor, (2014), UV MAPPING MADE EASY! UV unwrapping tutorial for Maya 2015 / 2016 / LT 2016, [YouTube video]. Available at:
[Accessed 30th Febuary 2019].
The techniques used in this video were techniques I had already learned but, from this video, I did learn where to place seams on the body and how to planar map sections of the mesh. I also learned that the head uses a separate texture set from the rest of the body for the reason I assume is to do with the fact that the player will be focusing his/her attention to the face of the character the most and therefore needs its own texture set for a high quality sculpt and texture. Since this information is industry standard, I found this to be a valuable bit of information as I can take this skill and use it if I ever decide to become a character artist.
Learning human anatomy
In my opinion, going into a sculpting software for character modeling is pointless if you know nothing about muscles and their functions since you can’t possibly make a character look believable without that knowledge.
King of the Gym, (2016), Muscle Anatomy: Human Anatomy Chart, [Online]. Available at: http://www.kingofthegym.com/muscle-anatomy/ [Accessed at 1st February 2019]
I first looked at an image of the human male anatomy since I am modeling a male character. It is worth noting that muscles aren’t just a lump of flesh on the body, they are also separated into sections, for example, the shoulder or deltoid muscles are separated into parts the rear delt, the mid delt and the front delt in simple terms. This is important to know since depending on the character’s build, some muscles will be a lot more defined than others. This skill is especially useful for when you are loosely basing or not basing your character from any reference.
Zbrush anatomy sculpting.
During my time searching for anatomy research I found a video on YouTube where someone sculpts an anatomically correct male body from scratch in Zbrush which is a software I’ve always wanted to learn how to use. This is good since the process is similar to Mudbox only difference being is that I will make the base model in Maya.
SpeedChar, (2018), Human anatomy sculpting in Zbrush – from scratch to ready model of 3d man, [YouTube video]. Available at:
[Accessed 1st February 2019].
I will be using this software mainly in my own time but I would like to take my character into Zbrush and define its muscle there because I personally think it’s simpler to use but, I will be using Mudbox since my tutor is doing a workshop on it.
Conclusion
At first, I thought character modeling was an intimidating thing before doing my research, however, after seeing how people do it and knowing their techniques I’m starting to think that character modeling is a possibility for me. I do think that some parts will be harder than the other such making the model from scratch in Maya since I’m not very good at managing topology. We will see how I take this new found knowledge and apply it to my model.
Nick Amalin 