Alright, let me tell you about this little project I worked on recently. Had this idea stuck in my head, you see, about creating a character, something with a bit of story baked into the face. And what popped up was this image of a really old guy, completely toothless. Just felt like a challenge, something different from the usual stuff I mess around with.
Getting Started
So, first thing, I fired up my usual 3D software. Didn’t bother much with fancy concept art or anything, mostly just worked from the picture I had in my mind. Started super basic, just throwing down some simple shapes. A sphere for the head, a cylinder sort of thing for the neck, another blob for the torso. Really rough stuff, just trying to get the basic size and proportions down before diving into details. You gotta have a solid base, otherwise everything else falls apart later, right?
Sculpting the Details
Then came the part I enjoy most – the sculpting. This is where the character starts to come alive. I spent a good chunk of time just working on the face. Pushing and pulling the virtual clay, carving out wrinkles. Lots of wrinkles. Around the eyes, forehead, cheeks. Wanted him to look like he’d seen a few things. The eyes themselves needed that slightly droopy, tired look old folks sometimes get.
The main focus, though, was the mouth area. Sculpting a mouth with no teeth is… interesting. You can’t just leave it flat. Had to really think about the structure underneath. Sculpted the gums, making them look soft and a bit sunken where the teeth used to be. Added that little ridge you see. This took a fair bit of fiddling to get right. Also worked on the jawline, making it look a bit saggy, and added some loose skin on the neck. All those little things add up.
Getting the expression right without teeth was tricky too. A smile looks totally different, kind of gummy and maybe a bit awkward. I played around with a few looks but settled on something more neutral, maybe a bit thoughtful or slightly confused. Just felt more natural for the face I was building.
Adding Texture and Finishing Up
Once I was happy enough with the shapes, I moved onto painting textures. Found some decent skin images to use as a base, then layered on details. Age spots, some redness here and there, tiny veins. Made sure the lips and gums had a different look, a bit pinker, maybe slightly glossy to suggest moisture. Didn’t go crazy on clothes, just slapped a simple, worn fabric texture on the basic shirt shape I’d blocked out earlier.
And that was pretty much it. Rendered out a few shots. There he was, my toothless old guy, staring out from the screen. Didn’t rig him or anything fancy, this was mostly a sculpting exercise. But yeah, felt good to take that idea from my head and make it into something solid, something you could look at. It’s funny how focusing on what wasn’t there – the teeth – really shaped the whole process and the final look. Definitely a good practice run, learned a few things about shaping faces and capturing that kind of specific character.