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Training Highlights
Stylized Rendering with Brushstrokes
Geometry Nodes from Scratch
Procedural Shading Fundamentals
Stylized Character Workflow

Training types
Course Documentation Production Lesson Workshop

Training categories
Animation Geometry Nodes Lighting Rendering Rigging Shading
Film Highlights
Wing It!
2023
Charge
2022
Sprite Fright
2021
Spring
2019
Project Highlights
Project DogWalk
Interactive
Gold
Showcase
BCON24 Identity
Showcase
Fighting with Grease Pencil
Article
Course
Stylized Character Workflow
Intro
  1. 01

    Introduction

    Free
  2. 02

    Introduction Update

    Free
1: Head Sculpting
  1. 01

    Defining Goals

    Free
  2. 02

    Research

  3. 03

    Blender Setup

  4. 04

    Sculpting a Primitive Head Shape

  5. 05

    Sculpting a complete Planar Head

  6. 06

    Smoothing the Planar Head

  7. 07

    Stylising the Head Sculpt

  8. 08

    Timelapse: Sculpting Rain's Head

    Free
  9. 09

    Timelapse: Vertex Painting

  10. 10

    Timelapse: Sculpting Hair

  11. 11

    Timelapse: Head Design Variations

  12. 12

    Timelapse: Finishing Rain's Head Design

2: Body & Outfit Sculpting
  1. 01

    Creating a Primitive Body

    Free
  2. 02

    Sculpting the Planar Torso

  3. 03

    Sculpting the Planar Arms & Legs

  4. 04

    Sculpting the Planar Hands & Feet

  5. 05

    Smoothing & Stylising the Body

  6. 06

    Creating Clothing Basemeshes

  7. 07

    Update: Optimal Clothing Basemesh

  8. 08

    Modelling additional Basemeshes

  9. 09

    Stretching vs Compression

  10. 10

    Sculpting Wrinkles & Folds

  11. 11

    Polishing the Surfaces

  12. 12

    Finishing the additional Elements

  13. 13

    Timelapse: Sculpting Rains Body

  14. 14

    Timelapse: Rains Autumn Outfit

  15. 15

    Timelapse: Adjusting Proportions and the Outfit

  16. 16

    Timelapse: Rains Summer Outfit

    Free
  17. 17

    Timelapse: Sculpting Rains final Outfit

3: Expression Testing
  1. 01

    Fast & rough Retopology for the Head

  2. 02

    Modelling the inner Head & transferring Details

  3. 03

    Adding the teeth, gums & tongue

  4. 04

    Basic Expression Shapekeys

    Free
  5. 05

    Sculpting an Expression

  6. 06

    Breakdown: Expression Guide Part 1

    Free
  7. 07

    Breakdown: Expression Guide Part 2

  8. 08

    Breakdown: Design Adjustments

  9. 09

    Breakdown: Adding extra Appeal

4: Clean Retopology
  1. 01

    Retopology Introduction

  2. 02

    Creating & Guiding Topology

  3. 03

    Planning the Facial Retopology

    Free
  4. 04

    Retopology Setup

  5. 05

    Facial Retopology - Edge Flow & Articulation

  6. 06

    Update: Strategic 2-Poles

  7. 07

    Facial Retopology - Patches & Poles

  8. 08

    Facial Retopology - Creases & Tweaking

  9. 09

    Timelapse: Head Retopology

  10. 10

    Timelapse: Body Retopology

    Free
  11. 11

    Timelapse: Inner Body & Transfering Volume

  12. 12

    Timelapse: Head Objects & Tweaking

  13. 13

    Timelapse: Hair Retopology

  14. 14

    Timelapse: Shirt & Pants Retopology Pt.1

  15. 15

    Timelapse: Shirt & Pants Retopology Pt.2

  16. 16

    Timelapse: Shoe modeling & additional Tweaking

  17. 17

    Timelapse: Scarf Retopology & Finishing Touches

5: Bonus Chapter: Snow
  1. 01

    Timelapse: Sculpting Snow's Head

    Free
  2. 02

    Timelapse: Sculpting Snow's Body

  3. 03

    Timelapse: Polishing Snow

  4. 04

    Timelapse: Sculpting Snow's Outfit

  5. 05

    Timelapse: Remeshing & Adjusting Snow

  6. 06

    Timelapse: Snow's Expression Tests

  7. 07

    Timelapse: Posing Snow

  8. Live: Face Retopology Free
  9. Live: Head Retopology Free
  10. Live: Hair Retopology Free
  11. Live: Upper Body Retopology Free
  12. Live: Body Retopology Free
  13. Live: Retopo tweaks & outfit Free
  14. Live: Outfit Retopology Free
  15. Live: Retopology Finale Free
  16. Live: Body UV Mapping Free
  17. Live: Outfit UV Mapping Free
  18. Live: UV Mapping Finale Free
  19. Live: Base Colors & Preparations Free
  20. Live: Tiles & Procedural Detail Free
  21. Live: Height Map Painting Free
  22. Live: Detail Extraction & Stitches Free
  23. Live: Textures & Procedural Eyes Free
  24. Live: Procedural Skin & Hair Anisotropy Free
  25. Live: Turntable & Hair Textures Free
  26. Live: Baking & Final Renders Free
Bonus Videos
  1. 01

    Youtube Version: Stylized Character Workflow in Blender 2.81

    Free
  2. 02

    Snow Character Creation Recap

    Free
  3. 03

    Sculpting Fundamentals

    Free
  4. 05

    Preventing/Fixing Boolean Errors

Cheat Sheets
  1. Topology Guides - Killing/Directing Loops
  2. Topology Guides - Poles & Edge Flow Free
  3. Topology Guides - Stretching & Pinching
  4. Topology Guides - Hiding Stretching
  5. Topology Guides - Strategic 2-Poles
  6. Topology Guides - Hard-Modeling Creases
  7. Facial Topology - Edge Flow
  8. Facial Topology - Landmarks
  9. Facial Topology - Articulation Free
  10. Facial Topology - Patches & Poles
  11. Facial Topology - Creases
  12. Facial Topology - Deformations
  13. Retopology Setup Free
  14. Body Topology - Seperate Limbs
  15. Body Topology - Joint Loops
  16. Body Topology - Finishing Touches
Course Lesson .blend files
  1. File 1: Head Sculpting Lessons
  2. File 2: Body Sculpting Lessons
  3. File 3: Topology Examples
  4. File 4: Facial Topology & Planning
Final Renders
  1. Rain - Final Render Free
  2. Rain - Turnaround Free
  3. Rain - Turnaround (Clay) Free
  4. Rain - Turnaround (Wire) Free
  5. 05

    Rain - Turntables

    Free
  6. Snow - Final Render Free
  7. Snow - Turnaround Free
  8. Snow - Turnaround (Clay) Free
  9. Snow - Turnaround (Wire) Free
  10. 10

    Snow - Turntables

    Free
  11. Rain & Snow - Final Render Free
Rain - Character Development
  1. 1 - Head Exploration Free
  2. 1 - Head Polish Free
  3. 2 - Body Iterations Free
  4. 2 - Outfit Variations Free
  5. 05

    3 - Expression Tests

    Free
  6. 4 - Retopology Free
  7. 4 - UV unwrapping Free
  8. 08

    5 - Turntable Renders

    Free
  9. 6 - Pose Exploration Free
  10. 10

    6 - Pose Polishing

    Free
Rain .blend files
  1. Rain - File 1: Head Sculpting
  2. Rain - File 2: Body & Outfit Sculpting
  3. Rain - File 3: Expression Tests
  4. Rain - File 4: Retopology & UV mapping
  5. Rain - File 5: Shading & Texturing
  6. Rain - File 6: Posing
  7. Rain - File 7: Lighting & Composition
Snow .blend files
  1. Snow - File 1: Concept
  2. Snow - File 2: Sculpting
  3. Snow - File 3: Testing
  4. Snow - File 4: Retopology
  5. Snow - File 5: UVs & Shading
  6. Snow - File 6: Rendering & Compositing
Snow - Character Development
  1. 1 - Concept Drawings Free
  2. 2 - Head Sculpting Free
  3. 3 - Full Body Sculpting Free
  4. 4 - Outfit Sculpting Free
  5. 05

    5 - Expression Tests

    Free
  6. 6 - Pose test Free
  7. 7 - Retopo (Face) Free
  8. 08

    8 - Retopo (Head)

    Free
  9. 09

    9 - Hair Retopology

    Free
  10. 10

    10 - Body Retopology

    Free
  11. 11

    11 - Outfit Retopology

    Free
  12. 12

    12 - Turntable Tests

    Free
More Resources
  1. Base Meshes Free
  2. Matcap: Default with Specular Free
  3. Matcap: Gradient Free
  4. Matcap: Ghost Free
Addons
  1. Screencast Keys Free
  2. Magic UV Free

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Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar Author
License CC-BY
Report Problem
1: Head Sculpting

Research

In this video we'll follow up on the previous lesson by looking up different types of references & inspirations, as well as giving the reasons why. Afterwards we'll create a collage of references to always be available on the side while you create the character.

Links mentioned in the video:
  • 02:00 - Anatomy for Sculptors: Anatomy book for human anatomy, demonstrated for 3D recreation
  • 02:00 - Anatomy of Facial Expressions: Anatomy book on facial structure & muscle movement to create believable expressions
  • 04:00 - PureRef: Software to arrange, adjust and display a collage of images
Other helpful links:
  • Polycount Wiki: A vast collection of helpful technical articles and more. Mainly targeted towards game assets but still helpful for movie character creation as well.
  • Articulation Theory: Great reference on topology for moving joints and facial articulation.
General Links
  • Short version of the creation of Rain
  • Recap video of the creation of Snow
  • Rain .blend files
  • Snow .blend files
  • Course Resources

Join to leave a comment.

28 comments
Jordan Vianna Da Silva
Jordan Vianna Da Silva
June 15th, 2021

pureref is cool and all, but i have seen people using the Add> image> Reference and have it on the background of the workspace is there a reason you don't recommend it. like is not really useful or it tax Blender too much?

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
June 16th, 2021

@Jordan Vianna Da Silva You can work like that and in a later video I am even directly using references in Blender. The reason why you should have a collage of references on another monitor is because you need your main monitor to look at your model. The only time I like to use references directly in my 3D viewport is when I need to directly compare it with the model laying over it. Adding all your references in the 3D viewport or image editors will just take away space or you will regularly need to navigate the viewport to see your references or see your model, or switch collections regularly to see either. Have your references on another screen and you use your space more efficiently.

Michael Sheeler
Michael Sheeler
April 29th, 2021

The book, "The Art of Moving Points" doesn't seem to be available anywhere.  Do you have a link to any site that offers it for sale?  Thanks

Ingmar Franz
Ingmar Franz
June 2nd, 2021

@Michael Sheeler  That's what I would also like to know. Maybe @Julien Kaspar  knows a good alternative book for this topic.

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
June 3rd, 2021

@Ingmar Franz It's only available as an apple e-book, sadly. If you search for "The Art of Moving Points" it should lead you to an apple site where you can buy it.

Ingmar Franz
Ingmar Franz
June 20th, 2021

@Julien Kaspar Good news from Brian Tindall. I've asked him about his "The Art of Moving Points" book and he answered me that he will publish his book in other formats as well, maybe already in the next few weeks! Cross your fingers😀!

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
June 21st, 2021

@Ingmar Franz Sorry for not replying. So far I only every found it on the apple store and there I bought it as well. I would be very excited if it is accessible on more devices and stores! Keeping my fingers crossed as well.

Ingmar Franz
Ingmar Franz
June 28th, 2021

@Julien Kaspar In the meantime I've found these videos by Brian Tindall related to his book on his vimeo account: https://vimeo.com/hippydrome

Ingmar Franz
Ingmar Franz
June 10th, 2021

@Julien Kaspar Thank you for your answer! I've found the book here: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-art-of-moving-points/id639498241%C2%A0  It looks to me that I have to create an account at Apple first in order to sign in because I currently can't see a "Put in into the Cart" button. Can I read that book without having an Apple device?   PS: The anatomy  books you recommend above have arrived at me some days ago. They're really densely packed with information. Looks like I've a lot to learn 😉!

[deleted]
[deleted]
June 15th, 2021
[deleted]
Ingmar Franz
Ingmar Franz
June 19th, 2021

@Julien Kaspar  I've found this link: https://kitestringonline.com/art-of-moving-points%C2%A0 But I don't know whether I can download the book from there and whether I need a special ebook reader or just a pdf reader. It's also an ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION which costs almost 20 Dollars a month. So, the book, if it's there, would cost effectively 240 Dollars!!!  The Kitestring page seems to  offer the book in the context of an online course dating back to 2013. Just the "Coming Soon" label is confusing me.

Purchasing the book in the Apple store doesn't make sense without an Apple device which I need to read it. Furthermore, I'm not sure whether I need to pay a membership fee for the Apple store. Maybe, the Blender Foundation could ask Mr. Tindall to sell his book in the Blender online shop. But this will probably not happen and so it doesn't make sense to link this book. If I can't read on my Windows PC than this book effectively doesn't exist.

shirtsdesignpro
shirtsdesignpro
April 11th, 2021

HI, is there a way to watch your course in one shot (not just in 5 minutes part or so, like a playlist with automatic play maybe? Great stuff anyway!Ty!

keraatona
keraatona
Aug. 9th, 2020

i was able download pureref for free but then they said that they would be happy if donated so i gave them the last 1.5$ i got in my credit card and they started to thank me guys i feel so proud of my self

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
Aug. 10th, 2020

*@keraatona* Well done man! Always great to support the developers :D

keraatona
keraatona
Aug. 10th, 2020

*@Julien Kaspar* btw thanks for your great tutorial

and may i ask 2 things first i know that you said these characters will not work with vidio games is that because they are not riged? for me that is no proplom because i know how to rig characters but if that is not the reason then may i know what is it? seacond is there any advise for creating an anime styled character? agein thanks a lot for this tutorial it is great

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
Aug. 10th, 2020

*@keraatona* The character can work for video games but they are not going to be optimised for them. There are differences in the workflow, mainly in retopology & texturing. More about that in the retopology introduction.

I already saw some other people making anime characters and I can recommend not to make them too undefined. Anime characters are often pretty anatomically accurate except for the exaggerated eyes, nose & mouth, so don't let the flat coloring fool you :)

keraatona
keraatona
Aug. 10th, 2020

*@Julien Kaspar* thanks for anwsring me :)

Abdul Fahim
Abdul Fahim
April 18th, 2020

I am an animator by day and I always wanna learn sculpting as its so intuitive whenever I try to take ref from online or photos to learn and match but in the end its sucks. My real concern is when I take ref from online its always not the same parts of the same person in a different angle example am trying to learn how to do nose and I search online there are a lot of noses and from a lot of people how my suppose to learn with those different shapes??

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
April 20th, 2020

*@Abdul Fahim* Even though there are various shapes to almost every human feature, there are always common elements between them. I can really recommend some anatomy books like these: https://anatomy4sculptors.com/collections/books?gclid=CjwKCAjwkPX0BRBKEiwA7THxiPOdnQAiI8zOPc3aaVgfSlrS4mIBXcCTAt7mqCi0GDxXQ-rbtjRgyRoCe64QAvD_BwE

They show a lot of simplified geometric shapes for how the body is commonly build.

Abdul Fahim
Abdul Fahim
April 22nd, 2020

*@Julien Kaspar* thanks

Afolabi Samuel
Afolabi Samuel
April 11th, 2020

please i am having a problem downloading the pureref

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
April 11th, 2020

*@Afolabi Samuel* I can't help if I don't know what the problem is ;)

Yermek Zakariyah
Yermek Zakariyah
April 1st, 2020

PureRef is not free anymore

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
April 2nd, 2020

*@Yermek Zakariyah* It is. You just have to set the price to 0.

Mark Stephen Gasoey
Mark Stephen Gasoey
Feb. 2nd, 2020

Summary of what kind of reference you should use. made this for myself as I think it's helpful in just any future project :)

Style Reference: (3D Animation School Characters, Movie Characters, Sculpts from movies)

Design Reference: (Actor Photos, Concept Art, Hairstyle, Clothing, etc.)

Technical Reference: (Polycount, Topology, Material Set-up)

Real Life Reference: (Expression Sheet, Fabric Behavior Anatomy Books, Take Real life photos of yourself)

地味 キント
地味 キント
March 27th, 2020

*@Mark Stephen Gasoey* what is a polycount reference?

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
March 27th, 2020

*@David Kintu* It's how dense your topology needs to be. It refers to the total number of polygons (faces).
Here's an interesting example of 2 extreme opposites. We'll try to hit something in between for the course ;) alt text

David OB
David OB
Oct. 1st, 2019

Great video Julien I knew you were creative but this is mesmerizing.

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