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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
3: Expression Testing

Fast & rough Retopology for the Head

In this lesson I'll show you how to create a fast & perfectly suitable retopology to base the expression tests on. This is a vital step since the head model needs to be both cleaned up and have enough geometry to sculpt the expressions from.

Links mentioned in the video:
  • 00:36- Spring Expression Tests Timelapse: The timelapse video of the original expression tests of Spring. It doesn't include any commentary and it shows only a first pass with no additional feedback & polishing.
  • 14:42- Sergi Caballer Timelapses: A 3 part timelapse video series on vimeo on box modeling a clean head retopology by Sergi Caballer. This is much more advanced than the purpose of this lesson but it's still very educational.
Other links:
  • Rain - File 3: Expression Tests: The file of the expression tests made for the character Rain.
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.

41 comments
Anna Ho
Anna Ho
May 22nd, 2023

Everything works well up until I have to extrude the ear. The ear becomes completely messed up, and I do not know what is going wrong.  I am not sure what to do or how to fix this problem

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
May 23rd, 2023

@Anna Ho Try doing it at first with the shrinkwrap modifier off. This might give a better preview of the mesh while modeling. If that doesn't work, send a .blend file, screenshots or a video so I can help better.

Anna Ho
Anna Ho
May 24th, 2023

@Julien Kaspar Turning off the shrinkwrap modifier made it better, thank you so much for your help and response.

Sarsawat Chimnikorn
Sarsawat Chimnikorn
March 16th, 2022

Been following the course and learning a lot! I subscribed because of this course in particular. Thank you for the in-depth and thorough explanations. Sending love to all the wonderful people involved in making Blender & Blender Training. Thank you!

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
March 18th, 2022

@Sarsawat Chimnikorn Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it ^^

Jonathan Doe
Jonathan Doe
Nov. 17th, 2021

When I add a shrinkwrap modifier and select my intended target object: it displays perfectly.

When I apply the modifier: the vertices move back to where they were as though the modifier was never used.

Any idea of what I might be doing wrong?

Thanks!

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
Nov. 17th, 2021

@Jonathan Doe Not sure. Can you send me a file where I can reproduce the issue?

Jonathan Doe
Jonathan Doe
Nov. 18th, 2021

@Julien Kaspar

Here's a link to a google drive folder that includes the files and that includes a visual of my collections and how they interact.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Oq3311r-SeWuZ44-wRG9icdqQOMbSxtV?usp=sharing

If I need to change permissions, don't hesitate to let me know.

Thanks for your help!

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
Nov. 18th, 2021

@Jonathan Doe The issue is that modifiers can only be applied on the mesh that exists in Edit Mode. Since you have a Subdivision modifier first and then a Shrinkwrap, the subdivided mesh will be shrinkwrapped. So you would have to apply the Subdiv modifier first. If you try to apply modifiers in the wrong order Blender will even give you a message at the bottom "Applied modifier was not first, result may not be as expected".

But the best solution to the problem would be to use a multiresolution modifier instead of subdivision. If you apply the shrinkwrap onto a subdivided multires modifier it will be shrinkwrapped to those subdivisions, since they can be editied and sculpte on.

Jonathan Doe
Jonathan Doe
Nov. 19th, 2021

@Julien Kaspar

Thank you so much, Julien! Worked like a charm for what I need to do.

Just want to say I think it's amazing you still pop in here and respond to individual student inquires. Shows a real dedication to your lessons and I feel as though I'm getting what I pay for while learning so much. : D

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
Nov. 19th, 2021

@Jonathan Doe Thanks a lot! Responding to questions and helping out here in the comments is the least I can do ^^

Ekin Kılıçdere
Ekin Kılıçdere
May 14th, 2021

Hi Julien, when I activate shrinkwrap modifier some vertices snaps weirdly than the others. I'm working hard to understand blender in general so I would really appreciate any help :D  https://vimeo.com/549425268%C2%A0  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pSIw9lOsYGalBQ2wo6rXenKmnFY08IMW/view?usp=sharing (this time I copied only the necessary objects to a new blender project so size of the file is reduced.)

Ekin Kılıçdere
Ekin Kılıçdere
May 15th, 2021

@Ekin Kılıçdere I fix this problem by just moving vertices and adding additional cut loops :D What I need was to give a break to see what might cause problem.

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
May 17th, 2021

@Ekin Kılıçdere It can help if you enable snapping as well. But yes, the shrinkwrap is trying to find the closest surface to move the vertices to. If you move them closer to where you want them to be the shrinkwrap will be more accurate.

can Kadincik
can Kadincik
Jan. 11th, 2021

sorry not 4:30 , in 10:25 for the ears

can Kadincik
can Kadincik
Jan. 11th, 2021

hello , in 4:30 minute . how can you add loop ? what is keyframe ?  thanky u

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
Jan. 11th, 2021

@can Kadincik You can add loops with the Loop Cut Tool or by pressing Ctrl + R. Keyframes are for animation and will be pivotal for these lessons.    I'm sorry but if you don't yet know these concepts then I recommend to watch the Blender Fundamentals tutorial series on YouTube first or other more beginner friendly tutorials or courses. You can of course continue watching but keep in mind that these videos will likely not hold your hand in how to use Blender on a fundamental level.

can Kadincik
can Kadincik
Jan. 11th, 2021

@Julien Kaspar Thank you for your quick reply :) but I'm not talking about ctrl + r. exactly 10:24 minutes. Creating shortcuts  in a straight line on the earcups. this is not ctrl+r

can Kadincik
can Kadincik
Jan. 11th, 2021

@can Kadincik outer part of the ear

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
Jan. 11th, 2021

@can Kadincik I am filling in the missing faces. The outer part of the ear was still open. There are many ways to do this but the easiest way in my experience is to select an edge on one of these holes and press F to fill in a new 4 sided face. Do this repeatedly and you can quickly fill in the area.

can Kadincik
can Kadincik
Jan. 11th, 2021

@Julien KasparI  .I knew the f button, I was just one click. don't understand the serial click thing thank you so much

Ben Rand
Ben Rand
Nov. 17th, 2020

First of all, wonderful video series I've been learning so much. I am having an issue that I'm having a tough time trouble shooting. When I go to extrude the edge loop for the ears the new mesh gets super distorted it seems to be clipping downward for some reason. I think that it's clipping to the body mesh, I re meshed the head with the body mesh which I'm realizing is a mistake. I unfortunately don't have any back ups. I tried creating a new vertex group to exclude from the shrink wrap but the SW modifier only seems to use vertex groups from the object it's applied to, so the new re topology mesh and not the sculpted mesh. I'm a bit at a loss is there anything I can do to fix this?

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
Nov. 18th, 2020

Thanks! One tip to seperate the body & the head again is to mask out one part and use "Mask Slice to New Object". If you want to avoid the wrong shrinkwrap preview I can reccomment to disable Edit Mode toggle in the modifier (next to viewport & render visibility). This way you can see and adjsut the geoemtry position better before then toggling the modfier back on. If you use the Project shrinkwrapping method then you can also define a "Limit" distance. That could prevent it from targeting the body too.

Ben Rand
Ben Rand
Nov. 19th, 2020

@Julien Kaspar it worked! thank you!!!

adela.kormoutova
adela.kormoutova
July 21st, 2020

Hi Julien, i have a problem here with the final shrinkwrap modifier

adela.kormoutova
adela.kormoutova
July 21st, 2020

*@adela.kormoutova*...and this is after shrinkwrap...

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
July 22nd, 2020

*@adela.kormoutova* This is weird. Maybe you can share the file because I can't really tell what could be causing this.

adela.kormoutova
adela.kormoutova
July 22nd, 2020

*@Julien Kaspar*

adela.kormoutova
adela.kormoutova
July 22nd, 2020

*@adela.kormoutova* I just realized that i can create a "project" here on blender cloud ... i ll try to upload it there...

adela.kormoutova
adela.kormoutova
July 22nd, 2020

*@adela.kormoutova* ...ok it doesn´t work.. too big file, i just can´t upload it... no chance :(((

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
July 23rd, 2020

*@adela.kormoutova* You can send it to me however you want or can ;)

adela.kormoutova
adela.kormoutova
July 23rd, 2020

*@Julien Kaspar* it has about 500MB, can you give me you e-mail?, I will send it via server Uschovna.cz

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
July 23rd, 2020

*@adela.kormoutova* It's julien@blender.studio

adela.kormoutova
adela.kormoutova
July 23rd, 2020

*@Julien Kaspar* https://www.uschovna.cz/zasilka/ARCCBCY8BPKPGMPK-9AU/

adela.kormoutova
adela.kormoutova
July 23rd, 2020

*@adela.kormoutova* i dont remember exactly how it works, but i think that you get some notification email with some password to download the file...

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
July 24th, 2020

*@adela.kormoutova* I got the file.
I had a look and the reason why the shrinkwrapping is not working is because your sculpt has an outer and inner side: alt text
The shrinkwrap modifier was just not sure if it should snap to the outer or inner side of the head.

I don't know how you managed to get this result but here's what I highly recommend :D
Even if you are sculpting with dyntopo, use the voxel remesher regularly. When remeshed, all of these issues will usually be fixed automatically.
So if you ever have any shading issues, non-manifold geometry, intersecting meshes, unwanted thickness, floating meshes within the object, small open holes, or any other unknown issue:
Ctrl + R.
Just make sure the voxel size is small enough that you don't lose too much work.

adela.kormoutova
adela.kormoutova
July 24th, 2020

thank you so much!! :)))))

adela.kormoutova
adela.kormoutova
July 22nd, 2020

*@Julien Kaspar* If you are so willing to look directly at the file in Blender, I´d love to send you the file or share it, I just don´t know how or where. Via google?

adela.kormoutova
adela.kormoutova
July 22nd, 2020

*@adela.kormoutova* I tried to upload the document here, but my pc stopped working :-D

pop.loreee
pop.loreee
March 3rd, 2020

Hello. When will u put the tutorial for Clean Retopology?

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
March 3rd, 2020

*@pop.loreee* Very soon.

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