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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

Breakdown: Adding extra Appeal

In this video we will wrap up the expresison tests by adding some additional asymmetry with shapekeys and a simple rig setup.

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.

13 comments
WILLIAM ROBERTS
WILLIAM ROBERTS
June 13th, 2022

Just wanted to say thanks so much for this in depth course it is pure gold!

sulemandawood911
sulemandawood911
July 9th, 2021

Hi, I can't seem to get a lot of creases. Did you apply the multires modifier for extra detail?

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
July 9th, 2021

@sulemandawood911 Generally I tried to have the topology follow the direction of any possible creases. If you then already have a lot of resolution on the base mesh it will be easy to create creases without applying the multires modifier. I hope that helps.

bigboomer3000
bigboomer3000
Jan. 22nd, 2021

one issue i have is that you will eventualy change the topology so the keyframes or shape keys will not work. how can i make a rig that will match the shapekey expresions? speaking of which, i would love to see a tutorial for advanced rigging on a styalised character especialy for the face. so far the only tutorial you have is a basic one for begginers with a dummy

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
Jan. 22nd, 2021

@bigboomer3000 Thanks for the questions!     First of all there won't be a rigging part to this course, sadly. What I am talking about here is purely a needed step to test & polish the character design and to create a style guide that will be taken into consideration for the rigging & animation to come.    Ideally you would also not want to change the topology when you go into expression testing. Add more resolution if needed but all you would do at this point is change the proportions and details (which doesn't need topology changes).    You can theoretically rig anything that you sculpt from the topology you start with but that's not necessarily what you need to find out.    I can recommend to look at the current work that is being done for the movie Spright Fright on the cloud.     All of them had expression tests done in the same method. The files are also available if you want to take a look. These expression tests showed clearly that we needed a very specific retopology to allow for extreme movements & deformations on the mouth. We also decided then that we didn't want any creases or anatomical preserving of volume & surfaces in the animation. It also helped with finalising the design and creating guides for the texturing, like having darker, thicker lips & eyelids to make the mouth & eyes more readable). There's a lot o take away from eh expression tests that is beneficial for retopology, shading, rigging & animation.

Artur Machura
Artur Machura
May 7th, 2020

My few facial tests. This part was really annoying because of broken multires but after Julien helped me it came much more enjoyable. I haven't polished my tests as Julien done on Rain but I am still very pleased with results. I tried with bones but when I try parent with automatic weights the whole head was moving and I didn't know how to fix it.

Thank you Julien

Will Brigham
Will Brigham
May 6th, 2020

Hey Julien, first off I just wanted to say it's a great course you've put together. Truly enjoyed it so far. The sculpting, retopolgy and shape keys worked out fine, I am having a problem with my armature though, and I'm not sure why.

This is my character thus far.

Screenshot1

I added a basic one just to tilt head angles, I've parented the head mesh to it, its clearly attached, weight paint mode shows it is too. However when i rotate it in pose mode the mesh doesn't move with it. Just wondering if you have any idea why?

During weight paint mode.

Screenshot2

In pose mode.

Screenshot3

Thanks for your time,

Will

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
May 6th, 2020

*@Will Brigham* Thanks a lot.
Unfortunately the images are not loading so I can't see the screenshots.

Will Brigham
Will Brigham
May 6th, 2020

*@Julien Kaspar* that's bizarre, I'll send a link to them instead. Sorry man.

weight paint mode

Link

pose mode

Link

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
May 6th, 2020

*@Will Brigham* Oh ok I thought the pictures would add some more info. To be honest I don't know. Maybe the modifier is disabled.

Erik Dahlbäck
Erik Dahlbäck
Feb. 16th, 2020

Hi, the tutorials in this Stylized character series are just simply awesome. Really professional! I'm so curious and eager to see the rest of the tutorials that are TBA. Any estimated time arrival (ETA) for these?

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
Feb. 16th, 2020

*@Erik Dahlbäck* Since I am and will also now work on the new Open Movies like "Coffee Run" & "Cosmos Laundromat Pt.2", the next chapter will still take at least a month to finish as my personal estimate. The TBA Chapters after that weren't fully discussed yet and might even continue a bit later with a big character update for Rain.

Part of this is my fault for blowing up the scale of the course and running out of time. But I intend to finish the course even if it takes way longer than intended.

Erik Dahlbäck
Erik Dahlbäck
Feb. 16th, 2020

*@Julien Kaspar* Thanks for the info. There are so many details from this course that I think you must know about otherwise you will not get good results or simply get nothing done because you get stuck due to the problems you encounter. You combine the technical part of it with the artistic part, like the anatomy trainings. Both are needed to get good results

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