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First head sculpt feedback!

Jun 28, 2024

    1. Hello! I am dropping this here because this is the first time I am sculpting anything BJD - related and I believe I need help.

      [​IMG]
      [​IMG]

      How does it look? Can I improve it?

      Thank you in advance!
       
      • x 1
    2. Oh, this is super cute so far! A bit of feedback I would give:
      The profile is a bit flat, especially around the chin and forehead. I would recommend looking up some references of people in side view to make sure you don't leave it too 2-dimensional. (I have this same issue when sculpting!)
      The ears are also a tiny bit small compared to the rest of the head? Otherwise, I love this, especially the lips!
       
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    3. Thank you so much!! I will try and tweak it and I will most likely post an update!
       
    4. I would second that, and add: bringing the nose forward more. In the concept art you put in your project journal, her nose sticks out quite a bit more, and I think that looks better personally :kitty2
       
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    5. It seems like you've spent a lot of time sculpting in the front view (which makes total sense if you are used to working in 2d) but not much in other views - hence the kind of flat appearance. I would recommend making an effort to rotate between angles a lot while sculpting - if needed you can even set yourself a timer that tells you to move away from one angle to the next (don't forget viewing from the top, below and all the in-between 3/4 angles!). Sculpting a 3d object works best when you keep working a bit on each angle and changing the position a lot instead of finishing one side and starting with another. I saw your blueprint drawings on the project journals and I think sketching out a 3/4 view of the head can help a lot here, too!

      On the engineering side, you'll need to be mindful of how the eyes can be changed and how the wig stays on - I feel like there might be a problem with wigs as the forehead comes down at quite a sharp angle, perhaps it even needs to be longer judging by how far up the brow bones are. I'd look at other dolls as well as human skull references here. No matter how stylised, I think referencing from human anatomy is always helpful for sculpture - keep a mirror nearby so you can look at your own face at the angles you are working on (saves you a lot of trouble from googling images)!

      Good luck! It'll get there!
       
      • x 3
    6. Some great tips above! And it looks like you are off to a good start!

      One thing I would consider is the interaction of the head with the neck. I have seen many dolls with very limited head range of motion because the space between chin and where the head meets the neck is cramped, or the neck is too thick, etc. A big factor in this is the hole for hook and elastic in the head (a single round hole will not allow the same range of motion as a longer slit).

      You may not have reached the neck yet in your planning, but when you do, I would think about range of motion. Personally, I think the ability of a bjd to have expression in the way their head tilts is very important!
       
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    7. Thank you so much for your feedback!!! It is very much useful.

      The good part of this though, is that I don't think I will change her eyes/wig. And this is a project for myself only, so I was planning on making her a wig/eyes instead of buying them. However - I may try and fix it either way, you never know. And funnily enough, making the head too small is something I sometimes have trouble with drawing.

      Would this be a matter of making a big hole for her neck? I personally don't want her neck to be too thin, because I feel like it would feel weird compared to the rest of her body.
       
    8. UPDATE!

      I have tried to work on your feedback. Thanks to everyone who helped me, you are all awesome :XD:

      Since the critiques were mainly focused on the side profile, I am going to drop the before and after:

      [​IMG]

      What I fixed exactly is:
      - Pushed her nose, lips and chin forward,
      - Made the forehead and overall head more round.I did make the head slightly bigger, but I am not sure if it would be enough for the wig to sit well and for the headback to be cut.
      - Made the ear slightly bigger.
      - Marked her jawbone a little bit. Now that I am looking at it it's a little bit crooked, but I can fix it in a minute so I am not worried about that.
      - Shaped the area where her neck joins the head a little bit more for better movement.
      - Made some overall tweaks and refinement on her lips, cheeks and nose.

      I think she is looking way better! Feedback would still be appreciated though ^^
       
      #8 Max_Wyn, Jun 29, 2024
      Last edited: Jun 29, 2024
      • x 2
    9. The new profile looks a lot better. A lot more three dimentional.

      The ears appear to be positioned very high. Normally on a human the top of the ear is roughtly in level with the corner of the eye and the bottom of the ear is on level with the corner of the mouth.
      With a face this stylized you may need to fudge that a bit to not end up with massive ears, but you may still want to play around a bit with the position to respect the mouth a bit more.

      As for neck movement, that can be done in a number of ways, but regardless of if you go deep and ball shaped or shallow and wide, it will be an interaction between both joint parts, in this case the top of the neck and the socket in the head. You can't do the one without the other. You may also need tactile feedback for it to work really well, so perhaps test print those parts early on to figure it out without having to worry about full prints?
      Generally, the larger and more precice the surface of contact is, the smoother and more reliable the joint will be. There is no way of guessing at movement without seeing the internal shape of the joint surfaces.
       
      • x 1
    10. Those small changes are a great improvement! Especially the forehead looks a lot better.

      A note about the jawbone - the head doesn't continue behind it :sweat This is where the head already connects to the neck so there is no extra mystery flesh there.

      I agree that the ear could be a bit bigger, I think it's not placed at the right place right now, either. To mark where it goes, look at the cheek, jaw and brow bones - the middle goes where the cheek bone ends, and the jaw bone drops from right there as well. The upper edge of the ear lobe sits somewhere between the brow bone and corner of the eye (at least for me... But my ears are kind of big, too).

      A scheme to clarify, I hope it's not too messy:

      [​IMG]
       
      • x 1
    11. @Lillith is right that the neck and head interact and you may have to test it to see what works best. What I was thinking of was sculpts like Dollshe's Ausley and Amanda, where the chin to neck span is short and doesn't allow for any nodding motion. It's just something to keep in mind as you continue! Focusing on the facial proportions for now makes sense :)
       
      • x 1