2024 | SUMMER REGISTRATION NOW OPEN! 

Make sure to Enroll Today!

Character Facial Sculpting

Character Facial Sculpting

A 10-week course in which students will learn the anatomy of the head and what makes the portrait tell a story and makes it “alive”
cover image
Overview Trailers Gallery Instructors Pricing Benefits Testimonials

Learn to sculpt the human face

Learn to sculpt the human face
During this course, students will learn what makes the face look as it does—the underlying structures of the skull, muscles, fat tissue, and other structures such as glands which create and affect the forms of the face. Without a base mesh, but starting from scratch to get a better understanding of all the layers laid on top of each other. Once that knowledge is established, we will go deeper into what makes the portrait alive and tell a story.
Registration Now Open
Registration Period
Apr 24, 2024 - Jul 15, 2024
Course Start
Jul 08, 2024

Course Format

Standard

Skills Level

Intermediate

Duration

10 weeks

Q&A

Once a week

Feedback

Individual recordings

Lecture Type

Pre-recorded
Assignment
Due each week. Expect to spend 10-20 hrs/wk viewing lectures, Q&A, and assignments
PREREQUISITES
Intermediate sculpting or drawing knowledge. Course Pre-req: Intro to Production Modeling, Zbrush for Concept & Iteration, and Anatomy for Production
MATERIALS
Zbrush, a graphics tablet with a digital pen — no mice allowed :)

The more you know, the better.

Introduction | Going over anatomical references of the skull and neck bones, and explaining the benefits of learning what is “under the hood”
Further examining anatomical references of cartilage, eyes, glands
Adding muscles to the scene, and fat tissue
Building a generic face by laying the skin layer on top of the previously created layers
To get a better understanding of portrait sculpting, one portrait won’t cut it, so we will create a new one.
Retopology of the bust and projecting back the details onto the new topology mesh. Clean topology will enable more efficient detailing, and later posing and expressions.
Final touches and tweaks of the portrait
Polypainting the color map
Sculpting the hair (or fibermesh or xgen)
For this lesson, retopology will have a big impact, as the head will be much easier to pose. Rendering different passes in Zbrush and bringing them into Photoshop for compositing into a final image.

Trailers

features image

Course trailer

STUDENT GALLERY

Bringing out the best in talent

Chunlin Yang
Mid-Senior Modeler
LECTURES BY Dmitrij Leppee
Course Start: Jul 08, 2024

Chunlin is a mid-senior modeler and shot sculptor working in the VFX industry. Specializing in DigiDoube creation and Creature modeling, She has worked as a CG artist at Companies such as Sony Picture ImageWorks, DNEG, Method studios and Framestore, Delivering high-quality assets to shows like ‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters”,” Lord of the Rings: Rings of power”,” Thor: Love and Thunder,” “Wonka” etc. She also created Face Shapes for creatures like IceTitan, WarthogTitan, and other characters. Her education from Syracuse University's illustration major gave her strong art fundamentals in human anatomy and forms. Furthermore, she has also continued her education at Sheridan College, where she obtained solid skill sets in Computer Graphics.

show more

Instructor's Gallery

VFX
VFX
VFX

PRICING SCHEDULE

Even though our courses are the most affordable for the quality of education, these finance options allow you to focus on your goals instead of the barriers that keep you from reaching them.

3x Payments

$332.67

2x Payments

$499

Full payment

$998

Summer TERM REGISTRATION Now Open
Apr 24, 2024 - Jul 15, 2024
COURSE BEGINS on Jul 08, 2024
Character Facial Sculpting

What makes this learning experience unique?

PERSONALIZED FEEDBACK

Receive personalized feedback on all assignments from the industry’s top professionals.

LIFETIME ACCESS

Enjoy lifetime access to the spectrum of course content, including lectures, live Q&As, and feedback sessions.

CERTIFICATION

Show off your Certification of Completion when you turn in 80% of course assignments.

FLEXIBLE LEARNING

Learn anywhere, anytime, and at your own pace with flexible, online course scheduling.

Testimonials

By going over the fundamentals of the face and each layer that comes on top of it, this course has helped me get a greater understanding of the work methods, shape language, and observation skills for making faces.

Kenny

Helped gain more confidence when doing a facial sculpt, the knowledge gained from the course decreased the guessing when sculpting and when translating references to 3D

Jose

I attended a 3D school before but through this course I learned so much more technical stuff, it really helped that we had such an experienced instructor!

Miria

Always available to answer questions thoroughly and in-depth. Seemed to really care about the issues students had. Honest feedback.

Felix

Need guidance? We’re Here to Help.

We can help with admissions questions, portfolio review/course recommendations!

What are you interested in?