K.U.K. Bust in progress

[pokrad]

Combined with the hat and the new torso:

To me it looks slightly better.
Resolution of the head is now close to the resolution of the badges, but cap has to be refined.

 

[pokrad]

Rearanged all pieces, still not sure what to do with the rope

 

[pokrad]

Few more details:

 

[pokrad]

With rope:

or without rope ?

 

[JackG]

It's a toss up for me - the rope adds an extra element of interest, but it obscures the belt buckle.

 

[pokrad]

the rope adds an extra element of interest, but it obscures the belt buckle.

Exactly my dilemma
The rope also complicates the casting...I can't avoid interlocks and make the rope to look convincing.
And this piece already has one caster nightmare - the feathers

 

[pokrad]

This is more or less finished, still need to cut the back and turn the head slightly, tell me what do You think - god or bad

 

[JackG]

Looks fantastic!

The rope, can it be moved over to reveal the belt buckle? Also was the placement based on photo reference - it looks like the length of rope is such that it could extend all the way to his knees, but I could be wrong.

 

[pokrad]

The rope is separate part, and if this ever gets casted it will be an option.
I think I get what You are thinking (I was thinking the same): move the rope more to the left and leave belt buckle visible - but then it would be wrong and different than the references - the rope is very long and this is the right "path" for it...

 

[pokrad]

Stuck with Wenzel, so I left him rest...
Added some character to face:

 

[pokrad]

Finished the cap, added some textures (better visible with this somewhat strange material)... now I have to do0 something with that ugly clump of virtual clay representing hair

 

[pokrad]

Asymmetry of the face, neck and head twist, texture for belts (not visible at this size):

 

[pokrad]

It took me 3 years

 

[MCPWilk]

The rope doesn't look quite right. A three plait rope should look like this:

I think your rope is wound a little too tight and the fibres should be a lot wider.

Mike

 

[pokrad]

Thanks Mike !

I modeled a new base element for the rope, this one is closer I think (the part with lighter color).
Of course now I have to delete the old one, and twist it to the shape:

 

[pokrad]

Packed the rope more tight this time, so part of the belt is visible:

 

[pokrad]

And some texture to avoid "too smooth" look:

 

[MCPWilk]

New rope is much better.

Mike

 

[Tecumsea]

Fascinating to see this develop-may I ask what programme you are using for this and are other programmes available. My son in law is a graphic designer and would like to have a go at developing his talents in this area.

Any advice would be appreciated,

Keith

 

[pokrad]

From the top of my head, the best ones IMHO are Blender and Zbrush. I am trying to learn them both.

Zbrush is commercial, and was in the start mostly sculpting software, the modelling was added later.
It is easy to learn - You can start with sculpting almost intuitive. But it is very powerful once you go deep under the hood.

Blender is open source - it was from the start modeling-sculpting-animation tool. It has so many features.
It is great piece of software but it is much harder to learn - at least that was my impression.
Sculpting tool is also very powerful - but somewhat more complicated interface than Zbrush.
Of course, once You learn it, it can do magic

I also use FreeCad sometimes (also open source). FreeCad is very useful in modeling when you model from technical drawing -
it is possible to enter exact dimensions using "constraints" and get 3D presentation of the object.

Hope that this helped