I'm currentyl sculpting Alyssa Veysey's hammer head shark, but getting the proportions and especially the shape of the eye sockets right, isn't easy. Has anybody else tried it, who could give me some hints?
duerer Hey that's looking decent! Just remember that you are creating 3D geometry out of 1 view. So more references to shark body shape will help you out too. Don't just limit to 1 image. Take any of these below recommendations if you like (or none of them)
Shark bodies have smooth curve transitions along the spine. Making use of S-curves comes in really handy. The body appears to have a sort of S shape from head to dorsal fin and another front dorsal fin to tail fin.
Body changes:
Use that top view to smooth the body out a little more like a tear drop. The hammer head will obviously break that transition up a little more. Sharks are fattest near their main two fins on the bottom and thinner in the front and rear, generally speaking. That hard bump-curve behind your main two fins is probably a 2D lighting effect to show that the body gets thinner behind (more of like a silhouette effect) Maybe don't model that part in so harshly and rather just make the body start to thin out along a sharper S-curve (top view looking down) after the main two fins.
The top of the nose does not bump up as much in the reference picture. Smoothing that out may help a little.
The eyes need more skin coverage on the front. Hammerheads don't have a whole lot of frontal view room. Looks like the lid is fatter on the top and thinner on the bottom in the reference image. You may need to rotate those eyes a little more towards the side.
Fin changes:
The top dorsal fin's back edge could go back a little to make the fin a little longer perhaps.
The back tail fin fin bottom needs to be a little more pronounced. And the top front of the tail should be lower than the top back curve.
The bottom fin sticks down to harshly and could have a little more curviness.
Fins are typically a little fatter in the front and thinner on the back. Think of it like a bird or airplane wing. We borrow a lot of good designs from nature and an aircraft wing is no different. A little fatter in the front and thinner on the back. There is a science behind why this is but I'll save you from the explanation.
You could probably fatten up and extend the main two front fins as well.
Hope that helps!
Thank you very much for your extensive and encouraging hints! It will certainly help. Sounds to me like you are an expert for sharks :) . The most difficult parts in my opinion are the transition between the head and the rest of the body (you are certainly right with you interpretation of the curve behind the two main fins) as well as the rear section of the bulge above the eyeballs which needs some guessing. Still a lot to do, but it's also fun :) !
A short update of my hammer head shark, where I've reshaped the fins, the transition between head and torso, the nose, the teeth and especially the eye sockets. I'v also shortened my model. The s-curve bending of the body comes later in order to profit as long as possible from mirroring in the x-direction.
duerer I see you're sculpting in orthographic view. I recommend not sculpting (or modeling in general) in that view as it drastically distorts ones perspective of the object. In the case of this shark and orthographic view will never look like artwork proportionally.
I should say that some artists do like to sculpt/model in orthographic. Ortho has specific uses for sure, but mostly it's preference. And all I can say is...no one is perfect 😜
Thanks for the hint :) ! And, of course, I would never resist against becoming perfect ;) . I often wonder, how professional artists manage to do the perfect editing of their models almost like dream walking. A lot of imagination is certainly needed which I'm still missing. There's still much trial and error in my modeling.
Remember that pro artists have spent years honing their craft. They all started the same; with little-to-no skill. You're well on your way to develop your skills!
And I'll let you in on a secret: Trial and error modeling never goes away, even at the highest level of modeling/sculpting. It's just part of it.
Keep at it! ✊
Thank you very much for your encouragement. It really makes more and more fun :) .
Going to attempt... I'll touch base later in the week to see if I've gotten anywhere and maybe can help.
K, so I've taken a first pass on the hammerhead and I've noticed some anatomy issues with the sketch. They have the gills behind the fins which they should not be and the bulge around that area isn't clear to me if it's the anatomy or the position/angle... so, I've just blocked out the anatomy by looking at photo ref, scaled up the eyes to suit the sketch and will focus on that and the mouth for capturing the character of the sketch. Then, as you said, break symmetry, pose and polish...
Not sure if that is any help but if you have any questions or whatever just ask.