I've looked online and gone through some tutorials on this but I can't seem to get it down how to make something like the "mike Tyson" made by avalanche studios in 97. I've done the cooper tutorials and seen others but I can't get the hang of it...Mark Paul Gooslar one of them along with Tom Wellington any help would be appreciated please or maybe a simpler tutorial...?>>?>

Ooooohhh!

I just did that with Dave Bowman for the image contest...

That by far... was the hardest thing I ever attempted. And I'm still not happy with it. Portraits are very very hard... unless you already have the knack for it.

It is hard for me just to do a realistic "non" recognizable character in AM... then add in trying to make someone that every one recognizes.

You can't... "cheat"... like you could with a character you "made up"... you got to get it right.

Have you done "traditional" media portraits? Try that first... get as much reference for your subject as possible. Doing sketches of your subject is a great way to become familar with it.

At the end of my project I had photo references on one computer while I modeled on another computer. That really helped.

Modeling realistic people is hard.... modeling realistic portraits of famous people is even harder... for me anyway.

-vern

I cant tell you much about it, but some things I figured out:
Use real Textures. Use Photos.
You will need a good model, and, which I think is almost as important: A very very good lightening.
Make the image look a bit "dirty".

*Fuchur*

I agree that it is a good idea to do lots of drawings first. Learn the face. Lots of reference rather than just one photo will help. Learn what features are important.

A general understanding of the face is quite important.

Also, decide how much chariacature you are going to put in there.

Another thing is that textures can often help bring a model to life so prepare to work on that too.

Portraiture is indeed one of the hardest things to do.

Thank you all..The work continues then....I'll take your suggestions and get to it....any other suggestions would be great...has anyone seen that mike Tyson portrait? That looks incredible...something like that is what I'm looking to create

creating a likeness to a real person is a matter of artistic skill. If you can draw a portrait or sculpt a portrait, then you can probably model a prtrait in A:M. But if you cannot draw it or sculpt it, then you may not yet have the necessary skill--which is an "artist's eye".

After a number of years of drawing,painting,etc. you develop a critical eye for what you are looking at and trying to reproduce. When modeling something, you will be pushing and pulling control points to "sculpt" the shape to it's final form.
It can be frustrating when you are new. Than lump of clay (or mess of splines) isn't going to look right--Until you're DONE. That's how you know you're done, after all. But along the way you won't have the confidence to know that it WILL turn out right, until you have been doing it for a while.
You will add detail by stitching it in, you will push/pull/tweak the mesh for hours.
Most of the time, for artistic natures, this is a pleasant and relaxing process. If you think that it will be instant gratification, then you will be frustrated. But when you tweak that last CP, and look upon your finished model, and SEE the likeness that you had in your mind looking back at you... Believe me, you will feel the gratification. That is the uncomparable feeling of MASTERY!

Dear Corey,

I was faced with the same challenge a few years ago. I go along with what everyone above has said, however, perhaps I’m still more an engineer than an artist (though I hope I am getting there) and looking at the problem in that light, I just figured out the fastest way to get there (which still took a long time).

First, how well did my efforts turn out? Please go to my site (URL in signature) and note the girl in the main graphic image – this is NOT a model – this is my daughter. My efforts to model her can be found at:

http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?s=&am...ost&p=86041

and

http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?s=&am...ost&p=85988

(she looks much better animated LOL)

How I got there: First I studied a lot of tuts and books on modeling a realistic face. Then, I purchased Bill Young’s video tutorial on how to model a face from Anzovin Studios (www.anzovin.com) and this is what really got me there. I highly recommend it.

For the texturing part, again, I studied every book and tut I could find (Bill did not have a video tut on this subject). I documented my efforts in a rather long and detailed tutorial. The link for this is posted somewhere around this post (which also plugs my tutorial):

http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?s=&am...ost&p=72386

Or, just go to my site and go to 'Gallery'; the link is at the bottom.

I hope this helps and good luck!
Rusty