Learn How to Create a Photorealistic 3D Portrait of Mads Mikkelsen

Introduction

Hello, I'm Quentin Moulinneuf, a student and a Junior Character Artist. I discovered my passion for character art three years ago. I was captivated by the artistic aspects of the job, particularly the sculpting process, and the challenge of bringing creations to life.

Most of my learning has come from free resources on YouTube. I highly recommend the following Character Artists who have been incredibly helpful to me: FlippedNormals, Marco Plouffe, Johannes Boivin, Sefki Ibrahim, and Kris Costa.

In the past, I freelanced for Keos Masons. Currently, I am an Intern at Mathematic TV, marking my first steps into the VFX industry.

The main reference:

My final image:

Modeling

For this sculpt, I started with a classic ZBrush sphere, aiming to improve my facial anatomy skills. Initially, I focused on creating a clean base with simplified human shapes. Once satisfied, I refined the model to match my reference. Achieving the final look required multiple iterations in my rendering engine. For the eyes, I used the FlippedNormals kit and made adjustments in Photoshop to match Mads' eyes. The hair was created in Houdini and rendered in V-Ray. I recommend Barry Bacon's tutorial on the Houdini website for guidance on hair creation.

The hierarchy of shapes is crucial for the modeling part. Primary, secondary, and tertiary shapes are well-known. However, I believe there's an additional level between the secondary and tertiary shapes, which involves breaking up the secondary shapes by adding organic noise and creating smooth transitions between shapes. Using spray tools to add organic noise can also be a good idea.

Retopology, Texturing & Rendering

I retopologized the project in Wrap3, using XYZ Topology Model and Texture. By placing points and adjusting the geometry, I achieved clean loops for sculpting.

The most critical aspect of this project was achieving believable skin. I started with an XYZ Texture Map. Then, I tweaked it in Substance 3D Painter to achieve the desired look, removing the details from the original scan model. Realistic texturing involves varying the Albedo, Roughness, and IOR. For a more detailed research on creating realistic skin, I recommend you to check XYZ Tutorials.

I used a setup where I incorporated XYZ Data as much as possible to enhance my character's look development. Specifically, I used a Cavity Map in the IOR channel, with values ranging from 1.25 to 1.44, to break up the specularity in the skin pores.

I recommend making a soft desaturation or gray falloff in the Albedo channel. Additionally, I created a map to reduce Subsurface Scattering (SSS) in certain areas, such as the ears and nose, which often exhibit excessive SSS. The most important thing is to always keep an eye on your reference and try to analyze as much as possible how the material works.

To enhance the Albedo Map, I recommend using stencil tools allowing to erase or project specific skin conditions. Additionally, you can adjust the local color of the face, emphasizing the bony and bloody areas, dark circles under the eyes, and the beard, which tends to have a bluish tint.

I also recommend to use Soft Sharpen on a Passthrough layer.

I rendered the project in 3ds Max with V-Ray. For personal projects, I keep the lighting simple to focus on the character, using basic light setups and minimal post-processing. Typically, my render is 90% of the final image.

Conclusion

This project took me about two weeks. I'm particularly pleased with how the likeness turned out, as it was a significant challenge. I learned to push the realism in my work and always keep a close eye on references.

My advice for beginning Character Artists is to have fun while creating. Seek advice from others – feedback is invaluable and accelerates your progress. Thanks for reading about my project, I hope you find it helpful.

Quentin Moulinneuf, Character Artist

Interview conducted by Gloria Levine