Introduction

As the name suggests, this is an opportunity for you to “watch over my shoulder” as I work on a new realistic digital portrait during the course of a month. My approach differs from other classes, because although the final result might look realistic, the process is very free-form and artistic, with most things created manually, instead of simply attempting to create a carbon copy of reality. I will teach you how to inject “life” into your work instead of simply using purely technical methods that more than often yell very realistic yet lifeless characters. In other words, SOUL above technique, but with plenty of techniques to back it up, obviously.

In those two hours meetings I will demo for an hour and from the second hour on you are free to ask any questions. No secrets kept. Ask anything related to the current session and I will answer to the best of my ability. I will open files, do mini-tutorials and anything else necessary to clarify your questions. My focus will be on naturalism and attention to detail. There are no guarantees that I will be able to finish an entire new piece in one month working only two hours a night, four times a week, but I will try. It’s a free flowing yet detailed masterclass though and I will go as far as I can, pushing important information that will help you. The amount of information I will be exposing you to might be overwhelming as the class progresses, so make sure you are ready for a challenge.

The beginning

I've been around for a long while, posting personal work and sharing free information on digital art and my personal discoveries for almost two decades now. I was the founder and administrator of one of the biggest CG communities to ever come out of Brazil, at about 30.000 users when it was closed. " 3d4all". We had many tutorials, challenges and galleries provided to that community for many many years at absolutely no cost. My team of voluntaries provided a spotlight on new artist's works, revealing talents over the years, many of those placed in big studios across the world today. Then I became a parent, twice, and stopped posting any personal work for a long time. A few years ago I returned to posting my art on social media and I was increasingly asked to run online classes so people could learn from me. So the classes offered here are a result of this demand and compile many years of experience in this industry and as an independent artist. My methods are displayed in my personal and professional works.

Mission

To create quality content while offering a true “inside the artist’s studio” experience, live an unedited, where you will able to experience how I approach my personal work. Solutions for common problems, insights, techniques, tricks and yes, even the mistakes, honest mistakes. Although I am not going to share ready-made material, because I believe in the power of “teaching how to fish” (the only real way to learn is by doing it yourself!), I will share everything, breaking down all possible tools, maps and shader nodes, so you can get the exact picture of what I am doing. I will share ALL my settings as I explain each step regarding realistic portraiture. I promise to do my very best so you can take full advantage of the class, offering mini-tutorials and demos on demand, so you are not left in the dark, combined with Facebook group support and bi-weekly reviews during the course of the class. I understand that money doesn’t come easy, so I want to make absolutely sure you are getting what you are paying for and then some. I believe that you don’t build a reputation by delivering a sub-par product, so I will work my hardest during and after classes, to create a brand-new model every month, so my process and drive might inspire others to do the same.

What to expect

An open window to the entire process, showing how I work on my personal art, in real-time, for about a month.

An artistic approach to likeness and realism, with the intention to learn with the process of observing the natural forms in the real world and with that understanding, make possible for you to freely idealize realism without the need of using ready made tools, alphas, images etc. You can expect a very dense yet easy to understand content.  

What not to expect

No weekly assignments. It doesn’t follow a program with a promise to deliver a final image, neither will I require you to produce a finished piece.

This program is not for beginners. If you subscribe to it, I will assume that you are already familiar with ZBrush at the very least, but I strongly recommend this class to those artists who are fluent in Maya as well. Not to say it’s not going to be interesting if you are not familiar with those, as some parts of the process are more on the conceptual side of things, but when it comes to the technical aspects, if you are not familiar with those tools, a whole lot might go over your head. Facial anatomy basic knowledge is a big plus as well. Likeness is about subtlety and without an understanding of the form, most of the *very important* subtlety will be missed, because it only comes with practice.

This is not about creating a perfect replica, but rather a believable digital version of the subject. For perfect replicas used in movies for example, scans and blueprints are used, which will not be the case here, except as a quick guide for checking proportions at times.

This class will not make you a better artist... UNLESS you work completely focused on your side to put in practice what’s being shown. You are your best teacher. I am just someone showing you my personal way of doing things, which can serve as an insight to your own work if used correctly. The way you apply this knowledge is completely up to you, so please, don’t waste your hard earned money if you are not willing to practice with the intention to push your work forward, always.

Topics Discussed in All Classes

• Likeness
• Understanding the skin and its structures
• Planning UVs and UDIMs for optimal HD detail
• Brush settings and techniques
• Sculpting in ZBrush's HD mode
• Polypainting in ZBrush's HD mode
• Exporting Displacement maps
• Interactive Grooming with Maya's Xgen
• Model setup for rendering displacement maps in Maya
• Shaders in Maya: skin, eyes, hair etc
• Eye modeling/sculpting
• Lighting and rendering in Arnold
• Post-processing basics
• Tips and tricks to capture the "soul" of a character