In this tutorial series we’re going to be looking at the techniques needed to model a human head. First we’ll set up the primary edgeloops and then move on piece by piece from there. Upon completion you should come away with some good strategies to model your own heads.
We have the source files available for download for each lesson if you would like to follow along, or we will bundle when the series is complete. Individual downloads contain a higher resolutions video to take with you, and the blender file in the state of the lesson. Reference images are licensed from http://www.3d.sk
Really enjoyed watching these tutorials. given me some inspiration into trying to learn blender
Truly amazing! As you said is not photorealistic but it’s a great model anyway and an amazing tutorial. Thak you very much!
Hi Jonathan
This is an amazing tutorial. I,ve made a model using it, but got a question!
Is it possible to add an edge loop to the head, so it follows the shape and doesn’t make these flat surfaces?
Sorry for my bad english, ect.
Hi Soeren,
To fix the flat faces it works well to hit Alt + S and scale up just a little bit a long the normals. This works well to smooth out the surface.
I actually thought there was an easier way… but i’m probably just too lazy
Hey Jon, this is some good stuff here. I really like how you go into everything thoroughly and explain yourself. You’re really easy to listen to. I’m not that great at modeling yet, rather I am a Recording Arts (Video Production) Major, but I’m getting familiar with Blender and I’m trying to create a generic looking head for an intro. I just wanted to leave a comment for compliment sake having watched the entire series and enjoyed it. My brain hurts a little bit though.
Awesome tutorials series !
The starting edge loops (mouth,nose,forehead, etc…) are very helpful and somewhat intuitive.
Nice job.
Great series, but you got links under video screwed (no Part 5 on list, Part 6 is Part 5).
Ooops, thanks for the catch. Updated.
This tutorial has helped me a lot. thank you:D
here is my result:
http://img521.imageshack.us/g/kopf1.jpg/
Excellent tutorial! Even I have never touched Blender before I enjoyed watching it. It doesn’t only show how something is done, but also why. Great!
Awesome tutorial series. However. You’re driving me up a wall man!
It’s “eT cetera” not “eggsetera”. 
Every time you say it my eye twitches _eeever_ so slightly.
Thanks man, awesome tut! helped me a lot, since i’ve never modeled something like that, and i’ve made my first head model thanks to you, many, many thanks and excellent work!
Incredibly helpful. I stumbled on this tutorial on TutorialHero.com while trying to learn the basics and workflow of modeling in Blender. I’ve followed this start to finish, using the method on my own head model, and although mine is more of a caricature, the philosophy and principles of good edge loops was an immense aid. Thank you so much.
finished my head model that I got through with the help of this tutorial. Once I put some finishing touches and render it (using the same tutorial you provided for LuxRender as well
), I’ll post it on my online portfolio, and give Blendercookie and MontageStudio a proper shot out. Once again, awesome work
Jonathan, some wips in here following this ( and your other figure modeling tut’s ). Just so you know your hard work isn’t going to waste. http://twitpic.com/photos/tensquirrel Still need a lot of practice, but coming along.
Is it normal that I need to follow along the video 4-5 times with the same model before I could passably reproduce the results without having to refer to separate portions every 2 seconds? Or am I just slow? =(
Still, great tut – while I’m here thou, I’d like to ask what the main difference between this tutorial and the Modeling the Female Head tutorial (available via purchase from Montage Studios) is. I mean, as far as I know, both were authored by good ol’ Mr Williamson, amirite? Is it that this technique isn’t quiet as suitable for female faces (or that the other technique was specially “tailored” for female faces)? Or do they both use the same general technique, just with a few different tweaks here and there to better accommodate to the target gender?
Excellent tut Jonhathan.
Modeling a head is the thing i have the least confidence in my self to do, but after following this tut it has helped me to make my first head but most improtantly it has shown me that i Can make a head model once again a big thank you
Jonathan,
After getting out of the military for eight years I decided to finally start school and got interested in 3d animation/modeling. Did some research into it and found some of the classes seems a bit difficult and since I have been out of school for so long and since I have never been the greatest schoolastic person, lol, I decided to try to learn as much as I could before I start. Did a lot of browsing and found blender and loved that it was free. Then I looked all over for tutorials and such and let me tell ya there are some bad ones out there. Then I found yours and I was blown away. You are a great teacher when it comes to this stuff. Just finished my head model and I am impressed with myself. I just wanted you to know that you really helped this lost veteran out a lot and I hope to see more in the future. Take care and again, you are doing an amazing job!
Ben,
Thank you for the very encouraging support! I am thrilled you have found my work helpful. Hearing comments like this is what drives me to keep creating tutorials.
Cheers,
-Jonathan
Thank you very much! This is an tutorial! I’m a complete noob so I don’t have any character models. Creating a person seems overwhelming and terrifying but this helped a whole lot and makes the job so much easier
Thank you xD Hope to see more!
Awesome series of tutorials! Helped immensely. It seems like every tutorial I stumble upon is by you and is great. Your one of the big reasons why the Blender community is one of the best communities backing a software.
lol… your final model kinda reminded me of Bruce Willis, especially when he’s bald.
That is very humbling, thank you
-Jonathan
very helpful tutorial, simple to understand and very easy techniques to follow…thanks!
Hi Jonathan. Just wanted to thank you for the great tutorial. I found it very useful. I am planning on making some more heads to go with a profile page on my website, but i have had some difficulty finding any good tutorials on how to proceed past this point. I was just wondering if you knew of any good tutorials that cover this. Or better yet have done one yourself.
Once again thanks. Stephen McManus
is there a good site for free reference photos?
After modeling the balloons I was amazed at how easy it was to follow your tutorial. I tried the male human head and I was blown away at how good it came out following your tutorial. It was my first time modeling and using blender. Although i used the free tut, i plan to subscribe as soon as i find a job again. Great Job!!
Thank you for all your tutorials including those from David Ward. I’ve learned so much from you and David. I realize this is an older tutorial but I thought I would watch it, nice edge flow and edge loop tips. Keep up the good work,
Great tut as usual. Jonathan, you honestly are the king of blender.
Just want to know… Would you consider this a good approach to making a low poly head for current and next gen gaming graphics? EG possibly setting subsurf to 1 or something?
Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Theo from Cape Town
Amazing series. Great stuf. I have read before (right when i started to use Blender) on how to model a human head and the process, specially the biggining of the modeling was the worst… especially for a noob! Your workflow on the other hand is pretty amazing and wel organized. I’ll keep watching your tutorials! That’s for shure!
ok john. lets see if you can work another miracle. so i did every thing the way it is in the video. but now its finish and when i render the texture. it renders it inside out. so i can see through the outer skin into the inside. i assume this is a quick fix like the other time you saved my butt
@Superbanks I’m no Blender expert, but my guess is that the normals are backwards. Select the entire object in Edit Mode, then on the toolbar (t) under Normals, click ‘Recalculate’.
These are awesome the head is turning out much better then I could have done, THANKS. is your email no longer johnathan@montagestudio.org I was sending you a thank you with screenshots of the work I did thanks to these tutorials and it says it failed to send :S
Hi Blaze,
That is almost my email, but it’s spelled “jonathan”
can you do one on the rest of the body? The only body modeling thing on this is for a female character, I’m to young to watch it. (the nudity and all.)
How do you prevent an ortho model from looking totally jacked in perspective view?
Is this corrected just by changing the camera settings?
Most I’ve asked say they just render in ortho mode. Any limitations to rendering in ortho mode? Should you switch back and forth from ortho to perspective all the time to try and make both views look correct?
Hi Brett,
Actually unless you have a very good reason for it, you’ll generally never render in Ortho mode. The reason for this is there is no perspective, giving you just a flat render. Ortho is useful for some things, such as floor plans and such, but for characters you will not want to use it. What you have discovered, with the model look terrible in perspective mode, is why it’s important to constantly switch in and out of perspective mode to check your model.
Ahh, thanks much! I was so lost, every tut I’ve followed thus far used ortho for this type of modelling to make use of a background image and I never saw them switch back & forth to perspective, or they never mentioned to do that. If you did in yours, I’m sorry I missed it. I guess this way is used in tuts a lot for learning or make it less confusing for the viewer or so the tutorial isn’t a bazillion hours long, lol. In Blenderella for instance the whole head was modeled in ortho and she switched to perspective at the very end for a few minutes in timelapse ‘to finalize’ the shape, but if I followed that workflow by then it’s too late, lol! Thanks again!
is this a good head for Game models?
You should check out his Low Poly series for game modelling, it’s awesome!
Can someone following this series please tell me what’s wrong with this picture?
http://s1051.photobucket.com/albums/s430/Jawbreaker3D/?action=view¤t=Ortho_vs_Perspective.png
I find it kinda funny, but I’ve had to make this model’s jaw line extremely wide in orthographic view, just to get a narrow jaw line in perspective view. The x and y placements of my vertices looked correct, initially, in ortho. I’ve had to make about every facial feature twice as wide in ortho to make it look reasonable in perspective. But none of the other features seem to be as out of whack as the forehead and jaw line. Am I doing something wrong … or is it just me?
Hmmm … you know, I’ve found the more reference photos the better. This is a good start, but using only two reference photos is missing too much information. Using three-quarter front and back views works out much better for me and more accurate overall shape. Heck I’ve even added a back and top-down references … leads to a lot less tweaking in perspective view … 3dsk for the win!