Sculpting a Human Head in Blender

by Jonathan Williamson

Hello and welcome to this Blender sculpting tutorial on creating a human head!

In this Blender 2.5 video tutorial we take you through the process of sculpting a human head from a cube. This tutorial covers the use of multiple sculpting brushes, anatomy of the human, and many tips along the way for the sculpting process.

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Discussion

205 Responses to “Sculpting a Human Head in Blender”
  1. Rodrigo
    Posts: 1

    Hey, can we sculpt a whole body ? Cheers

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    101
     May 23, 2012 at 4:49 pm
  2. Nathan Ferguson
    Posts: 540

    Hey Jonathan :D I love this tutorial. When is your next BLENDER tutorial coming out???

    #
    102
     Jun 8, 2012 at 3:22 am
  3. Benjamin Waziri
    Posts: 1

    Hi everybody,
    I downloaded Blender last week. But of some reason, the day after i downloaded Blender i couldn´t watch any videos on the internet! And i still can´t! It does it on both this site and on youtube! The only way i could watch the videos was by downloading them and watching them in Windows Media Player, but it´s only the intro videos non-citizens can download. Does anybody have an idea of how i can fix it (and could this have anything to do with Blender?)?

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    103
     Jun 13, 2012 at 9:45 am
  4. nerd P
    Posts: 2

    can you use the headmesh from the beginner tutorial?

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    104
     Jul 1, 2012 at 7:29 pm
  5. chimerat
    Posts: 2

    Hi, i’m a real beginner in this, i can’t understand the actual differences between the Draw Brush and the Clay Brush?
    A few things were said about this in minute 23:40 of the tutorial

    I tried them both and i see that they are different but i dont know when to use each one.

    Thank you
    Tom

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    105
     Jul 6, 2012 at 1:29 pm
  6. nathaniel byrd
    Posts: 8

    I have finished your tutorial. And even though mine does not look anything like your I love to have some helpful criticism. Please be harsh ;] http://cgcookie.com/blender/images/submission/

    #
    106
     Jul 10, 2012 at 9:48 am
  7. dalivia
    Posts: 1

    Is there a tutorial on sculpting the entire body, including arms and legs? I do alot modeling with my Autistic 5 y/o step son and he has an easier time sculpting then the box modeling ?

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    107
     Sep 18, 2012 at 10:08 am
  8. cece2602
    Posts: 13

    Hi. I am new to blender (as of today) and am trying to model a human face. I’m having problems with the grease brush though – it will only let me make straight lines which is frustrating as I want to draw the shapes to form a head. Any ideas what I’m doing wrong?

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    108
     Oct 2, 2012 at 9:13 am
    • Jonathan Williamson
      Posts: 2949

      Hi there,

      How are you activating the grease pencil? It has a line mode by using CTRL+D+LMB. Regular strokes are done with just D+LMB.

      #
      108.1
       Oct 2, 2012 at 9:28 am
      • cece2602
        Posts: 13

        Thank you so much! I was using CTRL+D+LMB. I’m really new to this – trying to make facial motion captures for my phd and I am so rubbish with technology!

        #
        108.1.1
         Oct 2, 2012 at 10:39 am
  9. cece2602
    Posts: 13

    I have another question about the symmetry tool. I click on the X axis option and then proceed to forming the side view of the face, but when I go to front view, it has a piece missing from the middle. Can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong…yet again!

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    109
     Oct 2, 2012 at 11:49 am
    • Jonathan Williamson
      Posts: 2949

      Could you post a screenshot of the problem? It’s a bit hard to decipher at the moment.

      #
      109.1
       Oct 2, 2012 at 12:40 pm
      • cece2602
        Posts: 13

        Managed to figure it out. Given up for today though, I started using the draw brush to pull things out, and it ended up looking a little demonic!

        #
        109.1.1
         Oct 2, 2012 at 1:14 pm
  10. cece2602
    Posts: 13

    Hello!

    I’m trying to use the UV sphere mesh for the eyes, but the sphere always seems to go behind the face rather than overlap on top like yours.

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    110
     Oct 3, 2012 at 3:09 pm
    • cece2602
      Posts: 13

      Oh I figured it out. Now my mirror modifier won’t work. Does this ever get easier? lol

      #
      110.1
       Oct 3, 2012 at 3:16 pm
  11. cece2602
    Posts: 13

    Why is it when I press shift+c to recentre my cursor my model goes to the side and I can’t seem to centre it? Also, the mirror modify function doesn’t seem to work. Thanks for any advice

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    111
     Oct 4, 2012 at 11:39 am
    • Jonathan Williamson
      Posts: 2949

      SHIFT+C recenters the 3D cursor in the scene and centers the view on the cursor. It could be your model is offset from the center of the scene. An easy way to focus in on a specific object is press “\” to go into Local view. Then “\” again to leave local view.

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      111.1
       Oct 4, 2012 at 11:41 am
      • cece2602
        Posts: 13

        I’m going into local view but nothing has happened.

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        111.1.1
         Oct 4, 2012 at 11:49 am
      • Jonathan Williamson
        Posts: 2949

        Can you give me a few more details as to what is happening and what you’re trying to achieve? Screenshots can be particularly helpful.

        #
         Oct 4, 2012 at 11:50 am
  12. cece2602
    Posts: 13

    Okay. Don’t laugh at my face model its first attempt! :)

    http://tinypic.com/r/4qlwqo/6

    I pressed shift+c to recentre and now the face model is sort of “stuck” on the left hand position. I can zoom in and out, but if I want to see the whole face I have to have it super tiny like in the screenshot. I obviously want the face model in the middle so I can see it all. I’m following your tutorial and I’m trying to add in the mesh for the eyes but its impossible. Every time I add in the mirror modifier it doesn’t seem to do anything.

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    112
     Oct 4, 2012 at 11:57 am
    • cece2602
      Posts: 13

      scrap that, I figured out how to reposition it. Just still struggling with the mirror modifier.

      #
      112.1
       Oct 4, 2012 at 12:23 pm
  13. Such Ch
    Posts: 5

    Hi. I’m only an animator guy so far, so I’m trying to not be so embarrassing at sculpting. Right in the beginning around minute 3 to 4, you just start to sculpt the head. When I pull down to form the chin, it seems to sharp, and when I turn to front view, I get two things pulled down, instead of one joined chin pulled down, because of the x axis symmetry or something. Is there some setting I’ve messed up that pulls the vertex sharp or doesn’t merge them or something? Thanks.

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    113
     Dec 15, 2012 at 12:06 pm
  14. Ari Ari Bayi
    Posts: 1

    Amazing, sugoi !!!!!!!!!! I need this tutorial !!!!!

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    114
     Dec 26, 2012 at 8:46 am
  15. moosefoo
    Posts: 4

    I was using the smooth brush and the geometry is flipping out all over the place. Do you know what would cause this?

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    115
     Jan 3, 2013 at 2:50 pm
    • Jonathan Williamson
      Posts: 2949

      Do you have a screenshot of the problem?

      #
      115.1
       Jan 3, 2013 at 3:14 pm
      • moosefoo
        Posts: 4

        Yes, do you want me to upload it to the user submitted images?

        #
        115.1.1
         Jan 3, 2013 at 3:28 pm
      • Jonathan Williamson
        Posts: 2949

        It’d be better to upload to a site like http://pasteall.org. The Gallery is more for showcasing artwork.

        #
         Jan 3, 2013 at 3:38 pm
    • Alex Telford
      Posts: 454

      This is often caused by scaling on the mesh (1,1,0.05) or normals facing the wrong way, or modifiers interfering with it, or sometimes you just need to restart blender.
      -Alex

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      115.2
       Jan 3, 2013 at 3:48 pm
  16. Joel Schmidt
    Posts: 24

    hi jonathan can you do a tutorial on texturing the finished model. human skin always gives me trouble

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    116
     Feb 15, 2013 at 11:18 am
    • Jonathan Williamson
      Posts: 2949

      Hi Joel,

      I’m waiting on real SSS support for Cycles before doing any more human skin texturing. But rest assured it’s on my list :)

      Cheers,
      Jonathan

      #
      116.1
       Feb 15, 2013 at 12:17 pm
  17. Kelly Bellis
    Posts: 13

    Hi Jon,

    Thank you for this tutorial.

    It ends unexpectedly / abruptly mid-sentence. Was that just the way the cgcookie crumbled?

    Kelly

    #
    117
     Feb 24, 2013 at 4:20 pm
    • Alex Telford
      Posts: 454

      That’s a result of trimming too much off the end of the recording ;)
      -Alex

      #
      117.1
       Feb 25, 2013 at 12:26 am
  18. Niklavs Roga
    Posts: 2

    Hi , i just wanted to tell that i realy appreciate this tutorial and was amaizing thing to learn from ! Thank you!

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    118
     Mar 25, 2013 at 11:55 am
    • Niklavs Roga
      Posts: 2

      P.S
      Would it be possible to animate face like this ?
      And add body ?

      #
      118.1
       Mar 25, 2013 at 1:31 pm
  19. revenantjesh
    Posts: 1

    I think I actually got one better :0 ;)

    #
    119
     Apr 2, 2013 at 7:56 pm
  20. alfie mehson
    Posts: 1

    What tutorial would you recommend to watch next to add the body to the head?
    This was a brilliant tutorial, I tried to watch the “scuplting a realistic head” tutorial and it was way above me, thanks for teaching me how to use the sculpting properly.

    #
    120
     May 16, 2013 at 2:42 pm
    • Joel Schmidt
      Posts: 24

      i would recomend to watch the series by David ward on doing a stylilyzed groundhog or the book blender masterclass. I have it and it is worth the money you pay.

      #
      120.1
       May 16, 2013 at 3:55 pm
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