Anatomy Study

 After receiving some extremely useful feedback from our tutor James, and a one on one call about how to approach anatomy and realism, I have begun to properly study the anatomy of the face. During the call, James recommended a book named Anatomy For Sculptors, which contains so much useful information about facial features and a breakdown of specific muscles that are visible through the skin, and how to properly structure each feature of the face. After finding a free copy of the book online as a PDF file, I have been reading through and sculpting as I go.

Right from the get go, the sculpt started off stronger and more life like than anything I've sculpted previously as proper anatomical structure is in place, allowing the sculpt to look more human. For this initial study, I chose to keep the eyes closed so that I could focus more on the larger more prominent features of the skull and face. The sternocleidomastoid muscle (the large muscle going from behind the ear to the clavicle on the front on the bust) is an essential part of a bust as it holds the head sturdily in place and allows for the turning of the head. Once this is in place the bust really begins to take form.

Another important muscle to add is the node muscle at the corner of the mouth. Anatomy wise every muscle to do with the face can link back to the node muscle, allowing for the sculptor to accurately place muscles and facial creases on their bust.

As difficult as it initially was, James recommended that keeping low sub divisions for the initial features to take shape was the best course of action. After an hour or so however it made a lot more sense to me, and I had been doing everything I possibly could on that sub division level before moving up to the next one. 
I also found that once I had moved up to the next sub division, it helped immensely to drop back down every now and again to make sure the basic forms of the skull were still correct, and if not I could change it without distorting any detail. The way James described this was imagine that you're looking at the sculpt through a really out of focus camera, and each sub division you're focusing it in a little bit more, meaning that sub division one should be just the hard structure of the head itself.

While at this division level, I had been using the move tool and the clay buildup to simply block in the underlying skull of the head, and the standard tool to hollow out the eye sockets ready to place in the lids. Division one had a simple bulged line where the mouth should be, as it is impossible to differentiate lips at this stage, but useful to have a placeholder set for when you reach an appropriate level.

the third sub division is where you really start to see the face taking shape, as everything is following the underlying structure from the previous levels. In this SD, we can start to bring more details forward in places where we couldn't on previous levels, for example the eyes, nose and mouth area can all have a better structure added to give the face a cleaner look. At this division it is still too low to add major details, so an ear would only be a basic block out ready for detailing later on. Shaping the lips correctly is a lot easier in this division level as there are more polygons to work with, but not enough to add the finer details. The nose can also be chiseled out more at this stage, making sure to once again not add too much unnecessary detail.

I spent a very long time in sub level four tweaking and changing the proportions of the face until I reached something I was happy to keep. I squared out the jaw slightly whilst making sure it only came out to an anatomically correct distance. I also lowered the brow of the bust and carved the mouth out more, the ears were also a high enough level to add more detail and structure at this point, which I also re shaped and moved slightly. I was once again flipping back to previous levels to check everything worked and to make subtle changes to the structure that allowed me to continue higher up. It is a good idea to constantly be checking every angle of the bust to make sure it doesn't look completely alien from one perspective and normal from the other. 

I have spent even longer in sub division five, adding to the details that have been produced in the previous levels. I have also rounded off the brow bone to give a more natural structure to the face, and added finer detail and sculpting to any area available. All of the detail I am adding I am taking from the Anatomy For Sculptors PDF which I have had open on my second screen for the entirety of this sculpt so far. I have found this division level extremely difficult to not get carried away in finer details as the bust is really starting to take form as a proper person in this level.
I have also made the creases going from the sides of the nose more subtle as I felt they were extremely harsh on previous divisions. I have also found that moving the light around slightly can help make sure the details aren't too sharp or deep on the bust.

In divisions six and seven I have been adding a higher level of detail to the sculpt such as wrinkles, eyebrows and moles. I have also broken the symmetry to give the character a more realistic feel to him and to make him appear less sculpted. I have also dropped down a few levels and re-shaped the jawline to ensure that the proportions are closer to real life, with the upper cheek bone being the widest part of the skull. 
I feel as though this has been a successful initial study and plan to continue doing these until I have nailed anatomically proportionate lifelike heads in order to aid me in creating stylised realism characters further down the line.

Here I have been experimenting with Fibremesh for facial hair, I have found that making a good looking beard is easiest to do if you break down the parts of the beard to chin, cheeks, and moustache. I also had a separate set of hairs for the shorter hairs growing higher up the cheek as its easier to separate the lengths piece by piece rather than all at once.