Character Facial Sculpting [Vertex School, Anar Ismayilov]
- Publisher
- Vertex School
- Product Type
- Video Course
- Product URL
- https://www.vertexschool.com/workshop-anar
- Author
- Anar Ismayilov
- Language
- English
- Duration
- 00:00
- Release date
- May 30, 2020
- Skill level
- Project Files
- Yes
- Product Price
- $697
Character Facial Sculpting is a 10-week ZBrush-focused course designed to help artists master the process of sculpting expressive human and creature faces from start to finish.
Sculpting the face is one of the most challenging tasks in character art. It requires not only technical skill, but also a strong understanding of facial anatomy, structure, form, skin detail, expression, and presentation. In this course, students will learn a practical production workflow for creating a polished facial sculpt under the guidance of industry artist Anar Ismayilov.
The course begins with reference gathering, facial anatomy, and the fear of the blank canvas. Students then move through primary forms, secondary forms, asymmetry, facial features, wrinkles, pores, accessories, hair creation with Fibermesh, ZBrush rendering, and final compositing in Photoshop.
By the end of the course, students will have created their own unique facial sculpt and developed a deeper understanding of the forms, landmarks, and workflows needed to sculpt believable faces for characters and creatures.
What You’ll Learn
- How to sculpt a human or creature face from start to finish
- How to collect and use references effectively
- How to understand the difference between skull structure and muscle structure
- How to identify the key landmarks of the face
- How to establish strong primary facial forms
- How to build secondary and tertiary forms
- How to create facial asymmetry and large-scale imperfections
- How to sculpt realistic wrinkles, pores, and micro details
- How to understand facial anatomy on a deeper level
- How to create and detail accessories based on a concept
- How to hand-paint textures directly onto assets
- How to apply and modify shaders inside ZBrush
- How to create hair using Fibermesh
- How to render properly in ZBrush using BPR layers
- How to composite ZBrush render passes in Photoshop for final presentation
Course Curriculum
Module 1 - Facial Overview
Students begin with an overview of facial anatomy, facial forms, and the difference between human and creature face structure. This module focuses on reducing decision-making, setting expectations, developing the concept, and overcoming the fear of starting from a blank canvas.Module 2 - Sculpting Primary Forms
This module focuses on establishing the planes of the face, the primary silhouette, and the core structure of the sculpt. Students define major facial features such as the nose, eyes, ears, mouth, and overall head shape based on the concept.Module 3 - Sculpting Secondary Forms
Students move into one of the most important stages of the sculpting process. This module focuses on developing secondary forms and bringing out the true character of the face.Module 4 - Advanced Secondary Forms
This module explores more advanced facial development, including asymmetry, fat layers, large-scale imperfections, facial feature variation, and head posing. Students learn how to make the sculpt feel more natural and less generic.Module 5 - Detailing
Students focus on wrinkles, pores, micro details, and surface imperfections. This stage helps push the sculpt from a basic facial structure into a more believable and finished character.Modules 6–7 - Accessories
Students sculpt and detail accessories based on the character concept. These modules also cover hand-painted textures across assets and how to apply and modify individual shaders inside ZBrush.Module 8 - Hair Creation
This module focuses on hair organisation, material creation, and adding hair across the model using Fibermesh. Students learn how to support the overall character design through hair placement, flow, and presentation.Modules 9–10 - Presentation
The final modules focus on rendering and presentation. Students learn how to render in ZBrush using BPR layers, export those layers, and composite them in Photoshop to create a polished final image.Requirements
This course is best suited for artists who already have some experience with digital sculpting and want to improve their facial sculpting workflow.Recommended tools:
- ZBrush
- Photoshop
- Drawing tablet
- Basic digital sculpting setup
Helpful prior knowledge:
- Basic ZBrush navigation
- Understanding of sculpting tools and brushes
- Basic anatomy knowledge
- Some experience with character or creature sculpting
Who This Course Is For
This course is ideal for character artists, creature artists, digital sculptors, and 3D artists who want to improve their ability to sculpt expressive, believable faces.It is especially useful for:
- Artists who struggle with facial anatomy
- Character artists who want stronger portrait sculpting skills
- Creature artists who want to understand face structure
- ZBrush users who want a clearer face sculpting pipeline
- Artists who want to create polished presentation renders
- Intermediate sculptors looking to push their work to a higher level
About the Instructor
The course is taught by Anar Ismayilov, an industry artist known for high-quality character and facial sculpting work.Anar guides students through each stage of the facial sculpting process, from anatomy and blockout to detailing, hair creation, rendering, and final presentation. His approach focuses on practical workflows, problem-solving, and understanding the nuances of facial structure so students can continue improving beyond the course.
Final Result
By the end of the course, students will have created their own unique facial sculpt, complete with strong primary forms, refined secondary forms, wrinkles, pores, accessories, Fibermesh hair, shaders, and a polished final presentation.Students will leave with a deeper understanding of facial anatomy, a practical ZBrush-based sculpting pipeline, and the confidence to troubleshoot future face sculpting challenges on their own.