I've got the Spaceman's head basically finished, barring some changes I feel like making later. He's got no ears or eyes, but that's fine. No ears is fine since he's gonna have one of those spaceman hoods that keeps the hair and ears covered, and no eyes is fine since I haven't made 'em yet. The eyesockets were modelled on the eyeball's stand-in though, so they'll fit.
Problem is, I wanted him to be lanky. Something Don Bluth inspired, if possible, since I like the hard lines and intricate hands and felt like that was a good match for an aging spaceman. So he was orignally not going to be heavy. I wanted his head to be pretty bulletshaped, and it evolved over time into what I've got, which is more realistic than my source images. My first pass looked too much like Mr. Incredible and I want to avoid that and Buzz Lightyear like the fucking black plague.
So I wanted a heavyish head with a lanky body, to make him look like he's not quite the Flash Gordon he used to be. I was going for competant, but not young and in his prime. My question is, however...
...how do I reconcile that? How can I marry my heavy head to a lanky body, and make him look aging but not old?
I'm doing sketches but there's always something lost in translation and I'm not sure what it is. I modelled the head to match some sketches I did, but I haven't made a turnaround of the body yet. I know that'd be my first step, and I'm trying, but I just can't get it to work right! I'm stuck on the space-suit, really. I want nice clean lines with slim limbs and core so he can be expressive and realistic without being heavy on his feet.
Enough talking though. I'm just gonna post a pic so people can get an idea of my character's face. I can post more if someone here who is a good traditional artist or modeller can kick me in the right direction. I'm normally not stumped on my own characters, but I know what it looks like in my head and I know what I want, but getting it to translate in 3D with a level of realism is painful.
It's obviously stylized, but that's also obviously intentional. I've got it set up for lip-synch, but I haven't rigged it yet, so I can still modify it. Particularly the neck, I'm thinking. I like the look but it may be hard... I need that kinda gross 'fleshy upper torso and neck with skinny legs' look, I think, for it to work. The 'old dude who used to be a fit guy but stopped working out' type. Like I said, I can certainly draw it once I know what it is I want.
