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Sculpting Human Mouths in Mudbox

by Justin Marshall

The human mouth is one of the most flexible and expressive parts of the human body. Software required: Mudbox 2014.

What you'll learn

The human mouth is one of the most flexible and expressive parts of the human body. And everyone's mouth is different. So when we are building and sculpting the mouths of our characters we want to create the same type of individuality, while still adhering to some common structural elements. In this Mudbox tutorial, we will go over those basic mouth lines and shapes to watch for when sculpting a human mouth. We'll start by using the Grab tool to block out the overall volume. We'll begin to define areas of the lips like the Vermilion Border before rebuilding the mesh with cleaner topology. We'll also talk about detailing geometry that's extremely close together, like the lips, and techniques like Freeze that allow us to overlap those areas. We'll finish up by adding final detail to the lips and the surrounding flesh. By the end of the training, you'll have a better understanding of the structure of the mouth and you'll be much more comfortable creating and sculpting mouths for your human characters. Software required: Mudbox 2014.

About the author

Justin thrives as a lead modeling author at Pluralsight. Growing up, Justin found a deep interest for the computer graphics industry after watching movies like Jurassic Park, Toy Story, and The Abyss. His ambition would lead him to work at Sony Imageworks in Los Angeles on movies like Monster House and Surf's Up. Justin has also had numerous articles, tutorials, and images published in 3D World and 3D Artist. As an author, Justin enjoys collaborating with fellow authors, especially on project... more

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