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After a few more iterations on proportions as well as layering in some of the thin layers of muscle, veins and skin folds, the sculpture is getting close to completion. It still needs one more pass at a higher subdivision level to capture some fine details and break up the regularity of the surfaces. I may need to modify the pose a bit as well.

Image rendered with Hypershot.

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Here’s a snapshot of the current state. I have done work to improve the gesture of the piece, trying to add more strength to the pose (rearing higher, chest out, arm back, twisted more, etc).

Also more attention to the legs - it is important to understand the bones, tendons, and ligaments in a horses legs, as they are the primary forms below the knee and elbow. Beyond this there is still a “softening” pass, that includes veins wrinkles and those small variations that keep anatomical forms from being perfectly smooth. And obviously I am going to have to address the hair and tail at some point. Perhaps soon?

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If you are interested in this sort of thing, here is where the model started. Click on the images to see the complete evolution. On the far right you see I started with a base human model I have lying around and built a low-resolution horse proxy around it. This was fused (second image from R to L), and refined in Zbrush. The final ‘bind pose’, from Zbrush, is shown on the left.

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today - refinements all around. Anatomy revisions to the way the obliques and back connect into the horse’s body. Also refined the legs, increased the size of the rear hooves, adjusted the sculpting around the horse’s elbow, and moved the left arm back (not shown). getting closer…

Here are a couple renders showing the point the upper body is at. For the most part, I am happy with the anatomy, there is still a bit of refining to do and another pass of details like veins and wrinkles, but the structure is sound. The next stage is going to be refining the details of the horse anatomy and then I will address the hair and tail, two parts that will give the piece a strong sense of motion (I hope).

here is the current state of the hind legs straight out of Zbrush. I am generally happy, but they are a little stumpy - a proportional error that snuck in during posing. There is also refinement still to do on the bones, tendons and ligaments in the lower legs. Right now they are very approximate. Beyond that there is work to do around the knee - re-establishing some of the boney landmarks that have gone a bit squishy. Finally, there will be a skin and veins pass, but this will wait till the very end.

Here is a small gallery containing some of my preparatory drawings for the centaur sculpture. It can be found here.