Model a 3d portrait

Claudio Clemente shows us how to create a 3D portrait and reveals his tips for solving common problems

One artist reveals how he created this stunning piece of fan art, sharing portrait tips along the way

Bringing a 3D portrait to life is a process involving a dozen different disciplines, from sculpting all the way to rendering. Being able to achieve the best result on every single detail certainly takes a lot of time but, from my experience, it has always been an appreciated quality and ultimately helps you become a better artist.

With this 3D portrait of Peter Dinklage playing Tyrion Lannister (from Game of Thrones), I tried to capture not only the look of the actor, but his personality, expressions, emotions and, of course, all those details that usually end up being sacrificed just because it takes too much time to create them. This includes elements such as the rings and the jacket pattern.

Because of the complexity of this whole process, I always suggest to my students to try having fun while working.

Being organised and methodical is important, of course, but if even something creative and personal turns into a source of stress, there’s no way we will last that long to see the end of the project.

In this tutorial I’ll provide an overview of the creation of the image and the software I used. I’ll show you how to solve some common issues and I hope you’ll find it interesting, helpful, as well as productive.

If you have questions about a specific matter, follow me on my Artstation page.