Napoeon Bonaparte

[Dann-O]

I guess this woudl be under organic modeling for the insane. I am starting a model of Napoleon. It is a challenge for me and I have only a few weeks to get it done. This will be a entire body clothes and all. It will not be rigged or animated so that is a releif. I have been trying to get a resonable likeness but I find the paintings of him are all a bit different so I try to get some of the common features of his face from the paintings. I think many of the paintings are too flattering and he should have more lines of character.

[Dann-O]

Modeling is being done in Wings 3D. If you wan tto know.

[kevjon]

He looks pretty good....big chin though.

[Dann-O]

I might need to narrow the chin a bit his chin in all the pics I have seen juts out to the point of being absurd but this one seems to wide. that is why it is up here. (point out obvious flaws) My weak point on doing the head and face is filling out the volume of the cheeks and jaw. So I am still fretting over that too. I will narrow the chin a bit then i will probably move on to his vest. I am shooting for a reasonable size model around 200K poly or so.

[kevjon]

Must have been trying to capture that defiant look in the portraits.

Rest is looking really good. I'd be interested to see how you go with clothing folds etc. They look quite difficult to model.

[Dann-O]

Yeah that is a tough one luckily I am not doing a pic of him on the horse there is one painting with cloth folds that look impossible. Started down on the first vest. I am saving the wrinkles for last. I am not sure if I will model them or use the displacment brush in Hexagon. The dislplacment brush is the easy way but my system loathes hexagon I don't have a good enough video card. So I will problably model them. The pose I have to do is relativly easy so I will block it all out and then take areas and go over them add detail etc.

I did do a bit of work on the chin and lips too. Narrowed it but kept it looking similar.
I'm glad I am not doing this as my model. http://www.abcgallery.com/D/david/david43.jpg

[Spinner]

Shortening the nose emphasises the chin. Maybe thats what the portrait guys have all been wrestling with, an unattractive nose?

[Dann-O]

Probably something like that. I am working on the coat now. I think also all the portraits are probably too flattering and don't capture the real person. Look at the amount of power he weilded. If someone made a honest portrait that showed his weak points they would probably be beheaded. I was considering using Rod Steiger as a model instead of the paintings. He played Napoleon and probably did it better than anyone else has.

His nose in the portaits is odd too. Very thin and straight. Most noses flow better into the face. It is actually a lot of fun to speculate. But since it is a full body thing I will continue down and try to get the rest done in time. I need to work on making him a bit chubbier too. (I think he might have looked like Newman from Seinfeld):lol:

[Dann-O]

More done the coat is roughed out and need to be smoothed and detailed.

[Dann-O]

Got the shape roughed out no wtime to work on some details try to get it looking good. I still have to keep the polycount reasonable.

[kevjon]

Head looks too big for body and legs look too long. I've heard he was a short guy but this one looks a little disproportional.

Otherwise good going so far.

[Spinner]

Pity you cant do his elba period. All the art from then has his coat done up and turned up.
Guess thats cheating? LOL

[Dann-O]

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b56/sinodude/nappydude4.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b56/sinodude/nappydude3.jpg
Well I did some work on the head I knew it was big too. I did shorten the legs a bit the perspective of the picture. (OK engraving) I was working with threw me off a bit. I also fed him a couple cheesburgers too and did a few cloth folds and adjusted the coat a bit and added button holes.

[Dann-O]

More work done on him. Added a Sabre a sash and a medal. Did some work on the chin some resizing stuff a lot of work on the coat. Did a few tweaks here and there. Made his buttons a bit fancier. Added hands too. (not shown). All strictly polygonal modeling.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b56/sinodude/nappydude15.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b56/sinodude/nappydude16.jpg

[Spinner]

Might pay to add buckles and spurs to his boots, ala the second of these pics (http://gutenberg.net.au/widger/napoleon/constant.html)?
Although very diferent the two pics have some interesting features. I notice the first gives him much less forehead below the hat line than you do. The second shows his hair thinning so maybe his hat sits lower?
It's coming along nicely. Difficult to model a figure like this, with no clear resemblance available but lots of expectations of how he should be.

[Dann-O]

I like that second pic that looks like it could be more accurate than what I have been finding. There is a tendancy of painters at the time to not add detail to the face like laugh lines and creases. I find it annoying. I like the buckles there that might be something to add the picture that was supplied to me they are not visible but it is sketchy at best. I downloaded a few more idealised pics. I will post an update soon. The top pic on that page I don't think will be usefu.

[Dann-O]

I did another version of the hat. Which actually matches the pic better but I don't like it. I added the spurs. I have both original and extra crispy hats here. :p

Spinner good call on the spurs. Can see them in the ref I have and overlooked them.