I found a couple reference images online for Bruce Willis' head, and wanting to challenge myself, I decided to try and recreate it for my 3D mask. I followed the tutorial linked below, turning a singular plane into a mask before eventually turning it into a low-poly model of the full head. I started out in wireframe mode to allow the reference images behind the mesh to be visible, but once I started developing the back of the head, the overlapping vertices from the front and back became difficult to follow. I swapped my "Viewport" display over to a shaded mode, and was able to much more easily see my model. The "Viewport Shading" also allowed me to better tell where there were defects in my mask, and where certain areas were too sunken in when compared to a real human head.
At this point, I had thought I had done a pretty decent job recreating Bruce Willis' features with the mesh. The vertices gave the general impression of his face, especially when viewed from the side. Unfortunately, the moment I left "Edit" mode and the vertices became deselected, it became immediately apparent that my 3D mask was a much closer representation of Patrick Stewart than Bruce Willis. I continuously tried tweaking the mask to change the shape of the face to be more like Bruce Willis, but every change I made ended up making the mask resemble Patrick Stewart even more. I'm not sure how this happened, although my best guess is that the two actors have a similar face structure, and for some reason, I was not able to recreate the differentiating element between the two faces.
After spending hours working with the mask to try and re-shape it, I eventually decided to embrace it's design. I devoted the rest of my time to making the model look closer to Patrick Stewart, and I am pleased with how the finished mask turned out. Although it is not an exact likeness of the actor, the model is relatively close, and definitely gives the impression of being a potentially younger version of Patrick Stewart. To finish the model, I applied a semi-metallic material to help the curves and features of the face stand out, along with directional lighting to create stronger shadows in the narrower grooves of the face. The best way that I would describe this model to an outsider is that: It looks like what would happen if they decided to make Patrick Stewart the face of the Oscar awards.
