Conclusion
I started this project in early November 2023 and finished it in mid-July 2024. But it didn’t really take me 9 months to complete as I didn’t work on it for four months.
The body was obviously a big challenge, but the most challenging part was that, until almost the very end, I didn’t like what I had. I just wasn’t happy with the quality of the sculpt and the texturing. I almost gave up on that project so many times. But I kept on coming back at it and didn’t hesitate to restart what I knew wasn’t working.
I spent weeks refining the first head concept but decided to restart it as I didn’t like the final look. I threw away the texturing I spent weeks working on in ZBrush just because I knew I wouldn’t be able to push it as far as I wanted.
I think a good message to beginners is: don’t give up because you don’t like what you are doing, it is okay to struggle on a project. If you feel stuck on something and you feel like what you are doing is just not working, don’t hesitate to take a break, work on something else, and restart a few parts. It can be very frustrating, but the second time you’ll probably do it better and faster. So it is worth it!