James McAvoy - Portrait Studies & Head Anatomy for Artists
This project started with a message. In 2018 I completed a detailed portrait sculpt of actor James McAvoy and posted it online. Shortly after, an aspiring 3D artist reached out asking how I'd approached it — how I'd constructed the head, where I'd started, what references I'd used.
That conversation made me think carefully about what artists actually need when they're learning to sculpt and draw portraits. Not just "here's the finished piece" — but a real look at the foundational knowledge that makes a believable likeness possible in the first place.
So I built a series of tutorials around it.
The anatomy reference series includes:
Eye line midpoint — the single most important proportion in head construction, shown on a three-quarter view with a transparent skull overlay so you can see exactly how the underlying structure maps to the surface form
Frontal grid: halves and thirds — how the head divides vertically and horizontally, and how the face subdivides further to place features accurately from the front view
Side view: cranial sphere and thirds — the profile broken into its primary geometric shapes, with the cranial sphere occupying its upper two thirds and red dot landmarks anchoring key proportional points
Surface landmarks and skull dimensions — the bones you can feel and see through the skin (frontal bone, zygomatic arch, mastoid process, mandible and more) mapped onto the surface, alongside real average skull measurements of 22cm height and 18cm width
Three-quarter view head proportion reference for artists showing the eye line as the midpoint of the head, with a transparent skull overlay on the right revealing the underlying bone structure and halves annotation
Three-quarter view of a detailed 3D digital portrait sculpt of actor James McAvoy by Velicsek Artistic Anatomy, showing expressive brow tension, hair detail, and facial anatomy in a grey clay render
Front view head proportion reference for artists showing the head divided into vertical halves and horizontal thirds using a grid overlay, with the facial region further subdivided using vertical guidelines for feature placement
Side view head proportion reference for artists showing the cranial sphere occupying two thirds of the head height, with a grid overlay and red dot landmarks marking key proportional anchor points on the profile
Annotated three-quarter head anatomy illustration for artists identifying surface landmarks including the frontal bone, glabella, orbit, zygomatic bone and arch, temporal bone, superior temporal line, mastoid process, maxilla, mandible, lower dental arch, and mental tubercle, alongside a side view skull showing average dimensions of 22cm height and 18cm width
