The Stare

[JVRenderer]

Hi Folks,I've started a new doodle.I made it simple, so I can share my workflow with you. I'm a bit lazy to do a complicated one.  :shj:
I've started using Daz Studio about 3 yrs ago. I didn't fully make the transition till about 2 yrs ago.  It took me almost a year to get comfortable with the interface.
So sit back...This is NOT a tutorial, just a walkthru using what I currently know. But if you have questions, I'll do my best to answer them.
I started with the title 'The Stare'   As I go thru the setup, I will add elements supporting that title

[JVRenderer]

At frame 0, I started with one of my custom characters. I call this character (Thylane) She is a combination of many other characters and one I've made using the DS's face transfer plug-in. For now I only have 1 light source (HDRi), just enough light for me to see what I'm working with. I've added a dForce dress, accessories, and dForce Hair, and a gun for good measures. I didn't add shoes, because this is going to be a portrait from the waist up.
The dForce hair looks a bit freaky, but that's the initial setup... this hair came with some starting morphs. I want the righ side to drape in front of the shoulder and the left side behind the shoulder.

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[thelufias]

Should be interesting....Thanks for doing this....

[JVRenderer]

Oh, I got an audience..... gimme a minute. This place is a mess. I haven't been here in ages. let me do some
 :duster: dusting...

[thelufias]

LOL.....You've always gotten my attention.  Love your art...always have.

[JVRenderer]

At Frame 40, I created this pose from scratch... I gave the torso a slight curve, bending and twisting the pelvis, abs, chest slightly.  I bent her head down. the eyelids down, the eyes up, her mouth corners up, the eyes angled out, the inner brows down, outer brows up, a close mouth with a slight grin. I ran a simulation on the dForce hair thru a timeline or 45 frames . I'm quite happy with the result after a few tweaks and simulations. The hair draped just I wanted them to be....right front covering the right side of the face...

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[JVRenderer]

Adding the drama (fun with lights)... I turned down the environment intensity (noticed the ambient light is way dimmer now. I don't want it to be 0, a little bit of ambient light can be beneficial. I also added a dark back drop with a fog prop behind the figure to diffuse some lighting..

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[JVRenderer]

I've added a key light (I want to incorporate the butterfly lighting affect in this render) Eventho, this is a darker scene, I want to see how it develops.  This key light is above and in front of the figure angled at 60° It is a spot light with a spread angle of 75°, 40,000 lumens, scaled at 50 H, 50 W. It is somewhat bright.
You can see the figure is starting to take shape. The shadow under her nose looks like the proverbial butterfly.

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[JVRenderer]

With the Key light turned off, I added a light (I call it beauty disc), a spot light in front of the figure point up to her face, set at 8000 lumens. I want to soften her face slightly with this light. I used a spot because it's easier to setup, I could have used a emissive disc, but I was lazy... I just set the spot light to diffuse only and it should emulate the emissive disc

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[JVRenderer]

I turned the Key light back on.You can see the beauty disc soften the key light's effect.
This image still looks a bit 'flat'

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