We created a rough outline of the head by defining the silhouette or “edge-loop” lines for the face using Maya’s Create Polygon and Split Polygon tools. These are the lines that best describe the silhouette contours of the face such as the lips, eyes, cheekbones, eyebrows and jaw. These are also the primary lines of animation for the face.

         Front      Side        
Perspective

Silhouette lines are sketched on the face to act as a guide for creating the mesh.
These lines describe the "flow" of the head mesh and are extremely important
later on in the pipeline when the mesh is deformed.

Since none of us had done much lip-syncing, we spent quite a lot of time analyzing the topology (mesh layout) of the head, making sure that we were using only four-sided polygons and that all our appropriate edges were merged. The reason for using four-sided polygons is primarily because they smooth predictably. A mesh that smoothes unpredictably can cause problems during animation, creating unsightly creases as the mesh deforms.

Once we had created the basic shape we refined it by adding more and more edge-loops to the mesh where we needed detail. DDS was the first character we modeled and he changed dramatically throughout the process. The extra time spent on him paid off though, and the subsequent Myrth and Byrth models were much quicker to create.

We started by creating half the face, then mirroring this to the opposite side
and merging the two together. Finally the mesh was "smoothed".