NEXT-GEN Nescot Year 3 HND - Texture tests with better UV - my face in maya and mudbox

During week 2, after creating my final poster using the split face dynamic shown in my blog post - NEXT-GEN Nescot Year 3 HND - Development of a Poster 
"https://tobymroberts.blogspot.com/2019/11/next-gen-nescot-year-3-hnd-development.html", I decided to go back and edit the model that I had created by improving both the UV mapping and the textures on top.

Firstly, I began with the re-creation of the UV mapping. I did this by creating a cylindrical mapping and using the unfold function to flatten the mapping, before then using the optimize function to make the face visible and editable.

I then added the head to Mud-box and re-drew my texture onto the face so that it would fit with my new UV mapping. Next, I created a normal map (bump map) in Mud-box rather than Photoshop using the same tactic used to make the new texture, so it would fit the new map as well.

Afterwards, I added the model back to MAYA so that I could edit the Xgen hair and so that I could also render it again. I firstly thinned the hair on the head to a much lower amount. This looked incredibly good on the beard and eyebrows. Unfortunately, it caused an error to happen on the top of the head where it would show a glitch, with the hair mixed with the lightly deformed hair texture beneath.

My 'original final design' was much smoother and had a much lower texture compared to my newer version. However, I must admit that the lighting is somewhat better compared to my newer version due to some minor changes that I only noticed went wrong later.

My 'newer final design' has a much better texture that shows some bruising and the effects of the transformation on the skin. I also added a much needed bump map that greatly enhances the texture of the skin and improves the images detail. I also improved the eyes drastically by creating a new texture and bump map for each of them. Unfortunately, as previously stated I do not like the lighting as much as in my previous iteration. On the other hand, I much prefer this version compared to my 'original final design'.

In conclusion, I believe that I did very well due to the increased detail and appearance of the model, once again mixed with a the highly detailed background image, despite losing much of the dark and gloomy atmosphere. The two effects work well together. However, if I could change anything I would fix the error with the hair created on top of the head and I would improve the lighting of the final render.

Ultimately, I believe the improvements I made have personally improved my skills to a more professional degree. This is because the use of higher grade texture and mapping is widely used in the industry and is incredibly important to develop.
The VFX and Videogame industries require these high quality effects to sustain its audiences. This leads to employment being highly competitive and I would need more developments in my work for when I will enter it.