I'm working on a religious project to present to my church so I'm looking for a character based on M3 that would remind most people of the look of Jesus. Although it's true none of us actually know what He looked like, I'm pretty sure we've all seen other artist’s renditions of Him. I know most of the artist's creations of Him are shown with a beard and a mustache on His face. Which I have read in the Bible that was quite common for men during that time, so I went ahead and bought the beard and mustache product from Daz.

Traits that I'm looking for:

A Middle Eastern looking dissent (if you think that’s how people will recognize Him)

An ultrahigh quality skin textures that will be good for close-ups.

I really appreciate your input,

-James

jesus was apparently an historical figure (according to contemporaneous accounts) and was probably semitic in appearance, similar perhaps to modern-day palestinians. however, won't your church-goers be upset if you don't depict him in the classical manner ( a blond, blue-eyed european)? I for one would encourage you to make him look palestinian, but be prepared for some resistance.

Yeshua may have been a historical figure - the jury is still out if this represents a particular personage or was a conglomeration of several.

That aside, yes, definitely depict in the proper manner - a semitic itinerant preacher from north of Jerusalem.  Not the anglicized version, please.  It was customary for beards and mustaches at the time in the region.  Romans, on the other hand, did not regularly keep facial hair.  An interesting recent documentary about the "Family of Jesus" pointed to the fact that his face was probably not long as regularly depicted (but this is all assumption on local traits two thousand years hence).  I wouldn't use the Shroud of Turin as any reference since its origin has been soundly determined to coincide with its church-denunciation as a fake in the mid-14th century.

Links:

What did Jesus look like 1?
What did Jesus look like 2?
What did Jesus look like 3?

P.S.: I hope they fix this URL linking problem

just a nitpick.

"descent" not "dissent"

two completely different things.

Fixed Links:

What did Jesus look like 1?
What did Jesus look like 2?
What did Jesus look like 3?

• You have to enter the link text, select it, and then do the Link button - how quaint. :)

I always remember a comment my old RE teacher made in class:

"You must remember that Jesus lived in a pretty hard time and was a manual worker.  In all probability he was a pretty strong, rough looking chap who could handle any trouble if necessary."

That was somewhat at odds with the popular idea of a softly spoken little guy but - if He existed at all - is probably closer to the truth.  Although I'm not religious, I rather like the idea of the Son of God being some down to earth, rough round the edges kick ass kind of guy.

Given the era and geographic location he lived, plus the type of work he is said to have done (carpentry), he was probably quite weather beaten and not the "prissy marshmallow" of man that he is depicted as in most images.

It's human nature to want to look at "beauty", and through the ages, the images of Christ have strived to meet that.  If we're going to worship someone, we want that someone to be "easy on the eyes".

That being said, in reality I don't think Christ was a particularly handsome man.  He was probably just an average looking Jewish man of his time.   He also probably had darker skin because unless you were royalty, the era he lived meant spending long hours in the hot sun labouring just to get the daily necessities of life.  Few had the luxury of sitting in a high chair being catered too.

It has been proven that the Church of Reason, aka science has, as usual, only found the conclusions they already knew before they really started the inquiry on the shroud of Turin. It is much older, and has very probably Byzantine roots or at least been in that region.

Of course Jeshua wasn't Arian. (Greek, Indian, Persian, Roman, Celtic, German,...)

This said: Jeshua was depicted as a beardless youth in the early days of the church. Very Roman, in fact. Wasn't it the Roman church after all, and didn't they have to outperform Mithaism? Same reason he had to become a  blond bodybuilder later on...

Whatever appearance you give him, try to convey his message of tolerance (not weakness!) and love (for yourself as much as for others) in it, not what his followers, including Mel Gibson,  made of it. Me, I wouldn't dare to try to depict him. But then, neither could I depict Apollo, or Sedna, or Huizilopochtli, or Siva, or Astarte, or...

I think the classic image people show across the centuries from St Peter probably is pretty near from Jesus. Black short hair (not long and brown), not tall, strong carpenter body...

(James Farentino in Franco Zeffirelli's JESUS OF NAZARETH)

Attached Link: Josephus

Casette, he would have worn a HAT!  If not for religious reasons, then to prevent sunstroke.  I don't know how hot it is in spain, but here at the eastern end of the Mediterrean, the quality of sunlight in high summer can be overwhelming in the head is not protected.
David P. Hoadley

In Freestuff, there is this P4 Male texture of a crucified Jesus.  It's not Mike, but it's ready and waiting if you should wish to use it.
DPH

In Freestuff, there is this P4 Male texture of a crucified Jesus.  It's not Mike, but it's ready and waiting if you should wish to use it.
DPH

I don't know.  Did Jewish people of the time of King Herod wear sidelocks?  And was it a particular sect/brand or generally accepted?  Many think that Yeshua may have been a Nazarene (the corruption turning into "of Nazareth" instead of "the Nazarene") - a peculiar purist cult of about the same time with similar messianic beliefs and baptismal rituals.

Actually, it was the "Roman Catholic Church" only after Emperor Constantine made it the state religion of Rome in 313 C.E. - more of that 'Scientific religion... ;)  Before that, it was a hodge-podge of mixed "Christianic cults" - from the Gnostics to the Messianics to the various mixtures of 'pagan' and Christian ideologies that occurred as it spread into new regions (and then eventually removed under orthodoxy (Council of Nicea et al).  All of the Gnostic and Apocryphal texts (some existent, others only known from attacks and counterattacks in the early consolidation) attest to the variety of Christians running around for quite some time.

Interestingly enough, historical records make no mention of the 'person' of Jesus/Yeshua until about 60 or 70 C.E. (the canonical Gospels, more than 40 years after the supposed crucifixion).  Before that, in the early Roman Christian circles, the symbology was strictly 'the fish' and 'the lamb', only later was the crucifix (a standard and very well-known form of Roman capital punishment) coopted as a Christian symbol.  The dove was introduced even later as a representation of the 'Holy Spirit'.  And many epithets were thrown at the early Christians by Roman writers concerning the 'reality' of the central Christian figure. :P  The image of Christ either alone or on the crucifix does not appear until the Byzantine Empire.

Robert

http://judaism.about.com/library/3_askrabbi_o/bl_simmons_peot.htm
"The Torah says, "You shall not round off the peyos (corners) of your head" (Leviticus 19:27). The word peyos refers to sideburns -- i.e. the hair in front of the ears that extends to underneath the cheekbone which is level with the nose (Talmud - Makkot 20a). The Talmud explains that this law only applies to men, not to women."
It is a centuries old practice among Orthodox Jewish men, and one that ranged geographically from the Jewish communities of Norther Europe to Yemen on the Southern Arabian Pennisula.  Therefore, if there really was a historical Jesus ben Joseph, he would have been familiar with the practice.  He couldn't have lived, and grown up in Judea without knowing it.  These are NOT customs and practices that were invented on the spur of the moment, but ones that have been passed sdown from generation to generation, from father to son to grandson.  Some can be traced from the Patriarch Abaraham himself.

Nazareth: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazareth

Nazarene: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazarene

Ebionites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebionite

Some may find the following sites to be of some interest.
David P. Hoadley

I've seen Jesus depicted with the characteristics of many cultures - not just blonde and caucasion but black or oriental. It seems people all over depict him with similarities to themselves. I have no problem with that - it would be a personalized way of relating to Him. I do find it appalling when people get upset at the thought that the real Jesus would have shared physical charateristics with "those terrorists" or "those Arabs" or "those Jews." It seems only common sense that, being Jewish, Jesus would really have looked Semetic.

I always liked the shroud image, as it looks like my brother-in-law, but I think they did some kind of carbon-dating or something to show it was only a few hundred years old.

Actually the carbon dating was deemed incorrect as they did the original test on a piece of fabric that was used to repair the damage to the shroud from a fire caused sometime in the middle ages.  There is an update on this at the official site as well as other findings! ;)

Quote - The negative image on the Turin Shroud shows an image of the face of Jesus!

The current scientific thought is that the image on the shroud is that of leonardo da Vinci, to whom it is inferred that he purposely invented a hoax, and in so doing was the first to pioneer the processes of modern day photography.  I've seen documentaries on both the BBC and the National Geographic channel dealing specifically with Leonardo's connection with the shroud.
David P. Hoadley

the face itself is an obvious portrait, and possess none of the distortions that it should have, if the fabric had been wrapped aound a 3 dimensional figure, and WE of the Poser community should be the first ones to realize that. 

Yep, it has all the earmarks of a two-part embossed sculpture being used in the fabrication.  The body proportions are unrealistic (as is the face).  The hair is oddly positioned for someone lying down as well as unmatted by the expected blood caused by the 'crown of thorns' and demonstrated on the shroud.

Not only did the carbon dating 'miraculously' (hehe) confirm the decree from a bishop that it was fraudulent back in the mid 14th century, but the world's foremost microanalyst, Walter McCrone, confirmed the dating and the lack of authenticity by showing that pigments were paint and not organic.

Skeptical Shroud of Turin

The Emergence of the Shroud

No use arguing, so that will be it from me on this topic.

Robert

Attached Link: A Guide to the Facts!

Thank you all for your input, info, and links. From what I'm gathering I may have to create a custom character. But as far as the texture goes I'm awful at making my own. Would you like to make a recommendation based upon what Acadia said above: "He probably had darker skin because unless you were royalty, the era he lived meant spending long hours in the hot sun laboring just to get the daily necessities of life."

Also please make a recomendation on clothing styles. I bought the M3 shepard outfit for Daz. Whats your thoughts on that?

-James

Clothing: The undergarment was called a “tunic”. The outer garment was called a “mantle” – it was loose fitting with fringes, bound by blue ribbon. Men wore a belt – a four-inch wide leather belt or cloth “girdle”. If one was wearing only an undergarment, then he was said to be “naked” or “stripped”. If one was wearing only an undergarment (tunic) and belt, they were said to be wearing a “loincloth”. The phrase “to gird your loins” meant that the tunic was pulled up between the legs and tucked into the belt. People also wore sandals on their feet, and a white cloth over their head, hanging to their shoulders. This cloth protected them from the sun.**

General Physique**: Most Jews were fairly small in stature, light-skinned but tanned from sun. Most had black or brown hair worn long, and most men wore beards.

Also, Sash in Biblical Palestine

Haven't found much else (it's hard to get a good Google search on "clothing attire 1st century Jewish Jerusalem") :)

Robert

Attached Link: http://philologos.org/__eb-lat/book326.htm