This is a head sketch in Curvy 3D 3.0. The face was made using adaptive resolution sculpting, and the cowel was made from a Loft object with added depth to give it thickness.
I also used ambient occlusion and realtime shadows.
glad you told me that
i had missed spotting the slider
was one of my pet wishes to have a 'thick' loft function
edit: just had a go with it and its absolutely brilliant, it adds almost an extra application
giving small smooth meshes, it will be great for things like motorcycle fairings etc etc etc