First project with ZBrush

[+Lazarus+]

Ok, this is my first attempt a using ZBrush. I'm previously a more traditional illustrator, so all this materials stuff is a bit new to me, but I think I'm getting the hang of all this modelling m'larky.

Anyway, let me know what you all think,
http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200303/user_image-1047902034kxl.jpg

[juandel]

i think thats a fantastico first contribution showing :tu: :tu: :tu: modelling skills!

- juandel

[wenna]

Really Nice!! Great job on those ears!

[zerobugetgamemaker]

I agree about the ears, better than Ive been able to get. :tu: :tu:


David

[pr0jectZ]

very well done :)

[+Lazarus+]

You go away for a couple of days, and your thread becomes practically impossible to track down ;)

Thanks for all the compliments people. I plan to take this guy into a nifty looking superhero / villain pose with some nice medievally elements to it. Should hopefully come up quite nice. I'll keep the forum informed of how I'm doing.

[+Lazarus+]

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200303/user_image-1048258625cnb.jpg

This is what I've been thinking about using the head for. I want to get as human a feel as possible, so the eyes will be normal and there will be no claws, but the nails will be cracked and rotten, and the skin will look clammy and ill. I want the image to portray perhaps a kidnapping or something similar with some sinisterness and great lighting

[buzzwizard]

hey great start. That hand is very good, can't wait to see the finished piece.

buzz

[TVeyes]

Cool first project you've set out on. I like the modelling on the head and the texture is also very nice.

Looking forward to seeing it finished, your idea sounds very promising. :tu:

[filament9]

that is a very fine model, both head and hand. Very realistic in the overall shape.

[+Lazarus+]

Ok, here I am so far. I have a decent model and texture of the hand, as seen below

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200303/user_image-1048497619xyu.jpg

The texture needs to be fine tuned. I'm not fully happy with the detail around the finger nails and the skin around the palm leaves a bit to be desired.

I've come up with a demo of the composition for the final piece. Note though that this is nothing to how I would like it. The image is too blurred, lacks proper object positioning and the lights suck, but it does sort of give a feel for how it will come together.

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/uploaded_from_zbc/200303/user_image-1048497782psu.jpg

None of the models have any semblence of materials yet. I'm new to this material thing and so I'm going to take my time on it. Hopefully it won't be too painful, but all my previous tests have gone wrong because I can't seem to be able to blend one material into another. Any tips anyone?

I really need ideas for where I can take this project, so if anyone has some epiphanies they'd like to share :D

Otherwise, it's back to the grindstone.

[Frenchy Pilou]

Great sudies of hands position and texturisation !
Pilou

[+Lazarus+]

Thanks Frenchy... Coming from you, that's a huge compliment ;)

To be honest, that hand (or those as it's shown more than once) is the second model I've ever produced in ZBrush, and probably only the fourth or fifth 3D model I've ever done. It's certainly the second only model I've ever textured. All my work previously has been solely two dimensional. For some reason, I feel that ZBrush is meant for me :D I feel like it was built for my hands to make mad passionate art with it ;)

Anyway, I'm sticking with ZBrush now! Though it may take a little while for my 3D stuff to catch up to my 2D work.

[zMe]

wow, this is inspiring. Really good paintjob here. I can see you are experienced in that area. (As well as 3d, even if I am wrong on that :) ) About the material preferred work method, I would sugest that you make one skinmaterial, and paint that material on your stamped pixolised picture. Save that material and do some adjustments and save those also. Test them on the pixolpic. Make a nailmaterial, test and save. You can now almost-blend the materials when you paint them on the picture. This is easier than trying to blend materials on the actual 3d model. And it is also not so important to do. I think, I am also new to Z :p . The hard part is that you have to select one material, save it with a new name, then select another material-slot. Import your saved material again and alter it and save and so on. At least this is what I find most convinient, but there might be even better solutions :D
good luck with the good work

[+Lazarus+]

Thank you zMe,

I had no idea you could do that with materials. To be honest, I don't even know how to create new materials, though I have tried editing existing ones. Hopefully, I'll be able to find some tutorials on this subject to better my understanding.

[boozy floozie]

Highly impressive early works. :tu: Would be interested in which genre of illustration you prefer to work in traditionaly and what you hope to gain out of working with ZBrush?
These pieces have a fantasy comic feel in your use of foreshortening, is that a genre that inspires you or am I wild of the mark?

Your composition is definately that of a draughtsman which is refreshing too see.Your allowing the mind to fill in the gaps.

The Flooze

[+Lazarus+]

Thank you Boozie. I was hoping you would post a comment on my work, as I am a big fan of yours :)

I've spent many years studying the human form from tutors and artists such as Ron Tiner, Boris Valejo, Ralph Steadman, Simon Bisley and a number of others, so I guess I tend to produce comic style work without conciously realising it. I wouldn't necessarily say, though, that I am inspired by comics as I never read them anymore. Most of my inspiration comes from film, novels, advertising, and a great deal from everyday life and people around me. I never really actually sit and browse for anything in particular, but prefer that daily life just bring the ideas to me. This way I find that I am always refreshed in my approach to my work and that I never really follow the same patterns. I must admit though, that these illustrations in this post have been realised countless times as more of a "rule of thumb". Sort of like the "Hello World" programs that programmers must do when learning a new language.

When I was strongly into traditional art, I spent a great deal of my time studying particular subjects. These mainly consisted of trees (bark studies, branch formation, natural growth, composition), the human form (action, natural, clothed, expressive), often predominantly the human hand and the human eye, extreme perspectives and natural chaos inc waterfalls vs. reflective puddles, crowds of people, mass architecture vs. nature etc. Also, I guess I spent a long time on manipulating mathematical art in traditional mediums of which Escher was of great inspiration as was David Hockney. These tended to be created in either oils, acrylics, ink, pastel or charcoal and chalk.

As for what I wish to get out of ZBrush... Well, I haven't used a traditional medium now for three years and have since dabbled with a wacom tablet and photoshop. In those three years, I have produced about four pieces and that's all. What I have wanted for a long time is a program that will allow me to work digitally but organically. At first, I thought that Maya may have been the answer, because many of it's modelling tools have an organic edge, but it lacked 2d painting abilities which meant photoshop was still required. Also, not only was there a ton to learn, but most of it I would never need or want to know. I have also tryed combining apps like Poser, Bryce, Deep Paint 3D and 3D Studio Max, but again, far to much to learn, far too costly and far to rigid. Besides this, I never really got off the ground with them. I'd spend a couple of months reading book after book on how to use them but produced practically nothing because it just wouldn't click with me. I may be wrong, but I've counted that I have produced only five models with any of these apps. All the other studies, ie texturing etc, were done by messing around with a primitive object.

Since I picked up a demo copy of ZBrush about a year ago, I have been fiddling with it on and off and have only recently found a groove with it. The sort of groove I used to have when painting in oils whereby when I started an image, I found it hard to put down and also, more importantly, found it hard to make mistakes. I'm now going to devote a huge amount of my spare time to learning ZBrush intimately and hopefully produce some wonderful works with it. Maybe even by aspiring to make them half as good as yours ;)

I am hoping ZBrush will realise my ambitions. I spent seven years in college and uni studying art only to end up a programmer. If ZBrush and I get along well enough, then it might be what I need to do what I always wanted to do, and that was to become a pro illustrator.

I hope that's enough info :D I have this verbal problem where I don't know when to shut up :)

Thanks again for posting,

[Frenchy Pilou]

Hi Lazarus
Great speech :)
Your artistic background is astonished !
Hope Zbrush satisfy your needs because it's the most funny complete programm for artist at this day :cool:
Pilou
Ps :ex: Your adress in your ZBC profile has a little problem :ex:
You must write "http://www.designrealm.co.uk/" and not "www.designrealm.co.uk/" else you obtain the "don't find page" HTTP 404 :)

[+Lazarus+]

Thanks Pilou,

I don't know about astonishing... More like long winded ;)

Thanks for the remark on the url. I'd never noticed this in the past.

[boozy floozie]

Lazarus, thanks for taking the time to reply. I found your account of wrestling with software to find a digital medium that allows you to find your artistic voice very honest and interesting.
I think that the digital medium can be both an advantage and disadvantage to the honesty of an artists' work. Working digitally there is a far more more convaluted route via the brain to creating the image. Also the myriad of possibilities can throw up many smoke and mirrors to what is important in creating an effective end image.Your traditional grounding will be your biggest advantage as you have already learnt to mentally edit.

Much digital art is created by digital artists wishing to gain a technical respect of other digital artists.
The largely male dominated 3D medium is particularly guilty of this - where technical kudos is highly prized almost more so than emmotive content. The fact that you have been on the journey you describe in trialing software is evidence of that. The emphasis of many of the magazines is that "such and such" is the latest and greatest piece of kit - you not as good unless you've got this, yesterday's software is history, this is the new thing etc etc. Perhaps this is more pertinent to the technical requirements for animation and the audience expectation of cinema but certainly not for 3d illustration or still art. It's better to know a little well, than a lot badly.

Perhaps this is why there are comparitively so few women involved in this 3D medium compared to men. If technical content is prized more highly than emotive content. Also the heavy fantasy element of much 3D work maybe doesn't speak so strongly to women as it is an emotional abstraction of a connection to the real world and emotions.

At the end of the day an artists' audience should be expected to have no technical appreciation of what went into an image. The method should be invisible to the message.

You've probably already gathered that this Forum and indeed Pixologic's emphasis is different to others out there - you won't find the technical snobbery nor will a "technician" lock you out, not answer your post etc because you havn't paid your dues or your question is dumb. The emphasis is on fun and enthusiasm in everyones' attempt at mastering the software to allow them to have their own voice and means of expression.
That's rare.

Often in the forum there is a great push for more technical inclusions in the software. For my money this is fine as long as it doesn't damage the artistic logic, work flow and useability of the application itself. Many of the Apps you describe suffer from this and their learning curves are enormous.
I'm convinced I could spend a lifetime using ZBrush at it's present stage of developement and still keep learning and playing. My preferences are always 1,Useability and 2, Stability. The second point is where I think Painter let itself down badly. It prioritised features over stability.

The mental maps required in learning software well so that you get in the "zone" are enormous.The secret behind ZBrush is to make the mental connections between it's basic core features and strengths, and just when you think you've learned it, you forget the first thing you learn't.

Good luck in your personal journey to find the right medium for you to make your dreams come true.

I get the sense you have the skills to start producing excellent work.
Look forward to it. :)

[+Lazarus+]

Thanks for the compliment Boozy,

I completely agree about the whole male - 3d - macho machinist mentallity - must be cutting edge - head up arse thing. I am privaledged to work alongside a master at 3D Studio Max and his head is nowhere to be seen ;)

Like you, I believe the meaning is everything, though quality of image give job satisfaction which is always something I like to feel, as I'm sure does everybody.

I'm currently stuck for ideas of what my next piece will be, though I've decided to start a series of studies on my 2 year old daughter which should arouse some good ideas. I was thinking about approaching it from a few new angles I've never tried before. Perhaps take a self learning trip along the way :)

Keep your eyes peeled!