ZBrushCentral

VISEone - SKETCHBOOK

Hi there,

I’m still new to ZBrush - started over a year ago and got me ZBrush for modeling and creating new characters since I’m very active in the designertoy scene. Since I was busy customizing toys the last 1 1/2 year I had no time to really make progress with ZBrush. But now I’m back on track - bought some tutorials at Eat 3D and subscribed at Digital Tutors - so finally I’m getting behind this awesome program and now can’t wait for my activation email for R2…

Meanwhile I’m doodling around…learning… and decided to start a new thread to start fresh over.

Any comments and critiques are more than welcome since I’m here to get input to become better in ZBrush and characterdesign in general.

So here we go with my first characters:

Superhero Bust WIP:

Some old Guy - started from a Sphere - tried out some Polypainting and get behind BPR Render:

Attachments

hero-wip1.jpg

FAT-GUY-COMPOSE.jpg

An alien bust I created during a tutorial.

Alien01.jpg

Alien02.jpg

Finally I recieved my R2 email - can’t wait to see how it will change the workflow.

Here’s another doodle I did to learn about different brushes - started with a sphere which caused some topology issues - need to get more behind retopology…

02.jpg01.jpg

Another day - another sketch.

I will def. remodel the afro hair - need to get an idea that fits the edgy style of the face and also need to remodel the comb…

A part that is always a challenge for me is the part around the eyes (especially the eyelid) - does anyone know a good tutorial for the eye - not the eyeball but the modeling of the eyepart in the face…

quick render - slowly getting behind material and light

guy02.jpg
guy01.jpg

This is a model I started today. It’s based on a sketch by my friend Ralph who died almost a year ago.

I still need to tweak many things and add more details - so it’s still WIP.

I wish to retopology wouldn’t be such a pain in the butt - I tried to retopology the head but gave up after a couple of tries…annyoing that you always see the back polys and that you click on a wrong spot every second time…

So I just left it like it was and ended with 6 Mil. Polys to be able to sculpt the details - also I started to use HD which was the first time…

Still lot to learn :confused:

dragon01.jpg
dragon02.jpg
dragon03.jpg

Meet THE AMOR DRAGON! Sick of making people fall in love…

Still lot to learn about Rendering and Lightsettings - but so far I’m happy with this piece.

I did some final adjustments in PS.

any comments welcome…

dragon-final.jpg

seems like this is some boring work i’m posting here since not even one single reply, advice, help - anything…

However - then I’ll have to fight me through it all by myself :wink:

Here are some close up shots of the AMOR DRAGON:

Face.jpgSide-Angle.jpg

Another render in ZB and a comp in PS - tried some DOF
I’m slowly getting behind render and light settings…slowly :confused:

COMPOSITION-FINAL.jpg

I like your dragons face. Something about the painting doesn’t seem right though. To much of the same colour throughout. The model is interesting so My only suggestion would be to try and make the painting as interesting as the face. If that makes sense. Maybe some contrasting colours. Whatever it is you do, that is what I would suggest. Maybe add some expression to the wings and the body to give it a bit more life like the face has. Break up the symmetry a bit. He looks like he down in the dumps. My kids swing their legs if they are in a mood. Would a dragon swish his tail slowly or should it be hanging down more. Maybe he would pull it under himself like a dog does. Whatever he is expressing try and show it throughout the entire model.

How about thinking also that just because you have modeled the object it doesn’t always mean that the best way to show it is at an angle so we can see all four legs, tail arms etc.

If I am taking photographs of my kids I dont always go for the full length shots. I sometimes zoom right in or hold my camera at my waist and try to photograph blind to get some interest in the shot. Try and think the same when creating your image.

It can be disheartening to never hear replies but try not to take it personally.

Cheers

Mike

Thanks a lot for your advice - I guess right now it all is a trial and error and I should invest more time into colorconcept etc. Also I didn’t know how to put him into a scene and what angle would be best.

So I will follow your advice and put more effort into this piece.

I tried to capture the original sketch by my friend Ralph (R.I.P) and the concept of the AMOR DRAGON came up while I illustrated him.
Here’s the original sketch and my first goal was to be able to model it and come close to the sketch:

AMOR-DRAGON-sketch.jpg

You have done pretty well keeping faithful to the sketch. In fact after seeing that, why don’t you try and brighten it up and take away some of the dark shadows. (Use lightcap to make a lighting setup that suits the image.) Click on the zClassroom videos thread as one of them shows how to use it. (Its up at the top of the page currently.)

Looking forward to see what you do.

Mike

More doodles and try out - slowly learning more and more…

doodle.gif
RENDER-COMPO.gif

Guess every ZBrush user has made a witch from time to time.

Since I’m still learning this amazing world of 3D modeling I tried my own version.

Started with a basic bust.

The-Witch-Comp.jpg

I like the fully completed dragon illustration on your personal Blog. You should post it hear to show everyone the targeted vision for your model. Trying to nail and transfer those bright vibrant colors from the illustration to your 3D model, I think would definitely help enliven the model. And though the facial expression and posture of the 3D version are close, they still don’t quite catch the personality of the illustration. The illustration has a great mood and charm to it which is definitely worth nailing. Take a look at the thread of a fellow artist hear on ZCentral by the name of “Storm’s zdoodles” which I linked below. Specifically the frogs facial expression on page 5 and the dino on page 46. In my opinion his style is similar to what you got going here. Very simple, crisp, and sleek yet full of charm and attitude.

I really like the green head on a tray character as is.

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?83384-Storm-s-zdoodles/page5

Also I’m aware of the frustrations you mentioned in the quote below and if I understand you correctly there is a work around solution to it, if you’re still interested. I’ll have to look it up since it’s not at the top of my head at the moment.

[QUOTE=VISEone]----------“I wish to retopology wouldn’t be such a pain in the butt - I tried to retopology the head but gave up after a couple of tries…annyoing that you always see the back polys and that you click on a wrong spot every second time…”

Thanks so much for your input and your link. I checked the characters and yes - those are amazing and got the expressions I’m aiming for.
I really need to sit down and get back to this dragon and rework many parts.
Each week I’m learning more and so it might have been too ambitious a while ago.

For retopology I bought 3DCoat - which was very helpful so far. Otherwise I’m only modeling for illustration purposes - so with dynamesh I actually don’t really need to retopologize - or?
What would be the benefit of retopology - posing? I’m still new to lot of 3D questions so any input is very welcome!!!

Here’s the 2D illustration of my dragon as you mentioned it:

Amor Dragon.jpg

thanks again for taking time to check my work and website!

COOL! That dragon is awesome !! :+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:

Today I started a character where I used FIBER MESH the first time. Great function and so much fun to play with the settings…

Any comment welcome

Unfortunately I had a massive problem posing the hedgehog with TPose Master - somehow it always messed up my mesh and left the subtools at their place…

Will put him into a littel scene later - so here’s a quick render.

hedgehog.jpg

Very very nice!

Stoked to see all of this gold coming from your side of the screen bro! Dynamesh will eliminate retopo for 90% of what you do, I’ve messed with it and it does an amazing job up to a point. Brilliant technology for fleshing out ideas.

The hedgehog shows how much fun yr having!.. congrats on the cintiq as well:+1:

Thanks @guti

Hey Rob! Thanks, yes I invest a lot of time in ZBrush lately…also the CINTIQ pushes everything more forward. Still many things to learn…but slowly I’m getting there.
One of the major issues right now is fighting with poses. I’m either starting to pose the model from the beginning or will try out using BLENDER or 3DCoat to rig and pose.

Dynamesh is very helpful - funny thing with this model I used Dynamesh for the basic shape and did a retopology in 3DCoat which worked fine. Then I got back to ZBrush and did all the sculpting with regular subdivision levels and no use of dynamesh.

I got into a propblem when I wanred to add noise on the nose. The alphapattern got stretched on the curved part of the nose - so I used UV Master to make a new UV Map - copied it and pasted it onto my model - but nothing changed - the surface still made that stretched noisepattern. Even when I increased the texture density.

Any clue how to get an even surface - so I can apply seamless noise without stretching?
Any help would be welcome!