ZBrushCentral

First steps

Ok here are my first tries:

Attachments

39.jpg

31.jpg

48.jpg

55.jpg

58.jpg

61.jpg

63.jpg

56.jpg

your crit. or advice i would be very happy.
Sorry for my english.

doesnt look any good.

Attachments

69.jpg

68.jpg

67.jpg

66.jpg

Changed the arms a bit and tried to add mored detail. I would really welcome suggestions, crits or comments.

Attachments

80.jpg

79.jpg

Hey man!

I am a newbie as well so please take what I say with a grain of salt. Your last post showed a big big improvement from the undefined forms you showed in the previous posts. As I said, I am learning ZB as well but what I know for a fact is that if you want to go into character modelling you need to master anatomy… well… not master it but at least be aware of the main landmarks. If I look at your model, I would say that the torso, in the first place, needs improvement … the rib cage is quite flat, the bottom of the neck and the chest etc etc… I don’t want to be to specific because I would like to leave other more experienced members to give you feedback based on specific areas on your model. All I wanna say is that you should take a good anatomy reference and try to go from there… There are plenty of tutorials around the web that deals with introduction to modelling and anatomy. If you want me to point out a few for you, let me know and I will happily do so.

Good luck and keep working! :slight_smile:

Dan

You are right I actually sculpted only from my mind without any anatomy references. I am aware that the anatomy is very faaaaaaaaaar from being good :D, but I mainly wanted to try the brushes, adding details and such. I will propably try to finish this model as it is but for future ones, I would very welcome it, if you could point out a few of these tutorials that deal with the anatomy I would be very thankful.

Sorry about my bad english.

I’ll get back to you sometime today after I have lunch and fix a few things. Don’t worry about your English! Is fine!

Thank you very much

Hey, good effort so far. There’s a lot of room for improvement, and actually every artist most likely has something they can improve on, as there’s so many facets too consider and master, such as composition, anatomy, value, form, proportion, gesture, and the like. For anatomy improvement I would recommend studying some good books on the subject. Bridgman and Andrew Loomis have some great stuff on figure anatomy, as well as Edouard Lanteri. Those are the one’s that I use, but there’s many others. For some free anatomy material online there’s Ryan Kingslien anatomy vid’s on youtube as well. But also consider drawing your anatomy and skeletal structure. The experts say, and I’ve found this to be true, that first drawing your form well in light and shade is the best preparation for sculpting in either real life or 3d.

for the recommendations. About the books there is a problem of language barrier, but I will try to look and I am definitely going to take a look at Ryan Kingslien anatomy vid’s. If by drawing the anatomy and skeletal structure you meant on paper then i think thats not for me my drawing skills are even worse than my skills in zbrush.

Hey again!

So… tutorials… Ok… In the following lines I will share with you my experience tutorial wise and I will try to tell you what I learned from each of them. I might go and rumble about a few other stuff but bare with me…

First of all, as Lateralus just said, you can start with the “in house” instructor Ryan Kingslien. He walks you through a whole creature design, here on Zbrush Classroom, emphasizing anatomy and which are the landmarks that YOU REALLY need to keep in your mind and implement in your sculpts. Also, yes, the anatomy books. " An Atlas of Anatomy for Artists" by F Schider I heard is a very good book (http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Anatomy-Artists-Dover/dp/0486202410). I used http://www.amazon.com/Human-Anatomy-Artists-Elements-Form/dp/0195052064 but basically what you need is a book that explains you anatomy and how you can take it with you into your designs. This task is satisfied by a plethora of books and on top of these two I’m sure you can find several others because anatomy was, is and will always be one of the first things an artist must learn… and when I say artist I refer to all arts. I have graduated acting and there you work with anatomy as well… I know for a fact that singers do as well (they actually have some pretty hard core exercises they must do)… And so on.

Now… About video tutorials. Personally, I decided to go with a subscription on Digital Tutors… Why? Because, even though it might not have the cream and the top of the top tutorials made by super duper names, they do have the biggest library in the world about CG training. This being said, I wanted to have a place that allows me to learn not only Zbrush but the whole modelling pipeline from a real world scenario. I am learning by myself and I want to build my portfolio. Therefor I don’t want to waste my time and I’m trying to learn exactly what I will need if I will ever manage to get in the industry… I’m trying to educate myself in that direction. Ofcourse, I go as well for what I like. Getting back to DT, I started my subscription this month. I didn’t commit to 6 months or 1 year. I went for 1 month and probably I will renew it after. I started this subscription because I wanted to learn Maya. Zbrush is a very powerful tool but Maya (and the other similar software - Max, Softimage etc etc) can’t be replaced for certain things. Also, I want to learn Mari and TopoGun and ofcourse improve my Zbrush skills. This being said, let’s get down some names.

First, Pat Imrie: Creative Development: Creature Concept Sculpting in Zbrush. Is not really a total beginner tutorial but this guy is so awesome and he’s such a good teacher I can’t even say it in words… He really helped me understand several things and I definitely recommend him.

2: The cowboy series from Eat 3D is also one of the best out there. It focuses on production scenario and even though is a little pricey is definitely worth it. Link: http://www.pixologic.com/blog/2012/02/new-zbrush-tutorial-from-eat-3d-character-production/ . You will have the chance to see a not so realistic approach but still, you will see how important anatomy is even when you approach non realistic characters/ caricatures/ stylized chars etc etc.

A must have book is Zbrush Creature Design by Scott Spencer… is actually by him in collaboration with several other ppl who work in the industry. This book is not only about Creature Design… is about everything in Zbrush and even more. You will be amazed of how many things you can find in there. I can not stress enough how important this book is for me… I didn’t want to read it yet because at the moment I am focusing on learning Maya and figuring out UV layout… but after I went through the first 10-20 pages I couldn’t stop… I recommend you, if you buy it, to read EVERYTHING… introduction, the part where he thanks people… every single word… Just as a side note, this guy works at WETA Workshops… he’s the guy who made the mouth of Sauron and several other characters and creatures.

Last but not least, Cesar Dacol Jr. He has a sketchbook here, and the guys is so… willing to give… He is so helpful and so opened to share with people. Go to his Sketchbook, follow all 30 videos with the clay modelling and than the 5 he has “From clay to Zbrush”… one by one and don’t jump over introduction… at least I wouldn’t…

On top of that… what can I say… read, look at other people work, use reference images when you sculpt ( I didn’t use it at start either and even now I don’t use it as much as I should) and … as they say, mostly in drawing, practice practice practice… Speaking of which, try to do speed sculpts once you get done with anatomy studies… well… not done cuz you should always practice that… but after you master the basics, start doing speed sculpts… In my case, I started at 120 minutes… Now I am between 90 and 120 depending on how ok is the sculpt and how much time I have. I find them quite useful… you’ll see why :slight_smile:

Man, that was a long post… I am sure that this are not all the learning sources I know but is what I remember at the moment and what I find relevant for you… If I remember more, I’ll let you know. Also, if you have questions about specific things inside ZB feel free to ask me and if I know I will help you.

One thing about language… My English wasn’t so good a year ago… is not perfect now either… But if you practice you will learn it… And let me give you a little secret about learning languages… it worked for French, it worked for Italian, it worked for Swedish… it will work for you in English… The secret is… READ!!! If you have the basics in a language and you start to read, you will not even notice when you’re skills with that language will sky rocket… It might be tedious for the first few hundred pages but after you won’t even notice when you will get a pro in that language… Also, force yourself in watching movies without subtitles… it helps… A LOT!

I really thank you for such an exhaustive answer. I dont really know what to say I didnt expect so much help. I will have to go first trough the free tutorials i can find since i have a bit of money problem right now, but I already saved the names, websites and books you mentioned. Right now I will complete this sculpt, try a few thing at it and then i will jump at these tutorials and especially the anatomy.
When you start a new thread with your work let me know. I want to see it.

http://www.visiblebody.com/products

The 3D Muscular Premium Anatomy application at the above link is inexpensive and I found it really helpful and handy to have for reference.

http://lifesciencedb.jp/bp3d/

Above link is a free anatomy resource.

https://www.biodigitalhuman.com/

Another free one that requires registration but is also a good resource.

http://www.zbrushworkshops.com/introduction-to-zbrush.html#

I purchased “Introduction to ZBrush” at the ZBrush Workshop for download and I can’t recommend it highly enough. I’d had ZBrush for many years but never got around to learning it correctly and this filled that need. For what you get the price is very generous. Many, many hours of clear, concise training covering all aspects of the software.

I will definitely take a look at it when i can.

though there are many mistakes I am still going to complete it so i started polypainting it. :smiley:

Attachments

82.jpg

I can tell you’re improving looking your progress:+1:

Thank you.

I am finished it looks horrible. It looks just little bit like i wanted it to, but i am still happy it is complete.

Attachments

1.jpg

You know, the painting on the hands is quite nice actually! The body, as I said earlier, look a little squized… but don’t you worry! For the first model is good! I remember when I first got Zbrush I wanted to play with everything as well. Later I understood that I have to take them one by one.
Ok, I need to get back to what I was working in Maya. I’ll keep an eye on your thread :slight_smile:

Good luck and happy sculpting!

Dan