luke's sketchbook

[lucaswschmidt]

Just starting out in ZBrush, here's my first ZSphere sculpture WIP. I'm trying to use this to emulate some of my 2D drawings while I'm learning the program.



Also here's a ZSphere creature that I've been working on, still don't know much about the finer controls of ZSpheres and how to work the adaptive skin into an actual model, and I'm debating whether or not to wait for 3.5 to come out for Mac before I do too much more work on it.



C&C are very welcome.

[lucaswschmidt]

Got a bit more work done on the sculpture, I'll probably finalize the ZSPhere placement tomorrow and start working on detailing it.

[ENODMI]

Bunnies, plants and pipes! Thats what I see!

[asecbrush]

Welcome !

Looks like you're having some fun .

[lucaswschmidt]

endomi> early on when it was still zspheres i saw a person lunging to catch an apple (the dangly thing on the right)

asec brush> i am indeed, but i fear that i've made this thing way too complicated and will have some difficulty doing anything more with it.

i guess now's a good time to mention that i have an inability to do things simply.

[lucaswschmidt]

did some more work on this, i swear i simplified it.



also here's a detail of the dangly thing

[RawSunlight]

Personally, I love it - don't simplify, PUSH IT!!!
It has the starts of a beautiful brancusi-miro-tanguy hybrid
Like the comp of the tall one best; maybe try some surface detailing and different materials?
More please!

[lucaswschmidt]

sunlight> thanks i found brancusi and tanguy online but who's miro? i've been looking at the paintings of oliver vernon a lot while doing this. also, this is still just zspheres, i'm going to try to get it finished and skinned today. i'm already seeing things i want to fix before i start sculpting, then i'll start working on texture, materials and color.

[lucaswschmidt]

i've made a mesh out of this but now i'm having problems, most of the polygons in the long planty parts are long thin rectangles as opposed to squares and this is making modeling details very frustrating, does anyone know how to fix this?

[lucaswschmidt]

did a little bit of modeling/texturing practice the last 2 nights trying to get the feel of water and mountains.

[RawSunlight]

I like Oliver Vernon too ... you'd have to layer a few hundred of these to go that mad... cool, i look forward to seeing where you take it

[lucaswschmidt]

did two quick torso sketches, one from zspheres one in relief from a poly plane. i've forgotten most of my knowledge of anatomy but i've learned a lot about zbrush.

[lucaswschmidt]

Been a while but I finally did a little more work on this. I'm still not happy with the legs but I think I'm working towards something good.

[lucaswschmidt]

Another small update, I finally have some legs I'm happy with, next I'll figure out what to do with the arms and actually spend some time learning how to sculpt.

[lucaswschmidt]

Got the legs, arms, and hands figured out, now all I need is the feet and I'll be ready to start sculpting. Also, I have a first draft of a character history for this guy. For the moment his name is Akematsu


300 years ago there was the farmer Daisuke who lived on the edge of the shioyuki valley. Daisuke owned a modest piece of land and was a very diligent steward of his crops and livestock. He was also fascinated by the multitude of insects that lived in the valley and spent much time studying their interactions with his crops and livestock and the forests and plains of the valley. One day as he was making his rounds he saw a group of bandits robbing an old man. He ran to aid the old man but was quickly overpowered and knocked unconscious. The bandits quickly forgot about the old man and decided to teach the impertinent farmer a lesson by burning his farm and his crops to the ground. They ran through his fields with torches and knocked his stove over, burning all of the farmer's possessions and his livelihood.

The heat from the fire and the sting from the coals falling on his skin woke Daisuke, who became frantic when he saw his crops, his home, and unknown to the bandits his large collection of insects collected from the surrounding mountains and plains. He ran back to his farm to try and fight the flames but was cut down by the bandits and cast into his own burning home. The bandits watched the flames for a while then headed towards town. Once the thugs had left the old man, who was actually the God Izanagi, the third son of the God Great Showering Glory traveling the land in disguise, stepped out of the shadows and looked upon the inferno that used to be the diligent farmers livelihood and felt sad. The farmer had been a good steward of the land that Izanagi himself was very fond of and he had stood up for what was right, even though it had cost him his life.

Izanagi decided that this was all unjust so he shed his disguise and smothered the flames, then from the charred land he created an avatar and brought it to life with Daisuke's soul, which was still dwelling in the area. This avatar was the God Akematsu. Izanagi told Akematsu that the Shioyuki valley was his domain and that he was it's steward. Akematsu bowed to Izanagi then headed toward the town of Karuizawa where the bandits had gone.

Karuizawa was the largest city in the Shioyuki valley and had been very prosperous until the mayor had been killed by the Ozawa clan. Akematsu landed in the middle of town and started towards the shop where the bandits were, sending the townspeople into a panic. The bandits ran into the street to see what the commotion was and froze when they saw Akematsu. Akematsu turned toward the bandits and swung his giant sword , cleaving the street in two and killing most of the bandits. Those who survived ran to the leader of the Ozawa clan at the mayor's house and Akematsu followed them there. Akematsu swung his giant sword again and brought the mayor's house down on top of the Ozawa clan. When the dust settled Akematsu headed toward the city's largest shrine. The towns people fled in front of him but he was very careful not to destroy anything except what he thought was unjust and slowly the townspeople started to follow at a distance. When Akematsu got to the shrine the priest Kiyomori came out to meet him and the two sat on the lawn.

Izanagi often stopped at the shrine when he passed through the Shioyuki valley and he had stopped by and spoken with Kiyomori soon after Akematsu left the farm. Akematsu and the priest spoke for a while and Akematsu told him that the Shioyuki valley would always be safe, prosperous and fertile as long as it's people were just and fair in their conduct. The priest Kiyomori bowed to Akematsu, then Akematsu stood and left. As he walked through the city great clouds of insects gathered around him in the air and marched after him on the ground. All the insects that displeased him and made life for the people difficult were either consumed by the insects he favored as they grew to incredible sizes or turned to ash and spread by the wind, as were the spiders. Akematsu walked across the valley and flew over the mountains and disappeared into the forests beyond, leaving behind only the insects that made the people's lives joyful and their fields prosperous.

And this is why people say there are no bugs in the Shioyuki valley.