I have long had a love of animation and video game art. However my drawing skills end with stick people although my imagination knows no bounds. I came across ZBrush and thought that this might be a way of putting my ideas into motion without being held back by my lack of drawing skills.
I guess what I’m looking for is whether or not ZBrush can make up for my lack of artistic ability if I put the time in to learning how it works and operates.
Thanks.
It really depends on how your brain works. If you have an artistic eye but can’t draw for anything that doesn’t mean you don’t have artistic ability. It just means you can’t draw. But it’s possible that your brain works better in 3D than in 2D. That’s how I was and from experience I can tell you that ZBrush can unlock your creativity in that situation.
The easiest (and cheapest) way to find out is to try Sculptris. It’s another digital sculpting application that – while a lot less powerful than ZBrush – is free. You’ll quickly know if digital sculpting feels “right” to you and may well surprise yourself by creating things you didn’t even know you could do. If so, then it’s worth taking the step up to ZBrush. :)
No tool will “make up for a lack of ability”. There are only tools that you have skill with, or those that you don’t have the skill to use well yet. You wouldn’t expect to pick up a guitar and be able to play it if you’ve never learned how, but you would expect to be better at it after a couple years of practice. Zbrush is no different. Drawing, sculpting, and technical proficiency with a powerful software tool are all skills that improve over time with regular use.
The first step in learning to play, is picking up that instrument.
Imagination is like a spark, it must land in the right place for a fire to burn. 
I would suggest training yourself in classical ways - drawing, design, etc. Personally, I think Zbrush would be a hindrance for an upcoming artist because often times they get lost in all the tools and just start putting out crap, while trying to substitute their ability in design by trying to make their work look complex with everything zbrush has to offer. Sometimes its better to pick up a pencil, slow down and try to think and understand what it is that really improves your work, than just push around some of the many tools available.
>>> If you have an artistic eye but can’t draw for anything that doesn’t mean you don’t have artistic ability. It just means you can’t draw. But it’s possible that your brain works better in 3D than in 2D. <<<
Very much the truth!
Before ZBrush some 10 years ago I used to draw a lot. Different techniques, different media. Always had been fun and mostly easy to do.
OK, with ZBrush then I found certain things to be A LOT more simple.
All of a sudden I found me not bothering about light/shadow, foreshortening and all of these tedious things.
Best of all: now I could see the backside of my “drawings” :).
I would “recommend” to try some organic modeling - sculptris is one free possibilitiy, another one would be Blender where you also can do very detailed models for free.
Anyway, good luck and a lot of fun in your endeavours…