Fantastic illustration…and yes we are all nude under our clothing.
Hi,
Thanks for all your comments 
A lot of parts of the base mesh (head, arms, hand,…) are made in Zbrush with Zsphere. Simple accessories (chains…) are made with primitive under 3ds. For clothing, I have used the both technique - sometines very low poly done in Max - sometimes full Zspheres.
Now I work on a making of - I think it will be more simple to explain my workflow with some pictures
I hope that my English is comprehensible :o
Thanks,
xxxeb
AWESOME,SKIN-CRAWLING WORK!
I’d love to watch over the shoulder of some of you ‘Top-Rowers’ sometime. It’s been a lOOOOOOOng time since I was up there.
50.
Hi, this is the making of this picture. Thanks to Jaime & Aurick 
from Pixologic for the english corrections
1 - The concept
The idea for this model came from Clive Barker’s universe. I’m a true fan of the first Hellraiser, and the “Tortured Souls” figurines. So my intent was to create my own vision, while respecting Barker’s original concept. I wanted to create a mysterious figure – disturbing and attractive in the same time – captive in a hybrid and tortured body.
2 - Overall workflow
When I started to work on this model, I decided to use Zbrush as much as possible with an aim of exploring a maximum of available tools. The model is done in a lot of parts (head, arms, breast, teddy bear, clothes and accessories), to improve computer resources and allow greater detail for each piece.
To adjust the various parts consistently, each step was started with a picture of the previous step as a projected background (eg. the clothes). That makes it possible to obtain a rather good precision during the final assembly.
3 – The head
The head is based on Zspheres, in a very simple setup. When I found the broad form, I start subdividing and refining the mesh.
For the mapping, I used AUV Tiles, which I find to be very fast and effective. Thanks to ZAppLink, you don’t need to unwrap UV’s and paint the flat map in Photoshop. The time saved is great. Diffuse and bump maps were both painted with ZAppLink.
4 – The arms
Like the head, arms were based on a Zsphere setup. When I had a very low poly mesh, I moved point after point to adjust the topology. Then, I subdivided, moved points, subdivided, moved more points…
Textures were painted the same way as for the head, using ZAppLink.
5 – The chest
a. Zsphere setup
b. Convert to polymesh
c. Move points, delete unused faces
d. - f. Refine and add details
6 – The clothes
For modelling clothes, I used a cylinder converted to a PolyMesh. I used the front and right views of the torso as a background (placed on another layer) to adjust the clothes. The depth information of this background was extremely helpful, compared to standard flat reference images, allowing the current part to be perfectly adjusted for the body.
7 – Teddy bear
8 – Export / Import
Each part of the body was exported from ZBrush at subdivision level 2 or 3, then imported into my animation program. Normal maps were generated with ZMapper (I don’t use displacement mapping; I think it takes too much time to compute and render). If needed, at this point I tweaked the pose by moving vertices. Then I added some accessories like the chain.
Thanks for the tutorial. Really enjoyed the workflow and will try it.
Thank u
xxxeb, thank you very much for this well-presented work flow, very nice hand setup. Much appreciated! 
50.
Just wanted to say thanks for the rundown of your techniques!! Very nice work and Thanx
Thank you so much for providing a good tutorial for a piece designed to be animated. I have been looking for what you have provided for a long time.
I am kinda slow mentally (lol) and was wondering if you could explain process numbers:
#5c, hwo do you delete any unused surfaces?
#6 just confused by it all 6 – The clothes
For modelling clothes, I used a cylinder converted to a PolyMesh. I used the front and right views of the torso as a background (placed on another layer) to adjust the clothes. The depth information of this background was extremely helpful, compared to standard flat reference images, allowing the current part to be perfectly adjusted for the body.
#8 you mentioned you export at subdivision level 2 or 3 dont you loose all the details in your other program or is all that somehow saved during export? also do you put your character together in the animation program or in zbrush if so how?
Finally what animation program do you use?
has soon as i get home, I plan on trying this out so I may have more questions, I have tried this workflow before but something always stumps me so I am greatly pleased that you took the time to describe your amazing work. Thank you very much
Very cool work my friend.I had no crit.May be 'cause I love Hellraiser creatures looking.And those lovely girl seems came out from the 80’s movie.
Clive Barker would be proud of you…
MattHHH
Thanks for comments
atmadaenygma > To delete unused poly, you have just to hide them, and Tool > Geometry > Delete Hidden.
For the step 6 - the clothes, imagine just to use the previous step as pixols’blueprint.
#8: The middle poly mesh I export recovered its details with the normal map.
For rendering, I used 3DSMax.
The final model is not easily skinnable (to much poly).
For posing, I use a very basic method (moving groups of vertex)
To get a full skinned model, I should export low poly mesh, with displacement and normal mapping map. (I hope you understand my english 
)
best,
Impressive model, better than your previous one. Congrats for the top row. it deserves it.
I’m looking forward your next project !
Bye !
really cool model and render, loved that twisted soul
[c’est marrant, en regardant ton profile, et ton site, je viens de percuter que tu es de l’est, cool je suis de Valdoie aussi héhé, on pourrait se capter un de ces jours, ça peut etre marrant de comparer nos outils et nos méthodes…
si ça te branche tu peux me contacter là : facehugger]@[wanadoo dot fr ]
Totaly fantastic. Thankyou for the run down and very clear infomation.
Do you somehow join all the parts together in 3dsmax so it all becomes one model or do you place it into a position and keep all parts seperate.
How long did it take you to do? Id love to see this process in a video on somthink very basic using same methods just to get all the tiny details.
tez > Thanks
In 3DS, I keep all parts seperate, easier to managing shaders.
I work on it during 10 days, 2 or 3 hours/day.
alien > thx too
Le monde est petit en effet à l’occasion, une rencontre peut être sympa oui.
Davlin > Thanks ! The next step of my tortured souls series is currently rendered…
Me gusta esa estética al estilo de Brom. Te ha quedado inquietante y bonita.
Thank you so much for your help I have proceeded to create all seperate parts. I created the head, body, and the legs and will soon begin with the clothes. Then I wish to export it to 3ds max for rendering. However I am still confused about exporting it in a lower subdivsion as I do not want to loose the quality of the image.
Question: Also when I deleted the unused faces i can no longer lower the subdivison model. so I cannot take it to level 2 I deleted the unused parts at level 8 and also to do so i had to delete history. Is this correct? The model parts are beautiful and I do not wish to have to start over. but I did save at various places but wish to continue as it is.
Question: Also when I did delete the unused faces as you stated in section 5c, my are very jagged edges, I believe these need to be smooth for reconnecting in 3ds max to make one complete piece? is that right or wrong. Please help me out. Of all the tutorials ive seen what are you doing is the closest to what I wish to accomplish in creating my characters. Interchangable body parts would be a great help to me and speed up the design process. Thanks again in advance for your aid.
If need I can post pictures of what I have. its difficult as I am in an internet cafes but can butn an image disc of the work i have done for 121s (i think that means complement critique and compliment)
Generally, I export mesh in subd level 3 or 4, according to the narrowest view I want.
For exemple, for ‘Petite soeur’, the head has +/- 25000 polys.
For my last image ‘BirdHouse’ (here), +/- 50000 polys for the head only.
I delete the unused faces at low level, to prevent to lose history and ‘scratched’ borders.
I hope that that will help you.
