ZBrushCentral

What exactly do I do?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I’m not exactly sure how to preface this. I see amazing artists on this site and everywhere around me. on facebook, on twitter, etc etc etc, but I can’t replicate what I see. I get really… blotchy… bumpy… ugly models if i try to follow timelapses, tutorials and the like, and most tuts are just "You see this? sculpt it now :smiley: " And… I’m overwhelmed.

I started a personal project, a friend really likes red pandas, but I can’t seem to get things like… the paws… or the general thing for the body down for red pandas, and I’m unsure of how to proceed. What would a professional artist do in this scenario?

I also have no idea how to post on this site, I’m not exactly new to forums but I’m so confused with this one x-x; So if this is in the wrong place, forgive me, I’ll copy paste it to the right place, but I could really use some help and, maybe some kind of positive reinforcement because I’m not okay. Lol

#2

Hello @Yiffster

There is both an artistic skill component, and a technical expertise component to the sort of work you do in Zbrush. Both are developed with time, repetition, and study. But while you might learn which buttons do what in Zbrush over a course of weeks, artists spend years developing their artistic skills.

So it’s important to have the right kind of expectations, and give yourself that kind of time to learn.

We can help you with the technical side. If you can condense your questions into a single issue at a time, when can help you figure out how the program works. In addition there is the Pixologic Classroom, the Ask Zbrush series, commercial and amateur instruction.

My advice here is not to skimp on the fundamentals–how the navigation and interface work, basic concepts like subdivision, and Edit mode, how to work with polygroups and how toisolate polygons. If you don’t know this stuff it will make everything else you do more difficult, and it makes it more difficult to answer questions for you if too much of the program needs to be explained to answer it.

However, just because you know the right steps to technically sculpt something in Zbrush, doesnt mean you will have the artistic skill to make it look like you want. This skill you must develop on your own. The study of more artistic resources would be useful here. You have to learn the anatomy of the subjects, and develop the eye/hand skill to render it. Collect reference on the subjects you want to sculpt, and sculpt from that. Learn how to use reference images in Zbrush.

There’s no “normal” amount of time it takes to develop artistic skill. But the only way to develop it is to do it, over and over. Practice every day. Eventually you get better.

Good luck!

#3

To improve your work join Shane Olsen’s 3d character workshop, it’s the best.