I taught myself zbrush through tutorials and books and I’m still learning.Please let me know how this looks so far. I know it wont win awards I just to know honestly what people think of it.
[attach=186574]BEASTMANMESH.jpg[/attach]
[attach=186575]BEASTMAN.jpg[/attach]
[attach=186576]BEASTMANSIDE.jpg[/attach] [attach=186578]BEASTMANBACK.jpg[/attach]
few tips given that zbrush is quite a challenge to first grasp:
1)Try and make sure the mesh is nice and cleanly detailed at it’s lowest subdivision level and only subdivide if you feel it necessary for adding more details. Obviously at your lowest subdiv, it’s too low to detail but you can still get proportions right at that stage when it’s easier to do so. This also prevents it from becoming overly blobby.
2)Keep some reference for proportions. It’s very easy to get carried away with putting in the landmarks that our brains associate with the body in zbrush, but those landmarks also need to be in the correct place and correct relative size.
yeah I understand what you mean work on form only subdivide if it starts to become distorted so I have more polys to play with. It is hard to learn but I spent the money so I need to put it to use. I just feel like when you stretch things to much they get distorted easily. On lowest sub division levels I assume the move and standard brush are the only ones I really need to utilize at that stage, and the other brushes are for added in some advanced detail. If feels like when I add mesh using the clay brush and smooth it out holding shift, it just gets rid of what I added. Thanks for the feedback
Yeah on the lowest subdiv like yours, I would only really use the Move brush myself(everyone has a different workflow though so I’m just speaking for myself) to get the proportions rights.
Then by about subdiv 3 I’d start using the Claytube brush to rough in some masses. I agree, smoothing seems to get rid of the details but if you apply it in small amounts and with a smaller brush, it helps keep things flowing.
On your model, I’d say the biggest problems are the forms don’t seem to relate to each other in terms of size. They’re all there just not in relation to each other.
Other than that, it seems to be coming along. Your masses are deffinitely there, you just need to move them into the right place and I’d just tone it down a bit and use some reference to compare to. That’s probably the best way to learn.
Have fun zBrushing!
what brush are you using?
i’d go with DhruvGovil and use the clay tubes brush combined with smoothing
Hi, congrats on your first steps with ZBrush
The most important part of the sculpting process is the base (lowest subdivision) model. Forget about details for now. Completely. If the primary shape of your sculpture is weak, then regardless of how good your detailing skills may be, your sculpture will never look right.
As a general rule big changes to your sculpt are always made at the lowest sub-div. Such changes made at a higher level, or with smaller brushes, commonly result in the ‘lumpy’ sculpt you have already encountered 
Think of your sculpture in terms of its most primitive shapes and how they relate to one another, and constantly check your model from numerous angels as your work on it.
But most important of all - get a book and follow the lessons.
It might seem like a chore, and maybe even a downright bore, but i think ZBrush is a craft that can be learnt rather than an outright skill in its own right. With the correct tuition/lessons, anyone can reach a decent level of competency with ZBrush.
Looking forward to watching your progress 
kepp practising and my advice to u is to know what ur sculpting dont just open zbrush and sculpt sculpt 
you will get to that level but in the start try to to work with refs and dont forget good result come with tough study
I was only using standard and move brush. Do I have to tweak any settings on my wacom tablet? I dont mean keyboard shortcut I mean pressure sensitivity wise. I made my base mesh with zspheres. I see people make theres by deleting the sub division on the original sphere and then get it down to a square. Im gonna have to do it step by step with a book though because I tried it my own way and the results arent going smoothly. I never expected to learn this over night still its a lot different then any other program I ever encountered.
Im gonna try and concentrate on the form first and that alone thanks for the advice.
Here is a piece where I am just focusing on the form. I don’t know if Im doing it right I sub divided afterwards to level 7
I just started ZBrush 3 weeks ago - so I’m a totally newbie myself.
It’s a good way to learn about the different brushes - what they do and how they affect your surface - if you just take a sphere and start doodling around.
But if you want to end up with something more serious you should have a concept in mind or even better drawn down. This way you can see what you have to do to come closer to your original concept.
I bought tutorials of eat3D (which I highly recommend) and Gnomon Workshop and it really helped me a lot. You can either follow the tutorial with their workfiles or transfer the shown techniques to your own concept.
You will see how quick you can end up with good models if you only use the basic brushes.
And like others said: Get your basic shape in the lower subdivision levels (with MOVEBRUSH and CLAYBRUSH) and then subdivide for more details.
I also made the same mistake and ended up too early on a higher subdivision level before I really finished my basic model (shape).
I still have tons to learn about ZBrush - so this was only my advice from a beginner to another beginner :D.
Your rhino head is better in terms of form deffinitely, but still I feel you could have achieved more at maybe level 2. The problem you seem to be having now is that your forms are blending into each other.
It’s a bit of advanced book to start of on, but Scott Spencer’s Digital Sculpting: Human Anatomy is a great book on learning form. It doesn’t require much in the way of learning zbrush seeing as you already understand zspheres and the variety of brushes.
If that’s a bit much, the March 2010 of ImagineFX had a shortened tutorial by him as well which is also a great start.
Other ways to learn:
In VFS, our 3D instructor gave us a crash start by making us do 15minute sculpts on the default polysphere that zbrush starts of with. His rules were that we weren’t allowed to add subdivisions and we had to use a reference of an actor and try and create a likeness.
A lot of people in my class picked up zbrush really quickly with that excercise. He recomended using the Move and Claytubes brush.
We also now have to do one hour sculpts twice a week to keep our form up.
wow cool Im gonna try that without sub dividing. I use the standard brush so I guess I’m not supposed to use that brush till I sub divide? Also the horned turtle or rhino I made was originally out of a box which was originally the default sphere that you can sculpt on. Im gonna check those books out I buoght one from amazon ZBrush Character Creation: Advanced Digital Sculpting by Scott Spencer. I didnt read it yet though also I bought eat3d character creation and introduction to zbrush he goes really fast though.
when you start off with the default polysphere do you then work on the lowest subdivision possible because the sphere has 3 levels. Also for your project are you allowed to use the alt key and smoothing?