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zBrush:worth it for 2d portrait/Lscape artist?

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#1

My wife is a self-taught FT watercolor/pastel artist (without formal graphic art training) who likes to paint 2D landscapes and likes to do 2D figure drawing, attending life drawing classes weekly ( X16 yrs ). She really likes (“loves”) her natural mediums (charcoal, pastel, etc) , and has been resistent to doing art digitially, even though she has the digital gear to do it , like a PC, Wacom Intuos, Toshiba Tecra M4 tablet PC and software ( PS, LR, Sketchpad Pro, Painter ,zBrush 3.1, etc).

My question is: Does zBrush offer enough unique features for the more traditional 2d fine artist that are not available in other programs like PS, Painter, Sketchbook Pro to motivate an artist to learn and use zBrush? The 2.5D effect has been mentioned as a plus.

If yes there is reason for a 2d artist to learn and use zBrush, how would you recommend starting this learning process? I have looked and have not seen any books or dvds specifically geared to using zbrush just for 2d fine art.

Thank you.

Walter

#2

As a hybrid 2d/3d artist myself , I will say that Zbrush certainly offers a lot of interesting tools, and one can certainly achieve a great many of interesting effects using combinations of Zbrush techniques.

The paintstop plugin can produce a wide number of satisfying natural media strokes that make for some really great looking traditional 2d pieces. Now, is it worth using over one of your existing dedicated 2d painting programs or natural media simulations like Painter? Almost certainly not, at least not yet. There would need to be years worth of usability advancements to make that something feasible to recommend over a dedicated paint app. Zbrush is probably most often useful for 2d/paint pieces for building reference, or quickly setting up reference images with depth, like a 3d head, to then paint over. But since serious 2d artists tend to avoid painting directly over a reference, the appeal may be limited. As far as for setting up accurate reference for more indirect use, the lighting solution in Zbrush is not really accurate enough to use for realistic images...you'd be better off with a traditional raytracing rendering application for that. Zbrush's 2.5d effects can be used to sometimes *enhance* a 2d painting, adding some depth effects here and there,but this can sometimes look a bit "gimmicky" for serious painters. Generally, if you want to be a "painter", then you're going to "paint" the detail, not use fakery. Zbrush's strength is primarily as a 3D sculpting application, with a wide degree of flexibility and versatility in a number of other areas that supplement that ability. It can produce decent looking *3D* still images and design pieces. If you were looking to branch out into that area, I would highly recommend it. If your primary interest is in traditional 2d/natural media art/illustration, I would not recommend picking it up for that reason alone. But by all means pick up the Demo, and see if there are things you think we be of value.
#3

Walter, Zbrush’s brushes are geared towards the modification of geometry (3d models/structures). It’s not that you cannot sketch/draw. But as a 2D artist I would be utterly confused and actually disappointed by the tools available in comparison to Painter and PS. Get into 2.5D and 3D and the picture changes to the opposite. It’s worth exploring. Just not under the premise that you are about to meet a conventional drawing app. You can do wayyyy different things in it. But it’s 100% garbage for water color paintings compared to the way Painter or PS works. But ignoring it without exploration is a waste as well. It’s a very capable tool. Something new for the 2D artist and it can create fun art for a 2D artist. Just differently.
L

#4

ok so you have asked a serious question and the drink i just spat out is more shame on me than you…so I’ll give you a clear answer.

there is absolutely nothing for a 2D artist whom wishes to remain 2D and more specifically a 2D artist not interested in a career as a texture artist.

BUT…

Consider this,

zbrush is a canvas with depth, and is a completely unique approach to digital art.

download the 30 trial and explore.