That’s pretty much what I was figuring. 
That’s what I’d heard about it… well, not the “$*&%” but lol 
I’m sure it’s worth every penny (as is ZBrush imho) and I was very, VERY impressed with their video demos and gallery. I chose ZBrush over 3D Coat as an initial sculpting tool primarily because of it’s user base, in spite of the fact that it was a couple hundred less. It was kind of a one shot deal, as my budget is kinda limited just now. (I’m not a student, so I can’t get the educational pricing.) At 350, I think I’m going to wait (I might be able to squeeze a purchase out of my finances, but it would make for a very difficult winter, financially) - in any case, it is on my list of stuff to get, including the upgrade to Lightwave 11.0 which has some really interesting new features, and the Maxwell plugin for Lightwave, which from what I’ve seen one of my best friends do with it, takes rendering to a whole new level… oh and MARI seems to take polypainting to a whole new level too - I’m interested but I need to see what I can do with polypaint first before I even think about saving up for that. (Hopefully ZBrush will do all I need it to so I can save some money there.)
I also want to upgrade to the latest version of Reason, but that’s gonna have to wait, as that’s almost strictly “hobby” stuff. (Crazy fun program though if you’re into music.)
Suffice it to say - I’d better start selling some models (or get a side gig modelling), or I won’t be able to afford any of these, lol. It’s funny, I started writing software as a hobby when I was 8 years old… it became my profession for years (and I’m pretty #$% good at it imo) but it’s been starting to get to the point where I’m no longer in love with that particular creative process. When something I love becomes more about politics, time management and perfoming “the job” according to a standard that isn’t really the best way to do it; rather than about being creative and doing something I love doing really really well, then I think it’s time to let it go. It seems like the entire software industry has become about just “making something work by XYZ date, regardless if it’s the best way or not” than about “creating something great and doing it really well”. It’s like my engineer half and my artistic half are being forced to go to war, and imo it’s unnecessary. So, I think I’m ready to start a new adventure that utilizes all of my skills and abilities (including software under the right circumstances)… it’s one of the reasons I took up ZBrush - to see if I had the potential to be successful in this arena on a professional level.
I guess you guys didn’t need to know all that, lol, but it felt good to say it regardless.
So, I took some time off to do some painting and just get refreshed - and started back working on my guy. It’s retopology time. I got the head done (well, planned/drawn out), and I gotta say, planning topology isn’t NEARLY as fun as sculpting. Oh well, gotta get it done one way or another… maybe because it’s my first time or whatever, but somehow I’m finding it kind of mentally exhausting drawing lines that all must flow and make sense for animation and make almost only quads with little to no triangles and zero >4 sided polys. (sigh) Wish me luck!!
It doesnt have to be quads… SOme places triangles are okey
Well, I finished retopologizing and polypainting. Both were more time consuming than I anticipated, though being my first time at each, I was figuring out some things as I went along. One important lesson for polypainting was that lighting makes a HUGE difference in how things appear. I was getting really “bland” looking results using the default lighting, and could never get the dynamic range of the skin right until I realized that little bit - my reference photos had higher dynamic range due to the lighting. Anyhow, here’s the latest, c&c welcome as always.
No comments? Either it’s totally perfect or totally sucky haha… oh well.
Hi Robb, It’s looking very good to me … not that I am in any way an expert in anatomy. Don’t get frustrated and just keep up the good work! Cheers, David 
Thanks David
Sean,
Thanks for the comments. I greatly appreciated that you took the time. While I’m sure I could keep tweaking this model until the cows come home, I have to set limits on myself to be practical, and move on. As such, I’ve put a freeze on the modelling phase, and have moved on to learning all I can about the texturing process, which I suppose is the thing I was hoping for the most critique on during this phase. Next up, clothes, hair, etc.
I’m actually into bodybuilding myself, and have a number of friends into it as well. Prior to getting into ZBrushing, I had several anatomy books for bodybuilding, including the Strength Training Anatomy book you referenced in that Amazon link… in fact, that book was my first resource!! Since I’ve started sculpting, I’ve picked up a few more anatomy books, but ones focused on art, and I am slowing going through those, soaking them in.
The pecs have been adjusted so that they flow out from the armpit where they connect to the humerus… in the older version they went pretty much straight across, but others pointed it out, and I gratefully changed it accordingly. So take a look at earlier pages to see that discussion, and for a more defined view of the sweep of the pecs for this model with the MatCap Gray applied, and once you’ve seen the previous images, please let me know if (and why) it still looks wrong to you. (And try to find the version with the straight across pecs too, for reference, I think it’s only a few pages back.)
Regarding the number of abs, I have to respectfully disagree. The rectus abdominus has 6 segments, four above the navel and two below. (The two below appear to have a small dip in the middle in some physiques.) In the most well defined physique, where the abdominal portion of the pecs are showing, it looks like an eight pack. Those are the two segments that might be throwing you… it looks like an abdominal muscle, but it’s actually an extension of the pectoralis major. If you look at Strength Training Anatomy, there is a great diagram in the back of the book that shows this abdominal portion of the pecs… visually, it looks like an 8 pack as a result, and my mistake on this sculpt (now that I’m re-looking at it) is that these pectoral segments are a bit smaller than I actually sculpted them… I sculpted them with a greater sense of “abness” which is partially incorrect. Regardless, these are the “8 pack” abs that are only really visible at extremely low body fat percentages.
I’m not sure what you mean about the collarbone, would love to a bit more on that.
Though the modelling phase is over for this mesh (so it won’t be changed), I want my next sculpt to be absolutely perfect, so I would love to hear your thoughts on this in more detail.
Will do!! Thanks for taking an interest.
Great sculpting with Zbrush. The legs dont look as proportionate to the rest of the body, but I do like that you were able to sculpt something. I can’t seem to get past the basics yet. I can sculpt in the real world, but I just can’t get Zbrush to work for me. I’ve watched alot of tutorials.