Feb '17

Hi everyone!

First, I want to say that even tho my background is 2D I've always wanted to be a sculptor. However, sculpting in clay and marble is a very expensive task. I finally saved up enough money to buy Zbrush! I finished my degree in game art an animation to learn 3DS Max and to create art for the video game pipeline. I'm taking a year to hone my skills and to build a portfolio. I want to showcase my journey here.

I hope to gain critiques and feedback as well as give my own to other art blogs. I also hope that I might inspire others to try 3D concept art as well. I'm also 31 years old and want to show others that no matter how old you are you can always follow your dreams.

Feb '17

Hey, Shon! Welcome to the forums! We are in need of more 3D blogs, so this is great!

Indeed traditional sculpting can be expensive! Zbrush is just an awesome experience though. This looks interesting for your first try! I do recommend to not worry too much about topology yet! As Zbrush is a huge sandbox, and limiting yourself early on, is only stopping the creativity :smile: Either way, really looking forward to more!

Feb '17

Glad to see another 3d artist here!! I would actually agree with not focusing on topology just yet! Make sure you fully understand zbrush and be creative and have fun for a bit cause hard surface modeling zbrush is no easy task ! lol and I also just started using zbrush too so whatever I learn I can attempt to help !

Feb '17

Reply to

achronic

Ah thanks for much for the kind words. Yea really just trying to have fun and hopefully build a really cool portfolio in the process. That and I'd love to make some friends here on cubebrush as well! Yea the topology was from just Zremeshing to see what it does to be honest lol. Currently playing around in Zbrush now so hopefully I have some thing new to post soon ^^V

Feb '17

Reply to

Diana_T

Yea was playing around this morning in zbrush with trim tools and that has a bit of a learning curve to that so much to learn but it's a blast. The topology shot was from Zremeshing mostly to see the results so I'm not really focusing on retopo just yet ^^V.

I hope to have some thing new to post here tonight ^^V

Feb '17

Hey! You got some cool stuff going on here! I dropped by here after reading you're also new to Cubebrush and I'm amazed to find you're already this good at 3D. I'm mostly a 2D artist as you've seen on my blog, but lately I've also been thinking of learning how to 3D. And just reading your blog inspired me to really try my hands on it! I hope you don't mind me asking but, would Zbrush be a good program for a beginner to use?

Feb '17

No worries and thanks for the kind words ^^V. For Zbrush I would say it's not to hard to get into. They have 30 day free trails which will let you see if you like it or not. The good thing is Zbrush has a bunch of "How to" guides via video's on their site which will help a lot. I've been running threw them like mad.

If you want to try 3D I'd say jump in with both feet!

Feb '17

Here's my latest Zbrush sculpt. Whipped this head together in about an hour and a half. Really just exploring how Zbrushes paint tools work...and I love how Zbrush paints.

Feb '17

I wanted to take a minute and talk about getting into Zbrush. I've had people in Real Life and online ask about getting started in 3D via Digital.

Here's my take on it. Just get started. Use Zbrush and dive in. Zbrush is very traditional in the sense of sculpting in Clay. In fact learning Zbrush teaches you how to use Clay (traditional). It also works in the reverse (Clay to Zbrush).

So here it is folks. Don't say you want to learn Zbrush for 3D modeling. Just say I want to sculpt and draw in 3D. Don't worry about polygons or how to box model. Just jump in and create like you would with Clay. If you give an 8 year old clay and say have fun. The 8 year old wont ask questions they will just have fun making some thing. This is what you need to do, go back to your 8 year old self and just have fun making some thing.

Refinement will happen naturally over time as you keep at it. The only thing about Zbrush that is hard (at first) is the UI. For this just go to Zbrushes website and watch the video's on UI. Once you have a small grasp on the UI start having fun.

Now, what are you waiting for just create. Above are my very beginnings in Zbrush. I've made only 3 or 4 sculpts and this is where I'm at. I didn't worry about polygons or worry about if I'm good or not. I just said I want to sculpt and have fun.

If you just channel your 8 year old self, you will have fun. So just create and have fun. These are my tips.

Feb '17

Here's a WIP of my latest sculpt. Currently around 2 and half hours. For those wondering or interested this was made with using only Clay Build Up brush. I'm taking my time this one but it might be done tomorrow night ^^

Feb '17

I'm very inspired by your work and dedication of learning 3D, I do want to learn 3D but first I need to get better at 2D which it's what I love the most.

Keep the good work :smiley:

Feb '17

Welcome to the forum,
I look forward to see your progress! :smile:

Feb '17

@motato Thank you for the kind words and I say jump in head first into 3D. You will be surprised at how 3D can really help your 2D drawing skills.

@imphelikz Thank you for the warm welcome. I'll try my best to not disappoint in terms of progress.

Feb '17

Here's the final sculpt. Worked on the anatomy some more and then did subtle changes to break the symmetry to make the character more interesting to look at. I was also able to play around with lightcaps and the movie function inside of zbrush to make a turntable. Overall I think it came out nice but I have to say I need to work on modeling ears.

Here's the youtube link https://youtu.be/jGja7H8lQ8I

8 days later

Feb '17

Posting a little update. I've been sculpting everyday but nothing worth finishing sadly. So today I wanted to go back to basics and just work on shapes. So I wanted to attempt a new work flow with making the head and torso with a start on the lower half of the body. This was made with going with 3 sphere's and trying to think more traditional clay than digital if that makes sense.