Chrisjngs Zbrush thread

chrisjngs

Hello Polycount!

I'm a junior at the University of Texas at Dallas in their Arts and Technology program. I'm participating in an independent study this semester in digital sculpting using Zbrush.
After talking with my professor today, it looks like the first half of the semester will be assigned projects (from digital tutors) and the second half I will be able to choose my own projects. I'm making this thread mainly so I can get some critique on projects that are not following tutorials. That being said I figured that I would just start a thread now so that I could get critique on the assigned stuff as well.

I hope to start posting WIPs in the following days and am looking forward to any feedback:)

Brian "Panda" Choi

What subject matter are you planning to sculpt? Human figures? Creatures? Free form? Banana pancakes?

chrisjngs

The focus will be on character sculpts. When I get to choose my projects, I will be focusing on accurate anatomy. However the first half of the semester is supposed to be maquettes, my professor showed this when talking about it.

chrisjngs

While I'm still getting started on my first assignment for the Spring, I wanted to post the final comp of my latest character.

concept created by puzzle lee

chrisjngs

Alright, here's my first model for this class. I followed digital tutors "Understanding Facial Anatomy in ZBrush" course, but used a different reference for the head.

I'm going to be doing multiple busts over the coming weeks, so any critiques would be helpful.

chrisjngs

Here's the sculpt of Brandon Routh that I'm working on. I think that it's looking good, but not really looking like Mr. Routh. If anyone has any tips on what to fix I would appreciate the advice.

and the reference sheet that I made

Add3r

In your full posed character (awesome you have finished out a final character with simple break down and such already), it looks like she is crosseyed. while technically correct to have her eyes looking straight, from an art/visual perspective it comes across as odd looking. It might be due to the style you have chosen to use for proportions and such, but it was all I could see once I noticed it.

Solid work though, and you definitely have the right idea of doing legit anatomy studies and such. A lot of people breaking into character art try to make leaps instead of steps when it comes to anatomy. Take it slow I am not a character artist so I will refrain from doing any major anatomy crits, but looks like you are on the right track with your latest sculpts.

chrisjngs

@Add3r Thanks for the comment! I noticed the cross eyed look of her as well. I redid them multiple times, but just couldn't seem to fix it

chrisjngs

I'm trying to get all of the major forms, all while using as little polys as possible.

Reference sheet that I put together.

chrisjngs

Here's the progress that I made today. I think that the front view looks pretty good, but it kinda falls apart in the 3/4 and side view, and I cant figure out why... any suggestions?

Jakub

Hello, really great work I'm doing some anatomy studies right now and I took exactly the same guy, but I started with body.

Frist thing that I see are the eyes, they are spread too wide. Secondly, I think that you need to make his neck thicker, look at the reference(3/4) and you'll see that his sternomastoid muscle is highly visible.

Another thing to notice, is his mandible. He does not have this perfect manly jaw shape, the angle of mandible is a little bit higher(closer to the ear) and that makes it a bit more curved(from the side view).

You should take a look at his forehead, it is not so well rounded.

Ear is also little too big.

I hope that info is helpful

chrisjngs

@Jakub Thanks for the feedback! I noticed his mandible after I had posted, so I had fixed that. The eyes were bothering me but I couldnt figure out why so thanks for pointing that out. I did increase the size of the sternomastoid muscles a little bit, but not too much. In the reference his head is turned a little bit, so that is making them look bigger.

Here's the progress that I made today


and some practice that my professor suggested, just doing a model showing the planes of the head/face.

Brian "Panda" Choi

Can you mark out on the planar model where the bony landmarks are, and spin that as part of the assignment of learning how to sculpt with Zbrush? Spending time on understanding what is causing certain planar changes may help you to subconscously sculpt other busts in the future.

DireWolf

Those are surprisingly good for a first sculpt. Well done!

chrisjngs

@Brian"Panda"Choi: I was able to use the planar model for part of my class, thanks for the suggestion.
@DireWolf: Thanks! these are not my first sculpts however, just the first for a class.

Haven't updated in a while, here's what I'm working on right now. It's a portrait of John Dillinger.
WIP SCulpt:

Reference:

chrisjngs

Finished the bust of John Dillinger.
Here's some orthographic views.

and a quick perspective shot.

Vertrucio

The eyes on all your sculpts look tacked on, instead of a form that flows around the eyeball.

Take a look at how the Scar head was sculpted.

You're focusing too much on those the eyes are "supposed" to look from the front and side, but you're forgetting it's a 3D shape that curves and flows. They look flat and drawn on because of this. For example, look at that Stephen Amel picture and the inner part of his eye.



That's a huge gap and recess that you're not putting into your sculpts. You're only doing a basic job of wrapping the eye around a sphere you put near where an eye should be, but not actually trying to understand the forms of the eye.

Try only sculpting the eyes from 3/4 angles, only use front and side to check final accuracy.

chrisjngs

@Vertucio: Thanks for pointing that out, I will make it a point to get those shapes right on the next head.

@dustinbrown: Thanks for the compliment. The Asaro head was just done as practice. All of the heads that I have done have started from spheres and then just pulled the forms out.

pmiller001

aw yea! another great UTD student!
I like your stuff partner. Keep it up. I'm not much for characters, so i cant offer the best critique.
Otherwise, keep up the great work!

chrisjngs

I'm starting the final project for this class now, I'll have five weeks to complete it. The project will be an anatomical study in a relaxed pose. The head is going to be heavily based off of the beautiful and talented Yvonne Strahovski, I'm not going for a 1-to-1 likeness though. The body is going to be sculpted in an A-pose initially and then, using transpose master, will be posed.

I have around 30 reference images for the face, but here are the main ones that I'm using along with the reference for the pose that I'm going to be doing.



Here's where I'm at on the head sculpt, I think that it's looking pretty good, though there's something about the 3/4 view that doesn't look right.



and here are the five poses that I was deciding over, I ultimately went with number five



also, does anybody know if there is a way to use an already existing mannequin as a transpose object using transpose master. I ask because I have the pose set on a layer that I can turn off. Making the mannequin return to its default pose, and it would be awesome if I could just build the body over the mannequin and then pose it with that.

Brian "Panda" Choi

You mean move a mannequin as a whole in the scene?

chrisjngs

No, I know how to move it around in the scene. What I'm asking is, when using the transpose master plugin inside of Zbrush, there is an option to use a ZSphere rig. I'm wanting to know if there is a way to use an already existing mannequin as that rig. Basically just load it's Ztool and use that, that way it has the layer that the pose is on. That way I can use one of the mannequins that I already have posed, and just sculpt a body around it, then pose.
I hope that makes a little more sense.

chrisjngs

Working on the body now, mostly done, though the hands and feet still need a lot of work (so I hid them). Any crits would be appreciated.

chrisjngs

Finished the body and have begun to pose.




Right now I'm working on fixing all the things that transpose master broke whilst posing it, then I will make sure that everything is anatomically correct. The hair is temporary and the table that she is sitting on will be cleaned up before it's all done.

Any C&C would be appreciated.

FourtyNights

Good start, but her upper legs (thighs) are too long and lower legs (shins) too short. So, you could raise the position of her knee area up a bit.

chrisjngs

Thanks FourtyNights, I took a look at the legs and it was actually the torso was too short.

I've continued to tweak the model and work on the anatomy.


And here's a turntable that I rendered out.
https://youtu.be/78fxUWQpFy4

chrisjngs

Finished up this anatomy study yesterday and forgot to post the results, so here they are.



Turntable:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7L6MQWAea8[/ame]