First Try at Character Sculpting in Zbrush

Jack M.

Hey everyone, this is my first foray into character sculpting in zbrush. I was following a gnomon tutorial (The Gnomon Workshop - Introduction to Zbrush 4R7, Madeleine Scott-Spencer), learning more about zbrush and how it applies to character creation when modeling this. I'd like some criticism on what I did wrong and what I did right to help keep me going in the right direction.

Mine:


Hers:

why_pack

Well, as with most of us when we began, you have gone to more divisions way too quick. Have them 5000 points and polish your shape until you are satisfied with it and only then divide the model to increase the details Also, it seems very odd, but, does the tutorial use dynamesh? It's very strange looking thing when you can see pores on the upper part and very low resolution on the bottom part.

PyrZern

If you want to do characters, I think you should learn the rules (anatomy) before you break/bend them (stylized styles)

lotet

just wanted to ad that its looking really good for a first try.

but yeah, gotta agree with Why_Pack.
you need to work more lowrez. you should almost always be able to see the individual polygons your working on.

Jack M.

@PyrZern - At the moment I'm just trying to learn how zbrush applies to characters and replicate what Madeleine Scott-Spencer is doing in the tutorial. What I'll likely do after this is make an anotomically correct skull, and then add muscles to that to get a firm understanding of facial anatomy. I'll be posting that in this thread.

@why_pack - I was afraid of that. I ended up using dynamesh because the geometry was getting pretty stretched (My piece is actually the top one. I'm not sure why she didn't use dynamesh in that part of the tutorial). That said I'll just project that back onto a subdivision mesh to work at like 5000 points.

@lotet - Thanks for the confirmation, and the compliment!

Jack M.

I made some changes to the face sculpt at as low of a resolution as I could. I think I could still use some work on the upper eyelids and nose at a lower res. I think I'll do that and move on to some anatomy practice.

What I'm thinking I'll do is sculpt out a human male skull. Then I'll create the musculature that attaches to that skull. Once I complete both of those exercises I'll be moving into creating human busts from references. After I'm competent at that I'll move on to human male body anatomy and proportions (including the head). From there I'll move into human female body anatomy and proportions.

If anyone has suggestions or think I should progress differently, feel free to chime in.

Here's the latest render:


Tutorials version:

Jack M.

Started working on the skull today. Didn't have a whole lot of time but I was able to get some forms down. The mandable is basically just placeholder and the zygomatic process is very wip in the rear (Haven't even started on the external acoustic meatus and mastoid process yet). I'll get some more in soon.

Maximum-Dev

Coming along well.
I recommend you watching the Alien Rock Grubber tutorial. (Also on Gnomon Workshop, from Jerad S. Marantz).

lotet

Nice! looking good, also I can see the polygons this time

Jack M.

Thanks guys. I haven't been able to do a whole lot the last few days, but I'm trying to get a little in every day. Started working the base of the skull. It still needs a lot more work, but I'm going to try and get quite a bit more finished on the skull tomorrow.

Jack M.

Here's another update. I'll be adding the teeth and then after they are more in place I'll make more adjustments to the alveolar process of the mandible and maxilla.