Getting to grips with Zbrush (Hand Sculpt)

Dominic Sewell

Hey guys,

So i was initially making a bust in zbrush but thought i should make something a little smaller atleast until im totally comfortable with the software.

Anyhow im just going with an open hand and arm sculpt at the moment Im at really early stages but would appreciate any criticism on the current shape of the piece



Thanks in advance  

Dominic Sewell

I've moved up a sub d and have begun to sculpt out some main muscle groups around the base of the hand and the forearm

Im Having some real trouble particularly with the muscles in the forearm and am currectly just trying to mark out muscle seperation lines using Dam Standard 

My Reference 

A couple of screen grabs



Any help is really appreciated im struggling with the forearm

klown

Slow things down, keep to the big shapes and ALWAYS compare to reference. Your sculpt has gone too hard and too defined already. Smooth out what you have done, use a clay brush, turn the intensity right down and slowly build things up and compare to reference. Sculpting is about building things up in layers, and the patience to work it till you get it there.

Good luck

Dominic Sewell

@klown Hi Thanks for the help it really is appreciated.

I decided itd be better to start from the deltoid and work my way down the arm so i can get a better understanding of how the muscles work together. I masked out a general outline of the muscles and am using clay tubes just to build up a little material so they are prominent. Is this a good way of doing it? 



Again i cant thank enough 

Brian "Panda" Choi

Instead of masking, you could just use Slash3 at a low intensity to get the muscle insertions.

Dominic Sewell

Im aware that it still looks a little sloppy at this stage and its taking me forever in comparison to others but thats what learning is for right?

Anyway i think ive finally gotten a rough block out of the main muscle groups and have a better understanding of how they work together. I think im ready to subdivide and go in to more detail now

Dominic Sewell

Just a little update, I think I'm getting a better hang of building up my mesh from lower sub divisions and only dividing when needed.

I've about finished up on the arm muscles, i think they need smoothing in to each other a bit more and maybe ill look in to getting some more "texture" to them as they are very very smooth looking at the moment.

For now ive moved on to some more detailed forms (knuckles, tendons, veins)



As always any and all comments and crit is really appreciated

Brian "Panda" Choi

Good progress!

I think you're "separating" the muscle groups out a bit wrong.

Try using Slash3, drop the Intensity to something low, like 10, and increase the brush size to LARGE, and THEN try to "cut" out the biceps, etc.

Right now, your muscle are reading like armor playting and less like volumes inserting into each other.

Dominic Sewell

@Brian Panda" Choi"   Hi, yeah i noticed they didn't look quite right, is there a place i can download the slash 3 brush from? I only seem to have slash1, slash2 and slash3Line in my brushes folder?

Dominic Sewell

Apologies, i found it this morning i expected it to be in the slash folder in my brush library and it wasnt for some reason anyway ive done a quick "once over" around the arm and i think its giving a better reading already.

Really nice brush

Brian "Panda" Choi

The muscle insertions could stand for a little more softening.  If we're aiming for realism, it wouldn't be that sharp of a contrast.

Do you have a turnaround of the arm?  It's coming along nicely.

Dominic Sewell

Ill get around to softening the muscle insertions a little later today but here is a WIP turnaround

Brian "Panda" Choi

Flatten that area out.  It rarely bulges out like that.

Fix how your deltoids are inserting into the upper arm.

What other references are you using?  Can you post them here?

Dominic Sewell

Hi just a quick update, i smoothed out the brachialis a little more so its not so dominant and bulging (i tried to keep it showing very minimally)

I think I've made the deltoids flow a little better into the bicep now 

Honestly, ive been using just a lot of muscle charts very "scientifically" i guess. Just so i can really get to know how the muscles are laid out but ill add a couple references i have saved

Brian "Panda" Choi

Dominic Sewell

Okay I've split the shoulder up in to 3 muscles as I' m aware that there's a muscle that stretches from the shoulder across the shoulder blades also. I seem to have fixed the tendons attaching to the elbow in that "keyhole" shape.

What I'm struggling with a little is getting a realistic looking point to the elbow right now it seems to be too rounded and almost like a golf ball.

Anyhow small (and probably too frequent update shots)

Brian "Panda" Choi

What's been recommended to me before has been to switch matcaps on occasion to see if anything shows up, like weird contours, etc. given the different lighting set up of each mat cap.