Learn how to draw before sculpting in Zbrush

Tikavr4e · Feb 2012

Hey guys, i really have hard time sculpting anything in Zbrush, i use bamboo tablet, but i still have problems sculpting in Zbrush.
I have never ever, drew or anything else that comes to art.

I want to ask more experience people, should i learn how to drawing, human and creature or anything else, before i come to zBrush. Do you think that, i can transfer drawing from paper in 3D, so i can be able to sculpt character and creatures?

Please someone to give me some advice.

cholden · Feb 2012

It helps. Most traditional skills carry over. It's all about repetition.

Go to the sketchbook section and start a thread. Get on a daily drawing schedule to make yourself practice.

Rwolf · Feb 2012

should also grab a slab of super sculpty. I find zbrush relates to actual scuplting than drawing will.

Paradan · Feb 2012

you need to enroll in a Drawing I class or equivalent. the basic skills it teaches are actually perception skills and insight about how we think in symbolic terms. your not drawing what you see, your drawing symbol ( i.e. a stick figure).

nyx702 · Feb 2012

Paradan wrote: »

the basic skills it teaches are actually perception skills and insight about how we think in symbolic terms.

I agree with this. There are two sorta sides of it. The physical aspect of drawing and the theoretical.

Naugat · Feb 2012

I've just spent the last 10 years learning to draw after not being able to model well enough. I have not touched any sculpture and just stuck to drawing - I'll have a go at Zbrush for my first time next week - we'll see if drawing helped eh?

Any tips for a first time ZBrusher, long ago Maya modeller, I'm all ears :poly142:

Paradan · Feb 2012

Naugat wrote: »

I've just spent the last 10 years learning to draw after not being able to model well enough. I have not touched any sculpture and just stuck to drawing - I'll have a go at Zbrush for my first time next week - we'll see if drawing helped eh?

Any tips for a first time ZBrusher, long ago Maya modeller, I'm all ears :poly142:

spend time with sculptris first. easier interface, good practice.

Carl Brannstrom · Feb 2012

Naugat wrote: »

I've just spent the last 10 years learning to draw after not being able to model well enough. I have not touched any sculpture and just stuck to drawing - I'll have a go at Zbrush for my first time next week - we'll see if drawing helped eh?

Any tips for a first time ZBrusher, long ago Maya modeller, I'm all ears :poly142:

I recommend http://eat3d.com/zbrush35_intro and http://eat3d.com/zbrush35_character

Sputch · Feb 2012

It can only help. That being said, we hired a guy after checking out his awesome stylized 3d work and when he came in I was like, "So you must draw right?" and it turned out he doesn't at all. He just has an amazing sense of form, proportion and color seemingly from nothing. He hadn't even been doing it that long.
Needless to say, this is exceptionally rare, but I think you shouldn't refrain from trying Zbrush just because you don't draw. Do both. A lot. Study anatomy and apply that in 3d and 2d. You'll get different benefits from each that will cross over to other. Just do the work, get specific about your weakness and take 'em down. Spend as much time as you can manage and you'll see results guaranteed.
Getting into sculpy, as someone mentioned, is also a really, really good idea.

Tikavr4e · Feb 2012

Sputch wrote: »

It can only help. That being said, we hired a guy after checking out his awesome stylized 3d work and when he came in I was like, "So you must draw right?" and it turned out he doesn't at all. He just has an amazing sense of form, proportion and color seemingly from nothing. He hadn't even been doing it that long.
Needless to say, this is exceptionally rare, but I think you shouldn't refrain from trying Zbrush just because you don't draw. Do both. A lot. Study anatomy and apply that in 3d and 2d. You'll get different benefits from each that will cross over to other. Just do the work, get specific about your weakness and take 'em down. Spend as much time as you can manage and you'll see results guaranteed.
Getting into sculpy, as someone mentioned, is also a really, really good idea.

Could you give me a link for that guy? I mean link form his portfolio.

Sputch · Feb 2012

Unfortunately, he doesn't bother to keep one online. He's just that good I guess, haha.

Neolight · Feb 2012

I'm with sputch.

Get a sketchbook and draw stuff from observation and your imagination every day, BUT

There is no logical reason to take a hiatus from learning zbrush just because you don't have foundational drawing skills. Work on all of these fronts if you have the time, and take on the personal projects that motivate you.

Too often I see kids falling into the trap of clinging to exhaustive studies. Your art pursuits should continue to stem from a participation with life and your interests rather than a fear of invalidation and failure.

Learn how to draw before sculpting in Zbrush

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