I just took a look at the hard surface stuff, it focuses on character related work, our character guy already knows how to use zbrush. I'm looking for something more worlds related as a project they can do once they get through the 3.5/4 intro training. The onlything I saw on there was the fountain, I don't really want to…
got a hankering for silly old fashioned photoshoppin'. it was actually pretty relaxing to do, just the ol' fashioned texture overlays. click for full size.
Work with less topology to "block" it out, which avoids the messy and lumpy look. Afterwards, you can then subdivide it and relax the vertices for more even/denser distribution.