ZBrushCentral

[CRITIQUE] Template Body - anatomy and gesture

Hi there,

I am a hobby sculptor but lately I decided to improve my workflow by seriously learning to construct proportional and anatomical correct human bodies fast and with as few references as possible.

I hope somebody is interested to comment on my work and point out some mistakes I made. I kind of want to establish this model as future reference for quality before I tackle the hands and feet and sculpt for mileage :wink:
The torso has been sculpted from memory and the arms and legs with some anatomical reference. The head is for completeness.

Thanks for any critique in advance!

Attachments

female_body_templatesculptsmall.jpg

female_body_templatesculpt2small.jpg

Hi! Overall looks nice. Making entire body from memory is very tricky. I know it on my own.

The torso looks slightly stylized so it is hard to give critique since it is not always obvious whether it was done intentionally or by mistake. But here are some points to look at.

  • Wrists and ankles appear on a thin side, plus the lower legs are slightly elongated. That is the main reason why she look stylized.
  • The area of cubital fossa (in font of elbow joint) needs more polishing. Biceps Brachii appears too long.
  • Her scapulas are too close to each other, even considering her shoulders are drawn slightly backwards.
  • The back wall of armpit formed by Teres major and Latissimus dorsi is too low.
  • Teres major dives to the armpit to attach onto the inner side of the humerus. In your sculpt it goes to outer side.
  • Suggest some spinal erectors. Mainly medial portions to each side of the spinal furrow (which is very faint right now), plus optional lateral portions.
  • Add sacral triangle or as it often happens in females - the Rhombus of Michaelis. It is a matter of taste but think about adding dimples above the bum - they are uber sexy.
  • If it is not a dynamesh object, then deepen the cleft between butt-cheeks and brush with inflate brush to make it tighter. Helps a lot in achieving realistic bum.
  • Females often have high waist due to the fat deposites. IMHO right now her waist is too low and ribcage dominates over the pelvis.
  • Slightly more taper of the bottom thigh. Remember that Vastus medialis distal end is low, lateralis - high.
  • Very gently defined calf muscles help a lot to make female legs natural. Just donā€™t go overboard.

I hope that was helpful. Good luck!

OH WOW! This is really professional advice. Thank you a lot!

So I spend the afternoon going through the most points in your critique and reworked those parts. Really nice! You made me aware of so many things that would have taken forever to pinpoint on my own.

And yes please, if you have any remarks for the torso tell me. I am planning to go for a stylized look in I hope not too distant of a future, however now while learning I want to reside in the realm of the possible and realistic.

For the arms- Do you say I should shorten the upper arm or remove volume from the biceps and brachialis to make them connect to the bone sooner?

I am glad it was useful.
Speaking about the arm. The bottom front part of it is formed by Biceps and Brachialis muscles (the fibers of the last one extends further down). They usually blend together in this area and create soft transition to the forearm. This area is called Cubital fossa. Unless under big tension or in very muscular individuals this region is very soft. You have very distinct ridge and along with narrow arm it creates illusion of very long skinny biceps. Here iis my own example - see how smooth it is. Or look at your own in the mirror (if you are not a huge muscular person). Just soften it with smooth brush.

I also suggest to add a bit more volume to the Triceps. The extensor group of arm is wider than flexor so even in front view you can still see the heads of the Triceps. Even in girls. Many females have pronounced posterior deltoid fat pad which also rounds forms, but in case of thin person like this you might skip it.

IMHO the curves of vertebral column are a bit exaggerated, but thatā€™s probably your artistic choice. I personally also like to bend it more. She is eight heads tall which is also slightly idealized. But if she is supposed to be a tall person then it is fine and close to reality.

The last two advices are totally a matter of taste.

  • For sexier and feminine bum make fat deposits below great trochanters more pronounced. Look at the last image in my Sketchbook - it is slightly stylized but illustrates the idea.
  • Usually girlā€™s abdomens are rarely that flat. They have small fat deposits right below the navel that bulges slightly, affecting silhouette in side view. This fat pads are one of the most difficult to lose in bodybuilding so many well fit girls still have them.

Your knowledge of human anatomy is amazingā€¦ which makes totally sense when looking at the models in your sketchbook. They are very precise!
You have my highest regards!

I think I wait until tomorrow to share what I worked on today. Need a pair of fresh eyes because I usually tend to overdo what I am focusing on and I am not quite happy with the height of the shoulder blades and the way the teres major connects. Also I want to improve on the things you told me right now.

Hope to get some more critique from you despite my shameless flattery :stuck_out_tongue: It is always nice when the good come to you, hehe

Thank you. Unfortunately my sculpting skills are much lower than anatomy knowledge. So my models are relatively mediocre.
If you wanna see truly inspirational sculpts of girls you might check Eugene Fokinā€™s girls or Cezarā€™s stuff.

I remember from Vilppu that distances like Clavicle, Sternum, Medial border and spine of the Scapula and hand are all relatively the same length and equal to 0.75 head length. Never worked exactly for me but it is a good start when blocking landmarks. From that you can deviate and change proportions to look more natural.
I usually place the inferior border of Scapula at the level of nipples or just below (the nipples in female can fluctuate a lot). Remember that curved superior border of Latissimus dorsi in back closely corresponds to also curved inferior border of Pectoralis major in front. Considering that Lats just slightly overlap the bottom tip of scapula it becomes much easier establishing the length of the shoulder blades.

You are welcome. I will be glad to help if I can.

Haha donĀ“t be so humble!
Yesterday, when looking through your sketchbook to find the picture you mentioned to me, the model of the woman laying on her back and being lit from the side really catched my eye.
I am fascinated by how you can reproduce the human shape to look so realistically. Though I have to say Eugene FokinĀ“s work is really amazing as well! His artistic quality is certainly a good goal to strive for.

So I was finally able to attend all the spots you pointed out for me. Still not happy with everything but I guess thereĀ“s no end to this :wink: Here is a list of what I did:

  • increased and reshaped triceps volume
  • redirected the brachialis more towards biceps; not sure if it did the trick though
  • also increased volume to bring extensors and flexors closer to the biceps
  • smoothed cubital fossa
  • added fat deposits under the navel
  • added fat deposit above iliac crest (though happened to remove some volume again, was to much for my taste)
  • reshaped fists and ankles to make them appear wider
  • reworked the whole shoulder area
  • added erector spinae at the back
  • shaped sacral triangle and tried adding those DIMPLES^^ but manā€¦ so hard to do! They seem to differ a lot but I agree, very pleasing to look at! Looks kind of funky when looking directly at the back right now.
  • reshaped the legs mainly by removing some volume and redefining the shapes. In the end I happened to move the leg back and forward over and over again so I decided to let it rest for now and show it the way it is.
  • tapered the bottom thigh but looking at it now I realize that this has gone lost in all the reshapingā€¦

However I can already see the improvement especially in arms and upper back. Thank you again!!
Looking forward to your critique!


Not humble really. My main problem is that I cannot break through mediocrity, always staying at the same level. Considering I sculpt for about five years, the absence of any growth is a disaster for an artist. Even more, the last year I wasnā€™t being able to sculpt constantly so now Iā€™m trying to gain my previous skills back. Meh, thatā€™s an offtopic so letā€™s go back to the correct one.

Yes, she is getting definitely better. You are on this stage right now when everything is more or less established, major mistakes are corrected but all requires a lot of polishing, smoothing and tweaking. All this minor corrections seems like have no influence at all but when combined together they dramatically improve the quality of your model. I usually prefer to store morph target so after all this tweaks I can switch back and compare with previous stage and make sure Iā€™m on the right track. It is indeed a good practice since your eyes might be so deceiving.

Couple suggestions in addition.

  • Adding bump for seventh cervical vertebra will add more interest to the back of the neck.
  • Teres major might have more volume. Now it is very faint. This muscle is really strong and prominent even in females.
  • Latissimus dorsi tapers too fast inferiorly. So it looks attached to PSIS (those dimples). In reality it connects to the highest points of the Iliac crest
  • You did the common mistake joining thigh line with inguinal line.Cannot remember how many times Iā€™ve seen this problem on ZBC. Read my comment here to understand the problem. Keep in mind that Inguinal line predominates in males. Girls donā€™t have it unless very muscular.
  • Think about adding Mons pubis - this fat pad above the genitals. But before adding, polish more the pad under the navel - it should be very smooth.

You are right - the hardest thing is to sculpt all this subtle details. I find myself redoing them many times until they look good enough. This dimples look very easy to sculpt, but if the surrounding area is not good enough they will not look right. Same with very thin muscles like rectus abdominis or external oblique - so hard to sculpt this interaction of fibers, tendons, bones and cartilages. Keep trying until you feel satisfied. Same story with Lats - they are very thin, showing underlying musculature. I think you can define the spinal erectors even more and deepen the spinal furrow below. To add more complexity, remember that in a back view very often you can see the volume of Serratus anterior under the Latissimus, emerging from the Scapula. And oh, BTW I donā€™t see any evidence of digitations of Serratus anterior in side of the torso. This is very important muscle, donā€™t neglect it.

Good luck!
PS The girl laying on her back that you saw in my thread is the same girl at the end of Sketchbook. I just enlarged her breasts later to fit my tastes.

It is hard for me to judge that since you probably see more things in 3D art than I can at the moment. I think your art is certainly high level!
I read in your sketchbook that you do sculpting in your free time so in my opinion 5 years isnĀ“t actually a long time. I think my first 3D application launch was around 2 to 3 years now. And I made only little to no progress simply by sculpting for 2 weeks on one model and than doing nothing for a couple of days. Which kind of lets me understand the problem you must have with that injury. A couple of weeks can make you loose so muchā€¦
What I do now is to sculpt the same thing over and over again. I donĀ“t even know how many projects I made with 30 to 40 bust sculpts^^ When I feel like making a better model than before, I would invest more time refining the sculpt. After that I would assess my next sculpts to this model (and of course other reference). I still have long breaks in between those sessions but I am able to hold my quality better and therefor faster build on that.
I am not sure if this can help you in any way because you knowā€¦ the gap between us is pretty large:D

So yeah back to topic:

that idea with morph target works really well. I usually use my history log to review changes but morph target gives you instant change. nice!

  • dang just saw I forgot the serratus musclesā€¦

  • I attended the back again trying to enforce the teres major.

  • polished the space under the navel

  • added mons pubis

  • while redoing those dimples^^ I decided to change the fat tissue above pelvis to closer match a reference I like

Which brings me to my problem - I am not even sure if what I am seeing is fat tissue. The area between iliac crest and the rip cage is still a problem zone and the reference I have doesnĀ“t help me much. Is there a good anatomy book or other reference that you can recommend to me?


Iā€™m sculpting a bit more than 5 years plus I had a regular modeling background before jumping to Zbrush. So quite many years I think. Actually, there was a period when I was sculpting constantly almost every day and more than 12 hours per day without rest and dinner. And yeah, thatā€™s when I destroyed my health so even after more than one year I still cannot recover. I just hope that would be a warning to everyone who neglects the importance of resting and proper schedule.
For me it is hard to sculpt the same thing over and over again. I quickly lose interest when I know that model eventually will be gathering dust on my hard drive and will never be used somewhere. But I have a bunch of models like this. Mainly because Iā€™m getting tired from the main project, then sculpt something different to relax and then come back to main one. As a result lots of unfinished sculpts. Though still Iā€™m planning to finish them all one day.

Morph target is also good when you realized that part of your model is getting better while another part is screwed - so easy to selectively brush it back without resculpting.

Yeah, the model is getting better. Especially from the front view.

  • Teres major and inferior point of scapula could be lifted slightly. The muscle closely adheres to the armpit. Here is a good example from Anatomy Tools
  • The pelvis is always tricky. First of all make sure all landmarks are proportioned well. Right now it appears like dimples (PSIS) are at the same level as navel. They should be lower. I often use this construction method:
  • Making sure that distance from navel to crotch is one head length (navel can fluctuate and be lower)
  • Divide this distance to thirds. The upper third mark is where the hip points (ASIS) are placed (females have shorter pelvis so Iliac spines can be lower towards the middle)
  • Turn back and place the dimples slightly above ASIS, but still below the nipple line.
    This means your bum is a bit too high (overall girls have slightly elongated bodies compare to males mainly because their bumā€™s shifted downwards a bit)
  • Your girl is quite skinny which means her Iliac spines might project more prominently (sure depends on your taste). A while ago I did small reference sheet for female abdomens. You can see it here. This might be useful to you.
  • To add more interest to the back of the knee add this distinct U shape for hammstrings ligaments and popliteal fold. This might sound confusing so here is an image of my character in process where it is quite distinct

I recommend several books for anatomy. Eliot Goldfinger - Anatomy for Artists (all superficial muscles are listed and described in smaller details + great diagrams). Stephen Rogers Peck - Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist (gorgeous drawings, nice schematics but slightly simplified descriptions of muscles). Andrew Loomis for heads (they are old fashioned but still very beautiful). Gary Faigin for facial expressions. Oh, there are so many of them, but this are essential.
And to understand better the lower back region here is a diagram from Goldfinger about fat pads.

Good luck!

Oh yeah physical fitness is very important. Especially when spending most of the day in front of a computer. I realized when I donĀ“t do sports on regular bases I would get tired and flabby during the day pretty fast.
I feel the same with unused models. That is also why I decided I would first consolidate my modeling skills and learn rigging and texturing before I start more dedicated projects. It is kind of a shame because I donĀ“t have much to show to people right now but I feel in the long run IĀ“ll greatly benefit from what IĀ“m doing now.

Thank you for the reference recommendations! I will probably buy one or two books in my upcoming free time depending on how much my budget allows:) Maybe I am lucky and my university also carries some of these books.

Also thanks a lot for your critique again! Man you really gave me a big push so far! Some people pay for this level of advice! When sculpting yesterday I already felt that her lower back was placed to high but now I can be sure.
Unfortunately I donĀ“t think I can finish everything today since I came home late and I wouldnĀ“t want to rush things.

This time felt very tediousā€¦ I am really struggling now.

  • I reworked the whole shoulder part but it still looks like a construction zoneā€¦

  • Revisited knee area; added u shape

  • shortened her lower back

  • added serratus muscles

  • refined the front however she looks either to ripped or smoothed out. canĀ“t seem to find the right balance

  • I slightly changed the volume and shape of her rib cage. To me it felt like the front plane had too much volume and was missing certain plane breaks. I marked the spots I am concerned about in green. Maybe you can give me a hint on how the rib cage should flow there. The left torso is the new one in case youĀ“re wondering;)
    And as always, thank you for the outstanding help!



The front view looks more natural and interesting now. The bum is better too. Speaking about the volumes of the ribcage - I also often have problems getting it right. This requires constant rotation around the model and checking it from all angles. So it is hard to tell from one shot. But for me it looks OK.

The medial borders of shoulder blades appears curved, while in real life they are quite straight. If it was intended as a bulging mass of Rhomboids then it should be more clear and refined. Yeah, I think that because her shoulders are slightly drawn back you might accentuate Rhomboids more with tighter cleft in between (along the spinal column). I know it is very tricky to do. IMHO it is much harder to sculpt a skinny person where bony landmarks appear mostly as ridges but sometimes gradually becoming recessed compare to sculpting muscular individuals where pretty much all bones lie deep surrounded with bulging muscles. This transition where hard edge of protruding bone becomes in level with muscle fibers and then dives below is what causes the most of troubles. So gather all your patience and polish it again and again until you find a good balance. Same with costal arch. I often define the cartilages of ribs very prominently and then sculpt Rectus abdominis and External oblique with brush strokes oriented in the same direction as muscle fibers. If I find that smooth brush even with low intensity tends to destroy my forms I change it to Smooth directional - totally different feel and often helps a lot.

You changed her lower back but looks like you didnā€™t correct the Lats accordingly. They now taper too quickly again (towards the centerline instead of high points of iliac crest). Also the heel tendon is wonky right now.

Maybe take a break. Just rest from it and after couple of days you will look at her with fresh eyes. Or switch for something different. Maybe sculpt a hair - that is very important element of female beauty.
Good luck and you are welcome!

I think you are right! Maybe I should take a break now. Only problem is that I have semester tests right around the corner so I wonĀ“t be able to sculpt till next monthā€¦

I had a look at another reference model and tried one last time redoing the back. I think I at least corrected some mistakes with the lats. ItĀ“s exactly the point that I often wonder what should be bone and what muscle. My main sculpting reference is Scott SpencerĀ“s book Sculpting Anatomy, which is really neat for beginners but the model is super packed with muscles. I also have a small female statue with skin and muscles showing but it is hard for me to derive what is bone and what flesh as well.
Also I had some remarks at polycount that her torso and neck seem quite long. With the neck I can agree but with the torso I canĀ“t find any evidence looking at may 8 head grid.
I lengthend her arms a tad to get the wrists closer to the midline.

Overall I am really happy with the result! Looking at my first post, she has really has gone a long way in only a week and that is solely to your awesome critique! Maybe I can find some time to start getting involved with the hands but my realistic guess would be that I have to wait for 2 weeksā€¦

Always wanted to try uploading a model with sketchfab so I think now is a good time^^ Maybe it can give a better overview of what I have been doing.

<iframe src=ā€œhttps://sketchfab.com/models/1afa3fa46b6843a79b724e9835bf9bf2/embedā€ allowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen=ā€œtrueā€ webkitallowfullscreen=ā€œtrueā€ onmousewheel="" frameborder=ā€œ0ā€ height=ā€œ800ā€ width=ā€œ600ā€></iframe>

[Female base Mesh (work in progress)](https://sketchfab.com/models/1afa3fa46b6843a79b724e9835bf9bf2?utm_medium=embed&utm_source=website&utm_campain=share-popup) by [zaxel](https://sketchfab.com/zaxel?utm_medium=embed&utm_source=website&utm_campain=share-popup) on [Sketchfab](https://sketchfab.com?utm_medium=embed&utm_source=website&utm_campain=share-popup)

When I do critique I always trying to keep my personal preferences and give suggestions based purely from anatomical standpoint (of course considering possible exaggerations and stylization). So yes, for me the neck was a little bit long but still in range of normal. Along with expressive position of arms and facial expression I considered it was your artistic choice to sculpt that way. Differently colored head might also be a reason why it appears longer. From my experience (I also prefer sculpt heads and bodies separately) I can say for sure that even with same color not yet attached head might look really odd due to the absence of smooth gradients between head and neck). The length of torso is perfectly fine for me (I even did some measurements: 2-3 cm longer - that is not crucial).
So yeah, be careful when listening to peopleā€™s critique. Cause you might find situations where people will simply try to fit your model to their own standards of beauty. I encountered this many times and hear a lot of crap like: ā€œLift her boobs, make them rounder, less perky, make bum smaller and blah blahā€.
I wish you good luck. I will disappear for some period of time. So I will see you later.
PS Sorry for mistakes - long time no sleep.

And thatĀ“s exactly what makes your critique so valuable in my opinion! IĀ“ve already seen in your portfolio that you have certain beauty preferences so I knew I could trust your advice without worrying much:D

I am new to 3D forums in general so with the head, hands and feet I thought it would be a good idea to present everything to give a better feel for the whole body. And with the pose I guess it is something personal. I just canĀ“t work with a stiff figureā€¦ it makes me really demotivated looking at an uncomfortable pose.

As for critique in general I hope I am not too influenceable when it comes to that. For me, sculpting the body develops to be a set of rules that can be varied to a certain extend to stay in the realm of the possible. And in this certain area I modify the shapes to my taste. ThatĀ“s also why I still havenĀ“t put much fat tissue on the hips. I havenĀ“t been able to increase the volume while keeping it visually pleasing to me.
Since I like the torsoĀ“s proportion the way it is and since I couldnĀ“t find anything impossible about it, I see no reason to change it. With the neck however, I found that it looked possible but a little long when looking from the side but fine from the front. In the end I figured that lowering the forward tilt while keeping the heads height the same would solve that issue for me. The pose has a strong S shape so it would make sense that the neck is quite straight. With the arms I checked with my anatomy figure and concluded that lengthening them would be closer to its proportions. They still are a little bit shorter though because more length looks strange to me.

But enough talking from me :slight_smile:

I salute once again for all the advice youĀ“ve given to me and all the time that it did cost you.
With your help I was able to exceed my expectations I had for this model. This has certainly become a good quality reference for further sculpting.

Cheers! And hopefully see you around sooner than later!

So for the past days I was studying the hands and feet trying to wrap my head around the basic forms and the skeleton.
Not easy stuff! I find the hands to be quite expressive and therefore a stiff and flat shaped hand feels unnatural on the figure.

I sculpt the hand spreaded before I change the composure, which brings me to my problem. I canĀ“t seem to understand the thumb area at all. Either way I model the thumbĀ“s length to feel ā€œrightā€ but then it wouldnt reach far enough when rotating next to the index finger. Or modeling it to reach to the index finger but then looking akward when the hand is spreaded.
Maybe some hand expert can help me on that :slight_smile:

female_body_milestonesculpt_handsh.jpg

For the foot I decided I only need the correct shape and planes (because I am lazy xD and) since in most cases they will be covered by shoes.

female_body_milestonesculpt_foot.jpg

The entire figure:
-> I have been spending some time figuring out how to solve the upper body feeling elongated, as mentioned to me over at polycount, without breaking the proportional guidelines I know. In the end I found that for most 8 head models the waistline lies above the third head line so I increased the hip fat deposits to move the waist up. I hope this solves my problem.

-> For the crotch area as well I didnĀ“t want to neglet what I learned from Vir Norin and after looking at some more references I found that the mons pubis greatly differs from person to person. To improve the crotch area I decided to go for this shape.

Other than that I worked on the legs, reducing the size of the calfs as advised as well.
After spending like forever on the knee and the popliteal space I am still not happy with those partsā€¦ they look artificial :confused:

Comments and feedback are greatly appreciated!!!

female_body_milestonesculpt.jpg
female_body_milestonesculpt_angles.jpg

Ahā€¦ hands and feet. They are always challenging. Especially hand and this freaking thumb. I did a good amount of them but to be honest, each time I make thumbs I sculpt it like ā€œI have no idea what the hell I am doingā€. There are some proportional guides for proper hands (which I always forget), but for the most part it is just a constant polishing till it looks natural. Personally I can describe two main reasons why the thumb look wrong:

  • Wobbly shape and bad proportions. Always check the circumference from all angles. Bend your phalanges to make them more obvious and measure their length. Also the thumb is a special finger and its metacarpal plays very important role. Make sure you know its length as well and understand where it connects to the carpus. The silhouette of the thumb have small nuances (bumps for joints) which beginner artists can miss. Though you captured them very well.
  • Wrong orientation. If the shape and proportions are good but it still looks odd then probably its axial rotation is off. The more flexion in carpo-metacarpal joint - the more it rotates directing nail outside.

In your first pic with flexed fingers you have a nice gesture. But overall it looks too elongated with fingers on a thin side. And the head of the fifth metacarpal looks too prominent and low. Also you can make the first interphalangeal joint more interesting. It is hard to judge from this angles but the dorsal side of joint appears as a straight line across entire finger width. Usually the flexed joint is raised bump fused into cylindrical finger (or rather square with rounded corners). Sorry, it is hard to explain. Maybe I should search a photo.
Also, if it is not a dynamesh model then you can place fingers closer to each other (in area where they grow from hand). In this position they shouldnā€™t be spread apart.

In your second image with straight fingers the main problem is in forearm. It widens too fast. Remember that muscle mass is concentrated in upper half of the forearm. The sides of the lower half is almost parallel.

The foot looks fine for me. Just needs some polishing and small details. The heel looks a bit bold for female. I know you are lazy to finish it but in case you decide to work on it more, pay more attention to landmarks like Head of the fifth metatarsal, bump of the navicular bone and egg shaped volume of the Extensor Digitorum brevis muscle.

PS It is almost a midnight. Really tired to judge about the torso. Will look at it later when I have more free time.

Good luck!

Dang, I actually wanted to post the things I worked on this evening. But the day turned out to be busier than expectedā€¦
But thank you so much for looking into my stuff this late! I really appreciate it!

I have a question regarding your workflow with hands. I realized that a proper topology really helps to pose the hand afterwards and judge the finger planes. ZBrush becomes somewhat orthographic when zooming in so it becomes hard to judge the true forms. Just now I have found a switch that turns this off, so maybe this solves that issue anyway. However I donĀ“t want to model the shape for every individual finger. So I thought up some weird idea that is way too long to explain in some proper sentences. Just found out while trying^^ HavenĀ“t tested it anyway.

IĀ“d like to know how you approach hands. Do you use a proper base that you pose or do you just sculpt the form along the way?

Sorry for any weird sentences I am super tired!

The forkflow for hands really depends on situation.
Previously I was sculpting all my models from basemeshes (just a primitive box man). It had very basic geometry so each finger had only four verts in circumference. And when I was subdividing my model I kept smooth off so it maintained planar quality of my model. Fingers in their nature are quite squarish so itā€™s an effective way to quickly achieve their basic form and then round them after adding couple of subdivisions. At least when I was beginner for me it was much harder to make desired shape with lots of polygons.

Later I started using Dynamesh more extensively. The main disadvantage is the unorganized topology. With low resolution it is often hard to judge about the shape of the fingers, but when increasing it becomes harder to manipulate geometry and major tweaks require constant smoothing. From the other side it allows some quick cheating. Like sculpting one finger and duplicating it three times. Thatā€™s a real time saver. You can do the similar trick with regular meshes and subdivision levels. Just instead of replacing fingers you reproject details from finished finger to unfinished ones.

Right now I use this workflow. I start my hand as Dynamesh separately from body. Make a basic shape and establish proportions. Refining one finger and then replacing others with its duplicates. Quickly Zremeshing the hand to get organized topology. Then polishing each finger separately adding individuality to them so they donā€™t look copy-pasted. Then I merge the hand with body of my character. If it is a simple practice or one-render character (meaning it was sculpted straight in pose and will not appear in other projects) I will leave the Zremesher topology. If this character is in rest position and would be rigged, posed for many other renders then I will do manual retopology of entire model (Zremesher is still not smart enough).
The pose of hand depends on character. Personally Iā€™m trying to match the handā€™s type and pose according to characterā€™s temper. For example my character Flora is very shy, delicate and nerdy girl. Hence her hands are tiny, childlike, a bit plump and posed so all fingers are slightly flexed together, creating some sort of a cup (I see this pose in many kids). In opposite, Nastya is very strong, full of energy and sometimes can be very aggressive so her hands posed accordingly - fingers spread, three last of them are flexed, the index and thumb are extended, prominent joints and very strong tendons due to pose. Or a typical Zombie - clenched or grasping fingers, revealing their animalistic nature. I am writing this to show that hands depend on their character and when the temper is not established then I donā€™t pose my fingers. Either way, all the posing happens when the hand is already attached to forearm and has good organized topology. Because masking each finger manually for transposing is not fun at all.

I hope that answers your question :slight_smile: