Kayla (WIP)

[NightShocker]

Hi...
This is my first post ...
I'm a newbie , I've been wandering ZBrush Central for a long time, just watching and looking around since I don't have a courage to post .
I'm amazed how u guys create a masterpiece ...
How did u do that???

So I encourage myself to post what I'm doing with ZBrush. I'm trying to sculpt based on a sketch I did a long time ago, it's a female character.



And later during the process, I think there will be a lot of changes. And I understand during the sculpt process, there will be a lot anatomical issues, 'cause I'm still learning by myself . I watch Ryan Kingslien's blog, NickZ's etc, and a lot sketchbook thread here, all of them are so inpiring .

Reason I'm doing this: I'm looking for a job so I think I need strong portfolio to begin with .
Well, around 4 months ago, I was interviewed by Ubisoft Singapore and I didn't accepted , so I'm thinking that I'm still lack of skills and/or experiences . Anyway, congrats for those who's accepted .

So I start with my own basic mesh (with UV) I did in Maya 7.

Perhaps, u can download and see what I've missed.

I'm happy to hear any comments and critiques

And I'm sorry for my English , hope u understand what I mean .

[Eiad]

Welcome,

I'm waiting to see you in action

[aradel]

Good start, yes we uderstand you, i'm not an american but i can read all you posts. So, i'm awiting you progress!

[NightShocker]

Thanks Eiad, aradel

Here's my basic mesh in ZBrush

[aradel]

so here my opinion

[NightShocker]

Another sketch, I think the weapon is changed into something like shotgun.



Found nice reference shotgun here.



And I'm thinking to change the chains on the left hand with something like bandages, how 'bout it??? Later I'll try to draw a rough sketch...

[jamespthornton]

Always remember that you don't have to keep your mesh perfect from beginning to end. In ZBrush, a lot of times topology gets distorted from the freedom of sculpting. Retopology is how you sculpt freely, then fix the mesh. After retopologizing, you can then continue to sculpt in evenly distributed details. It's how you prepare a sculpt for animation as well.

Of course, I just use ZB and Photoshop and therefore only use zspheres, so take my advice with a grain of salt. I would go ahead and sculpt on it and not worry about maintaining a perfect mesh. Those little things don't matter much with a billion polygons and can be fixed on the fly. For example, the elbows are fine. The hands being too small is a simple masking and scaling 30 second fix. Speed is the beauty of ZBrush, roll with it!

By the way, cool sketch! Sculpt until you capture that same dynamic look.

[NightShocker]

Hi, thanks aradel, thanks jamespthornton ...

I think it's no problem for the chest area, since I want to create a generic basic mesh for human figure. And the arms, like jamespthornton said, I'll fix that in the sculpt process...
But for the head part, I agree with u. I've sculpted the head and I found it difficult to sculpt the eyes area, expecially the eyelids . If I retopologize later in the end, will it help to make the eyes area better???





Well, it's different than the sketches, since I didn't skecth in very detail, I like to improvise . I didn't use any references for the head part, but hopefully it still look like a human head, especially female head.

>jamespthornton
Yes, I'm planning to setup the model for animation, I agree with u, I want to sculpt freely, I'll fix the mesh later. But I dunno, need to learn the rigging process . But I'll try do my best .

[chwaga]

I absolutely HATE IT when I can't finish a model because I did something really stupid earlier on. For advice, get your topology down perfectly before subdividing even once. I learned that the hard way.

[jamespthornton]

Definitely study retopology using valid resources such as the wiki, books, and dvds. It's a necessity to learn the tools not only for retopology but for creating subtools as well. You can create clothes and accessories that fit the model loosely, such as a long coat. You can't do that with mesh extraction.

You can retopologize the head right now and balance the mesh out so that sculpting the eyes is easier. I'm not familiar with the workflow, but I know you can retopologize individual parts of a mesh without doing the whole thing. Then when your done sculpting, you can do the entire model with proper edge loops to prepare it for animation.

To answer your question, if you retopologize in the end, it will make the eyelids a little smoother, but you will still need to go in and touch them up. What you will find is that the detail in your brush strokes will then be distributed evenly and you'll enjoy touching everything up a little anyways.

[jamespthornton]

I absolutely HATE IT when I can't finish a model because I did something really stupid earlier on. For advice, get your topology down perfectly before subdividing even once. I learned that the hard way.

Retopology will make it so you can finish a model that has imperfect topology and mistakes. You don't have to trash any of your work. It even fixes things like holes in the mesh and overlapping or intersecting geometry.

[chwaga]

but retopo hates me

Reprojecting never works for me, it just doesnt.

[NightShocker]

Thanks aradel, chwaga, jamespthornton

>jamespthornton
I think I'll retopologize in the end . Don't worry I'll touch up also in the end. I begin to love sculpting in ZBrush . For the first time I don't think about those vertex, edges, extruding etc just sculpt and sculpt , it's really fun, thanks to pixologic .

Is there any helpful tutorial to sculpt something like underwear, clothes and jeans? I still lack of resources and tutorials . The katana and shotgun I'll do in Maya, I dunno if I can do a hard surface modeling in ZBrush, or is there any tutorial that'll help?

>chwaga
I never tried either. Hopefully it works...

Btw, this is the torso so far, I'm doing the arms and legs right now, will post soon. Let me know if there is anatomical issues , I'd be happy to hear .
Unlike u guys, I didn't take art school. Just read references from internet and books. Hopefully it still look like a female torso .

[NightShocker]

Arms

[jamespthornton]

Your anatomy is close. I would use some female anatomy references while finishing. It will help you catch the mistakes.

Having fun sculpting is what ZBrush is all about! Be sure to focus on forms and just let the details fall into place in the end.

Dude, you're on ZBC. You certainly don't lack resources. For clothes that follow the flow of the character closely, whether they're snug like underwear, or loose like slightly baggy pants use mesh extraction. For those that don't follow the flow of the body, such as a trench coat, use topology.

I present to you the online table of contents:
http://www.zbrush.info/docs/index.php/TOC

...and the zclassroom portal:
http://www.pixologic.com/zclassroom/

Other than that, search the forums for tuts and vids. ZBC member Cannedmushrooms has made a ton of free tutorials on houseoftutorials.net found at the link below. It's the holy grail of free video tutorials, plus he's one hell of a teacher. Log in as a guest and you can search by topic:
http://www.houseoftutorials.net/login/index.php

Good luck and study up!