Introduction

“Punk” is a character inspired from one of the models of 3d.sk. The intention was to make a character aesthetically pleasing, stands out from the rest and has a unique design. After some research I found out that, there were not many models of punk type characters, so I decided to go in that direction. In this article, I will try to explain the process I followed to create the character. I collected as many punk references as possible from the internet, and started out the modeling process. My base mesh was Nick Zuccarello’s free ztool model available in his blogspot http://nickzucc.blogspot.com/. This base mesh is constructed of all quads, and is relatively dense. So, it serves as a good starting point. My work speed is fairly faster in zbrush compared to max. So, I prefer making most of the organic modeling in Zbrush.

Sculpting

One of the most interesting parts of character modelling is sculpting. To flesh out a character I use the clay brush or the claytubes brush most of the time. Somehow, I cannot get around using the standard brush, it seems to be destructive in a certain way, and if used with too much depth, it tends to take away the control from the artist. Claytubes brush, on the other hand has an additive way of adding detail. It adds flat details to a surface, so it works like traditional media. During sculpting, the most important thing to do in my opinion is to keep turning the model and viewing it from all directions. This is most important during the fleshing out process because; here is where the silhouette and proportions of the character is resolved. Once I was happy with the detail in the character, and it’s overall proportions, I went on to model the character’s attire.

Clothing

I created a mask for the vest, and used the extract option under the subtool palette, to create a new subtool. I retopologized the extracted subtool, to get a desired polyflow, deleted higher subd levels, and started to sculpt it into a vest. I use the lazy mouse, along with the gravity feature under the brush settings to make a fold flow with gravity.

Hey guys!
I did this image for the GNOMON Gallery Show: COGNOSCO. Feel free to find out more information about the gallery here:http://www.gnomongallery.com/current_show.php

So I used my old “Angel” model and just re-rendered it. Here is the final image:

I’ve also created a showcase tutorial article about how to create cool renders using ZBrush and Photoshop.
Let’s get started.

Preparing model and document.
Create new document with size twice as bigger as image you want in result. I do that every time I render any model in ZBrush because in the end I shrink the image at half size to get rid of “jagged” lines. I also press AAHalf button to see a preview for smooth-rendered antialiased image.

Set up your model on the canvas as you want to see it rendered. You will need masks for easier selections at further comp stage. So just go through all subtools one by one and export image with Flat render turned on.

As result you get bunch of images with masking for each separate subtools.

This is a multi-part tutorial on creating a Demon-like ‘Lok Warrior’ with realistic muscle anatomy. In the first day of this tutorial we created a base mesh for our character using poly modeling. Today we will take this mesh into ZBrush and sculpt intricate muscle anatomy. On day three we will texture the creature and add the finishing touches to the artwork.

Let’s begin day 2 of this tutorial.

Step 40

Open ZBrush and click on ‘Import an OBJ file’. Select our exported object (this way you don’t need to drag the object into the ZBrush workspace) and select ‘Edit mode’.

Step 41

Now subdivide the model by clicking Cntrl + D to create more polygons. Press X to select a symmetrical brush and start sculpting the torso while holding down the Alt key on your keyboard. The red lines below are where you have to sculpt while holding down the Alt key. The blue areas are where you have to sculpt without holding the Alt key down. Please pay attention to the brush size and Z intensity too.

Step 42

Use this image as a guide when preparing the back.

Step 43

We will finish the front part of the torso first. Press Ctrl + D again and now we are on subdivision level 3. Try to form the chest and stomach muscles using the inflat brush. You can increase the Draw size and Z intensity if necessary.

WARNING! This Making of Contains Nudity.

Software Used :

ZBrush

The original idea for this image came out of the references I’d collected. Whenever I start a new artwork, I do a lot of research and then I start the modeling (Fig.01).

Fig.01

With these references, I blocked the model with a simple base and I did some primary tests with the composition of the model (Fig.02).

Fig.02

As the idea matured, I really needed some specific references for the towel on the head and how its drapery would work. So I took some pictures of a relative of mine doing the exact pose with a towel (Fig.03).

Fig.03

I used the same real-life reference for the towel in the model’s hand (Fig.04).

Fig.04

Software Used :

ZBrush, Maya

Introduction :

I am a big fan of military topics. Since I had already done a soldier, this time I wanted to try a World War II German general.

Refrence :

Because this character was based on the real world look-and-feel, I didn’t draw any concepts for it. Therefore, I needed a ton of references instead. I found an old man reference from 3d.sk which I decided to use for my character; the reason was simply that it was a perfect reference to practice my ZBrush sculpting skills with and would also fit my character pretty well (Fig.01).

Fig.01

Modeling :

I created a plane in ZBrush with the reference image as the texture. Then, I started to model the head from a sphere. It’s much easier to get the right proportion if you have an image plane (Fig.02).

Fig.02

After I’d roughly done the sculpting, I exported a high-poly OBJ file to Maya and started to do re-topology. This is a very important step if you want your model to be used for real production. Modeling is only the first step of the production process; there is a lot of work after that, such as unwrapping, rigging, animation, etc. If you can keep your wireframe clean and appropriate, it will make everyone’s life much easier. I used a Maya plugin called “Nex”, which is a very nice tool to do re-topology with; using this plugin will keep your polygons in quads and evenly-spaced easily (Fig.03).

Fig.03

After completing the re-topology process, I exported another OBJ file and went back to ZBrush. With clean edge-loops, this time I was finally able to work on the details. There’s one thing I’d like to point out at this point: each area of the face has a particular skin texture. It’s important not to use the same texture everywhere because it will look unrealistic (Fig .04).

Fig.04