Sculpt of heroic male. Still a work-in-progress.
I decided it was time to work on my first (human) full-body sculpt in ZBrush. Through my reading of many “how-to” books, watching multiple hours of videos from other ZBrush artists, and inspiration from posting in ZBrush Central, it was definitely high time to build my own mesh. This is still very much a work in progress. With that in mind, I did want to share my progress through this project. I recorded the “sculpting” as I proceeded through my workflow. I am posting these videos here for your review. Any feedback is appreciated.
I began by sculpting the head. Using a “skull” model I previously created, I started by adding in muscle masses, then the epidermis, and finally added a little detail.
“Radio Flyer.” (c) 2013 Michael J. Barnes. www.lookingtodraw.com.
This is a new model based on the sketch I drew up and posted in a preview post. This model will be used in a future illustration I am working on.
So what we have here is a little red wagon enhanced with two supercharged jet rocket engines. This over-powered rocket wagon will send any kid flying through the skies, and through his or her imagination.
Let me know what you think.
Girls Bike. (c) 2013 Michael J. Barnes.
I know I’ve been throwing a lot of wips (works in progress) updates recently. The fact is that I am working on three different illustrations at this time (I just wish these were commissioned pieces) for some self-promotion pieces. Since working up the PALS logo last week, I find myself with some extra time to do up these drawings.
My latest WIP will have a little girls bike in the illustration. This model (seen above) I worked up over the weekend – about eight hours total time. I know it doesn’t look scary, or mystical, or fantastical like many of these 3D sculpts that are usually posted… but it came out so much better than I hoped that I had to share it.
In actuality, it is a very scary, evil, demon-possessed bike that will transform the rider into a hellchild that will torment her parents for many years. Okay, not really. I’m not going to go to much into the future illustration. Like I said, I liked the way this turned out and wanted to share. Hope you like it.
Girls bike sans texture. (c) 2013 Michael J. Barnes.
Rusty Corridor Background. (c) 2013 Michael J. Barnes.
Completed updating the background for an illustration currently in progress. My plan here was to make the background a little eerie. Hopefully, it will give the impression that something might be amiss with this ship. In order to accomplish this, I painted in some volumetric lighting, and darkened and desaturated the walls. Let me know what you think.
Rusty Ship’s Corridor – (c) 2013 Michael J. Barnes
Working up a new illustration and this is the background for the image. I created this in Google SketchUp, then imported into Bryce for textures and rendering.
I really like using Bryce for rendering up background environments for a few reasons. First, for a quick build up of textures, Bryce has several preset textures. With this image, I employed many of Bryces “exposed metals” textures to give this background a “rustic” appearance. Second, Bryce has a great easy-to-use lighting system that allows me to create a great lighting environment. Next, I can render to very large, high resolution images. Finally, I like Bryce because I can render a panoramic image that I can import into Zbrush to use for HRDI lighting of my sculpts.
I am currently working up a full-body sculpt of my “Gaur” character. When completed he will be inserted into this background. More info to follow.
Completed body sculpt of my Monster Creature Dude.
Recently completed sculpting and texturing the body my latest personal project. I learned some new techniques (and when I say “new” I mean new to me) to produce a more life-like model. I learned some techniques on sculpting believable anatomy. Also learned how to create a more life-like skin texture.
Back view of my Creature Monster Dude’s body.
As for the texturing, I picked up on a technique to “layer” the skin. Basically working to have the “epidermis” be a bit translucent, much like real skin.
Updated head rendering.
Although my Monster Creature Dude here is going to be the focal point of a new illustration, my intent with this sculpt was also to learn how to retopologize the mesh so this model could be used for animation and/or gaming. I realized that I couldn’t call myself a 3D modeler unless I knew how to do this.
Body sculpt with base topology shown.
Sculpt with topology frame displayed.
Head sculpt displaying base topology.