Understanding Zbrush

Fig.1 - Head Model

 I decided to follow one of the tutorials on youtube from 'FlippedNormals.' Which was really helpful, mostly for beginners like me. I was able to learn many hotkeys, such as; BCB for clay, BMV for using the move tool, BTD to make a shape solid, these helped me to reach the brushes easily. Not knowing I used a mouse during this tutorial. 

 

Fig.2 - Experimenting with Character Head

I started creating the head by sculpting a skull. I was able to learn more about tools and what they are good for. I would use 'BCB' to sculpt the skull and use the shift key to smoothen out the shape like clay. I was then introduced to using the alpha, as I do not have to use a hard brush sometimes, which helped tremendously because with a softer brush I had more control. 

Fig.3 - Sculpting Skull

After understanding the hotkeys and the brushes, I decided to play with the smoothner (Shift Key) and the clay brush tool to create a little rough texture on the character. In my opinion, I felt like I had more control this time over the brushes than I did before. Again I do think working on the tablet would make the character look more refined. 

Fig.4 - Creating head

Halfway through the tutorial, I was introduced to the cutting and moving tools, used to drag and create the horns. The clay tool was used to sculpt the nose, cheekbones and jawline as shown in figure 4. Since I have already created a face with real clay before, I could figure out the procedure on what to do next when creating the model.

Fig.4 - Supposed Character

Overall, I thought this tutorial was a success as I was able to get a lot of information about hotkeys and learnt step by step what he did to achieve his character model. What I would do in the future is use a tablet as it might have a different outcome. Judging my work, there could be a lot of refining done about the ears cheeks and horns, however, this is not the final outcome of the character. 

Reference:

FlippedNormals(2018) Getting Started with Sculpting - ZBrush for Beginners Tutorial [online video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yKGfcp2z3k [Accessed on 11/11/2021]

Image:

Figure 4. Sculpt a Head with ZBrush for Beginners (2018) [Poster] At: https://www.cgcreativeshop.com/sculpt-a-head-with-zbrush-for-beginners/