As I come to the end of my quest to see how much I could learn about zBrush within the time limit of their trial.
I'm happy with the results, despite a rough start. By the end I'd created some cool sculpts that I'm happy with considering I started at this a month ago!
So overall I probably got further than I expected. It was indeed a tough start. Even just the interface of zBrush was hard to get to grips with, let alone the challenge of the actual sculpting. Then I focused on anatomy, made some great progress, but then hit the wall at the end that can only be scaled by consistent and ongoing practice.
You know, that thing that sets real artists and craftsman apart.
I do feel like I accomplished a lot however, and I will almost certainly keep doing something with the software. (I ended up investing in the new zBrush Core version.)
As I mentioned in previous weeks this whole experiment has reminded me how important practice is. Nothing really compensates for simple repetition as practice.
Let's just remember where I started! This was an early result of working with the sculpting tools!
That evolved into this within a week or so . . .
Better, but still lacking in any real definition. Two weeks in we started to make some progress, but the shapes still had some weirdness to them.
Then I started to seek advice and feedback, and got pointed to anatomy lessons by other artists. Spending some time with anatomy tutorials helped massively, and I started to make good progress.
I can't stress enough how you can't 'cheat' on that part of the process. Learning some anatomy will improve your sculpts massively. Lots of simple little things you can learn that will inform how you form the face when doing these busts.
I can't stress enough how you can't 'cheat' on that part of the process. Learning some anatomy will improve your sculpts massively. Lots of simple little things you can learn that will inform how you form the face when doing these busts.
The human sculpts I did in this last week felt good. I struggled a little to get to a specifically female form. It's a weird thing that the difference between the genders can be difficult to capture in this medium.
Also ... hair is hard!
Then I also dived into a series of the monsters and aliens as break-up. I loved doing these, and I imagine that this will be what will draw me back to zBrush in the future!
I'll be sorely tempted to keep coming back to make these kind of aliens with this software. Maybe not every night however!
Overall, I think I am very happy with the progress I made. Yes, I certainly had some advantages, being used to 3D work flows, and having had some general anatomy and art training in the past, but I do feel that this kind of an experiment shows that you can make progress quickly if you apply yourself to a thing, whatever it is.
Practicing for an hour a night can provide solid progress in a thing, even if it starts slowly. Simply sticking with it and practicing the same thing over and over, can yield results.
Just look again at the progress made
Sure, to get anywhere close to the standards an actual artist can achieve I'd need to keep going, but I think it does show what you can achieve with just a little, but consistent, time investment
Nothing comes for free, but you might be pleasantly surprised what you can achieve with a simple schedule of practice.
So don't be afraid of learning a new thing! If I can do it, anyone can!
November will be a different challenge, since one of our designers has tempted me into attempting NaNoWriMo again. I am a glutton for creative punishment!
Stay tuned!
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