February - Excercise 2 z-brush excercise completed

So, it took a while to get through, and in Maya, he still needs uv and texture tweaking. But for this man, it's ended. Time to move on. Top shows normal map, and bottom, shows texture map.

February - Texturing in Progress

NOT FINISHED! So, still a few more hours to go, but texturing is going well. It's a slow business, this photoreferencing - I'm used to painting my own stuff. And fairly cartoony....

February - Beginner Z-brush Sketches - In Progress

So, things I've learnt so far through trial and error:
1. No cut in detail e.g. areas where cut in detail in clothing was neccessary...
2. As low poly modellers, we put more detail in certain areas, yes? Mouth, eyes etc – 'bendy openy' areas – which doesn’t translate well in z-brush… even polys all way through with very very little defining detail, meaning HeavyMan (above) should be generic enough for me to use the base mesh for a bust of Marie Antoinette.
3. It’s all in the detail – painting and referencing. How well you use reference and how practised you are in painting is important – ears, nostrils, tear ducts – you just can’t get past inadequate accuracy – people automatically seem to look at the work and go, the ear looks wrong.
4. He will indeed be textured… and actually that is another point – the unwrap had to change considerably. No overlapping/mirrored uvs… no scrunching or squeezing into smaller areas i.e. keep resolution equal – back to equal polys make equal uvs.
5. AND finally, practise makes perfect!

February - Beginner Z-brush Sketches - In Progress

Finally - z-brush 'painting' done! Now to texture... this has been quite a process of learning... and one I'm really enjoying.

February - Beginner Z-brush Sketches - In Progress

I've made a base mesh in Maya and I'm now 'detailing up in' z-brush... taking my time with this one.

February - Beginner Z-brush Sketches

I'm a 3d artist working in a games company, and I've set myself the task of learning z-brush this month. After many video tutorials, I tried out 20 minutes on two heads, based on a bust mesh provided by Pixologic. Try their download trial version now...