After a bit more experimenting and review of various documentations and tutorials, and some hemming and hawing, I finally made the decision to put my money into Zbrush. I purchased it online, directly from Pixologic and had it downloaded, installed, and activated in less than an hour. Technology is so cool.
Here’s where the real work begins. I’ve purchased and installed the software now it’s time to get down to business and really learn it and master it. Fortunately there are a lot of resources available to facilitate that. In addition to the getting started documentation there are several well done tutorial videos on Zclassroom, no to mention all the tutorials in magazines such as 3D World and 3D Artist, and that doesn’t even get into places like Digital Tutors. If I can’t learn this one, it sure won’t be for lack of resources, it will be for lack of effort.