It’s always interesting how some topic or concept will make very little sense at one time but when you come back to it later it clicks. It’s also interesting how seemingly unrelated experiences will facilitate in understanding something. That’s the experience I have been having this week with ZBrush. I’ve had ZBrush for a few years now and I have done a few things in it, I’ve posted them here and on YouTube. However, I have struggled with getting comfortable in it, as well as, understanding some of the different methods of doing things. I suspect this has to do with coming from a very rusty background of box modeling. It
appears that as I have dusted off my box modeling skills and learned more techniques there, that I am finally able to grasp some of the concepts in ZBrush. Yay.
I don’t know if I mentioned that I have a goal of completing 3 ZBrush models by the end of September. Since I’ve finished the dolphin and then the crane, I need to figure out what to work on next. I could go back to another unfinished project but I think it would be nice to work on something new. While I am working on that, I’ve decided it would be a good idea to brush up on some of the ZBrush courses through Digital Tutors. I found the intro to ZBrush 4r7 course and I have been watching that this week. I’m a bit more than half way through and many things make so much more sense now. I’m anxious to get to use the things I’ve learned. However, life and the day job have conspired to get in the way this week and weekend.
While I have no new models to share this week, from either ZBrush or 3ds Max, I do have some sketches that I managed to get in. I’d call this week’s collection eclectic.
I really don’t know where some of these things come from sometimes. I forget what I might have seen on TV the day I did this one so don’t even know if that was an influence. It’s one of my favorite though. It’s got a bit of that dystopian cyberpunk look to it, to me anyway.
This was more of the working on things for the Halloween scene. I think I want something to set the jack’o lantern on and I was trying to decide what sort of box or crate to use.
Every morning during the week I have a series of stretches and exercises I do. One of the mornings this week the kettle bell looked interesting to me and that was the subject of the sketch that morning. By the way, when I did it, the kettle bell was in a different room from the one I was sitting in making the sketch.
Who knew squids have eyelids. Really, that was my thought when I was working on this. I started out just trying to get the eye part down and I happened to look a a reference picture and found that there is indeed a flap that looks like an eye lid. The squid eye got revisited this week because a squid is a candidate for the next ZBrush sculpt.
Everyone needs a cartoon pig. Ok, I don’t really know why this turned up but it did.
I started this with the idea of the sunshades and the kerchief over the face. Sort of like the earlier sketch of the goggles and the mask. This just sort of grew organically and by the time I finished the character has a bandage across the nose and is wearing a hoodie. I have not a clue where this came from but hey, it’s in the sketchbook now.
Though that is all the new stuff for this week, I did come across a sketch from last year or a little before that of a winter Christmas type scene that I’m giving some consideration to for this year’s Christmas Holiday project. I sometimes forget that I’ve done some drawing, sketch or whatever, it’s always nice to stumble on them later and find they are the idea I need for something I’m working on.
I did manage a little more than sketches and tutorials this week. I’ve ordered a new computer. It should allow me to put my other monitor back on it, along with my Cintiq. It will also have more memory and be more powerful. The potentially frustrating part is that I got it with Windows 8.1. Not sure how I feel about that since I really hate trying to work with Windows Server 2012 which looks and acts mostly the same. But with Windows 10 coming out soon and the need to be able to continue to move forward, I can’t stay with Windows 7 forever. Bummer. The other challenge with the new computer is that it’s about 3 inches or so taller than the one I have which means it may not fit in the hanger that I have for it. That and the idea of trying to get the other monitor back on my desk means I will have a complete reconfiguration of my space when it gets here, hopefully in about 2 to 3 weeks. Oh, and don’t forget the fun of trying to get all the pertinent software installed.
In addition to the computer purchase, I managed to book a trip for late summer early autumn. I’m excited about that. It should be quite an adventure. I won’t be visiting friends or family so no one to pick me up at the airport or any of that. I get to figure it all out on my own. I could get a car to get around but I’m thinking of using public transport. We’ll see. I’ll tell you all about it when I get back.
I will confess to having a major distraction right now. Besides my day job. The FIFA Women’s World Cup is running and I can’t resist. It started last weekend and I have tried to catch several of the matches this week. I have seen both of the USA matches and really I’m not sure what to think. I was initially impressed with Germany, particularly their score in their first match but not sure now. I liked the way Costa Rica played against South Korea in the second half. If I have the World Cup on I really can’t do more than just
watch it so I don’t get much else done except for at half time or at the end. It doesn’t bode well for productivity at the moment. Still maybe with group play finishing up it will get easier.
For this week coming up the plan is more ZBrush lessons and hopefully a start on another sculpt project. Perhaps even something in 3ds Max. I don’t want the things I’ve started to learn there to get rusty again. And of course, more sketches.
one. I’ve sketched out the front of the house that I want to use. I am planning on using the same basic house, once modeled, for the bee project I keep mentioning.
That was really the only progress towards seasonal items that I made this week. My other real progress was in finishing the Crane piece in ZBrush. I chose not to polypaint it or to add any texture. I like it just as a sculpt. I posted the turntable of it a few days ago along with the my reference photo. So if you haven’t seen it, it should be the very next previous post. Here’s another picture of the sculpture.
First up was a piece created from memory, though the object is sitting in front of me at the moment. I thought the cork that came out of the bottle of Prosecco my friend and I opened on Sunday was interesting looking and that I would draw it. I still intend to because there are some very interesting dents and creases that I didn’t show quite the way I think I should, and I want to try a different angle.
drawing and possibly the only other dog besides this one. This one was meant to be a dog I see in my neighborhood when I go for my walk. She’s a sweet dog but needs to live in a home with a yard or with young people who will take her to a dog park or will do something so she can run. She has a lot of energy, more than her human can handle most of the time. So she was on my mind when I sat down the next morning and did this. I have since taken a couple of pictures of her so I might get to making a true likeness of her.
practice rigging and animation. Awesome. So I decided I would do that first. Instead of using the character provided for the rigging course, I would follow along with the character creating course, and use the character I create for the rigging course. I figure this gives me even that much more understanding. This morphed a little. While waiting for our CPR and AED certification course to begin at my day job, I came up with this half silhouette that I think I will use as the design for the character I’m going to create.
more than a few panels of art, and fortunately there is not currently a deadline, so I have plenty of time to work out ideas. This sketch is me working out some bits for an idea for one of the panels. What I learned most from it is that could really use better references, and actual physical ones would be awesome.