Last week was mostly taken up with returning from the awesome ZBrush Summit at the Gnomon School in Los Angeles. Since one day was taken up with travel and the next spent getting things ready to return to work and such it seemed a little daunting at first that I would get any art in. I especially wanted to get started on something in ZBrush while I still had some of the excitement from the weekend. I figured it might get me far enough into a sculpt that I would be using some of the techniques I saw before I even realized I was doing it. I didn’t quite get that far.
Even without getting myself totally immersed in a project I have still managed to gain a bit more comfort in ZBrush. I’ve started an alien character and made quite a bit of progress on it. I just sort of kept working on it until it had hands and even feet and then what I wanted to do with it started to come to mind.
I’ve started detailing the body with clothing, of a fashion. Partly that came about from the way the sculpt was progressing and some errant strokes across the legs that caused inspiration. I fought a bit with the feet to get them close to the shape they are and decided that would work because the alien could be wearing boots or shoes of some kind. With that I added a cuff sort of thing at the top of the 
boot. I started looking at the body area and decided to add cuffs at the wrists and then the regular round collar like our t-shirts. I also added a waist band to help distinguish the body and a bit of detailing from there. As you can see, it’s all still pretty soft and I need to add the eye balls. So far, I’m quite happy with how this is working out. I have plans for the rest of the detailing and an accessory or two, as well as the eye balls. Seeing it develop to this point has been fun. I’m excited to see how it continues to progress.
One of the things I came back from the Summit with is a desire to really make better characters and to get better at sculpting in ZBrush. That, I know, takes time and practice. So I am starting by trying to work in ZBrush a few hours each week, preferably not all at once but a little bit across several days. I think doing it that way will get me more comfortable and better much faster than if I had a once a week marathon session in ZBrush. I did good last week, I think I had 4 days where I worked on the Alien and
one day where I started another piece.
Yes, it is Autumn around these parts, and thanks to a weekend of being sandwiched between two not so nice weather systems, we got a pretty good taste of the season. And it got a little wet. That inspired me to finally start on a piece that I keep saying I’m going
to do. I’ve started on a piece that I am hoping will be a Halloween piece, but it may end up being an Autumn piece.
In addition to working in ZBrush this week I also delivered my two pieces of art to FuManChu Cup Cakes in Charlotte to be displayed and possibly sold. I was really happy with the reponse to them by the employees. It’s always good to hear nice things about your
work. So those are being hung there either today or tomorrow before they open. If you’re in the Charlotte area between tomorrow and December, stop by and have a look. Oh, and get some cup cakes. They are really awesome.
Another thing I came back from the Summit with is a desire to finish rigging Sticks and get him animated. I wish I could say that I got right on that this week. I didn’t. I was still trying to recover from the travel. I think I’m about there and this week is looking more promising for working on Sticks.
That brings things up to date for this week I think. With a bit of discipline there could be more to share next week. Check back to see if I spent the week arting or slacking.