Painting the Forest Spirit - ZBrush Creature Design: Creating Dynamic Concept Imagery for Film and Games - page 632

Figure 9-108: The base subdivision level of the mesh
When sculpting in ZBrush, I use these brushes primarily: the Move brush, Clay Tubes, Dam Standard,
Standard, Clay, Trim Dynamic, and the Rake brush. For the first step, while the mesh is at subdivision 2, I
use the Move brush to pull out my main forms: the forehead, cranium, jaw, muscle, and cheek bones. Then
I push in the eye sockets, mouth, and nasal cavities. By working at this level, I am taking advantage of the
low geometry and am able to define the sculpt in simple planes. I always try to take the model as far as I
can before using any of the other brushes or sculpting on high subdivisions. One of the biggest issues I've
noticed in beginners' models is that their sculpts tend to feel “baggy.” The anatomy seems to hang loose and
there is a lack of structure. This is often caused by starting the sculpt in the higher subdivisions.
At subdivision 4, I then start to lay more complex anatomy with the Clay Tubes brush. Clay Tubes has a
wonderful edge to it as it builds up the forms and allows you to maintain structure ( Figure 9-109 ).
Once I've gotten the sculpt where I want it with Clay Tubes, I use the Rake brush to refine the sculpt.
I use this brush in additive and subtractive ways. Rakes in traditional sculpting are used to remove excess
clay by averaging out the surface and refining the sculpture. The Rake brush in ZBrush can work the same
way, but it pushes and pulls the mesh instead of actually carving into it like clay. I use the Rake to refine
the model and add more detail to the forms. I always start to use the Rake at a large diameter, and as I'm
refining the sculpt I shrink the diameter down and focus on resolving more of the complex forms ( Figure
9-110 ) .
Once I've reached a certain point with the Rake brush where I'm happy, I start to smooth out areas by
hitting Shift. I then use my Trim Dynamic brush to find edges that I may have lost, especially in the cheek
bones and other under planes. Then I move on to the Standard and Dam Standard brushes. Dam Standard is
phenomenal for carving in details like fine wrinkles and delicate areas, whereas Standard helps you to build
up your tertiary detail.
Once the sculpt has reached a level at which I'm content, I then bring the entire model to a low subdi-
vision and pose it, masking off areas and moving or rotating them. In the case of this sculpt; I just turned