ZBrush as a Character Design Tool - ZBrush Creature Design: Creating Dynamic Concept Imagery for Film and Games - page 51

Once you are ready to light and render your character to take it into Photoshop for the final painting passes,
it's time to consider how the character will be experienced by the viewer. When creating the final image of
your character, you should consider the moment when the viewer first encounters the subject in the image.
Seek to create a dramatic and exciting moment in time. You will need a focal point for the image. This is
arguably the most important placement in the image—the first point the viewer should look when they see
the image. I often keep the character's eyes as a focal point by their placement in the picture plane. Some
of the methods to draw the viewer's attention to a focal point are with light, placement, color contrast, or
the placement of details. You can call the viewer's attention to a spot in the image by simply making it the
brightest point.
In Figure 1-47 I have the center of the key light as the focal point. Notice how attention naturally is pulled
to this area away from the darker areas. You can use this technique to paint less of the image if you allow
some areas to fall into shadow and silhouette ( Figure 1-48 ) . This can save valuable time by allowing you to
illustrate just enough of a character to get the idea across, freeing you to move on to create other options.
Often your success depends on how quickly you can work and how many different designs you can execute
in a day. Lastly you can guide the eye by placing the character in a certain way on the screen. We will look
at this in more detail in the next section, composition.
Figure 1-47: Guiding the eye with light