Once again it has been quite some time since I posted new content. Lately I've been spending less time shaping and carving characters from physical matter and more time in front of my tablet pushing polygons. Yes - as the certainty of evolution is inevitable in order to sustain existence; Artist in the industry are neither immune to evolving and eventually have to accept and adapt to shifting their tool/mind set in order to stay current with the ever changing environment of family entertainment. Although I enjoyed dabbling in 3D with Maya now and then, it seemed more of a time consuming chore for me to model something on a virtual plane (that I could never touch or hold in my hand), than it was for me to sculpt something tangible from clay in a faction of the time. For someone who has worked with their hands throughout their career; this was exceptionally difficult to rationalize. Sculpting is my job and a love that often come with challenges as well as a sense of accomplishment. It's also a very therapeutic form of art working with your hands. Although there are parallels and as much as I hate to admit it, I usually don't enjoy spending hours sitting in front of a computer screen constantly re-working and re-crafting creative content trying to make things perfect. But I do. Then again, I also enjoy the challenge of learning something new. And like most people who's right and left brain are constantly in session in order to reconcile without sacrifice - there are often bouts of resistance for finding reasons not to ("because I don't feel like it"), Eventually you are compelled to understand why you have to. This was very much the case for me with regards to 3D modelling. That being said - "Don't" was no longer an option.
So..."Let's start"...
Working in ZBrush, I began with my character "Orbit" and the cast from my live action animated screen write "BLiP".
With an understanding that the technical learning curve may dissuade me to giving up too soon, I decided not to dive into trying to create something as ambitious as a hardcore game character for my first subject. It seemed much more practical to start off working with simple geometry and progress from there. Given my personal style, the obvious choice was to start off with something I was familiar with. Since having sculpted these characters in clay many times, I attempted to re create them digitally, from memory without reference just to add an element of artistic challenge. However seemingly simple enough primitive forms - it was challenge nonetheless for a beginner learning to use unfamiliar tools. "Queen Cosma Zarah's" ensemble will eventually have a few more embellishments as I continue to learn the tools and manage my workflow more efficiently. I am very encouraged with my results. This was truly a pleasurable learning experience every step of the way.
As an exercise, I recreated Vapor in Zbrush. Vapor was posed by creating a Zspheres rig. I will use Maya IK's for the next iteration.
"AstroFly" was to be a concept character for an intended game. From a simple concept drawing I did, he has since evolved after spending a little more time playing with the vast set of "brushes" and techniques inside of ZBrush.
These are just a few of the characters I have a created from my modest beginnings as I delve into the world of virtual sculpting. More to come...stay tOOned!
But wait! There's more...
