Introduction

Welcome to ZBrush Character Creation: Advanced Digital Sculpting, Second Edition. I wrote this book to pull together the tools and techniques I have gathered over the past few years as a digital sculptor from both personal experience and the openness and sharing of other ZBrush artists. It is my hope that this book will help build on your experience with ZBrush and open up new and exciting techniques using the program.

This book focuses specifically on character sculpting and painting with ZBrush. Creature and character work has been the focus of my career for the past 10 years, and since moving into a digital workflow with ZBrush, I have seen the possibilities for artists to explode. We will cover topics from basic sculpting to more advanced techniques of building form and character. We will also look at painting skin and adding fine details to our characters. Throughout the book, I have invited some friends to add their own experience with ZBrush in the sidebars. Every artist works differently, and we can learn so much from seeing other approaches to the same problems.

In addition to working as a sculptor and designer, I have been an instructor at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood teaching ZBrush both on site and online. I have also taught ZBrush at a variety of studios and schools in both hemispheres of the world. In this time I have seen a variety of students, from beginner to advanced, approach ZBrush and learn the toolset. This experience has helped me craft this book in a way that I hope will be most beneficial to you, the reader.

In my teaching, I have found that it is important to learn the ins and outs of the software. Knowing how to find the tools is, of course, necessary. I have also seen that just as important is an understanding of what to do with the tools you learn. It is easy to find the Standard brush, for instance, but I illustrate how to use the brushes to build a character with sound structure, form, and an eye toward sculptural anatomy. These foundation artistic principles are the core of good work whether you are making it in ZBrush or in clay.