TABLE OF CONTENTS
INSTRUCTIONS
PROJECT
Exercise 1 / Character Design Concept
The first task of this module is to create a character for our final sculpture. I decided to make an elf/druid type character. Before starting, I looked up some references for my design on Pinterest. I also looked up some elven leaning names, and decided on the name Virion.
 |
| Fig 1.1 Mood Board |
To tie it with his design, I also wrote a fitting backstory:
In a community who valued wisdom, order, and beauty, every elf was raised under a strict and structured routine, with hopes to contribute to the perfection of their city. Virion was born into a respected elven family; scholars who devoted their lives to preserving the very forest they lived in. One day, a strange blight began spreading through the forest, withering all life in its path. The council's response was to cut off entire sections of the forest with barriers, letting all life beyond their borders to perish.
He saw that their methods were against everything they claimed to stand for and expressed his concerns to the council. His words were dismissed and left in vain. Frustrated, he left behind his robes, his title, and the comforts of elven life. A child promised with a bright future chose to become a solitary druid. He devoted his life to heal the forest and to find the source of this blight.
Afterwards, I drew some silhouettes that could fit such a character. I experimented with several body types as seen below.
 |
| Fig 1.2 Silhouettes |
Then, I drew some potential outfits that I could use for my character.
 |
| Fig 1.3 Outfits Exploration |
At first I wanted to use lots of layers of clothing to give my character a rugged look, but I was advised not to so as it will become too hard. So before deciding on the design, I cut down a lot of the design elements to make it look simpler and wilder.
 |
| Fig 1.4 Dynamic Pose Colored |
Final Results
Project 1 / Digital Sculpting Basics
Before sculpting our character, we had to first exercise sculpting skulls to help familiarize ourselves with ZBrush.
Fig 1.6 Skull Sculpt
Afterwards, I started blocking the character using circles, and sculpting them to resemble certain body parts.
 |
| Fig 1.7 Character Blockout |
Once the blockout was done, I was told to make an A-Pose instead of my current slouched posture in the blockout. After changing that, I added more details to each subtools before moving onto the next stage.
 |
| Fig 1.8 Blockout Detailing |
After being satisfied with the results, I merged all the subtools and used Dynamesh to connect them. After smoothing out the connections, I further refined the sculpture to give it a more realistic look.
 |
| Fig 1.9 Character Detailing |
Final Results
Project 2 / Outfit & Props Sculpting
Before moving on to the outfit and props, I was instructed to revise my anatomy as it didn't look correct. I looked for more references to follow and went for a mix between a stylized and realism look.
 |
| Fig 1.12 Sculpture Revision |
Afterwards, I sculpted the character's hair following a Youtube tutorial, using a custom brush. Because the brush creates hair 'subtools', I have to Dynamesh it later so it is uniform with the rest of my sculpture.
For the outfit, because of time constraints, I decided to further reduce the details. I also decided not to use the mask, because I can't really translate the look I want into 3D. Also, it would just cover up the face which would make my effort sculpting it useless. With that, I continued working on the belt and cloth on his waist.
Fig 1.14 Cloth & Belt SculptFor the bandages, I followed another Youtube tutorial where it uses masking and panel loops which speeds up the overall sculpting process.
For the props, I sculpted a staff made from 3 pieces of wood tangled around each other.
Fig 1.16 Staff Sculpt
Afterwards, I colored in everything following the colors I had in my concept art.
Fig 1.17 Character Colored
Final Results
Fig 1.18 Project 2 Final - PDF
Final Project / Complete Character Sculpt
Initially, I wanted to rig the character to pose it, since this was a process I'm quite familiar with when working in Blender. However, I encountered lots of problems while doing it in ZBrush, and ended up using the masking method instead to pose my character. I decided to make the pose somewhat similar to the dynamic pose I did for my concept art.
Fig 1.20 Posing Progress
Fig 1.21 Pose Turnaround
Lastly, using a render from an angle I took, I used it to make the concept art illustration in Photoshop. At first, I drew some ideas, but it doesn't fit the 3D look of the character. Because of that, I went to do green gradients with his name written behind, also while adjusting the colors of the character so that it fits into the background.
Fig 1.22 Concept Art Illustration Progress
Final Results
Fig 1.24 Final Project Turntable - MP4
REFLECTION
This was definitely a tough module as I've never tried sculpting before. I know that I can still do better if there was more time, and I know that there is still a lot of room for improvement. On the anatomy side, I could've had spent more time to make it more realistic, and for the outfit and props, I could've also spent more time to add in more details and other elements too. Nonetheless, I was quite satisfied with how the results turned out.