Creature Sculpting in ZBrush Vol 1
Character artist Bryan Wynia helps you progress from ZBrush newbie to sculpting maestro
There’s no shortage of highquality ZBrush video training available, so any new entry has to offer something distinctive. Bryan Wynia’s edge is undoubtedly how easy he makes everything sound. He has a great ability to strip down complex ideas to their core, helping you to understand them easily.
Early in this Creature Sculpting video, for example, he offers a great overview of ZBrush’s DynaMesh sculpting system and how to get the most out of it, with a clever tip to quickly even out the distribution of polygons through the model in seconds. And if you’ve never quite understood the point of creating a set of subdivision layers for your digital sculpture, you will after watching this.
As usual with CDW Studios, the video is recorded live during one of the company’s workshops. This volume follows a single project over three days, and shows off the advantages of the live format, with an enthusiastic audience contributing with some great questions. Through these, Bryan touches not just on software skills and creature design, but also grabs the chance to offer career advice and chat about the creative lifestyle. He’s engaging and funny throughout: the time flies by as you watch, and it’s only when he’s done that you realise how much you’ve learned.
Creature Sculpting for ZBrush isn’t for the beginner CG artist – it’s missing the broad overview of the interface that CDW Studios’ ZBrush for Concept Artists series from Ben Mauro includes, for example. And with Bryan’s background, the training focus is inevitably on modelling soft, organic forms. However, if you’ve got to grips with the basics of making characters and creatures in ZBrush and want to refine your techniques to the point where you can execute your ideas in a productive manner, this is a great way to take that step up.