The other course I took this spring was ZBrush for Concept and Iteration, taught by Michael Pavlovich. Over 6 weeks, I received a crash course on ZBrush. But beyond learning about Zbrush, seeing Michael’s approach to problem solving and his quick-and-dirty solutions to concept sculpting proved just as invaluable.
During the course, we had complete freedom to model whatever we wanted. One of my peers was an archaeologist who modeled various historical sites, which was pretty cool to see.
Each week we learned new skills that allowed us to take our concept sculpts further.
At the start of the course, to get the ball rolling, I decided to do a mash-up of Robinhood with aquatic creatures. Taking inspiration from Little John, Friar Tuck and the Sheriff of Nottingham I ended up with three different character types.
Little John meets whale shark.
The Sheriff as a gulper eel.
Friar Tuck meets mudskipper.
In Week 2, I decided to take the Friar Tuck character further and I did some iterations, playing around with the head shape and arms.
Various heads inspired by mudskippers, catfish, piranhas and goldfish.
The goldfish headed version felt the most quirky and fun, so I selected him for refinement. In week 3, I developed the backstory that he was an angry sea creature out to get revenge against land dwellers for ruining his home with plastic waste.
Landsuit apparatus and a double-ended toothbrush. Mr. Goldfish has a very particular set of skills.
Mr. Goldfish stores fresh water in discarded milk jugs and water bottles.
In subsequent weeks, I took inspiration from the Roman gladiator type known as the Retiarius (net and trident) and I equipped him with a spaghetti spoon and a loincloth. Along the way, my wife dubbed him Bubbles.
There’s still plenty more work to be done on Bubbles. I plan to add scales, put him in a dynamic pose, apply some materials in Substance Painter, and do a proper render. This should keep me busy until the next semester begins in July.
For the summer, I’ve doubled up on anatomy courses tackling it from both 2D and 3D perspectives. With 2D I think I’ll get lots of mileage and the opportunity to practice things like gesture. With 3D, I think I’ll get more of an opportunity to do a deep dive and understand anatomy in the round.