5/31/2023 - I DID IT!
I did it. I learned ZBrush! Well, enough ZBrush to finish a character model. I'm so proud of myself. Anyways, you can see more of the renders on my portfolio page!
5/30/2023 - Hair Stranding
Maybe I shouldn't have chosen a character with so much hair as my first model because getting it right was extremely difficult. But I'm glad I persevered!
At first, I didn't know exactly how to turn the block-out mesh into a more detailed one. Specifically while keeping the edges of her "strands" sharp. So, I learned about curve brushes and thought I could use them to get the look I wanted. It was fine at first but once more of the hair became finished I thought the spikes looked too uniform and her hair looked too busy overall.
After a week of debating whether or not I should stick with the curve brushes I found a tutorial about stylized hair and the magic of the Clay Polish, Trim Dynamic, and hPolish tools. So I decided to scrap the whole thing and try it again.
2/27/2023 - It Seams Finished
Work has gotten busy, but I've managed to finish detailing all of Flame's clothes! Added folds, seams, and panel lines. I'm especially happy with how the folds by her knees turned out. I changed her arm guards (again) and even learned how to make shoelaces with ZSpheres. Now it's on to finalizing her hair!
Also, since I'm moving away from Photoshop, I'm going to have to find a way to easily create gifs from the ZBrush turntables.
12/31/2022 - On to 2023!
Moving this blog from Artstation allowed me to look back on all the progress I've made this year; I must say, I'm really proud of the work I've done. I've taken my sweet-sweet time with this piece but, with every unnecessary iteration, I learned so much.
I made some last-minute changes before the new year so here they are! I simplified the gloves, changed the colors of her armbands, and made the designs of the arm guards more uniform with each other. Looking forward to finishing her in 2023!
12/27/2022 - Goodbye Artstation and Hello Flame!
Hello everyone, my name’s Ryan! I’ve had this site up for a while but recently decided to start blogging on here. Reason? I decided to pause posting anything on Artstation until they sort out the situation regarding AI art and the protection of their users’ work. So, I’m saying goodbye to 2022 by moving my Work-in-Progress blogs here!
Anyways, here’s the latest update on my model. Meet Flame from Panzer Paladin! This specific design is based on her "Game Update" Construction outfit seen here. I added a few cosmetic tweaks to make it my own. Hope you all enjoy it!
10/30/2022 - Guess Who?
Finally started modeling her clothes! I wanted to do everything manually, folds and all. Anyways, can you recognize who she is?
Here’s a hint, she usually wears a white and orange jacket.
09/05/2022 - Hair for Days
Well, I’d like to think she’s turning out rather well. Along with obsessively tweaking her anatomy, I finally took the time to block-out her hair. Added a mouth bag, and teeth and, even messed around with poly-paint for the first time.
08/16/2022 - Second Time’s the Charm
So about a year ago I finally decided to learn character sculpting on Zbrush. However, it turns out that Zbrush’s interface is VERY intimidating. I tried to do a character sculpt but gave up within a month.
This summer, after dabbling with 3D sculting for my gaming chair, I decide give Zbrush a real try. After two weeks of work, I can confidently say… this is pretty fun!
So here’s the first work-in-progress for my new character model.
Luckily, I saved a screenshot of what I did a year ago. It’s a lot less stylized than what I’m currently doing, but I think there’s improvement here. And even if there’s not, the fact that I got over my fear of Zbrush’ interface is the biggest win.
