Step inside the studios of some of today's top artists, illustrators, designers, and photographers working with digital art tools. SECRETS OF ZBRUSH EXPERTS: TIPS, TECHNIQUES, AND INSIGHTS FOR USERS OF ALL ABILITIES allow you one-on-one access to the creative and technical process of artists who use Zbrush in their work. Organized into chapters according to the artist's area of expertise, each chapter details the professional background of an individual expert and includes techniques, insights, and resources followed by an image gallery highlighting some of their work, both personal and professional. Written as a conversation with the artist about an individual creative process, you'll find detailed, step-by-step techniques demonstrated that cover genres including movies/VFX, illustration, character design, figure creation, and concept design. This incredible resource provides inspiration and practical advice for artists and aspiring artists alike.

Learn to work effectively and creatively with all versions of ZBrush! ZBrush is used by top artists in Hollywood to model and sculpt characters in such films as Avatar, Iron Man, and Pirates of the Caribbean. In addition, this amazing technology is also used in jewelry design, forensic science, aerospace, video games, toy creation, and the medical field. Written by Pixologic's in-house ZBrush expert Paul Gaboury, this full-color, beautifully illustrated guide provides you with the ultimate tips and tricks to maximize your use of all versions of ZBrush. Reveals numerous little-known tips and tricks that exist within ZBrush, but often go unexploited Shares an abundance of helpful techniques and insights that the author has acquired from years of helping professional artists in various industries Offers dozens of version-neutral solutions and shortcuts in areas such as sculpting, texturing, posing, rendering, and more Features "Artist Spotlights" from several ZBrush experts, offering their how-to's for using the feature-rich software in today's studios Improve your productivity and quality of work with this helpful, easy-to-understand resource.

A stunning, content-rich update to this top-selling ZBrush guide! This second edition of ZBrush Character Creation has been fully updated for ZBrush 4, the newest version of this fascinating and popular 3D sculpting software. ZBrush enables users to create detailed organic models using a brush-based toolset and tablet. The startling results look as though they've been painted with real brushes and oils, and ZBrush is increasingly popular for use in film, game, and broadcast pipelines. Author Scott Spencer is embedded in the ZBrush community and his movie credits include Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix and the upcoming The Hobbit. Learn Spencer's invaluable techniques for texturing, chiseling, posing, costuming, and more with his newest ZBrush guide. Explains ZBrush 4, the newest version of the revolutionary software tool for creating 3D organic models in a way that appears to be traditionally painted or sculpted Shows you how get the most out of ZBrush, from the fundamentals to new tools for texturing, chiseling, and costuming Offers plenty of insights and professional techniques for creating characters for films and games, drawing from the author's own experience on such films as Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix and The Hobbit Demonstrates the author's own techniques of using traditional sculpting and painting concepts and applying them to digital art for greater artistry Discover the beauty of ZBrush with this colorful, in-depth guide.

Tips and techniques for bringing reality and creativity to your game characters and art As video games evolve, the bar moves ever higher for realism, one of the most challenging artistic frontiers is creating realistic human characters. In ZBrush Studio Projects: Realistic Game Characters, ZBrush expert Ryan Kingslien zeroes in on specific areas of concern for game creation: human body style, faces, skin texturing, clothing, shoes, weaponry, and putting your character into a game environment. Throughout the book Ryan offers tips and insights that provide readers with the depth and breadth they need to bring reality and creativity to their game characters and art. Projects start from the beginning, just as they do in the studio, with the author to guide you step by step through attributes and tools. Projects encompass multiple disciplines to obtain finished, professional results.Although some step by step explanations are given, projects serve more as a guide for readers to complete their own version of the project. Each project comes with support files to validate results Covers one of the most unique challenges for game artists -- sculpting realistic and moveable human characters for a game environment Brings you up to speed on ZBrush, the top digital sculpting tool used to create characters and props in such games as Rock Band and World of Warcraft Covers body style, faces, skin texturing, clothing, shoes, weaponry, and how to put your character into a game environment Provides in-depth techniques and tips for everyone from aspiring digital sculptors to high-level professional ZBrush artists Includes a DVD with supporting files from the projects in the book, as well as videos that illustrate concepts Build the next game-winning action character with ZBrush and this professional guide! Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Essential ZBrush offers a detailed overview of the popular digital sculpting tool as well as a guide to mastering digital sculpting. From the basics of ZBrush to the creation of a number of models that demonstrate hard surface sculpting, realisitic organic sculpting, and environmental sculpting, this book provides readers with the tools to produce high-quality digital sculpts. With this text, the reader will explore the various ZBrush palettes, brushes, and settings, and learn how to customize the interface; discover how to create a base mesh using ZSpheres; find out how to use normal and displacement maps in both 3ds Max and Maya; understand the importance of properly posing your models; explore a variety of production-tested pipelines and workflows; learn how to create and apply materials to your models. Includes companion DVD with more than 3 hours of video tutorials showing how to model and texture the image shown on the front cover! It also contains full-color versions of the images in the book.

Beginner's Guide to ZBrush is an essential resource for newcomers to this powerful software, packed with detailed instructions and tutorials.

Clay sculpting royalty The Shiflett Brothers offer unique insight into their practices and the techniques used to create their stunning fantasy characters.

Sculpt toys and collectibles with modern-day tools, techniques and applications used by today’s top industry professionals Ever since a 12-inch G.I. Joe took toy soldiers to a whole new level by giving them the ability to pose via moveable parts, as well as interchangeable clothing and accessories, the business of creating pop sculpture icons for the mass market was off and running. Superheroes came next, followed by TV show and movie characters, most notably those from Star Wars. Today, action figures exist for sports stars, rock stars, even presidents. With today’s blockbuster success of animated films, action figures and collectibles have become a behemoth industry—with a growing need for skilled artists who can bring these characters to life. So how do you get started? The trio of veteran industry insiders who authored this book take you on an incredibly thorough journey that begins with drawing conceptual drafts and continues through rough sculpting and honing the final product. Along the way, you’ll learn how to research your character, shape casts from a variety of materials including wax and resin, make accessories, articulate characters so that they are poseable, paint them, and ultimately convince an art director to buy and manufacture them. Whether you want to make small PVC toys, collectible statues, or larger high-end collectibles, Pop Sculpture offers step-by-step demos and words of wisdom from the pros.

Taking into account that many of today's digital artists -- particularly 3D character animators -- lack foundational artistic instruction, this book teaches anatomy in a coherent and succinct style. A clear writing style explains how to sculpt an accurate human figure, starting with the skeleton and working out to muscle, fat, and skin. Insightful explanations enable you to quickly and easily create and design characters that can be used in film, game, or print, and allows you to gain a strong understanding of the foundational artistic concepts. Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Brand-new series! Elevate your art skills with definitive advice, tutorials, and inspiration from the world's most talented art masters.