Sculpting the character and environment in Zbrush

 Having the previous experience with the vehicle and knowing how much having the 3d model helped me, I decided to do the same thing for this term's projects. Since then, I have gotten way more experienced with using Zbrush, so I decided to work with it instead of 3ds Max. 

By doing this, I had the opportunity to work and the front and back views at the same time, which spared me a bunch of time and effort. I also managed to wrap up the storyline, making my bat-like character a creature that escaped hell and came here on Earth, where is being hunted by a skilled monster hunter. Having this information, I was able to incorporate gameplay elements into my environment, having places to rappel and swing from, the protagonist being equipped with a grapple. 

The original scale of my sculpt was quite small, and after some feedback from my professors, I decided to triple it in size, having more space for my creature to fly around through.

Taking what I already had, I made a blueprint of the extended environment and started modifying it in Zbrush. I also decided to add run-down bridges and intact ones as well as a traversal element. Storywise, those elements have found their place in the cave way before it was inhabited by the creature, being built by humans, the cave being a shortcut through the mountains. The crystals that I added inside of the rock formation are actually the source of energy that is making the creature strong enough to resist being pulled back into hell. destroying them resulting in its disappearance. As in where it actually lives, it has used the already existing holes in the rocks to build nests. 

Sculpting the creature was an intuitive process. I have used the same approaches as for the characters that I have made for my 3d programming class. I started with a block out made up of primitive shapes, dynameshed everything together, and then started sculpting. 

After some further feedback, I decided to alter its posture, making it lean more towards the front for a scarier look. At this stage, I have also fixed the smiling mouth, added some teeth, and lowered the brow bones to give it a scarier look.

After some more time sculpting while looking at actual references from real-life creatures, I decided to end this stage and move on to the photo bashing. 

If I'm being honest, I am truly happy with how these turned out, and I can't wait to move on with the next stages. Having the skills to do this in Zbrush has sped up the process considerably, and as a future artist, it is really important that I use everything that I have learned towards creating my projects.