American Midshipman, c.1782

[garyjd]

I'm going to sculpt a figure using techniques from a tutorial course on figure sculpting I'm watching now. Out of all the online courses I've paid for, this one is probably the best in terms how to do it in addition to what to do. I've always loved the pen and ink studies drawn by the late George Woodbridge of soldiers from the American Revolution. It's a simple subject that will lend itself well to this process without getting too complicated dealing with loads of straps, belts, equipment, and weapons. The subject is an American Midshipman from 1782. I also want to utilze some other software to aid in posing so the pose in the drawing is not the only one I come up with.

 

[garyjd]

Here's as brief an explanation as I can come up with to explain how I'm going about creating the clothing for the Midshipman. You start with a BASE MESH is a low-resolution, foundational 3D model created in Zbrush that serves as a starting point for sculpting more detailed features. Over the BASE MESH I create a MASK. The mask in this example is a simple shirt. While I cannot sculpt on a MASKED area I can EXTRACT the masked area and create new geometry and sculpt my shirt on that. Each piece of clothing will be handled this way. It's a great way to protect the other pieces when for whatever reason I have to rework something. This method/technique is what some people may consider a "cheat" or "shortcut". My question is are there not equivalent "cheats" or "shortcuts" that can be used with traditional methods using sheets of rolled out putty over a basic nude figure?

 

[garyjd]

Clothing is not the only thing you can use the MASK brush for. It also comes in handy for making weapons like this naval cutlass.

 

[vince wai]

Gary,

Do you establish the scale of the figure first or do you change the size with the scale master after you completed with the figure?

vince

 

[garyjd]

Vince,

I'll probably do it after I complete the figure. I think it will turn out okay in 1/16 , but not sure about 1/24. The one aspect I find that requires experience is knowing how and where to "bulk up" parts of a figure/bust so they successfully print in especially small scales. Maybe there are some tricks or aspects of Zbrush I'm not properly utilizing to make printing in any scale possible.

Gary

 

[garyjd]

Here's the naval dirk minus all the leatherwork and the loop that fits over top his jacket. The guard is a little thick than in the drawing to ensure it prints to a proper thickness instead of printing too thin.

 

[garyjd]

The first time I posted about this figure mention was made of other software I was going to use to save time where posing is concerned but the ability to make a single figure that could come in a variety of poses. I'll go into more detail in regards to this software once I get the figure to the posing stage. Here are a few stills of some basic poses and a short animation of a walk cycle. the coloring is very simple but helps me to spot some anatomical areas that could be a little wonky and allow me to refine them. You'll also notice his weapons intersect with other parts of his anatomy. There are ways to work around this I just thought it would be neat to show the basic animation and point out that at any point in the video the figure can be paused and a file created from that, sent back into Zbrush for refining and then printed. Not meaning to go down a rabbit hole but the possibilities are pretty incredible.