■ ZSketch 345Figure 10.3 These thumb maquettes are 5-minute clay sculptures from life. They are intended to
help you see the gesture inherent in the figure.
In this section we will create a quick gestural sketch of a figure using the ZSketch tools
over a ZSphere armature. This is a great exercise on its own or a fantastic way to generate a
base mesh to sculpt over. Your gesture sculpture in this section will benefit from some experi-
ence with sculpting the human form and some familiarity with anatomy and the rhythms of
the body. The accompanying DVD contains a full video of the following exercise in action.
For more lessons on these topics, see my book ZBrush Digital Sculpting Human Anatomy
(Sybex 2010).Using the same process you learned in Chapter 6, “ZSpheres,” we will now build a
ZSphere skeleton to serve as our armature. This will function exactly like the wire armature
that clay sculptors use to support their work. We will even bend this skeleton into a pose that
carries the correct gesture of the figure.
- Begin by loading ZBrush. You may want to initialize the program if you have other
projects open. Initialize ZBrush by choosing Preferences → Initialize ZBrush. - From the Tool menu, select a ZSphere and draw it on the canvas. Be sure to enter Edit
mode and turn on X Symmetry. - Create a ZSphere chain for the torso, as shown in Figure 10.4.
- Branch off shoulders and hips from this central chain (Figure 10.5). Further extend
these into arms, legs, and a head (Figure 10.6). - The armature is very stiff at this stage. Remember the gesture curves through the
figure we discussed in Chapter 1, “Sculpting, from Traditional to Digital.” We want
to add some spheres to the legs to help create the same S curve shape in this armature
(Figure 10.7). By adding it here in the armature, we make it easier to translate into the
finished sketch (Figure 10.8).