■ The Brush Menu 47In the following image, we have a sphere with a wavy line
down the center. Notice how the bounce of light is enhanced by
the directionality of the rake groves. This effect creates a tidy
path for light to travel down and within.
This idea of strokes and patterns manipulating light patterns
is not a new one and in fact has been utilized by oil painters
on their canvases for centuries. Strokes are an essential part of
sculpture and drawing, and you should pay attention to them.
Whether we intend it or not, we are sending a message with the
quality of our strokes.
Here you see the same form with two different stroke pat-
terns. Notice how the light is perceived differently. Also notice
how your eye follows the direction of the strokes.Directionality is obviously the goal here. Observe your
face in the mirror. Notice how there is a natural tension
to the surface of your skin as it is stretched over fat, mus-
cles, and bones. There is a directionality to your pores,
which in turn are affected by gravity and such.
If you are aware of these rules, you can employ them
in your sculpture and have light travel over your forms.
Of course, if you use this method, avoid smoothing
your model completely or removing all the Rake tool
markings. Such markings lend an energy to the sculpture.
By utilizing fi ner rakes or smaller diameters, you can defi ne the forms more precisely, eventually
reaching a point where you’re defi ning the most minute surface patterns of the skin. Rakes were
not the only tool and brush utilized to create our fi nal image, but they were the foundation.The Polish, Planar, and Trim Brushes
ZBrush now comes with a variety of tools for creating hard-surface models. While these
brushes will not be used heavily until Chapter 10, “ZSketch and Hard-Surface Brushing,”
I would like to introduce them here. These brushes are new developments for ZBrush that
began in version 3.5 and have been in constant development through to version 4.
The Polish, Planar, and Trim brushes are exceptional for creating complex man-made
shapes like armor and weapons. The brushes can also be useful for doing what is called pla-
nar analysis. Planar analysis is where a complex organic shape is broken into its most basic
planes to help analyze and understand the surface and how to sculpt or draw it. It’s like taking
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