Hello everyone, here I will explain the few steps that were involved in the making of Batman Desertstorm for the Comicon Challenge ‘09.
First I made the base mesh for all the parts separately. I usually make the head, torso and hands as one basemesh, but sculpting hard surface means subdivision levels go really high, so I decided to divide and sculpt all the parts separate, which is really helpful for focusing on details and also keeps some RAM of the system free.
I imported all the base mesh to ZBrush and one by one started sculpting on them. I went for the head first and making this a warm-up excercise, when I was all set, I started adding details and made sure this is going to be the most iconic part of the model. I wanted the head to be more like the one from darknight. I also do a bit of coloring to the model to remove the flat look of the high-poly model.
This was my first try with hard surface in ZBrush, usually I would go and retopo in max, but I had to try the ZBrush way. I was pretty happy with the head and started moving towards the torso where things were more interesting and my sculpting methods really proved well. I always go ahead and take the model to 8th division in the beginning; this makes the model really smooth like clay, making the brushes fine cuts/trims.
I use standard, move and clay brush with combinations of lazy mouse to make a rough sculpt. I keep changing the position of lights in ZBrush and checking renders and how the shapes cast self shadows. The good thing in ZBrush is if I don’t like a shape I can always change it within minutes.
Once I am happy with the shapes and volumes, I go ahead and start refining the surface. I use pinch and flatten brush a lot for this stage. At this stage I avoid making big changes since it can spoil the cleanliness of the model. If needed, I use the smooth brush to clean the area and re-sculpt it.
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