This course explores the Art of Character Creation using the powerful digital sculpting program ZBRUSH. Students will learn the ins and outs of the program to create their own 3d characters from scratch. Sculpting, detailing, Polypainting, rendering and compositing in Photoshop will all be covered. The class will encourage learning while doing as I find it’s the best way to learn a new art. Zbrush is a unique program that allows users to manipulate 3D shapes in a quick fashion without having to model polygons like other 3D programs such as Maya. In effect you are using “digital clay” in Zbrush to push and pull primitive forms into fantastic creatures and characters. Zbrush is the perfect tool for traditional artists to transition to artmaking in the digital realm. Zbrush is an extremely feature-rich piece of software, with a unique interface unlike any other computer graphics program. While the interface may seem quite intimidating at first, rest assured we will explore the interface together and learn all the most important tools to get started and having fun with organic character creation! Some benefits of using Zbrush for Character and Creature Design over other computer design software: -The ability to quickly create concepts as if you were manipulating real clay -Great for rough character concepts or more finished painted renders -Transition is much smoother from practical to digital art using Zbrush because it feels like you are using an artistic tool rather than a technical tool – Zbrush offers such a deep diverse toolset, you can create stylized cartoon-like characters, realistic animals and humans! The possibilities are endless. You can use it for everything from organic characters to hard surface robots and props! -Once you learn the interface and tools, you can simply sculpt without worrying as much about technical aspects like polygons, faces, points and edges like other traditional polygon modelling programs

Undergrad Film & TV (Undergraduate)
3 credits – 15 Weeks