stan.at

So this is a little bit of a step ahead, but I need a skull reference for another project and as I couldn´t find one I was really happy with, so I decided to do one myself. Maybe I will also include it into the final daemon render. Daemons and Skulls seems like a perfect fit.

So I start this one rightaway in Zbrush and will show the retopologize workflow.
Start with one of Zbrushs regular primitives, the cube. But as you can see, it hasn´t got nice topology.

The starshaped face in front is very hard to edit, so let´s get rid of it.
Go to Tool/Unified Skin and set Resolution and Skin Smootheness to the lowest possible value. Click Make Unified Skin and you will get a perfect cube stored in your current tools.

Click it and you should see this.

I´ve seen this workflow on a Zbrush tutorial DVD and used it ever since for simple objects. (I will have to check for the credit on this and place it here)

Use the standard and smooth brush to get in the basic shape of a skull.

Not lookin like a skull at all, you might say. And right you are, but with a little bit of imagination you see the shape. Use reference here and try to block the basic form. But there´s only so far you can get with this topology, so next we will need to up the polycount in the face area, trying to get the meshflow as close as possible to the desired shape.

Use the Marquee Tool to select areas of the mesh  and use Tool/Geometry/Edge Loop to add polygons around the borders of your selected areas. (set the Marquee Tool to Lasso mode for better control) The Marquee Tool is started by pressing Ctrl-Shift-M, and inverted by releasing Shift while dragging.

Proceed and you should get sthg like this:

getting closer…

Back to the demon head again.
I spent some time in Zbrush, working on the head and the horns and also added vertex coloring

click the image for a higher resolution version.

will add further text later…too tired now.

So after a weekend of fun, it´s back to tedious work… No, not really. It´s Hulk time again.

By now he is rigged and I´m testing the pose for him.I´m gonna take my time here. Has to be static-dynamic. And that´s as problematic as it sounds. So I choose a moment, where he already has broken through the wall and is roaring at his enemies. That short moment of calmness before the storm… well as calm as 2000 pounds of testosterone can get…

Have a look.

I know, the rigging is ugly, but it´s ok for getting the shape right.

New and better pose.. way better. Also it should be easier to realize, because the statue can rest on its left arm.