Final Sculpt

Screenshots from final sculpt

Conclusion

When modelling with spheres for the gargoyle. I found it difficult to find the shape; as the gargoyle is different from the way a human in made; it took time to find the right position of where the head sits in comparison to the body, especially as it looks different when viewing it as a poly mesh.  After a bit of playing around and comparing it to the reference images; I was happy with the form. I initially forgot the add more details such as the long ears and the skeleton for the wings in the z spheres, but went back and re-modelled more detail into the z-spheres before making it a poly-mesh and started to sculpt. I found the sculpting quite difficult for the face; I did this my masking out the rest of the body, working on only the face. I found it similar to drawing, marking out where the main facial elements such as the eyes, nose and mouth sat on the face, then started to subtract to make the eye sockets, and mouth. When I got the proportions sorted, I made the eyeballs and the teeth in a separate sub-tool, being different surfaces and surface finish. I used the trim adaptive and dynamic to make the gargoyles face more stone looking, this was hard as there were many edges in the face. 

Once the face was done, I could unmask it and work on the rest of the body; this was a lot easier as the general space was already made through z-spheres are it was only a matter of using trim dynamic to give the impression of a stone body. During the whole modelling process, making sure symmetry was on, so that both sides of the gargoyle were the same. 

The next part was the wings, I had modelled the main spine of the wings but forgot to model the smaller bones that ran down from the wings. I fixed this by modelling the z-spheres as a sub tool, and then once made into a poly-mesh, merging it with the original model so that the wings were a bit more detailed. Making the skin for the wings, I got the tutorial from youtube, but was fairly easy; making a plane on a sub-tool and then using the move tool to drape it over the wings; from which then I could lasso out the edges to make the curved surface between. When it came to detailing the wings, I found quite difficult as any texture I wanted to add to it, then made an impression on the other side, and when I smoothed it out, it would ruin the detail I had originally put in. So instead I detailed the wing bones. I also found it hard to smooth off the edges of the wings and where they meet the bones. Once one wing was done, I mirrored it using the deformation tool and merged it with the wing structure. 

I started on the hard surface modelling of the top of a Corinthian capital; I wanted to challenge myself, as the modelling would link to my architecture degree. This started with a plane and then turning poly-frame on; I was able to use z-modeller to make the form of the abacus; this is the flat part on the top. I started with a square; as the capital has two lines of symmetry, I turned this on in preferences; and was able to make the form; and then dividing the surface to get a nice smooth edge. Once I had one of the abacus’ modelled I duplicated the sub-tool and scaled the same form to make a more complex looking form. I took precedence from the internet and had it in the background as a reference image to make sure the proportions were right. 

Modelling the shaft of the column was easy; it was the next step of the detailing that I found difficult. Modelling the decoration on the capital was hard; first was the spiral shapes that sat in the corner, using the sphere and the cube, I merged them together and then flattened the edges, then reconfigured the mesh so that it was modelled as one; which I made the mistake of not doing in the beginning and was wondering why the two shapes still acted as though they were separate when I sculpted on top.  Once the general shape of the curve was there; it was using the dam standard tool to make the grooves in the stone and using flatten to make it look like stone. The sub tool can be duplicated and rescaled to makes more of the decoration around it.  The leaves for the column was hard, once I had one I could mirror the rest. At first I got a flat plane and tried using z modeller to try and model the leaf but was really difficult, so instead like I did with the wings for the gargoyle, I used a flat plane to lasso out a shape and then used the move tool to create the bend in the leaf, but even with the lasso it was really difficult getting a symmetrical smooth shape.  Instead, I laid out duplicates of a circle plane to get the nice curves in the leave, merged them to get the general shape of the leaf.  Decorating the leaf with its spine and the curvature was easier; using the dam standard and the flatten tool was useful in getting the grooves and making sharp edges. When a quarter of the column was modelled, the decoration could then be merged and mirrored using the deformation tool another three times around. 

Saving the project every time a significant change was made is pretty important; I learned this the hard way; sometimes something would go wrong or I would press the wrong button and it ruined the model, but luckily because I had done previous saves it was easy to discard the latest model and work from the save before. 

I really enjoyed the course; it was difficult to get used to the tools at first, and as there are so many ways to model the same things; learning what was easier was interesting; especially knowing rhino, and being able to model the hard surface much quicker, z-brush felt a bit slow. Danny was great in teaching the course, making sure everyone in the course was on the same point, even though we had a few delays in the sessions, I managed to get the sculpt done to a satisfactory level, and am quite proud, having never sculpted in z brush before. 

CONCEPT PAGES

COLUMN PROCESS

GARGOYLE PROCESS

Z BRUSH Week 10

WEEK 10 

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT WITH GUIDANCE

During easter I worked on getting all my concept pages ready for the final model; deciding which shapes and forms to make. I then began working on the gargoyle; which I found quite difficult but finished and was able to work on my capital as a plinth for my gargoyle to sit on. I carried on from where I left off on the capital in week 9; the next part was the hardest as it was the decorative greek leaves that surround the column; again, once I had one leave I could copy and scale the same leaf and then using the mirror tool in deformation; mirror the same set of leaves four times around. 

Z BRUSH Week 9

WEEK 9

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT WITH GUIDANCE

This week was spent using z-modeller to made the corinthian capital for my final model. It was difficult to manipulate into the shape I wanted, but because it has two axis of symmetry; I only have to model one face and the rest is repeated. Making the top of the column was the most difficult; once one part of the top is done; the rest could be copied and scaled to make the detail.