Model and Sculpt Stylized 3d Creatures in Maya and ZBrush

Begin by sculpting the torso, arms, and hands, guided by anatomy and light stylisation, with a brief section on detail and a small armor segment.

sculpt the torso by establishing the rib cage and abs, refining obliques, pec insertion, trapezius, lat, and serratus with dynamic planes at low subdivision levels.

Study elbow anatomy, biceps, triceps, and forearm muscles to build stylized arms, align with deltoids and torso, and emphasize mass, silhouette, and dynamic form.

Duplicate arms and torso, dynamesh into one piece, sculpt the deltoid-to-body transition with clay build-up, emphasize serratus and neck muscles, and merge jaw to neck to avoid seams.

Block in the hands, sculpt knuckles and fingers, and balance performance with refinement using projection, subdivision, and dynamesh, while duplicating meshes and projecting for consistency.

Duplicate and rotate fingers, restore symmetry, and adjust scale to build a solid hand base before sculpting details, integrating with the character in Maya and ZBrush.

Refine stylized hands in Maya and ZBrush using Dynamesh, clay buildup, and the move brush to sculpt fingers, knuckles, tendons, and wrists, testing against the arm for a natural bend.

Block the tail by shaping large side and front scales, duplicate and shrink the top piece to tile the seam, refining with standard brush, clay buildup, and belt integration.

Build a basic armor belt using a cylinder and ring in Maya and ZBrush, refine with polish and simple topology, and prepare for texturing and bakes in the next module.

Add scales, wings, and hand wraps to your character to enhance the stylized creature look. Face the tools of Maya and 3D Coat to explore options and finalize the model.

Enhance the creature by sculpting new tail scales and spikes, refining its silhouette with low rez adjustments, dynamesh polish, and mirrored duplicates to establish a bold, textured form.

Learn to sculpt stylized 3d wings in Maya and ZBrush by using dynamesh, inflate, symmetry, a mask, rotate, and clay build up to forge bone-like silhouettes, joints, and spiky details.

Learn to sculpt hand wraps around a stylized creature by masking, extracting, and inflating high-res mesh sections, then merge, polish with auto groups and poly groups, and prepare for decimation.

Learn to decimate a high-resolution dragon model to a lower polygon count using decimation master, preserving topology and key features like wings and tail spikes for Maya or 3D code.

Retopology base demonstrates reducing a high-poly mesh to about 15k for games using maya quad draw, live surface, and mirroring, while preserving silhouette and anatomical detail.

Master retopology in Maya and ZBrush by building clean mirrored topology from abdomen to tail, optimizing loops for bending, anatomy accuracy, and riggable shoulders and hands.

Master hand retopology in Maya and ZBrush by creating a new hand mesh, adding finger loops and knuckles, and refining loops to preserve silhouette and the wrist using quad draw.

Watch a retopo timelapse of a stylized hand, building quad-based finger cylinders with loops around knuckles and maintaining clean topology using Maya tools.

Explore head retopology using Maya tools or 3D-Coat, importing reference mesh, enabling symmetry, and building clean quad loops around the eye, nose, and jaw.

Retopologize a stylized creature head in Maya and ZBrush by forming clean quad topology from forehead to nose, and adding upper and lower jaws with teeth for painting and animation.

Refine the bottom jaw and back seam in Maya, preserving quad loops for clean topology, then quickly set up eyes and a simple tongue with basic UVs and extrusion.

Unwrap and separate the head for UV mapping in Maya and ZBrush, isolating interior, teeth, and spikes to build a clean UV layout with planar maps and strategic seams.

Chop the model into parts, create seams and edge loops, and unfold uvs to map the wings, arms, hands, and torso, optimizing texture resolution.

Organize the model by packing the head, torso, tail, arms, and wings into quadrants to maximize texture space and final resolution.