Education

Welcome to Organic Modeling

Organic Modeling is our introduction to digital sculpture in ZBrush.

Throughout the semester, we’ll learn the software alongside the fundamentals of sculpture, gradually moving from short exercises and studies into larger finished work.

The goal is to become comfortable enough with the tools that we can spend more of our time thinking about the sculpture itself.

How the Class Is Structured

The course is built around three main phases:

• Fundamentals - short exercises and studies that introduce ZBrush while building sculptural fundamentals.
• Food Time - our first complete piece, where those smaller lessons begin working together.
• Alien Bust - the final major project, where we apply what we’ve learned to character design and a more complex sculpt.

Early in the semester, a lot of the decisions around how things are made will be very specific so we can focus on the tools and ideas being introduced.

As the semester progresses, I’ll gradually pull back and you’ll become more autonomous.

By the time we reach the Alien Bust, you should be able to take a creative brief, work within its constraints, and make more of those decisions on your own.

Fundamentals

The first part of the semester is about getting comfortable sculpting.

We’ll work through a series of simple subjects that let us focus on one or two ideas at a time.

A snowman, for example, gives us a reason to learn how to work with multiple SubTools and manipulate them with the Gizmo without also worrying about anatomy, complex reference, or detail.

The subjects will become more complex as you build a stronger understanding of both the software and the principles of digital sculpting.

Food Time

Food Time is our first complete digitally sculpted illustrative piece.

This is where we begin combining more of what we’ve learned into one sculpt and start thinking about how different forms and materials work together.

It gives us a chance to explore more complexity without jumping straight into character work.

Alien Bust

We’ll spend the semester working toward the skills needed to design, sculpt, and complete an Alien Bust.

By this point, the basic sculpting workflow should feel more familiar, which gives us more room to focus on character design, anatomy, and hard-surface elements within ZBrush.

The Digital Sketchbook

Alongside the larger work, you’ll keep a Digital Sketchbook throughout the semester.

This is where you’ll get more reps in through quick studies, experiments, reference studies, and smaller sculpts.

We’ll stop around the middle of the semester for a sketchbook review and revisit it again at the end.

Quick Sculpting

We’ll also make time for occasional quick sculpting.

Some sessions may only take an hour. Others may take up most of a studio day.

There are a lot of benefits to quick sculpting, but ultimately it helps you become less dependent on step-by-step demonstrations, get better at sculpting what you see, and stop treating every mark like it has to be precious.

Alien Bust

This is about more than just learning what buttons to press in Maxon ZBrush.

For this project, you’ll design and sculpt an original alien bust while developing a stronger understanding of form, anatomy, design, and the core tools we’ll use throughout the class.

We’ll also use the project to begin building a process for taking an idea all the way to a finished 3D digital sculpture.

What We’re Trying to Achieve

By the end of the project, your alien bust should demonstrate:

• Clear primary, secondary, and tertiary forms
• Readable anatomy and a strong silhouette
• Intentional shape language, personality, and species influence
• Developed color and material
• A finished presentation

You’ll leave the project with a process you can continue to reuse and refine as the work in this class becomes more complex.

What Are We Making?

A bust is a sculpture that focuses on a character’s head, neck, shoulders, and upper chest.

Feel free to explore unusual anatomy, proportions, appendages, horns, fins, eyes, jaws, and other features. Just make sure the alien itself remains the focus of the design.

Xenobiology

Xenobiology is the study of life that does not originate from Earth.

Unfortunately for us, we don’t have any aliens to study. So we’re starting with life on Earth!

• Nature has already given us an enormous library of anatomy, patterns, materials, proportions, movement, and behavior.
• We don’t want to just slap an animal head onto a humanoid body and call it an alien.
• We’re going to study real biology, pull from what makes it interesting, and use that as the foundation for something new.

Your Xenobiology Brief

Each of you will receive three ingredients:

Generate Your Alien

Now let’s find out what you’re working with!

Use the Xenobiology Generator to generate your design brief.

Screenshot and save your result. It will become the starting point for your Alien Bust and will be included on your reference board.

The Design Problem

The generator gives you creative constraints.

Your job is to figure out how those ideas can belong to the same character.

Two artists in this class could receive similar briefs and create completely different aliens. That’s okay!

The brief gives you creative constraints, but it’s up to each of you to provide a creative interpretation.

Example - Valiar

Species: Lionfish
Personality: Playful
Shape Language: Square-Dominant

There is already some tension there.

• Lionfish are sharp, thin, and delicate.
• Square forms are broad and sturdy.
• And a venomous fish does not immediately feel playful.

Perfect!

Those contradictions give me something to creatively solve.

One Stage At A Time

We will work on this in stages, each one building on the last. Here's the workflow and some brief notes regarding what I'll be looking for as y'all make progress.

Before we start sculpting, we first need to learn everything we need to about our design brief.

That starts with reference.

“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” - Isaac Netwon

Creating on the Shoulders of Giants

I’m a huge fan of this quote because Newton is acknowledging that his discoveries were possible because he could build on the knowledge and accomplishments of those who came before him.

The same is true for us as artists.

We do not want to create in a vacuum. We want to take advantage of centuries of observation, anatomy, craftsmanship, engineering, design, storytelling, and visual culture.

As artists, we are not only standing on the shoulders of giants.

We are creating on them.

Reference gives us access to that larger body of knowledge and helps us make stronger, more informed decisions.

In Defense of Reference

Even our most fictional ideas are built from things that already exist.

• A creature may be informed by animal anatomy.
• Armor may borrow from historical clothing or industrial machinery.
• A silhouette may be inspired by architecture, tools, plants, or vehicles.
• A personality may be reinforced through proportion, posture, and shape language.

Reference allows us to study those influences and use them intentionally.

Reference Is Part of the Creative Process

Using reference does not make you less creative.

It gives you information about things like:

• Construction
• Proportion
• Function
• Material
• Anatomy
• Design

Unless you are doing a master study, the goal is not to find one image and copy it.

We want to gather enough information to understand the subject, then use that understanding to make decisions of our own.

Reference gives you information. You still have to decide what to do with it.

Draw a Bike!

Let’s do a quick exercise.

1. Grab a piece of paper and a pencil.
2. Without looking anything up, draw a bicycle entirely from memory.
3. Give yourself a few minutes. Don’t overthink it.

What Did You Draw?

Most people start with two circles.

Then maybe a frame, a seat, handlebars, pedals, and a chain.

The drawing probably reads as a bike.

But does it actually explain how a bike is built?

Look Again

Now compare your drawing to an actual bicycle.

Ask yourself:

• Where do the pedals sit in relation to the wheels?
• How does the frame connect to the fork?
• How does the chain reach the rear wheel?
• Where do the handlebars actually attach?
• Are the wheels, seat, and frame proportioned correctly?
• How do all of those parts connect and support each other?

Most of us remember the idea of a bike much better than we remember its construction.

Memory Gives Us Symbols

Our memory simplifies things into just enough information for recognition.

For a bike, that might be:

• Two wheels + frame + seat + handlebars = bike

That is enough to communicate the idea, but not enough to recreate one accurately.

The same thing happens when we sculpt a face, hand, creature, piece of clothing, or suit of armor.

We may recognize the subject without actually understanding how it is built.

Reference Gives Us Structure

A recognizable object and a believable object are not always the same thing.

To recreate something convincingly, we need to understand:

• Form
• Volume
• Proportion
• Construction
• Function
• Connection

Memory gives us the symbol and reference helps us understand the structure.

Three Types of Reference

For this class, we are going to organize our reference into three broad categories:

Subject Reference

What are we creating and how is it built?

Subject reference helps us understand the thing itself.

Look for information about:

• Anatomy
• Proportions
• Silhouette
• Construction
• Behavior
• Functional features
• Variations within the subject

For the Alien Bust, this begins with your assigned species.

If I am creating an alien inspired by a lionfish, I first need to understand what makes a lionfish a lionfish.

Design Reference

What should it look like, feel like, and communicate?

Design reference helps us explore how we want to interpret the subject.

This can include:

• Shape language
• Proportions
• Silhouette
• Personality
• Expression
• Exaggeration
• Stylization
• Comparable characters
• Creature designs

Design reference does not have to match your subject.

A lionfish inspired alien might use one character as reference for proportions, another for personality, and a completely different creature for facial structure.

The important question is:

• What are you looking at this reference for?

Surface Reference

What is it made of and how does that material behave?

Surface reference helps us understand the smaller visual information sitting on top of our larger forms.

Look for:

• Skin
• Scales
• Fur
• Feathers
• Shell
• Wrinkles and folds
• Surface patterns
• Eyes and mouths
• Teeth and claws
• Fins, horns, and other structures
• Color variation
• Material transitions

A photograph of the whole animal helps us understand its overall design.

A close-up helps us understand what it is actually made of.

The Categories Will Overlap

That is okay!

A single image might teach you about anatomy, design, and surface at the same time.

The categories are simply a way to make sure we are gathering reference for different kinds of questions instead of collecting images at random.

Applying This to the Alien Bust

Your reference board is not something you make after the design is finished.

It is part of how you find the design.

For your Alien Bust, your board should help you understand:

• What makes your species recognizable?
• Which characteristics are worth carrying into the alien?
• What does the species look like up close?
• What characters can help you explore personality and shape language?
• How have other artists solved similar creature-design problems?

The goal is not to know exactly what your alien looks like yet.

The goal is to gather enough useful information that you can begin making informed decisions.

Next, we’ll put that into practice by building the reference board for Valiar.

ZBrush Fundamentals

Learn navigation, DynaMesh, and the essential sculpting brushes (Move, Clay Buildup, Dam Standard). These are the tools you will use for the rest of the project.

What is a Block-in?

In this class, the block-in is the first major deliverable for each project.

It gives us a clear understanding of what you are creating and establishes a strong foundation before you begin refining smaller forms or adding detail.

The Three Pillars of a Block-in

Our block-ins are built around three pillars that should remain top of mind as we develop our alien bust: Form, Design, and Coverage.

We will define each of the pillars as follows:

Form

• Establish clear volumes, plane changes, and structural relationships. The sculpture should feel solid, understandable, and read in the round before smaller forms or surface details are introduced.

Design

• Make intentional decisions about the character’s proportions, silhouette, shape play. These choices should communicate the character’s personality, function, and visual direction.

Coverage

• Represent every major element of the project in 3D, typically as its own subtool. Nothing important should exist only in the concept art or be left unresolved.

Forms

The first priority of the block-in is establishing the sculpture’s primary forms.

Primary forms are the largest volumes that make up the character, such as the head, neck, shoulders, and torso. These forms establish the physical structure of the sculpture and create the foundation for everything that follows.

At this stage, you should be asking:

• Are the major volumes clear and easy to read?
• Are the plane changes intentional and clearly defined?
• Are the major masses connecting naturally?
• Does the surface feel controlled, without severe lumps or wobbles?
• Does the sculpture read clearly from multiple angles?

Smaller forms and surface details cannot correct weak underlying structure. Adding detail too early may feel productive, but it often distracts from larger sculptural problems.

A strong block-in should communicate clear volume and structure without relying on pores, wrinkles, textures, or other surface details.

Design

The second pillar of the block-in is design.

Once the primary forms are established, the character’s proportions, silhouette, and shape play should work together to communicate a clear visual direction. These choices determine how the character looks, feels, and reads before any smaller details are added.

At this stage, you should be asking:

• How many heads tall is my character?
• Does the silhouette read clearly from a distance?
• Is there a clear relationship between large, medium, and small shapes?
• Are the shapes varied, or do they feel repetitive?
• Does the design have a clear visual rhythm?
• Do the shapes communicate the character’s personality and function?
• Does the design remain readable from multiple angles?

These are just a few elements of design that you’ll need to keep top of mind as you continue producing more 3D art.

Coverage

The third pillar of the block-in is representing the complete project.

Every major element shown in the design should have a 3D representation. For a character, this may include the head, body, clothing, armor, hair, accessories, props, and any other element that affects the final design.

These elements do not need to be polished, but they should be present and developed enough to communicate their scale, placement, and relationship to the rest of the character.

At this stage, you should be asking:

• Is every major element of the design represented?
• Are any important pieces still missing?
• Does each element have the correct scale and placement?
• Do the pieces work together as a complete character?
• Are overlapping forms and connections clearly established?
• Is each major element named and organized in your Ztool?
• Does the block-in accurately communicate the scope of the project?

A block-in with strong forms and design can still be incomplete if major elements are missing. Including the full design allows us to evaluate the character as a whole and identify problems before moving into refinement.

Coverage also helps establish the scope of the project. Once every major element is represented, you can better understand how many pieces must be refined, how they should be organized, and where your time will need to be spent.

Memento Mori

“remember that you must die”

The phrase has appeared throughout art and history as a reminder of mortality and the inevitability of death. Skulls became one of the most recognizable symbols of that idea, appearing in paintings, sculpture, religious works, and anatomical studies across centuries.

For us, the skull is more than a symbol. It is the structure underneath the face and one of the most important foundations for understanding the human head.

Edwin Smith Papyrus

Our study of the skull goes back thousands of years.

The Edwin Smith Papyrus is one of the oldest known surgical texts, surviving as a copy from around 1600 BCE. It documents 48 cases of physical trauma and works systematically from injuries of the head downward through the body.

What makes it especially interesting is how familiar the process feels. Each case moves through examination, diagnosis, and treatment.

Long before modern anatomy, people were already observing the body, documenting what they saw, and trying to understand the relationship between its structure and function.

Leonardo Da Vinci

By the late 1400s, Leonardo da Vinci was taking that observation much further.

Leonardo dissected and sectioned human skulls to better understand their internal structure. Rather than treating the skull only as an exterior object, he cut through it and drew what was inside, using sections and measurable planes to investigate how its different structures related to one another.

He was especially interested in the brain, the pathways of the sensory nerves, and where human perception might originate. Some of his ideas were ultimately incorrect, but the way he approached the problem is still incredibly relevant to us as artists.

He observed, measured, dissected, and drew what was actually there.

Two Major Parts of the Skull

Before we start naming every individual bone, it helps to simplify the skull into two major masses: the neurocranium and the splanchnocranium..

Neurocranium

We can also refer to the neurocranium, as the brainbox. It makes up the large upper and back portion of the skull and encases the brain.

Splanchnocranium

Also known as the face of the human head. It includes the structures that form the eye sockets, nose, cheekbones, and jaws.

Primitive Shapes of the Head

It is important to understand how the brainbox and face fit together before worrying about individual bones. We can simplify both into basic primitives to make that relationship easier to see.

The face is not a flat mask sitting on the front of a ball. It is its own volume that projects forward from the neurocranium and continues underneath it.

As you rotate the model, pay attention to the size of each mass, where they overlap, and how one transitions into the other. Look at what happens to the silhouette from the front, side, three-quarter, top, and bottom views.

This simplified relationship gives us something much easier to understand and remember before we begin breaking the skull into its individual bones.