Summary of the Semester

Hi! My name is Nicole Jackson and I am a Modeler, Texture Artist and Rigger.

My main goals for the semester were to learn zBrush and to get one or two projects that I could put in my portfolio.

I decided that for my first project I would sculpt a carnivorous plant. I was inspired by the following reference image.

I then created my own concept art:

Once I had the concept art, it was time to start sculpting in zBrush. The first part I worked on was the pot. I wanted it to look like an old and very damaged clay pot.

I then used zspheres to create an armature for the plant's stem and head and began to sculpt in detail.

Then I created low poly meshes in Maya for the leaves and then posed and arranged them in zBrush until I was happy with the placement. 

Then I smoothed the leaves and began adding detail to them. I also added some waviness to the leaves in order to make them look more interesting and started attaching them to the stem. I also worked on adding roots to the plant. I wanted the plants to be thick like those of an orchid. They were created using zspheres.

Once I was finished adding detail to the sculpt, I used zBrush's retopology tools to retopologize it. I wasn't too worried about the topology since the mesh was never meant to be animated but I wanted it dense enough that it could hold enough of the detail. The topology was a little dense around the edges of the leaves and there are areas were the topology wasn't as good as it could be but, for the most part, I was happy with it.

The next step was to create UVs so that it could be textured. I also used a checkerboard pattern texture to test the UVs for distortion and proper resolution.

Once the UVs were finished it was time to texture. I decided to use Substance Painter to make the textures. The following was the final results:

Carnivorous Plant by nicolej on Sketchfab

I also started working on another project: a Therizinosaurus. I came across a piece of concept art of a Therizinosaurus and I though it would be fun to sculpt in zBrush. 

To make it easier to sculpt, I created some orthographics based on the concept art as well as a skeleton reference of the therizinosaurus.

I will not be able to finish this project by the end of the semester but I will continue to work on it and hopefully it will turn out good enough to put in my portfolio. 

I didn't get as much done as I wanted to this semester but I am a LOT more comfortable working with zBrush and I have at least one project that I can use in my portfolio so I'm happy.