Step one: Basics

My professor for Advanced Modeling has pretty much told me I shouldn't show up to class and instead use my time to work on some really awesome model to add to my portfolio. Alright, I said, I'll do it. He suggested I model a dragon and spend a heck of a lot of time putting some major detail into it. So that will be one of my focuses for the next I-don't-know-how-long. I'll be doing it almost entirely in ZBrush, and I figure, why not keep a little progress diary here on mah blog?

So here's the first post and the first step. I've got a couple of screenshots here showing what I have so far.



This here's a rock. Yup, look and marvel at the mound of hardened earth. This will serve as the setting for my Dragon. What I have here currently is really just an idea. I think I'll probably end up adjusting it as the model starts taking form. For now it's just a mound. Beneath this will be a podium. I plan on having a model I could theoretically send somewhere to be made into a game piece.



This is really the interesting part of the piece. This is called an armature. Sculptors who use clay have wire armatures inside the clay, which helps hold the clay together and makes the sculpting process faster and easier. The same goes for what I'm doing. This armature is still very much editable. I can adjust the proportions and make a very decent representation of a dragon's skeleton. Later, I'll be able to digitally add my "clay" onto it so that I can begin to sculpt my dragon. This armature will also help when I set about posing the dragon on the rock. I can move the legs and the necks around all I want.

Oh yeah, and the dragon will have 3 heads. I plan on making them all unique as well.