[Daryl_Wise,_Marina_Anderson]Secrets of Zbrush Experts(pdf){Zzzzz}

Step inside the studios of some of today's top artists, illustrators, designers, and photographers working with digital art tools. "Secrets Of Zbrush Experts: Tips, Techniques, And Insights For Users Of All Abilities" allow students one-on-one access to the creative and technical process of artists who use Zbrush in their work. Organized into chapters according to the artist's area of expertise, each chapter details the professional background of an individual expert and includes techniques, insights, and resources followed by an image gallery highlighting some of their work, both personal and professional. Written as a conversation with the artist about an individual creative process, students will find detailed, step-by-step techniques demonstrated that cover genres including movies/VFX, illustration, character design, figure creation, and concept design. This incredible resource provides inspiration and practical advice for artists and aspiring artists alike.

Publisher: Delmar Cengage Learning (7 November 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1435458974
ISBN-13: 978-1435458970

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

Excellent Book and Concept; Needs Just a Bit More Depth 29 November 2011
By Nicholas -
This book is an excellent companion for an intermediate and up zBrush artist. It goes beyond the usual "instructibles" (for which there are already plenty available, so this doesn't clutter the space) and delves into showing you the styles, techniques, tips and tricks used by other, very experienced zBrush users, all of them veritable experts all their own.

There are the needed how-to steps, but also includes interviews with the profiled artists, including background information that you don't usually see in similar books (such as what their preferential brushes or tools are, what other software they use in conjunction with zBrush, unique perspectives and methodologies, etc.), as well as recommendations that can improve your own workflow.

Excellent does not necessarily mean perfect, however. Part of this book's strength also contributes to its weakness. For example, while it isn't a "how-to manual" type of book, some the how-to's are still so sparse that you're left wanting more. An example is a featured "expert" who uses zBrush for printed art (instead of the usual film or game pipelines), but not much detail is provided on that particular genre and what specifics and "secrets" can be gleamed from the perspective of that medium (as opposed to say, the silver screen or a computer monitor or a TV set for console games).

Another beef is the interviews, which seem contrived and generic, applied to almost all profiled "experts" featured in the book, and quickly beefing it up in a way that most magazines are already doing all the time. Something that should be meatier in this type of book instead of a "one size fits all" type of interview questions. It leaves you wishing there were more insightful "secrets" to be had.

On the other hand, these do provide enough to show you how different people approach and utilize zBrush in their own style, and how you can learn from them and apply to your method. Per8haps, in whetting your appetite enough, this only shows the book is in the right track and pushes the right buttons in addressing what its readers really want. It's just that the reader feels wanting and ends up not quite getting there and needing more.

On top of that, the paper used immediately warps quite a bit even after only the first day's use, which is very odd as it is something I've never seen in other books before. That said, this book is more like a course guide and led me to first suspect this is a "self-published" type of book (in that it isn't from a major publishing house but one of the authors' affiliated company; for which there's absolutely nothing wrong with that), which for me would have been a positive in giving an "insider" type of content that general publishing houses may not have sanctioned.

Overall, these are mostly nitpicks but I highly recommend it for inspiration as well as to add fresh insights (even if sparse in some areas) to your 3D and digital sculpting library

Beautiful book may best suit the moderately experienced ZBrush artist 27 May 2012
By A. Reid -
It probably ought to go without saying that if you know Zbrush inside and out, you're going to get less value from this book than people who are relative newcomers or who have not moved beyond the superficial in their relationship with this product. There are undoubtedly some "Tips, Techniques, and Insights for Users of All Abilities", but there is probably a sweet spot in the middle where readers will get most benefit. True newcomers may be lost by the lack of foundational instruction (no fault of the book that these are missing; this isn't a basic "how to") while true experts will have twigged to some of these approaches themselves. If you hit that sweet spot, this book could be fantastic to help you make masterpieces with this flexible digital sculpting tool. Otherwise, it might fire a desire to reach that sweet spot or, if you've already passed it, tweak a few new ideas.

The book does have inspirational value beyond its instruction. The artwork is gorgeous and gives some idea of what ZBrush can do in the hands of a master, and the interviews with the artists are interesting support material. It does seem like the title might better have reflected this mix if the book were called "Interviews with ZBrush Experts: with tips etc." As it is now, it's altogether too focused on one aspect.