Relaxed Pose that I used for a starting point for a rig.
a few rig tests to try out some hand expressions.
My Step 1: Blocking
I made some chunky blocks that smooth mesh preview nicely since that is close to the behavior of how they'll Sub-Divide in Zbrush
Step 1 (con't): The pivot position and orientation parented like this makes a kind of ol'school rig that gets my proportions into a relaxed pose.
Step 1 (con't): I wouldn't use this for any kind of animation, but it's modular enough that I get a lot of use out of it in situations like these.
Step 1 (con't): Doing this makes it super easy to get a nice curve for a starting off point .
Step 2 - Sculpt!
This part I don't have a lot of WIP, but I had to talk out my process a lot. What kept coming up here was to not work in to high of a subdivision before taking it as far as you could in a lower res.
Block=> DynaMesh=> ZRemesher
Step 2 (con't) - Sculpt!
A quick BPR Turnaround in Zbrush. Just to give an idea of where I abandoned it before moving on to retopology
Step 3 - Re-topo
Here are various ways I have used shortcuts for re-topo. There's value in using any of these tools, but it needs to deform with a rig. These examples are why I don't like giving up control when I plan to animate. Also, I was curious. 😅
Step 4 - Materials
I don't have WIP here either, but I thought I could pull back the curtain a little on how I used basic techniques I teach beginners in Substance Painter. If you give finesse in any of these steps, you should still get a decent result.
Step 4 - Materials
I had fun getting some of my personal details on the materials like my tattoo and birth marks.
Stage 5 - Rigging!
I was very excited about this part since I don't do a lot of rigging. Using the same parent/child relationship principles from before I made this simple rig to make some quick poses. This was FUN!
🖐️ (My) Hand Study – Anatomy Focus for First-Time Character Artists
Every quarter in my Intro to Maya class (11-week term), I have at least one student eager to take on a full character for their first solo project. While our curriculum introduces essential topics like topology, UV unwrapping (and how UVs relate to the mesh), basic materials, baking, and rendering—we don't have the time to dive into advanced anatomy, retopology, or rigging at this level.
To help bridge that gap while keeping projects manageable and portfolio-ready, I often recommend focusing on a smaller anatomy study. Hands are a proper challenge and give some great practice while keeping them on track for the kind of work they are interested in doing. I've noticed when students jump into characters, hands are always the most overlooked part of their models. This is the kind of project I recommend to students looking to build strong portfolio pieces while developing essential skills in manageable steps.
This piece started as a classroom demo to show how to block out a hand using parent/child relationships in Maya. I brought the base into ZBrush for sculpting and ended up having such a great time, I finished it! I used my own hand as reference throughout.
Modeling: Blocked in Maya
Sculpting: ZBrush
Texturing: Substance Painter (with some fun nail color masks!)
Rendering: Sketchfab
Students will be introduced to Unreal in the next course of our track.
