I'm beginning work on the canopy cards for my banyan tree. Banyan trees are members of the huge plant family Ficus. All sorts exist, but because I was focusing on Hawaii I tried to find a more Pacific Island focused version. When I was in Hawaii, I don't remember seeing the sprawling acre size Banyans of India. I do remember seeing some like the Pacific Banyan, or Ficus prolixa, with tons of roots and more vertical bearing. So that's where I'm focusing. If you want to get lost in the world of ficus/figs/stranglers/banyans, I highly recommend: Ficus - FigWeb, Stranglers & Banyans (archive.org), Ficus benghalensis - Wikipedia and iNaturalist.
I modeled this branch base in ZBrush. The next step will be making the leaf tips. I plan to color in Substance Painter rather than polypaint in ZBrush, so I'm focusing on creating effective maps. My goal is to make the branch as reusable as possible by giving some interest from every angle. It is still rough but I find it more efficient if I move on, then go back and polish after I have the other aspects modeled.
