No, I'm not talking light flowing linens paired with leopard print, I'm talking anthurium, banana, and carpetgrass! 

I made this style guide for my Vegetation and Plants course at CGMA. I categorized and reduced images in the Hawaiian Jungle Environment collage to make it more useable. I did leave present low priority plants, but I very quickly realized that those extra icing on the cake plants won't be finished during the course. ZBrush is proving to be a challenge to learn, but so was Maya, Substance Designer/Painter, Unreal, Marmoset...you're probably a 3D artist if you're reading this, so you know exactly what I mean. 

Translation for the non 3D artist among us: As a 3d artist you're constantly learning new software. Picking it up is part of the job description.

My first ever try in Zbrush is down at the very bottom of this post...it's a charming fetal mastodon, fight me.

The latest ZBrush practice is on this Anthurium leaf. I struggled with it more than I expected due to the thinness of the leaf. Thankfully I had help from talented ZBrush artists Julio and Richard. Richard helped me with the trimming problems and Julio helped me with the unholy mess problems. Thanks guys, so much. 

I just watched some of the class Q&A and it looks like I could create this in Maya and import it into the workflow but that seems counterproductive as I need to learn ZBrush regardless.

Leaf in progress.

Leaf 2D study I did to prepare. 

Also, as promised, behold my first ZBrush wizardry!

I have been streaming progress on my acorn, here is my video from yesterday the 3rd https://youtu.be/i1uxwhGfIxM. My apologies for the audio, I improved on the next video. 

Which is from today and is on my YouTube channel! https://youtu.be/0EYWyzFJz3U This day's modeling episode features that ill-behaved feline I love, Ada. Normally she just sleeps in my lap. Today she wanted it to be the cat modeling show, not the 3d modeling show. 

Follow me on Twitch at tea_hot to chat with me or offer hotkey tips :D.

Below is a picture of the end results from today. We're getting there.

Here is the collage board I've been creating for my CGMA coursework. I really got into this tropical Hawaiian jungle idea. My key concept I'll highlight later when I set up the style board which should pull out the textures, plants, and rocks that this is focusing on. The general idea is waterfall surrounded by giant ferns and luscious tropical foliage. I'm planning to reuse the plant assets in a later piece that I'll start this summer.

I'm not going to use all of the plants, I'm looking for the parts that will make up the bones of the scene. Eventually this will be in Unreal.  

I notice that each stream goes a little smoother. I can upload .flv files to YouTube directly so that is what I did here. I believe the highest resolution you can watch in is 720p due to my connection speed for streaming. I'll see if I can find a way to get better resolution, for anyone learning Maya being able to clearly read the menu options as they're located is essential. 

I am learning 3D modeling and this video represents that. I try to include quick keys and commands for anyone who's new to modeling. It would be nice to be able to pay it forward, so many teachers out there on YouTube have helped me grow.

Duchess the cat is my co-pilot for today's short acorn cap modeling in Maya video. She asked that I pass on this important message, "Meow, meow, meow, and meow to to you too."

So far so good. I fixed the 'Maya flickering madly in a panic' issues by showing the entire monitor instead of just the app. I can not get Monitor 2 (aka my larger monitor) to show up in the Twitch app so there is a lot of me leaning towards my laptop to peer at vertices. :D

I recorded the session and realized  afterwards that it saved as .flv format which, Adobe Premiere won't add to a sequence. Thus after some research on how to convert .flv to .mp4 so I can share my student modeling videos with the world, I downloaded VLC Media player. I intended to share that final video tonight, but that isn't happening now.

Say hi to me on Twitch later! tea_hot - Twitch 

I can stream my modeling live! Twitch made it relatively straight forward, and while there is certainly room for improvement....I did it! :) 

I'm not planning a schedule, but if you're into watching or chatting while I practice new and old 3d modeling skills, swing on by. I'm tea_hot. 

Today I worked on adding texture to an acorn cap. (With a heaping helping of learning Twitch's streaming app.) I'm going to model in the scale shapes. 

Here is the model in progress, though I've since made some adjustments to the mushroom stem.

What do you think of the black and white final version, what should I do to improve it?

I worked on this for Intro to Production Modeling at CGMA. Rougher version and concept below.

Concept by Yuliya Belaya.