How to create a digital Picasso
A while back I created a new model using ZBrush as part of an advertisement for Pixologic at Cinefex Magazine. My idea was to create a digital Picasso, having some fun while he was painting with ZBrush. As Picasso’s likeness for a commercial piece is not allowed (because of the copyrights) I changed the final model but kept the main idea. Picasso’s Portrait is now part of a personal project. I’ll try to explain my creation process for this model in this tutorial. I don’t think my techniques are something new, but can be useful and insightful for you.
I hope you enjoy.
Click over the link to download all the shaders and light setup :skin_light.zip
Modeling:
You will find that I started this model as a caricature but then decided to change and make it realistic. In some parts of the video you will see some drastic changes in the head shape that I did after finding some better references of Picasso 
For the modeling process I used some of the most common ways to sculpt using ZBrush. I started this model with few ZSpheres, converted it to mesh and started to move points to get the initial form. After this I created some more loops to help with the definition and flow of the form, then I started to subdivide the mesh to add more and more details. If I needed to correct something I just went back to the lower levels and used the smooth brush to “erase” any problems then I went to the next level up and kept working in the same way until I achieved the desired result. Doing things this way will allow you fix problems in your mesh much faster and with greater precision than trying to correct it at the highest levels. To avoid issues like that is always best to add details slowly, trying to get the most you can from each level of subdivision.
For the wrinkles I used the most common technique: Projection Master with DecoBrush. In this quick example you can see some random lines I created using DecoBrush:
Back to the 3D Edit mode I use Transform > Inflate to fill the areas between these lines with some volume, using a small-medium brush size. To make the edges softer I use Transform > Smooth. I keep using both Inflat and Smooth until I get a result I am satisfied with. Remember that the quality of the details depends of the number of polygons of your mesh since we are working with sculpture, not bump maps:
Textures:
For the texture painting I used SimpleBrush combined with different alphas and Colorized Spray as stroke type. I started with a neutral and very light skin tone and I added different tones with a very light pressure (about 3-4 on RBG Intensity). I slowly added different spots and colors like I was painting in transparent layers of color.
Here you can check the texture without the correct shader and light yet:
Skin Shaders:
For the skin shader I used Sokar’s solution and changed some parameters to try to improve even more on this already amazing shader. This shader is based on ColorizerTrishader and works pretty well in the skin simulation tones, faking some sort of subsurface scattering appearance. If is your intention to mimic this material for your own study using the screen shot below, please pay attention into the diffuse curves . To make this shader to work properly you need to set up very high values to the diffuse curves on channels S2, S3 and S4. This will cause your model to appear very “self illuminated” in the view port but don’t worry because after you hit the render button everything will be fine
After you conclude the creation of the main skin shader using the parameters above (or importing the skin shaders you just downloaded from this page) you need to copy this shader to another channels. To do so, just click over the material you just created and click on “CopyMat” button. Now click on the next material slot and click on “PasteMat”. Repeat this step for the next 4 slots.
Now that you have 5 identical materials you can start to adjust one by one, adding a little bit more of specular in the second one, even more in the third one, fourth one, fifth one. Now you have a library with 5 similar materials different just in the amount of specularity.
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Multiple Shaders (for specular variation):
Now you can start to paint different levels of specularity to make your model more appealing. As you know our facial skin has different levels of specularity. Areas such as nose and forehead are naturally more specular. Areas such lips, eyelids and internal part of the nostrils are naturally humid in different proportions. Have this in mind in order to create your shaders with the right amount of specularity for each of these different areas.
Before starting, click on the first shader slot (or the one with the material with less specularity). Load your model in the viewport, click on Edit. Change the color to white in the picker and go to the texture menu. Change the values for Width and Height to 3000 to have some good resolution. Click on “New”.
Click on “Projection Master” (G on your keyboard) . Choose “Colors” and “Shaded” (is up to you to use “Double Sided” and “Fade” options). Click on “Drop Now” button. Click over the second material slot (some material with more specularity than the basic one). Choose “SimpleBrush” under the Tool menu. Choose the alpha you like more to simulate different levels of specularity for pores. Change the stroke type to “Colorized Spray” and change the flow value for something very low like 0.01. Change the placement value to the maximum (= 1). Change the brush size to something very small. Try 3 or 4. Now you can start to paint more specularity in some areas as described above. You will see the result in real time and using these settings we will surely avoid the “plastic look” because you are simulating different specular levels and also the pores on the skin. Finishing with the first specular level, click on “Projection Master” again and choose “Pickup Now”. Rotate and positioning your model and repeat the last step and before to start to paint, just choose another material.
Eyes:
For the eye material I used the same skin shader just tweaked to look similar to the ToyPlastic shader (very specular). For the texture painting I used Projection Master mode for the main texture painting. Back to the 3D mode I used the radial mirror on Y axis to paint more details and also add some effects with another brushes like BlurBrush and Smudge.
Here you can see the final texture and the final shader, based on the skin shader but much more specular to mimic the ToyPlastic specular level.
Lighting:
My settings for the light are very simple and based on Sokar’s light. I used just one light with the settings in the next image. This light gives a soft look to the image with some nice soft shadows.
::GFXZoOM |source:highend3d.com::
Render:
Here is the result using this simple solution for lighting without any kind of adjustments or fine tuning…
… and here you can see some different results after some adjustments using the built-in tools under the Render menu for color, brightness and contrast in ZBrush:
Don’t worry about the self illuminated look of your model in the viewport. This is caused by the parameters in the skin shader…
… because after you hit the render buttom everything looks nice again 
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Final Touches:
Because ZBrush is an amazing hybrid solution where I can work with 2.5D and 3D all in the same environment, I find the best way to paint hair is using the DecoBrush. With this brush you can achieve some nice effects because of the fluid way that you can paint with it. To get the best results, the use of a good tablet with pen pressure becomes essential. Before to start the hair painting I baked the layers (ctrl+b) and started the long hair painting for the head, beard, eyelashes and eyebrows. To do so I used DecoBrush, Brush 35, DragRect Stroke, draw size = 0, focal shift = 0. You may find it a little difficult to paint precisely using this brush at the beginning but you will quickly understand how it works and will get your best results after some training.
For the final image I used the same model but I had to change Picasso’s likeness to avoid problems with the Copyright since this work was created as an advertisement for Pixologic (Cinefex Magazine #100). Every new model was created using the same skin shader as base, even for clothes, background etc. Using this shader and light as base you can get a pretty decent soft look to any of your creations. Just give it a try and I’m sure that you will enjoy the results.
I hope this tutorial proves to be useful for you guys and thanks to Pixologic for this amazing piece of software!
Krishnamurti “Antropus” Costa
CG Artist
http://www.antropus.com.
::GFXZoOM |source:highend3d.com::
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