LogInMendy BM joined us to share the workflow behind an enhanced part of a medical project, focusing on learning about anatomical structures and sculpting to show how chaotic, but organized, the human body is.
Introduction
Hi everyone! I'm Mendy, I'm from Brazil, and I've been living in Spain for the past seven years. I graduated from Artes Plasticas in Brazil, where I had the opportunity to study and explore traditional art techniques. After finishing my degree, I discovered ZBrush and was immediately intrigued. Since then, I've been studying and experimenting with 3D software and digital creation.
I began my career in the 3D industry by creating modular digital humans for medical education. I always had a deep interest in anatomy, and that experience strongly shaped the way I approach my work today, constantly navigating between science and fantasy.
This project originally grew out of my 3D work in medical learning. Recently, I revisited it from a new perspective, wanting to free myself from the constraints of medical representations. Anatomy Revealed II is a revisited and enhanced version of it, refined through new post-production work in Krita, where I took inspiration from certain aspects of Timofey Razumov's art.
When I began creating the digital human figures back in 2019, my main reference was the Prometheus atlas by Michael Schünke, Erik Schulte, and Udo Schumacher.
Sculpting the Body
The sculpture was created entirely from scratch, starting with the bones. A small warning here, this isn't the best approach! Working from the inside out, as I did, can cause you strong headaches when you later need to adjust proportions. It's generally better to begin with a full-body base that already has the aesthetic and proportions you're aiming for.
Regarding the anatomical systems, this is a modular 3D model. Each system was built to allow the study of anatomical structures by selecting, hiding, or isolating specific 3D pieces. Most internal organs and muscles are hidden, so the intricate network of nerves and arteries in the upper body can be fully appreciated. It might look arbitrary, the arrangement of the cables, but it's not. The human body is a crazy, beautifully organized type of chaos.
"Cables"
The sculpture was created in ZBrush, but the "cables" (as I call the nerves, arteries, and veins) were made in Blender using Bezier curves, in my opinion, the best way to save time working with curves on a 3D production.
The technique is quite simple: first, create a Bezier curve, and add thickness using the Depth setting in the geometry panel. Then, with snapping enabled, move the curve's points into place. I manually positioned the points along their anatomical paths (above, between, and through muscles, tendons, bones, and organs) and later adjusted their individual size to give the "cables" a more natural, organic look.
Conclusion
The main challenge during production was creating a modular model, positioning every muscle and structure correctly in place so they didn't overlap, while keeping a good silhouette. It was quite a puzzle to assemble. Through the process, I learned that 3D work takes time and that careful planning and patience are essential to achieving good results.
My advice to beginning artists is to focus on building solid foundations while studying artistic anatomy. Don't rush the process. Once your fundamentals are strong, you can dive as deep as you want into anatomy without feeling overwhelmed.