How to Create a Scene of a Dentist Treating a Whimsical Dragon
Julio Benavides talked about the process behind the The Dentist Dragon project, sharing that he created it as a ZBrush 2026 Beta Tester and detailing how the dentist, the dragon, and the chair were sculpted.
Introduction
Hello community. My name is Julio Benavides, also known as benavidmark. I'm sharing a little about the project I completed for ZBrush 2026. As part of the beta testers team, I create occasional works for ZBrush, which you can see during installation, as is the case with this snail and this new project, The Dentist Dragon.
The Dentist Dragon
This artwork is completely inspired by the incredible concept of Tiago Hoisel, an artist I deeply admire. It was a real fun challenge to recreate this in my own vision in 3D, and I'm very pleased with the outcome.
The idea was to model everything entirely in ZBrush using the latest tools to showcase the full potential of the industry's best 3D software in the industry. Creating a very fun and lovely scene of fantasy of this dentist dragon character, with a showcase of the power of ZBrush for anatomy, and hard surface sculpture for animation and 3D printing.
Sculpting
Every great scene begins long before the first sphere its sculpt. It starts with strong references and a clear destination in mind. For this piece, I was drawn to the cold, almost clinical atmosphere of a dentist's office in a medieval age of dragons, but I didn't want to leave it there. The goal was to contrast that sterile environment with something unexpected, playful, and full of personality.
That's where the dragon came in. Pairing a whimsical creature with a dental chair created an immediate narrative tension, and from that moment, the scene began to write itself. The dragon and the chair naturally became the focal points of the composition. I treated them almost like characters sharing the same stage. The chair needed to feel authentic and grounded in reality, while the dragon had to radiate charm and energy.
I invested significant time refining surface details, subtle imperfections, and material variation to make both elements feel believable within the same world. Small nuances in texture and sculpted forms helped bridge the gap between fantasy and realism.
From a technical standpoint, the dental chair's surface was built using a combination of ZModeler, Booleans, and a part of custom alphas and procedural noise. Establishing clean topology and organized UVs early in the process made all the difference. It allowed me to distribute texture details consistently and avoid issues later during rendering.
That early discipline in the workflow gave me the flexibility to experiment creatively without fighting technical limitations for the 2 versions, animation and 3D printing. The most demanding part of the project, however, was the hair. Hair always walks a fine line between chaos and control. Achieving a dynamic silhouette while keeping it functional for different outputs required careful planning.
I ended up developing two versions of the model: one fully textured and UV-mapped for animation and screen presentation, and another decimated, watertight version optimized specifically for 3D printing. Adapting the same design to exist convincingly both digitally and physically was one of the most rewarding challenges of the entire process. It forced me to think beyond aesthetics and consider structure, weight, and manufacturability for 3D printing statue.
My sculpting process typically begins with a simple mannequin base in ZBrush. I block out the primary forms first, focusing purely on proportions and gesture. Once the foundation feels solid, I bring the mesh to life using Dynamesh, which allows me to freely explore shapes without worrying about topology. After refining the anatomy and overall flow, I organize the model using polygroups and prepare it for ZRemesher to establish cleaner edge flow.
From there, detailing becomes a layered process, gradually increasing subdivisions as the piece evolves. For clothing, I rely on the Extract feature to generate base garments directly from the body. Once extracted, the garments are sculpted and refined to introduce folds, tension, and personality. I follow a similar polygroup and retopology workflow to ensure everything is prepared properly for UV mapping and texturing.
In the end, this project was about balance, blending the sterile precision of a medical setting with the warmth and spontaneity of a fantasy character. It became an exploration not only of form and texture, but of how design choices can transform a familiar environment into something imaginative and alive.
Creating all the accessories was a very enjoyable stage, as they were all created in ZBrush using ZModeler, Dynamesh, and Boolean techniques to create these dental tools, bringing even more life to the character. Creating the dental chairs was also an enjoyable stage, as I sought to create them in such a way that they could be assembled and parts could be exchanged between them to modify their shapes.
The Hair
For hair in Blender, use the Meduza Nodes add-on to create hair, as it allows you to create hair quickly and consistently, using guides and certain extras within it to modify the hair quickly and efficiently, giving you very good control over the hair. In this step, the final composition of all the scene using a combination of lights to get the final renders and a final composition inside Photoshop to finish the final render edition of this beauty and fantasy scene.
3D Printing
To prepare the statue for 3D printing, I designed a custom system of keys and joints specifically engineered to ensure optimal print quality and precise assembly. Some of these keys include pre-designed magnet slots, allowing for secure connections and interchangeable parts.
The articulated joints were carefully developed to transform the piece from a purely static display into a dynamic collectible with subtle movement. This enhances the overall presentation and adds an interactive dimension to the print, bringing the sculpture to life and giving it a distinctive, premium feel.
Conclusion
Finally, I produced the final renders for both the ZBrush Beta Tester 2026 edition and the 3D printing version. For the latter, I also designed the packaging, treating it as an extension of the piece rather than a secondary element.
Bringing everything together, from sculpt to presentation, allowed the project to reach a cohesive and polished final stage. I'm truly proud of the result and hope you enjoy experiencing it as much as I enjoyed creating it. This project was a major undertaking, and the final results of both versions came together as a cohesive, ambitious piece.
The outcome is a fantasy statue featuring multiple versions, interchangeable faces and heads, and a second dragon, all complemented by highly detailed accessories that truly bring the work to life.
Thanks for reading, don't forget to view the whole project here:
