How to Sculpt a Realistic African With ZBrush, FiberMesh & PolyPaint

Introduction

My name is Felipe Oliveira. I’ve been working as a freelance 3D Artist since 2016, but I started exploring digital art back in 2010. Most of my knowledge came from self-study, constant practice, and experimenting with various tools, including ZBrush, Blender, 3ds Max, Substance 3D Painter, and Photoshop. Over the years, I’ve contributed to projects in architecture, collectibles, and interactive 3D, but character creation has always been the area where I push myself the most.

This project was inspired by the work of Joel L., whose pieces have a strong presence and personality. I wanted to capture that intensity in my own way. The main goal was to maintain a workflow that focused on sculpting and painting directly in ZBrush, without relying heavily on other software. It was also a good opportunity to push PolyPaint further and see how much realism I could get out of it.

The Workflow

For the design, I started by blocking out the head and focusing on proportions and anatomy. Once the main forms were solid, I refined the facial features and expression. For the hair, I went with FiberMesh, which was faster for this project and gave me the precise control I needed without slowing down the workflow. A key trick for me was to stay in low subdivision levels for as long as possible, keeping things flexible before jumping into details. Here’s a short look at the modeling stage:

Since this was more of a showcase piece, I didn’t go through a full production retopology. I used ZBrush’s tools to generate a clean enough mesh that would work fine inside Marmoset Toolbag for rendering. The focus here was purely artistic rather than preparing it for animation or game-ready use.

All the painting was done directly in ZBrush using PolyPaint. I built the skin step by step: first, large color variations; then, subtle tones for different facial areas. For the pores and micro details, I preferred to create them in the texture itself, using Normal Maps extracted from skin textures combined with artifacts from my personal library. This gave me more control over realism without overloading the sculpt. The body paint was layered on top to add contrast and storytelling. Here are a couple of short breakdowns of the texturing phase:

For the light sources, I used a simple three-point setup in Marmoset Toolbag, but with soft lighting to highlight the skin properly. I also adjusted the HDRI for reflections and added a Rim Light to separate the silhouette from the background. In post, I tweaked tone mapping, sharpness, and added a slight Vignette to focus attention on the face.

Conclusion

The biggest challenge was finding the right balance between realism and artistic expression. Working with PolyPaint really taught me how powerful it can be when you commit to it.

For beginners, I’d say: don’t rush into details. Showing strong forms and proportions matter way more than pores or micro details. Also, don’t underestimate simple tools; mastering the basics in ZBrush can take you much further than chasing advanced tricks too soon.

Felipe Oliveira, Character Artist

Interview conducted by Emma Collins