LogInPeter Ryabukhin shared with us his process of creating a character with horns, explaining how he used lightning to make the sculpt feel alive and dimensional.
Introduction
My name is Peter, and I am a Stylized Character artist. I got into Character art quite naturally. I've always loved discovering 3D, digital sculpting felt like a perfect fit. Actually, I'm self-taught, gradually building my skills mostly through practice and learning ZBrush on my own, watching tutorials, and experimenting a lot. Later, I added Maya for technical cleanup and scene prep, and Marmoset Toolbag for rendering and presentation.
Inspiration
It came from the Sculptober challenge, the idea of doing one sculpt a day. I've always liked that kind of discipline, but the official prompts never really resonated with me. However, I chose my own concepts instead of their themes, focusing on ideas that deeply inspired me. My aim was to push creative boundaries and improve how I present my work visually.
Workflow
Everything starts in ZBrush. I block out the major forms first and then move into refining shapes and details. For faces, I like to spend time on the expression, that's where the personality comes through. The hair is more freestyle, for the hair I used RenHair by Renaud Galand. I keep it sketchy and expressive, more about rhythm and gesture than about clean, realistic strands.
To save time, I skip all the unnecessary technical steps, no retopology, no UVs. I decimate the models and bring them straight into Marmoset Toolbag for rendering. It keeps the process fast and focused on what matters most, the sculpt.
I rely mostly on vertex colors applied directly in ZBrush, which are visible as vertex color rendering in Marmoset Toolbag. This approach keeps things streamlined. Since the project didn't involve traditional texturing, there was no need for UVs. All models were decimated and rendered directly as they are. It was about speed and exploration, not production-ready topology.
All renders were done in Marmoset Toolbag 5. I used fairly simple lighting setups, typically three-point lighting, sometimes supplemented with extra fills or Rim Lights to accentuate the form.
Lighting was key in this project. Since there were no textures, it had to carry all the mood and depth. I wanted each sculpt to feel alive and dimensional just through the lighting. I also like to use a bit of fog in the scene, which helps to create a sense of depth and atmosphere, especially in close-up shots.
And adding just a touch of chromatic aberration gives the final render a bit more realism and visual flavor, without overdoing it. There's no post-processing either, all renders are straight from Marmoset Toolbag.
Conclusion
The hardest parts were balancing speed with quality and learning to present work in a way that makes the sculpt feel alive. What I learned is that presentation is part of the art. You can make a great sculpt, but if it's not lit or framed right, it won't speak to people. Learning how to present your work is just as important as learning how to sculpt it.
My advice for beginners would be: don't overcomplicate things early on. Focus on shape, form, and light. Keep your process simple, and work on things that really inspire you, that's what keeps you moving forward.
I am currently working on a new project that I believe will be very interesting. It is based on the concepts of an artist named Rinotuna. This project has inspired me to explore characters freshly through my own perspective, and I'm really looking forward to sharing it soon.