ZBrush Sculpting Workshop: Sci-Fi Design & Development
Improve your ZBrush sculpts with workflow tips and tricks from three ZBrush masters with distinctive styles and approaches: Eric Keller, Ara Kermanikian, and Steve Talkowski at Gnomon School of Visual Effects. Meet the artists and learn from their decades of experience at the Gnomon Stage. The event will cover three unique methods to visualizing the future, including hard-surface, organic, and stylized projects. The workshop is free to attend – be sure to RSVP – and will also stream on Gnomon’s Livestream channel.
Explore Biomechanical Creature Design with Eric Keller
Discover how the new tools and techniques in ZBrush 4R8 can be used to generate unique, Giger-esque designs for sci-fi creature development. “I'll also discuss how studying invertebrate zoology provides an informed inspiration in my approach to design,” Eric adds.
Master an Efficient Polysculpting Workflow with Ara Kermanikian
Learn how to apply a strategic approach to modeling and creating high concept, hard-surface designs, and see how to utilize storytelling in a design workflow. Ara says: “I’ve learned so much watching my heroes present at Gnomon, and am excited to share some of my work and contribute some of the results of my journey to this lore.”
From 2D Designs to 3D Characters with Steve Talkowski
Journey through the process of designing characters and taking them from 2D to 3D using Maya, ZBrush, and Keyshot, and get an insight into some of Steve’s impressive ZBrush 4R8 designs created during the beta testing period for Pixologic.
“I would like to thank you so much for arranging and sharing online many amazing events at Gnomon. I am trying not to miss any of them. They are so valuable and help [me] to understand various aspects of the industry and artists’ workflows, which you would never read in any article or see in tutorials. Enormous thank you for sharing this knowledge!”
— Anna Kvederis
Schedule
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm: Master an Efficient Polysculpting Workflow with Ara Kermanikian
8:00 pm – 9:00 pm: From 2D Designs to 3D Characters with Steve Talkowski
9:00 pm – 10:00 pm: Explore Biomechanical Creature Design with Eric Keller
Gnomon’s new BFA in Digital Production Program is designed to produce production-ready artists who are versed in general academic knowledge, foundational arts, and production skills. Learn more at gnomon.edu/programs/.
Guest Speakers
Freelance CG Artist and Gnomon School Instructor
Eric Keller has been working as a VFX artist and scientific animator since 1998. His career spans a diverse array of CG visualization from animating complex biological systems for Nobel prize-winning scientists to creating creatures and digital sets for 10 Cloverfield Lane and Star Trek: Beyond. He has authored numerous books and video tutorials and is an instructor at Gnomon School of Visual Effects. He’s worked at a host of leading studios including Imaginary Forces and Bad Robot/Kelvin Optical.
Freelance Concept Designer
Ara Kermanikian is a concept designer with a focus on futuristic character, vehicle, and set design for films, games, television, advertising, VR worlds, and 3D prints. He is particularly fond of designing futuristic mechs, cybernetic enhanced creatures, and robotics. Although he works in many other 2D and 3D media and software, his expertise lies in 3D modeling and design. He works primarily in ZBrush, Maya, Photoshop, and renders with KeyShot.
Creative Director, Sketchbot Studios
A 20-plus year veteran of the computer animation scene, Steve has worked as an animation director and character animator on hundreds of national brands ranging from BMW to Pepsi, as well as ground-breaking films including Ice Age and Alien Resurrection. In 2008, Steve launched Sketchbot Studios and self-produced his first foray into the designer toy scene. In 2014, he joined the team at Jim Henson as Art Director and Character Designer on the Henson Netflix series, Word Party.
