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Hi §

I’m Sidney, a 3D character artist, and this knowledge pool is for me, you, and everyone else.

More about this handbook

I’m a self-taught artist, and I know just how difficult it can be to piece together a variety of snippets from various sources in an effort to get a complete picture. So, I made this handbook to cover the entire workflow, as well as other things, like composition, character design theory, anatomy, and more. I’m not saying that this is the end-all-be-all, but it can definitely be your main support line, which you can compliment with a bit of your own research.

My goal with this handbook isn’t to cover entry level stuff. Rather, the methods and workflows I explore are mainly industry standard; following them will yield great results. A perfect example of this would be the baking page, in which I demonstrate how even amazing studios, like Riot Games, don’t always have the best approaches to difficult problems.

This is probably best suited for intermediate and advanced 3D artists. If you’re a 2D artist, then you might find something interesting here. My 3D workflow mostly consists of the following software: Blender, ZBrush, Marmoset Toolbag, Substance Painter, Photoshop and Unreal Engine. Therefore, this handbook will cover workflows in the software listed above, but many of the concepts are universal and can be applied to other software, as well.

If you don’t understand a term, give the glossary a visit.

Handbook's features

Learn more about this handbook’s features on the GitHub.

Feel free to leave feedback in the discussion area on any aspects that may not be the best practice or are plainly incorrect, and I’ll make the necessary improvements.

Some parts of this handbook are still a work in progress, and those parts are denoted with the 🚧 symbol.

Explorer

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Resources
⌨️ Hotkeys

Theory §

📑 Glossary
🌆 Composition
👩🏽‍💻 Technical Side of Character Design
🧠 Artistic Side of Character Design
📐 Topology & Retopology
📊 Optimization
🎨 Color
🗺️ Texture Maps
🖼️ Image Extensions
Art Software

Process §

🧊🗿 Organic Sculpting & Hard Surface Sculpting & Modeling
🌀 Workflow between ZBrush & Blender
🟠 Sculpting in Blender
💇🏽‍♀️ Hair
Anime Style Characters

Texture §

🎁 UV Mapping
🧭 Baking & Texturing Preparations
🎛️ Baking
🖌️ Texturing

Presentation §

🦴 Rigging
🎭 Posing & Animating
💡 Lighting
🌀 Blender to Unreal Pipeline

Post §

🎥 Rendering
🪄 Compositing
🔗 Sharing

Software Specific Knowledge §

⚪ ZBrush
🟠 Blender
🔮 Blender Add-ons
🔮📑 Blender Add-ons Guide

Extra §

2D Art Resources
Model Part Names

🖥️ My Setup

Anatomy §

• Anatomy For Artists

Unreal Engine §

• Unreal Engine

All Things from This Handbook Relevant for 2D Artists §

• 🌆 Composition
• Anatomy
• 🎨Color
• 🧠 Artistic Side of Character Design
• ⌨️ Photoshop Hotkeys
• ⌨️ Clip Studio Paint Hotkeys
• ⌨️ Procreate Hotkeys
• Art Courses
• 2D Art Resources

Awesome Blender GitHub by Mdsanima §

A treasure trove of links to all kinds of places.

• Awesome Blender