By Ben Erdt

Advanced Characters for Game Cinematics

Level: Advanced
22 hours 54 minutes
Blender, ZBrush, MODO
Released: 2023

World Class Character Art

Join Blizzard's Lead Character Artist Ben Erdt and learn to build advanced characters for game cinematics. You'll learn to analyse a concept sketch, sculpt your character in ZBrush, create materials in Painter, light and present your work, and much more.

After completing the course, you'll have a deep understanding of how to create your own world-class character art.

WHAT'S INCLUDED

Cinematic Character Workflow

Learn advanced techniques to build a character from scratch in ZBrush - from concept sculpting, anatomy, and hard surface forms to a clean, animation-ready mesh with UVs.

Hard Surface Modeling

Learn to build a character suit and armor from scratch using advanced hard surface techniques. Sculpted in ZBrush and refined through manual cleaning with Dynamesh, regular sculpting, sub-D modeling with Zremesher, and sub-D modeling in Modo.

Texturing & Rendering

Texture in Substance Painter using a mix of hand painting and procedural techniques, covering both hard surface and skin. Learn to build shaders, establish a strong color hierarchy, and add storytelling through wear, aging, and dirt. Finally you'll learn to light and render a portfolio-ready image.

Learn from the best

Taught by Blizzard's Lead Character Artist

This course walks you through how professionals actually build characters: sculpting in ZBrush, creating clean game-ready topology, texturing in Substance Painter, and finishing with lighting and presentation. Instead of simply following the steps, you'll understand the complete workflow used in real AAA production.

DETAILS

What You'll Learn

Build a 3D character from scratch using a professional AAA workflow
Sculpt anatomy and hard surface forms in ZBrush
Create clean, animation-ready topology for production
UV map efficiently using UDIMs
Model detailed suits and armor using advanced hard surface techniques
Texture both skin and hard surface assets in Substance Painter
Combine hand-painted and procedural texturing workflows
Develop strong materials, shaders, and color hierarchy
Add storytelling through wear, aging, and surface details
Light and render your character for a polished, portfolio-ready result

What You Get

29 HD videos
Substance Painter starting point files

Requirements

You'll advanced skills in texturing, sculpting, baking and modeling, and need to know the following software:

Blender 3.3
ZBrush 2022.0.5
Substance 3D Painter 7.4.3
MODO 15.2v1

Skill Level

This course is designed for artists with an advanced skill level who are ready to push their character art to the limit. The course does not spend time covering the basics, and assumes ample knowledge of the pipeline and software involved in creating 3D art for games. We've packed the course with advanced workflows and techniques, so if you're ready to push yourself and learn from the very best, this is the course for you.

Your Instructor

Ben Erdt is a veteran games artist with more than 9 years of experience in the AAA game industry. He's currently working at Blizzard as a Lead Character and Creature Artist, having previously worked at Guerrilla Games.

Ben has worked on games like Diablo IV, Killzone: Shadow Fall, Horizon Zero Dawn and the Netflix show Love, Death & Robots. Safe to say, you'll be learning from a true master in this course.

Course Contents

Loading chapters…

Chapter Breakdown

Concept Talk and Reference

1 video · 36m

Sculpting the Body

4 videos · 2h 22m

Sculpting the Armor

7 videos · 6h 27m

High Poly Clean-Up

4 videos · 3h 25m

Building the Render Mesh

4 videos · 2h 51m

UVs and Surfacing

8 videos · 6h 21m

Rendering and Presentation

1 video · 49m

Customer Reviews

5.0

1 review

1 4

0 3

0 2

0 1

Industry Experience You Can Trust
From blockbuster films to AAA games, our instructors have contributed to some of the industry’s most recognized projects.