Zbrush 3D Tutorials and News

This week The Gnomon Workshop releases a superb DVD on Animal Anatomy by Marshall Vandruff. Marshall is an acclaimed art instructor who has combined a love of drawing with a pursuit for the ultimate teaching strategies for anatomy, perspective and composition. Introduction to Animal Anatomy is a lecture that was months in development and presents an intelligent approach to Animal Anatomy based on form analysis. This lesson will provide artists new to animal anatomy with an accessible and exciting foundation on which to build, and will also be a refreshing guide for experienced artists looking for inspiration and new approaches to learning anatomy.

“I had the benefit of discovering Marshall Vandruff’s teaching materials many years ago when I first set out to learn how to draw animals and fantasy creatures. Marshall was the first artist to really get me to think about drawing in three dimensions and I still refer to his work to this day! Marshall’s teaching style is so wonderfully accessible in its direct and clear approach to drawing realistic animals by thinking around the forms and seeing them as dimensional objects on the page. He manages to break down complex ideas and shapes into easy to understand and easy to reproduce forms that have stuck with me for years and continue to guide my hand to this day.”

Scott Spencer
Character Designer, The Weta Workshop

“One of the most engaging, informed instructors I have ever experienced.”

Ed Eyth
Former Director of Creative Services, Henson Studios

“Marshall’s teaching is a bright and delineating light.”

Bernie Wrightson
Gendary Comic Book Artist & Illustrator of Frankenstein

Read the Press Release
This title is available as digital download and is also featured in our training subscription plans.

Introduction to Animal Anatomy
with Marshall Vandruff

This week The Gnomon Workshop announces the release of a new format for training that combines the duration, content and depth of a Gnomon School class with the accessibility of Gnomon Workshop’s DVD training library. This special edition 3D Creature Development Master Class, is based on Alex Alvarez’s Creature Development course at Gnomon School that is normally only available to full-time Gnomon students in their last term. The set includes over 25 hours of lecture, a 176 page full color text book, 66 HD 1080P video clips for live-action integration, six limited edition prints by Alex, and access to a private forum for lecture discussion.

The 3D Creature Development Master Class focuses on understanding the needs of production, with an emphasis on speed and efficiency. Alex demonstrates how, given a one week deadline, you can design, model, digitally sculpt, look-develop, texture, rig and pose, animate and integrate a creature into a live-action plate. At Gnomon, this is one of the most rigorous courses available and the class that most prepares students for the fast pace and deadlines of a production environment. This Master Class is only available on DVD and supplemented by the 176 page pipeline guide. If you are serious about becoming a 3D creature artist, this Master Class offers a unique opportunity to exponentially increase your understanding of 3D Creature Development, guided by Gnomon’s founder.

“Alex is a phenomenal teacher; although he’s very intimidating at first, his no-nonsense critiques are honest and encouraging. Taking his creature class at Gnomon was the perfect spring board into my career. By keeping the class and schedule demanding, we were forced to learn and create more than we ever imagined! The skills he taught and work ethic we practiced have served me well in my current job and I owe Alex so much for this.”

Jessica Dru Johnson
Associate Cinematic Artist, Blizzard Entertainment

“Gone are the days of all-nighters and hooking myself up to an intravenous drip full of cheap coffee but boy, do I miss them. Alex’s Character Creation class was one of the most exhausting, exciting and rewarding experiences of my life. The demand for quality work in a limited time forced me to become a more efficient artist. It also forced me to progress a lot in a short period of time and gave me the chance to apply all of the tools and skills I’d spent the previous year and a half learning. One of the best things about the class is that it’s just like real production. It left me feeling well prepared when I entered the industry as a working professional. This class was simply invaluable.”

Ryan Calloway
Model/Texture Artist, Industrial Light and Magic

“Alex’s creature class was a brutally intense exercise in creating the highest caliber work in the most ridiculously short deadlines. It was hellish… but I loved every minute. In the end, I had numerous demo reel pieces, a better artistic eye, and was tremendously faster. I highly recommend the class for anyone wanting to create their own fully realized 3D characters.”

Nathan Boyd
Texture Painter, Rhythm and Hues Studios

Read the Press Release

This special edition boxed set is NOT available as a Digital Download or as part of the Online Training Subscription plans.

3D Creature Development Master Class
with Alex Alvarez

Suits vs. Shirts, or Business vs. Creative types.

It was 118 degrees with no air conditioning. There were a bunch of artists from games, film, and fine-art soaking wet in the middle of the desert with nothing to drink but Red Bull when I first met Alex Alvarez. I was a studio partner holding a workshop in Austin, Texas and fully expected to meet an entrepreneur or “CEO” type in a business suit. You know the type that tries to “fit in with the artist”. Instead, I found a 32 year old artist in cargo shorts and a black t-shirt, as excited as we were about the event. Alex was checking out every demonstration he could, with his only frustration being that he couldn’t see all of them. In short, he wasn’t the “Suit” I was expecting to find, but a passionate artist ecstatic to be hanging out with like-minded individuals.

With the release of his Master Class, an advanced 3D Creature Development course based on his Gnomon School class for certificate students, I wanted to sit down and gather some thoughts on Alex’s experiences over the past thirteen years building companies by artists, for artists…..

Read the interview with Alex Alvarez by Travis Bourbeau

I recently had a chance to meet with character designer and self-proclaimed “idea boy” Cameron Davis at his mansion home in Studio City, CA. It played like this: I arrive at 3pm. A genuine French Maid invites me into his backyard where I interrupt him hot tubbing with (apparently) the performers of a Cirque du Soleil show. After toweling off and handing me a “breakfast mimosa,” we sit in lounge chairs in the shade of a massive avocado tree….
Read the interview with Cameron Davis by Travis Bourbeau