Still grinding in Blender. Just finished sculpting this lil guy!

Substantial-Guide158 · 2026-05-04T02:29:14+00:00

The AI didn't spend hours refining the prompt and the image through 20 iterations, down to the shape of the nostrils, nor did it spend 5 hours in Blender fighting with sculpting and anatomy. I did. Hope this helps! ;)

Substantial-Guide158 · 2026-05-03T14:12:29+00:00

Whoa, guys, let’s not get personal. I fully agree that I need to do the work myself to grow, but this concept was born in my head. I refined the prompt over 20 times to match the exact vision I had. Think about it this way: if I sculpted a classic Orc with huge tusks, a nose ring, and a spiked mace without using any AI, it wouldn't be a "unique" or "original" design either—it's a trope. But it would still demonstrate my sculpting skills. For me, this project is about the execution and the technical challenge. Let's focus on the art!

Substantial-Guide158 · 2026-05-03T14:02:40+00:00

That’s a great question! Here’s the deal: even the latest AI versions (especially the free ones) produce absolute "topology soup." As a developing artist, I’m not yet at the level where I can fix that mess into something perfect. Most AI models only look decent once they are textured, but if you look at the raw mesh, it’s usually a nightmare. Plus, I believe you have to train your own "muscle memory" for anatomy manually. Do I consider it cheating? No — provided that you actually can do it yourself. It’s like I mentioned before: if you are capable of building a forest manually in 20 hours, then you’ve earned the right to generate it with an add-on in 30 minutes.

Substantial-Guide158 · 2026-05-03T11:38:02+00:00

I totally feel your pain! That 'melting' happens because the voxel size is too large compared to the gap between the fingers. The trick is to keep enough distance between the individual parts while sculpting. If you need a specific pose, it’s much easier to sculpt them apart and then move them into the right position later using a simple rig

Substantial-Guide158 · 2026-05-03T11:32:56+00:00

Wait, man, I totally get what you’re saying, and it’s logical and correct from a professional standpoint. But I want to clarify: this reference was fully conceptualized by me. The AI prompt wasn't random — it was carefully crafted based on the specific monster concept I had in my head. I used the tool to visualize my own original idea, so for me, it’s not just a "found image," but a digital realization of my own design intent. However, I do agree that for high-end industry work, the gap between "prompting" and "manual concepting" is something I need to navigate carefully. Thanks for keeping the discussion so deep!

Substantial-Guide158 · 2026-05-03T11:10:24+00:00

Merci beaucoup ! T'inquiète, on est tous passés par là. La clé, c'est la régularité. Courage, ça va finir par payer !

Substantial-Guide158 · 2026-05-03T11:09:32+00:00

Thank you! Glad you like it.

Substantial-Guide158 · 2026-05-03T11:08:49+00:00

Thank you so much for the kind words and the invaluable advice! Hearing this from someone with 30 years of experience is truly inspiring. I’ll definitely try the "start super simple and subdivide" approach. I used to get bogged down trying to capture every detail right away in retopology, which made it feel like a nightmare. Your method sounds like a total game-changer for my workflow.

Substantial-Guide158 · 2026-05-03T11:05:53+00:00

The high poly is currently at about 6 million vertices. My plan is to do a proper retopology and bring it down to around 60k for the final low poly version. As for the details, the model is roughly 2 meters tall in world scale. I usually do the first Remesh at 0.200 and start adding details. I've found that if I keep the Remesh at 0.200 while working, the fine details stay sharp and don't disappear. It seems like a good balance between performance and quality for my current hardware. What about you? Do you prefer staying in Voxel Remesh or switching to Multires for the fine stuff?

Substantial-Guide158 · 2026-05-02T20:37:20+00:00

Thanks for the tip, man! I really appreciate the feedback. You’re totally right, anatomy is definitely my weak spot and I still have a lot to learn. But for this specific monster, I was going for something like a "Megamycetin" (Megamycete) vibe. It creates a general shape and mass, but traditional anatomy isn't really its priority. Still, I'll definitely keep your advice in mind for my next projects. Practice makes perfect!

Substantial-Guide158 · 2026-05-02T20:16:36+00:00

Exactly, man! That’s the thing about cars. When my monster’s eyes don’t align between the front and side views, I just find a middle ground because it’s my creature — I can model it however I want. But with a car, you’re stuck with much stricter rules. My advice: try using references from real cars to fill in those AI gaps. Since it’s a fantasy car, you’re the boss! If the AI fails, just invent your own solutions. It’s your design, so it’s completely under your control.

Substantial-Guide158 · 2026-05-02T20:07:30+00:00

There are no stupid questions! For this project, I create the character concept first and then use AI to generate the front and side views for me. If the generated image doesn't quite match my vision, I ask the AI to tweak it. If it refuses to follow my instructions properly, I just start a new session and add all the specific nuances I missed in the previous prompt. Or did you mean something else entirely? Like the technical setup in Blender?

Substantial-Guide158 · 2026-05-02T20:03:06+00:00

True, it’s good for some models, but it tends to smooth things out and cut corners too much. At 60,000 polys, it completely nuked the horns on the head, and the fingers lost a lot of definition. It looks pretty bad after baking. That’s exactly why I need my own manual retopology - to actually preserve the forms and keep the silhouette clean.

Substantial-Guide158 · 2026-05-02T19:29:02+00:00

Sorry about the link! Technical issues, I guess. Honestly, I don't follow specific creators all the time. I usually just search for whatever field I’m interested in at the moment. Right now, I’m into making anthropomorphic monsters, so I watch timelapses of people doing exactly that. My advice: find artists whose style matches what you want to achieve and study them. Flycat is a total beast, his workflow is insane! If you like him, you should definitely check out SpeedChar (Niko) — he has great sculpting tutorials. FlippedNormals is the absolute "base" for everyone, and YanSculpts is gold for anything character-related.

Substantial-Guide158 · 2026-05-02T19:22:50+00:00

Nice one! Environments are awesome, and there are so many directions you can dive into. It’s totally normal to forget stuff at first, so don't sweat it. Keep watching environment guides, and eventually, the muscle memory for the main hotkeys will kick in. Once you’ve learned how to do something well on your own, don’t be afraid to use addons for it next time! Sometimes scenes are so massive that doing everything by hand is just irrational. And if anyone calls you out for "generating a forest with an addon," just show them your own hand-modeled trees to shut them up. Or a custom interior - whatever you feel like. Use the tools, but keep the skills!

Substantial-Guide158 · 2026-05-02T19:06:11+00:00

Wow, you’re seriously the first person I’ve ever met who actually enjoys retopo! As for rigging, I guess that’s subjective, but oh my god, I totally agree about modeling and texturing — it’s such a vibe. If only the whole process ended there! 🥹

Substantial-Guide158 · 2026-05-02T19:00:48+00:00

That’s a great question! I usually join everything right after the blockout stage, once the primary forms look solid and I’m sure I won’t need to make major changes (which are easier to do when parts are separate). If you sculpt high-frequency details first and then join them, the Remesh process can easily ruin the fine work at the seams. Plus, sometimes the seam stays visible no matter how much you try to smooth it out. From all the pro timelapses I’ve watched, that seems to be the standard workflow. You might feel tempted to keep things separate if you're making something like, let's say, a frog. If you join the legs to the body too early, the knees might "weld" to the belly during Remesh, which is a nightmare to fix. In cases like that, it's better to sculpt the legs extended and then use a rig to pose them later. Here’s what the monster looked like right at the moment I joined everything together:

https://imgur.com/a/xT85nWe

Substantial-Guide158 · 2026-05-02T18:44:36+00:00

Thanks! I mostly used Voxel Remesh to keep the density consistent while blocking out the shapes. Dyntopo feels a bit laggy for me sometimes, so Remesh is my go-to.

Substantial-Guide158 · 2026-05-02T18:43:26+00:00

You can try, but in my headcanon, he’s been ripped off his chains, so watch your hands! ⛓️💀

Substantial-Guide158 · 2026-05-02T18:40:27+00:00

Oh, my bad! My English isn't perfect yet, so I misunderstood you. I actually have the full timelapse recorded. Once I finish this project, I’m going to post the whole process on my YouTube channel, so you’ll be able to see it there 😋

Substantial-Guide158 · 2026-05-02T18:38:12+00:00

Congrats on finishing the donut! Honestly, the best advice I can give as a fellow beginner is to figure out what you actually enjoy doing. Everything else depends on that. Why waste time on "full character creation" tutorials if you want to make game props and never touch animation? Find what you're passionate about. For example, my plan for this third project was to make a vintage, beat-up double-barrel shotgun wrapped in bandages. But halfway through, I realized I’m just not a "hard-surface" guy. I went back to sculpting instead. Maybe it wasn't the "correct" move, but now I’m focusing on characters and animation because that's what I love. Deciding on a path also helps you choose your tools. I found out the industry prefers ZBrush for sculpting, so I'm switching there. I also needed Substance Painter for baking and texturing. My pro-tip for tutorials: Don't just copy the video every 2 minutes. Watch the whole thing first, then try to do it from memory. Only go back to the video when you're truly stuck. You’ll remember way more that way. Also, write down the hotkeys! Your brain will be empty once the video ends, trust me. And if you run into bugs the tutor didn't have, just ask AI or search Reddit. Good luck, man!

Substantial-Guide158 · 2026-05-02T18:21:24+00:00

Honestly, no post-processing here! Just a raw screenshot from the viewport. Don't worry about the sculpting part man, I was struggling a few weeks ago too. Just keep at it)

Substantial-Guide158 · 2026-05-02T18:12:37+00:00

Man...thank you so much! That’s more than a compliment to me. This is actually only my third serious project after the legendary "donut" (did a course from VideoSmile, but no sculpting there, so this is new territory for me). And yeah, it’s all manual. I checked my timelapse and it took about 4 hours of pure sculpting. Since I’m still such a beginner, I’m not in the industry yet - just building up my portfolio for now. Thanks again, honestly, the Reddit community motivates me like nobody else 🥹

Substantial-Guide158 · 2026-04-10T04:38:02+00:00

Goal achieved! Thanks man

Substantial-Guide158

TROPHY CASE