2D to 3D! Sculpting a Basketball Girl from Start to Finish 🏀 ZELDA 🏀

Online Store ► follygon.com
The Appeal Academy ► appeal.academy
Zelda is a star player on the Hyrule Hookshots! Nintendo always makes their sports games about Mario characters so I thought it would be cool to bring The Legend of Zelda into the mix.
Hey all, and welcome to another start to finish sculpting video! This time around I am creating a character from The Legend of Zelda series. It's uhh.. Zelda!.. with a twist though. She is a star player on Hyrule's number one basketball team. The Hyrule Hookshots! I had a ton of fun working on this project and I hope that you enjoy the process video and maybe learn something new along the way. Let me know in the comments if you would like to see more stuff like this or if you have any questions. Thanks all for the amazing response to my last Start to Finish sculpting video and I hope you enjoy this one even more :)
Check out my last Start to Finish sculpting video where I make a spoopy witch: • 2D to 3D! Creating a W...
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[@itsadog7613]

She looks like she came from Subway Surfer

[@hiddensinix2767]

Holy shit-

[@rioreason]

Me: the legs look short... Follygon: 3:10 makes legs shorter Me: 😳

[@Zaire82]

I thought he was mad, but it turned out fine in the end...

[@drawspaceX]

Legs can sometimes be shorter than you expect. Its something i saw while doing some life drawing and it confused the hell out of me because most artists decide stylistically to make the legs longer

[@Zaire82]

@@drawspaceX I know that, in reality, the ratio of legs to torso and head is more like 6:9 - 8:9 than the commonly preferred 1:1. But he made those legs at a ratio more like 1:3 in favour of the torso and head. That's rediculous.

[@creamii9544]

Well atleast it doesnt look like shes on stilts like most of my art😂

[@rioreason]

ғlσσғ σvσ I tend to give my girls pretty long legs too. We all have our own styles. Pretty sure I commented this right around the time stamp, but in the end I think she turned out pretty cute after all.

[@you_just]

5:15 ah, the pinnacle of beauty

[@TurtleMaster326]

No, 11:56

[@cinnamonappleofficial9428]

Nah, 7:41

[@PrincessDerpy]

If your girl don't look like this you don't want her X

[@Spacecookie-]

I personally appreciate your process and seeing how you do the magic that you do. :)

[@jeefberky9101]

2:16 who you callin' pinhead?

[@VaporCode]

I feel like i got scolded at the end of the vid cuz i immediately skipped xD

[@k1rbyk1rbsgaming22]

VaporCode same I skip at the spot he said most of y’all would skip to this part Lmfao

[@NikaSaurusRahwr]

Same. 😅

[@apophisca2163]

DAMN ME TOO

[@thatguy9295]

i was surprised when i skipped there and immediately heard him say that. kinda felt guilty

[@nematodebeefyload7353]

she has no belly button. zelda is an alien.

[@rimmertf]

link has no nipples in botw so he is also an alien

[@TheJunytramp]

She's Eve, the wife of Adam Grom the Genesis. Do you catch it ???? Hahahahaha ........ :P Hey Follygon.... there is your nest chalenge... make Adam and Eve like Alien cartoony style !!! With just one leaf like close.... now you will be able to see more of those body detail. lol

[@Moss_Dude]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pnzTfoRrl6l7hLM

[@nixeo6216]

@Alyssa Albuquerque probably that his Zelda is eve from Adam and Eve since apparently she wasn't exactly "born" , so she wouldn't have a belly button

[@melveerainbow4657]

@Alyssa Albuquerque you made me laugh for some reason

[@digdigdigo]

i'm kinda spooked, you really nailed the disney/pixar style on her face

[@MegaGaming11]

I'm actually pretty partial to seeing this as a fullsale figurine

[@Drawgonian]

This entire process is gonna be a great resource for aspiring 3D artists. Please keep it up and upload more stuff like this. You’re awesome

[@chris716cc]

I definitely want to see more videos like this. I really liked the design, idea and process of this really appealing and cute Zelda 😊!

[@daisyphreekshow2197]

Thanks for calling me out Follygon (I DID skip to the end) 😂. I mainly do this cause I’m always curious about the final results, but I always go back and look at how you go there. You bring some real valuable information to the 3D community and I appreciate it a lot ( I am a fledgling sculptor so I need to learn a lot and get inspired).

[@lawlinrofl]

i'm much more fascinated by your process than your finished result, and i really admire and aspire toward your comfort level with how messy the beginnings of your projects may look. i feel like my fear of things looking bad is what stops me from getting better at things.

[@jvsonyt]

Follygon : Looks absolutely horribly disgusting and disfigured. Anyone else: Slightly not anatomically correct.

[@shatyrajones494]

Watched the whole process. I loved seeing how you flipped through ideas. Great job!

[@wilhelm992]

Freeking epic dude, keep up the full character stuff

[@Stephen-T-Clark]

Great character. Always appreciate seeing a process, even when it doesn't follow my typical workflow. Nice to see what works for others. Good on you to drive that point home at the end for aspiring sculptors.

[@TwoBeatle]

Wooooow, the final result looks amazing, but I think that watching all the process makes you feel more satisfied!

[@MyPokebros]

These videos are so, so helpful to watch. They motivate me to get into Z-brush and practice but they also make me very jealous because you seem to always know what you're doing lmao

[@livingsouloftimestudio2887]

Very well said brother, we need to see the process from start to finish that's how we learn very well put and explained, was a joy to watch!

[@Vianaberto]

My mind exploded when you showed the way you make mouths. Gonna try to do it from now on. Thank you for showing your process!

[@joshuagonzalez2006]

Virgin Real-Life Sports vs Chad Sport-Type Zelda

[@yassineseifmajdoub]

The process gives value . Its a rule of life . The more you put work into something the more valuable it becomes . those who do not value things and take them for granted . they cannot take the most ofthem nor achieve anything from them . thats their loss not yours . keep up the good work . a newbie artist from tunisia sends his salute and respect to your existence .

[@thomasleveque1516]

You're absolutly right to show you messing up and taking the time to push the sculpt, even when I know the time Concept artist put in their work I'm still so stressed about being faster that I lose more time because I don't do proprer block outs. I don't sculpt (yet) but love the videos !

[@MommaFoxey]

i watched it all, it was a great video and can't wait to see more!

[@hericperez]

You are such an amazing 3D Artist. Thanks for this awesome video.

[@clarisparagas105]

The WISDOM written across her 🎂 is 👌

[@islara1792]

OMG!! i really enjoyed this!!

[@cristhianalviz648]

Man, you are extremely talented! I love this video and how much passion and work you put into it! I loved the end, where you go serious! I believe that stuff makes you valuable for people who want to become artists like me! Thanks for your hard work! I loved it! NEW SUB!

[@seanpayne1260]

Came because Zelda, stayed because cool to see a process start to finished, stayed to end, liked, and subbed because of real talk.

[@Handskemager]

Nice, I especially liked the glasses, sweater, button up shirt look, perhaps a skirt too! :)

[@cactuz116]

Great result as always, and I agree I love her new design with the short hair

[@blackwidow4real]

Seen twice!? Talk about being an early bird! I love the video and thanks again for this. Looks good as usual :D

[@a_cynical_mad_man_vods]

Am I the only one who likes long haired Link and short haired Zelda?

[@thejbirdtm3331]

I really loved watching the full processes of modeling this, it was very helpful, it makes me want to make a modern version of Link and Ganon or even my own interpretation of a modern Zelda but I don't want to steal your idea

[@AnaDoMatoSA]

this is the first video that i dont skyp, great explanations

[@KyleKatarn145]

I really love the idea here, the final product looks awesome, especially the combination of the basketball and the fire. I'd be interested to hear what your thoughts on modern Blender sculpting is. I've been looking into getting into digital sculpting, for ages I've had my sight set on Zbrush, but recently was pointed towards Blender, because the price was right and it actually looks like it's got a decent feature set for sculpting. It would be good to get your perspective as someone with experience in Zbrush to give it a go and see what you think.

[@oreos4843]

I love the glasses actually

[@sterlinga.5410]

I love all of this, wonderful model. But I must say, "Wisdom" across the ass made me chuckle.

[@asheslegends2576]

Just... gotta get some "wisdom" dude

[@sleepyajax7838]

Same, but while i was reading it he took off her panta

[@sleepyajax7838]

18:35

[@SydnificantMe]

I believe we are born with gifts and propensities, though it's up to us to hone them and get better! Awesome sculpt, this is so inspiring!!

[@Haagimus]

Dude you kick ass as a 3d sculptor, I just found you but am a new sub now. Keep up the good work and u would love to see a samus sculpt someday. She is hands down my favorite game character of all time. I have found some really cool alt designs of her if you are interested.

[@da_roachdogjr]

Fantastic design!

[@Whatthetrash]

Absolutely fantastic! Love it! :D

[@MarziMadness]

I always used zspheres to block out my characters first, so seeing your separate subtool method is interesting. But I have no idea how that transpose tool works! I need to figure it out

[@yozegami]

Hey, thanks for showing the whole process! Pretty rare to find :)

[@thelurkingpanda3605]

love these videos

[@teeleaf_25]

Everytime you said what you were working on looked bad, in my head I was thinking it looked amazing haha. Thanks for the video, i still got plenty to learn!

[@peachrat1003]

I really like the glasses with the basket ball theme it makes it feel more like Zelda and I don't exactly know why.

[@BartzTheMime]

this looks amazing

[@Drake_Ebonheart]

_'Clicks video', 'skips to end to see smoking hot zelda' , 'hears speach'_ - *well I'm an asshole now.*

[@AlbertoLerenard]

I liked more the version with black irises. Also hair looked way more interesting when longer. Stil: a wonderful job!

[@sorbet_salamanderd2014]

I would die to see the whole team!!! I need a link to go with her! This is amazing!

[@lingua83]

Sweet sculpt ❤️

[@osnapitsyukimeow8257]

How do you go on about make a stylized character? Is there a good reference that most artist go towards when they make a stylized character? Also how long did this take you?

[@user-ks1ld9yr6p]

我很喜欢你的视频，因为你是真的从自己的角度给出了非常多对于新手有益的建议。而不仅仅是展示自己的技术

[@raiga14]

Thank you so much! I thought I was the only weirdo who needed to see color to be able to figure out what is wrong... Thanks for that too!

[@DeathxStrike18]

If your worried about posing try importing to blender and use rigify tool its not purfect and might have to clean weight but if your in your relaxed Apose or a tpose its a good way of getting a great action pose.

[@CraftingtheUniverse]

This came out great! You should also do a link version! Like a soccer player or something :)

[@OmegaF77]

DAMN SHE THICC

[@bblankout]

@Audiocronic don't ruins this mans mind set of thicc lol yea she has no as s or is not thicc but he think so let him

[@OmegaF77]

@Audiocronic Compared to original Zelda she is.

[@m.m.mefuyayuki1550]

@@OmegaF77 Are you sure about that xD ?

[@h3rpad3rpacifilis]

*W I S D O M*

[@solarjudgement4575]

She is not *thick*

[@serenity8839]

Gosh i have no clue how you make such nice clean hard edge form look so natural! same with the colouring in Zbrush, really pulls out so much detail but it always seems to be so odd to try get into.

[@joaopedrocamara2002]

@follygon hey man you're truly evolving! The sculpting, anatomy, appeal its great!!! The only thing I would like to point out is the lighting. In your bust sculpting it also threw me off a bit, cuz the modeling was so good. The lighting looks flat, and that's because all the lights are even. I would recommend you to watch the blender guru lighting series, it's awesome and helped me a lot. Three point lighting is good, but if you don't wanna spend a lot of time watching videos maybe a polygon studio lighting would do. Your models are awesome, and they deserve a awesome lighting set! Keep your incredible channel, I am always learning with your videos!

[@Follygon]

Thanks I will check it out!

[@DerianMcCrea]

Nailed it!!!

[@HosseinThePoet]

I love the fact the process of the character was documented well. Thank You! And I always learn something in your videos. My question is when i export as fbx after using poly paint on a character etc... and i import into blender it seems to never work and I'm really tired of trying this. It's not working.

[@srrich27]

If you mean the poly paint isn't showing up, you need to add an 'Attribute' input to the shader in Blender, with the attribute name of 'Col' (pretty sure with the capital 'C'). Also you need to be in either Material View (or whatever its called) or Render View to see the colors. Hope this helps!

[@HosseinThePoet]

@@srrich27 God bless really appreciate.

[@darkfoxfurre]

You can save your project as a separate file before breaking symmetry. That way if you need to go back and make changes, you'll still have a symmetrical base to work with.

[@Follygon]

You should always save many versions as you progress.

[@kserra9112]

Hey, just wanted to point out context-wise, Zelda is usually the representation of the Light against the Darkness, and the motif of fire isn't really the prominent representation of the character. Motifs of fire are explored with the Gorons and with the Diety Din, which is also a point of interaction for Link/Player interaction. But Hylia, which is represented by Zelda is primarily expressed through the exploration of Light. It would be really awesome to see your technique of modeling and characterizing a light effect around that ball, or within another video. I learned a lot from this video, glad I was able to find you. Its actually not easy to find this kind of content by talented pro's like yourself.

[@sadcolossus1720]

I like seeing the process so I never even thought of skipping to the end.. I didn't even realize people did that? Mostly cuz I watch these type of things for entertainment while I'm doing something else I guess

[@supdoggie1307]

At the end when posing Zelda, did you resplit your polygroups? I noticed you had a bunch of folders with different pieces and I was wondering if you could explain the best times to leave everything merged vs splitting/resplitting?

[@arnmercer7488]

I really want to 3D print this beauty.

[@psychitsbee3324]

And the team is called the Hyrule Warriors

[@erpinguino]

Beautiful artistic work I subscribed to your beautiful channel

[@freddykruger6719]

Great work! What did you use to create the eyelids?

[@aneebahmed9105]

He is brilliant and lovable artist.

[@hugolarioscolino4256]

Great model and great video, seeing the whole process is incredibly useful for people getting into 3D modeling. BTW, could you reference the artists used in the thumbnail of the video?, i would like to use a couple of those examples for my mudboard, and check more of their work too. Thank you, have a nice day.

[@bubulcumcum98]

after sculpting, do you do topology before coloring it?

[@LuisSalazargeta]

Love seeing your process! =]

[@Follygon]

Thanks Luis!

[@DecemberMaeProject]

how do you connect or merge objects? :) ty

[@michellemorger1318]

I am usually the opposite. I just watch the work being done and skip the turnaround. Great job here on this character.

[@Sudzies]

You should've made the flame white-yellow to represent her power. I also got a basketball ad after this...

[@aleksiszukulis4469]

good job, i would make a diffrent pose. Can you make Esdeath or Megumi?

[@theseanman13]

Would you ever release your 3D models for 3D printing?

[@emmanuelchacon8900]

How long did this piece took you??? I really want to know the average for a piece like this. :o

[@lis3513]

Well it depends on your skill level

[@lis3513]

@@qvindicator ?? First folly didnt answer and second, it doesn't matter how long it takes for him. The question sounded to me like he wanted to know so he can apply it to himself. Take your anger and put it to use for something else. I just wanted to be nice and don't give him unrealistic expectations, so he doesnt beat himself up when it takes him 10 hours longer than somebody else.

[@adha_fajri]

@Audiocronic Earth is flat

[@Zachary3DPrints]

she looks funny, great job

[@Resmarax]

Here's a tip. So I know there's no "auto rig and skin tool", but... oh wait, yes there is. Mixamo, program with loads of mo-cap animations can auto-rig and skin quite well so long as your model is in a T-POSE. Yes, that's important. It works better if you can match the pose to a default t-pose model from Adobe Fuse, as those two programs synergize well together. Then download (yes, download, not export, mixamo is online) as an fbx. I know mixamo and fuse are subscription based, but I thought i'd let you know. I mention this because posing a rigged character is much simpler than posing a mesh. It aslo allows for reusability of the character without much work.

[@rodrigoenriquez2747]

Quick question... Anyone knows which tablet he uses?

[@GerCompanyMan]

Hello, are you using shortcuts on this very first sculpting? It seems you only use the pen...

[@spikez007]

Wow!!! Amazing work, you should make a tutorial on how to go from zbrush -> Blender for rendering

[@timothybogdala9035]

I totally agree. That would help me a ton.

[@gabs3901]

For the love of god, PLEASE make dehydrated Ganondorf!

[@noahjameson8155]

Gabs yeees

[@maryecho9215]

21:23 awe it looks like a high school photo on the right here!

[@mdmpzero]

Hey I have an unrelated question. I had a look at your gumroad and saw your base meshes. Why are you modelling the meshes on their toes rather than stood square? I'm an animator but I like to do some modelling and rigging. I'm just wondering if there is a pipeline reason to do this? Does it make something simpler to change/rig?

[@Follygon]

On my base mannequins? Those are only a dollar each and were uploaded because I received a lot of requests for them. They are purely meant as sculptural bases. I would not recommend using those base meshes for animation unless you retopoed and adjusted some of the forms (like the feet).

[@Pencilian310]

I think the glasses really work with the character. The expression actually seems enhanced by them. In my opinion, at least, haha

[@zekel.2083]

Nice job! I wonder, based on how you prefer blocking out shapes in the beginning, and use transpose master to pose later on, did you learn that from Shan Olson?

[@Follygon]

Thanks! I learned it long ago from ancient ZBrush tomes. No, but really, just from understanding the toolset and experimentation :)

[@calebsherman886]

Damn, Zelda lookin' fresh

[@AlbertNevado]

When I tried first Zbrush, I ran away from the software because of the messy and impossible to read UI it had. Is there any chance you can share with us an export file or some hints to know which configuration you use for the UI? I find it pretty clean and much less messy than the default one (which scared me a lot). Thank you!

[@Follygon]

My custom UI, hotkeys, brushes, etc are all available here: gumroad.com/follygon

[@AlbertNevado]

​@@Follygon Yes! Thank you, I purchased them! Is there any video where you share how you bind your graphics tablet buttons to your hotkeys? Thank you again!

[@pabloramosart]

does anybody here know how to pose a fully sculpted character in nomad sculpt, lets say a character sculpted in a kind of a T pose that is a single mesh, to a more dynamic pose.

[@Zangelin]

I want this as a figurine.

[@justin8211]

What program do you use?

[@danielhowe6238]

You should do a video where you sculpt the Drawfee Pokémon from memory results (specifically the episode where Julia draws spheal)

[@toasty_wheat]

I skipped to the end, but now I feel bad.... you know what, next time I won’t, I’ll take your advice and appreciate the time that went through it

[@jmssun]

Who is the artist that drew the thumbnail image?

[@davidguardado1994]

How long is the appeal academy course? I am quite interested

[@Follygon]

You can actually go at your own pace, but I would say the quickest you could complete everything, including all of the mentorship sessions would be 8 weeks. You can find all the info here appeal.academy or feel free to message me with any other questions.