Disney artist says ZBrush for iPad opens up a "a new world" for all artists

ZBrush for iPad has the potential to change how 3D artists work. Historically tied to a desk, 3D modellers would look longingly at their 2D artist counterparts lounging and loafing about sketches on an iPad in Procreate. Well, Maxon has brought desktop power to the iPad, and for many 3D artists things are changing. It was something mentioned in our ZBrush for iPad review, but more 3D artists are discovering the freedom sculpting on iPad affords.

Leticia Gillett is an experienced 3D artist, her CV lists Disney Consumer Products, Blizzard Entertainment where she worked as a 3D character artist on Overwatch, she was a 3D modeller at Dreamworks and joined Netflix Animation as a character development artist. Between shifts making everything you love, Leticia finds time to teach.

While using Zbrush for iPad in beta Leticia has found her workflow changing. The artist tells me she’s never been one for sketching on paper or drafting ideas in books, and prefers to design directly into 3D, which has always meant a day’s work begins and ends at her desk.

ZBrush on iPad changes how 3D art is made

That’s changed now ZBrush is on iPad, as she tells me: “I’m now able to sit on the couch and just start designing, and then when I get somewhere that I'm like, ‘Oh, I love this’, then I take to the computer to add details or anything I couldn’t do on the iPad.”

She smiles and adds: “I just feel more comfortable doing the finessing on the computer. But for the last, at least three projects, that are for personal work, I’ve already been using the iPad to start designing and then finish on the computer.”

Continuing, Leticia offers an insight into her new, relaxed days of sculpting, saying: “What I've been doing, is just put something on the TV, watch and rewatch some Pocahontas and just start sculpting. I get inspired, you know, by whatever I'm watching.”

Leticia has been using ZBrush for ten years and tells me she can’t imagine using any other software, laughing she says, “it's part of me, right? It's like, when I go anywhere else, beyond ZBrush, it just feels wrong. Luckily, even though ZBrush on the iPad has a certain different UI, it was very easy to find myself in there.”

After trying other 3D sculpting apps on iPad, like the popular Nomad Sculpt, Leticia found herself returning to her desktop and the familiarity of ZBrush. Using different software and learning new ways of working can be “frustrating” but more importantly Leticia describes how a familiar, personalised software can affect the art, as she says: “That makes you create with a certain feeling when you’re sculpting.”

As you can see from Leticia work on this page - all created using ZBrush for iPad - and her career across animation and video games, her art is stylised, which means there’s no polygon limits to achieve her perfect sculpts. Where she has needed to adjust is in foregoing the keyboard and dual screen setup of using ZBrush on a desktop.

“I have my keyboard above, clicking a lot,” chuckles Leticia, making sharp movements with her fingers to suggest tapping keys. Using an iPad has meant rethinking how her art is made, developing a new “mobile way of thinking” using her thumb to tap at the edge of the iPad, the Apple Pencil to sculpt and finger gestures to move, rotate and adjust her model, Leticia makes more finger movements, the animator in her coming to the surface.

“So it took me a while. I was definitely slower on the iPad in the beginning,” she says, explaining there is a curve to learning how best to use Maxon’s new app. “But I don't think, in the ‘stylized world’, I don't think there's anything different. Of course, ZBrush on the desktop has some features that the iPad doesn't have yet, and that some people might be more attached to those features than others. In my case, like I said, like when I have to do final touch ups, I go to the desktop, and that's about it”.

She adds how ZBrush for iPad feels like the desktop version she uses every day, and while it has “a small learning curve” after she’d become used to the new UI, gesture controls and Apple Pencil features, it “clicked” and she even wants some of the new features to transition to the desktop version, “because it's almost like they took a second pass to rethink certain organisations, and they just became better”.

ZBrush for iPad is ideal for newcomers

The teacher side of Leticia’s personality bubbles up when I ask how ZBrush for iPad will impact 3D art. “It's more intuitive, I feel like for new folks that are starting 3D this is a better place to start, to be honest,” she says, adding: “It feels like a friendlier gateway to 3D modelling […].”

Some of this comes down to the less formal nature of working on an iPad and directly interacting with the 3D model, but also because Maxon has streamlined the UI to make ZBrush less intimidating. Leticia explains how ZBrush on iPad has a smaller learning curve than the desktop version, and its slightly paired back content makes it a perfect entry point, the less is more idea means this is a less intimidating place to learn 3D. She calls it a "new world" and expects a new generation of artists to embrace 3D because of Maxon's new app.

She says: “What they did on the iPad is that they categorised the brushes, so you have the Sculptural brush, you have the Knife brush, you have the Masking brushes. And already, I think about my class, and it's just a lot easier to explain, to be honest. So that was very helpful.”

What’s essential for newcomers is the feeling you get from creating, and sculpting on an iPad “feels fun” and unlocked from a desk and sitting in front of a computer “it just feels a bit more free,” says Leticia. Now her NDA has ended, Leticia is looking forward to leaving home and doing what all artists love to do, sketch outdoors.

“I cannot wait to go to a museum and try to sculpt using the iPad,” she says, pausing as the idea takes form, “Whoa, I should go to the zoo and try to do some cutesy sculpts, you know, and see how it feels. Because when you're sculpting cartoon styles with few shapes, you can get very far. You can sit and look at animals and sculpt them just by making certain shapes and stylising them. I'm super excited.”

Leticia Gillett is already working on her first ZBrush for iPad training course, aiming at newcomers and ZBrush users. Visit Leticia's Instagram for updates.