ZBrush stylized characters and collectibles

Expert stylized work is anatomy simplified on purpose: real landmarks and proportions as the baseline, a few named exaggerations, and shape-language rules an agent can measure on a silhouette. Curves are the agent's best tool: strands, clumps, straps and scarf tails come from computed 3D paths, so a "tweak" regenerates a path instead of sculpting it. If a sibling skill named here is missing from your available skills, ask the user to install it (npx skills add scenario-labs/skills --skill <name>); unattended, proceed from tool schemas and flag the gap.

REQUIRED BACKGROUND: scenario-zbrush-expert (bridge, stroke engine, review loop, 2026 traps).

Stance (the expert delta)

• Shane Olson: stylizing is not "an excuse to do bad anatomy". Block a stylized skeleton by the bony landmarks that touch the surface (hip point, knee, both ankle bones, elbow, clavicle tops, base-of-neck vertebra, sacral triangle, skull) and drop bones that never show. Every departure from real proportion is a named knob measured against the real value (the knee halves the leg, hands land at mid-thigh); move knobs carefully, because motion exposes them.
• Guillaume Tiberghien (Keos Masons): "simple is hard". Add anatomy, then simplify. Stylized means clear directional planes chipped like wood or rock, changes of direction creased so they stay straight when subdivided, and forms tucked into each other for small contact shadows. No color until the modeling is tight.
• Rakan Khamash (Blizzard): shape language is a rule set, not taste. S and C curves, no parallel lines, no 50/50 splits (push 70/30), flare at the top and taper at the bottom, rest areas next to detail, and "say it or don't": the character must read from the back of the room. The blockout is 90 to 95% of the low poly.
• Cedric Seaut (Keos Masons): start from silhouettes; a lineup of several designs forces distinct shapes.
• Pablo Munoz Gomez: plan hair chunks before sculpting, then carve one long stroke per clump from one angle. DynaMesh a little above the picker's value, Polish 2 and ClayPolish get you "80% there".
• Dan Eder: hair chunks are rig sections. Lay one tube strand per clump on a temporary mass, one polygroup per strand, front to back. Never Smooth a strand. Build a parted style without symmetry, then mirror it. Switch MatCaps to find gaps.
• Paul Bennett (Hasbro): a toy is a product. Sculpt the neutral standing design with no joints first; articulation is spheres and discs camouflaged by the costume; walls never below 1 mm; fuse flyaways; no closed loops such as touching fingers; state the file scale (104% for PVC shrink).

Establish first

Input	Changes	Default when the brief is silent
Purpose	game (loops, budget, rigged hair), collectible or toy (walls, parts, scale), concept or still	portfolio still
Reference	concept image, turnaround, style (Overwatch chunky, Disney round)	none: real baseline plus only the named exaggerations
Hair	strands (rigged or per-chunk retopology) or one sculpted mesh	sculpted mesh (Pablo)
Budget	triangles per hero and per hair version	none for stills; Blizzard's hero was 16k [unit ?]
Scale	print height or toy line (6 in, 3.75 in)	a 200 mm ruler SubTool anyway (Shane)
Symmetry	symmetric design or not	symmetric, then a deliberate asymmetry pass

Workflow

1. Design sheet. Write each knob as a number against its real value (a big nose: nose_third, brow to nose base over a third of the face, real 1.0; a heavy brow: brow depth; long shins: femur_tibia). Take each value from the concept; without one, push the named feature until it survives the 64 to 128 px thumbnail read, and record it. Write the three reads (Rakan): the silhouette idea, the secondary shapes that carry intent, the tertiary detail. Plan hair chunks and the part line. GATE: every knob has a target and a reason.
2. Silhouette first. Block two or three primitive variants (scenario-zbrush-sculpting) and render them with zb_review.review. GATE: lineup() IoU under 0.85 between variants [added]; the chosen one reads at 64 to 128 px (squint()).
3. Stylized skeleton by landmarks. Perspective off for everything orthographic (Shane: it skews masking, clipping and mirroring). Rules:
   • cranium plus jaw, split at the eye line; jaw corner under the ear at mid head depth;
   • head sides: from the top the head is not parallel-sided, so clip the cranium sides until the head narrows toward the face (Shane 02:00:26), then give each side an arc, not a flat plane (02:11:58). Agent: a two-point ClipCurve stroke in the orthographic top view or Deformation Taper on the cranium SubTool (both [verify]), then a Move or clay pass for the arc;
   • eyes: eyeball spheres first, lids wrapping them, each turned a few degrees outward (scenario-zbrush-sculpting P17); the outer corner well behind the inner one (check from the top);
   • pelvis leaning forward, ribcage leaning back, femur angled in, tibia straight. GATE: head_checks and body_checks on subtool_boxes() pass, or each failure is a recorded deliberate break; head_taper() on a top render of the cranium alone; front and side ortho renders against the concept; a three-quarter perspective look render (zb_sculpt.persp_snapshot_code) for the eye sockets.
4. Merge and plane.
   • DynaMesh the blockout at 128 to 256 (remesh_code, scenario-zbrush-sculpting); cut planes with broad hPolish or TrimDynamic strokes (forgiving, so scripted strokes work); tuck forms into each other. ClayPolish works as a global planar filter [added for forms; Pablo uses it on hair].
   • Keep the planes through subdivision (Guillaume 00:46:42 to 00:47:50): ZRemesher the merged parts for a sculptable topology, then crease the plane borders so they "remain straight" when subdivided: crease_planes (Groups By Normals, Crease PG, CreaseLvl), then Divide by level discipline (scenario-zbrush-sculpting P15). Creases are edge tags: any later DynaMesh or ZRemesher needs them again [added]. GATE: shape_language() on front, side and three-quarter silhouettes: no parallel pairs, straight fraction at most 0.25, noise at most 4 flips per 1000 px (defaults [added]); no band_breaks() break in the 45 to 55% band; no dips under MatCap Metal01 (Plouffe); after Divide the creased borders stay crisp in a grazing view.
5. Secondary shapes and props (scarf, straps, belts).
   • Rings and bands from scenario-zbrush-sculpting, knots and buckles off-center (70/30).
   • Tails and straps as curve ribbons: lay_strands with sides=0 (Curve Flat, Pavlovich) or 4 for a strap; paths from march_strand with gravity, bent into an S.
   • Folds only where pressure or joints put them (Rakan). A scarf that needs weight gets a Dynamics cloth drape (scenario-zbrush-character-creature), then its folds restated. GATE: each tail classifies S or C in the front view (classify_polyline); no parallel tails (strand_report).
6. Hair. Strands for rigged or game hair; the sculpted mesh for stills, prints and single meshes. Both plan paths on an OBJ export of the mass (P3 to P5).
   • Plan: roots_along the part line and hairline, directions_away from the part, plan_strands with alternating C and S bends and vary() lengths; draw it with overlay_paths on front, right and top renders and look at it (Pablo polypaints chunks; Dan paints sections on the concept).
   • Sculpted (Pablo, P4): scalp_shell; fat CurveTubes per chunk, DynaMesh a few hundred to fuse; one stroke_from_view ClayBuildup stroke per clump from its best_view (sculptris=True); Dam_Standard Zsub along each crevice_path; rebalance; finish_hair.
   • Strands (Dan, P5): a tiny dummy SubTool inside the head (Pablo); one CurveTube per strand, front to back, more lift in front; Auto Groups; strand_mesh_report; mirror a parted style after. GATE: the plan shows no parallel neighbors and designed kinds read in the right and top views; hair reads at a squint; the five review views (top shows the parting) under two MatCaps show no gaps or clipping; rest areas stay calm.
7. Asymmetry, value, color handoff.
   • Deliberate asymmetry pass: knot, fringe, a brow.
   • Guillaume's grayscale read (value_check): no pure black or white, strongest contrast at the face; before color, only darker lashes and pupils.
   • A material ID plan with distinct colors per material; polypaint at the top level, judged on the flat SkinShade4, since MatCaps lie about hue and value (Pablo VRisbJQAaZw 00:23:40, 00:24:54).
8. Product constraints (toy or collectible).
   • toy_scale (height / 12 plus 4% for 6 in; / 18 for 3.75 in);
   • feature_check of strands and thin forms at print scale (1 mm walls, 0.5 mm trimmed edges);
   • hair a separate part keyed to the head, flyaways fused, strands bunched for repeatable paint; no closed loops, slits in skirts. Do not over-sculpt past what the print size shows (Carratala, 90 mm).

Numbers

Value	Relative to	Source
knee at half the leg; hands at mid-thigh; jaw corner at 0.5 of head depth	real baseline for knobs	Shane
eye line 0.5 of head height; face thirds equal within about 5% of head height	real head	Anatomy For Sculptors (character digest)
outer canthus behind inner by at least 0.10 of head depth	starting threshold	stylized digest [added]
head sides from the top: taper (narrow / wide width) at most 0.95; side sag at least 0.01 of depth	head_taper defaults	Shane rule, thresholds [added]
70/30, never 50/50; flag 0.45 to 0.55	break position along a span	Rakan; band [added]
blockout = 90 to 95% of the low poly; 16k hero budget incl. two hairstyles	game character	Rakan
hair DynaMesh: 128 shell; 440 blocking; 1416 refined; 1032 to 1784 detailing; re-DynaMesh at 2.4M to 2.6M points	Pablo's head, his machine	Pablo frames
Deformation Polish 2; ClayPolish Max 25, Min 0, Sharp 0, Soft 0, RSharp and RSoft about 5	finishing	Pablo frame
Curve Tube Brush Modifier 20 default, 4 square, 0 flat; Z Intensity 34 flattens	tube profile	IMM doc, Pavlovich
strand about 3 to 4 polygons across	game strand	Dan frame
1 mm wall (0.85 flagged), 0.5 mm edge, 0.12 mm fit offset, elbow 115 degrees	toy production	Bennett

Quality gates

• In code: head_checks and body_checks pass or are deliberate; head_taper on the top view; split_check on the brow line, scarf band and part; shape_language flags empty on three silhouettes; no 50/50 band_breaks; lineup IoU; strand_report without parallel pairs and with designed kinds per view; strand_mesh_report with one shell per strand and faces within budget; points after every DynaMesh; feature_check in mm for toys.
• Visual: zb_review.review under MatCap Gray plus Metal01 (dips) or another MatCap (hair gaps, Dan); squint at 64 and 128 px; annotate_shape; the plan overlay before hair is laid; the perspective look for appeal; top view for the parting and head sides; the back of the head finished too.

Common mistakes

Mistake	Looks like	Fix
Uniform exaggeration	every feature big, nothing reads	one or two named knobs; the rest at baseline
Eye corners on one plane	flat mask face from the top	pull the outer canthus back (canthus_recess)
Parallel head sides, or a flat side plane	boxy or balloon cranium from the top	clip the sides, keep an arc (head_taper)
Planes lost after Divide	mushy, rounded stylized planes	crease_planes after ZRemesher, before Divide
Parallel limb or strap edges	tube legs, boring pants	flare the top, taper the bottom
50/50 splits	scarf or belt exactly mid-span	move to 70/30 (split_check)
Detail everywhere	noisy contour, no rest	keep calm zones (Pablo, Rakan)
Hair as one lump or thousands of strands	no chunks at a squint	plan the big chunks first, then one strand or clump each
Strands pushed and smoothed by strokes	soft, kinked strands	regenerate the path and re-lay; Dan never smooths strands
ClayPolish mask left on	the next brush "does nothing"	finish_hair clears the mask
Toy with flyaways or touching fingers	breaks, won't release from the mold	fuse, separate, check at 1 mm

Handoffs

• Receives: primitive and DynaMesh forms from scenario-zbrush-sculpting (versioned ZTL, stats(), review sheet); cloth drapes and realistic anatomy from scenario-zbrush-character-creature.
• Delivers: to scenario-zbrush-paint-render the tight sculpt, value targets and material ID plan; to scenario-zbrush-pose-print the neutral design without joints, a part and joint plan (spheres and discs), hair as a keyed part, the scale factor and file percentage; to scenario-zbrush-retopology-export strand hair with one group per strand (rig chains), chunk polygroups, faces per strand, loop-aligned design lines (Rakan).

ZBrush 2026 notes

• Curve Flat and Curve Flat Snap ship (2021.6.3), Bend is split into Bend Start and End, IMM brushes take any stroke (2024), and curve brush geometry bugs were fixed in 2026.2.1.
• Pablo's hair brushes and DE_HairTubes are third party: stand-ins are ClayBuildup, Standard, Dam_Standard and CurveTube; custom brushes load from the Asset Directory LightBox/Brushes.
• The curve API takes tool-space points and cannot read curves back; curves_to_ui alone may not build the mesh (Maxon's example): live_01 measures the apply and the axis mapping.
• Perspective is Draw:Perspective (installed commands.xml, no Transform:Persp); PATHS tries the installed ids first. The Gizmo is the default and Local Symmetry follows it. Cmd+W quits ZBrush on macOS.

References

• references/procedures.md: bridge code per stage. Load before running anything.
• references/expert-notes.md: principles by expert with timestamps; disagreements and deciding conditions.
• references/critique.md: the self-review rubric.
• references/gui-paths.md: palettes, brushes, settings, hotkeys (computer-use agent).
• references/sources.md: sources, credentials, URLs, timestamps.
• scripts/zb_stylized.py: the module; reach its ZBrush side with zb_stylized.call(), not zb_launch.call. Tests: tests/code/zbrush-stylized/.