This work in ZBrush was a breakthrough for me in many ways. In the process, I learned new ways of modeling as well as completely new ways of rendering.
In terms of creating the model in ZBrush, it was the first time I had consciously stuck to a specific work pipeline, going from the general shape and silhouette to the finer details and refinements. It was also the first time I had to work with such a detailed, albeit stylized, anatomy.
Specifically speaking about the sculpting of the model, for the first time I was actively using zremesh to keep the number of polygons at a satisfactory level for my computer. The Projection tool was also a big help in transferring the fine details of the sculpt onto a sparser mesh, which also helps to optimize the scene.
Once the basic sculpt in ZBrush was ready, a whole new challenge for me was to create a low-poly version in Maya. That part was incredibly difficult for me, with the creation of UV maps and baking textures into the low-poly version, which was also a first for me.
Creating textures with Substance Painter also turned out to be a new experience, however this part of the work turned out to be much more interesting and diverse than the usual selection of materials from Keyshot I was using before.
The final render was made in Marmoset Toolbag, which I also first mastered on this particular work. The final picture was composed in Photoshop. And the turntable gif was also created in Marmoset Toolbag.