Z brush - From start to finish

As well as drawing and designing 3 characters we have been learning Z brush so that we can sculpt a human figure, or at least certain areas of the body.

Before starting with a human though, we learnt the basics using a base mesh Tian had provided us with of a column. From this basic shape we were shown how to add details quickly and easily.

Using alphas we was able to add the details on the column such as the hundreds of individual squares as well as the scratches and cracks going around the mesh. Then to add extra damage such as parts of the column actually crumbling we used actual brushes and played around with options to make the brush, when used correctly, look like it was tearing into the mesh.

We then moved onto sculpting the actual human figure with the information we had now learnt about z brush. Again using some base meshes tian gave us to use we set up the character to be scaled properly using a provided measuring guide. Below is a picture of the character set up and ready to be worked on further. 

I subdivided the mesh 3 times to become easier to work on, as this increases the number of polygons you can sculpt with. Once doing this I began working on just the upper half of the body, mainly the neck and shoulders. Below is a picture showing my process at the beginning, still learning the basics. 

Once getting some practice on the character model I then felt more confident with what I was doing and carried on working around the neck and shoulders area, but working down to the chest, ribs and parts of the back. At this point I was mainly sculpting it in rough and then smoothing it all out together but this soon changed later in the sculpt.
For now this is where I got up to further into the sculpt.

Now where I was previously I carried on the sculpting process to a point I was happy with and then began smoothing over. It was here I realised it would probably be easier to sculpt and smooth out as I went along as I only have to go over what I have done already now, wasting some time but helping me learn for future reference. 

After fixing up the body with some more obvious detailing I am pretty happy with the way the sculpt has turned out so far, and it shouldnt be long until its finished. I just need to smooth off any excess clay on the model and try to define the chest slightly better to make it look more like a male.

Finally I changed the material to a more skin like tone and finished the sculpt completely with some last minute fix's and details to make for a more realistic character sculpt.
I am pretty pleased with the outcome of my model and I hope that I have captured all the major parts of the body that I was trying to, to create a more believable design.