/3/ - 3DCG

Last friday I decided to teach myself to sculpt, I've spent practically the entire weekend studying male anatomy, and this is the stage I'm at. It was made in one session in Zbrush yesterday, and I plan a second session tomorrow when I come home from work. Obviously there are still lots of flaws and mishaps but I'm fairly certain many of you have been where I am and recognize the difficulties I'm having and would be very happy if someone pointed me in the right direction.

I usually begin with Clay Buildup to define muscles but always pussy out at the last second and smooth the living shit out of everything, like, bake it in to not risk everything looking weird, and I lose all the fine detail in the process. Then Damien Standard(?) to compensate but again, just kind of bake it in. Everything just ends up looking like a wax doll rather than a human being. I also haven't really found a reliable method when working with reference, so if anyone would like to discuss, that would be great. Will I benefit more from studying real atlhetes, Ronnie Coleman, illustrations or other sculpts, CG or real? Or just a healthy mix of all those?