Character modeling in 3ds max and detailed in Zbrush

There are several ways to come up with a 

concept, the most obvious one being to draw a 

quick shape in 2D to define the main volumes, 

but you can also start from a very simple base 

mesh and play with volumes in ZBrush. The 

advantage of this technique is that you can 

make one base mesh that you can then reuse 

for many other concepts, and the second 

advantage is that you will have a solid 3D base 

to then work from to polish the character.