Hi, Zbrush is a good software for detailled models, but it only does sculpting (or texturing but not recommanded).
The thing about the 3d workflow is that it has a lot of steps to create either a cool render or a good asset, and sculpting is only one of those.
Basically, you want a "main" software that you'll use for most of the work, and some specific steps would be done in other, more specialized softwares (like Zbrush).
Examples of what I call "main", or generalist 3D softwares are Blender, Maya and 3dsMax. There are probably others but these are the most common ones (and best according to my knowledge).
You can use a generalist 3D software for everything from modelling the basis of the character to animating and exporting, and most of them even have sculpting tools but if you want to aim for realistic of very detailled, Zbrush is a good choice.
(of course once you made your model with millions of polygons in it you want to do a retopology in the generalist software or using Zbrush tools, then bake maps like normals to have the details on a lighter version of the model).
As for which software I'd recommand, I can't speak for the three I've mentionned above, but I know Maya and Blender fairly well I think.
They both are pretty powerfull really, and they have their own pros and cons, for example Maya has everything in menus so when you don't know the shortcuts it's more beginner friendly.
But it's not free, and the student license only lasts a year so you'll want to look into getting it the unofficial way.
Blender, on the other hand has more of a learning curve. The shortcuts are very important so the start is a bit rough, but once you get to know them you'll increase your working speed a lot.
It's the one I use these days so I'd recommand it for a bunch of reasons. One of them is how much it keeps improving. They just keep adding new stuff and improving so much and so fast, it's already full of great features and it keeps on going.
Also some of the features make the workflow more flexible and less of a headacke. You can correct mistakes you made early on without redoing everything.
One of those features is the "action editor" which allows in the software to create the animations on different "files" which works in the export to game engines. Sounds simple but it makes life a lot simpler when working on video games animations.
It's open source, too, so the community is very active and there's a bunch of very usefull addons out there.
Another good thing about the active community is how easy it is to find information on Blender. If you want to learn something, chances are you'll find it on youtube or one of the dedicated forums.
Also it's free, so getting it is a lot simpler.
Well that's what I think anyway. The other two softwares (Maya and 3dsMax) are also very powerfull but I feel like comparing them is pretty hard, so it kind of comes down to personnal liking in the end.
Does it answer your question ? I may have overexplained things but I don't know what you know about 3d and all that so better be safe.
