Begging a Journey

#1

Hi guys,
I don’t know if this ir the right place to post but i need your help.
So i already have 22 and i feel like i’m letting my dream slip by my fingers, i love 3d and i would love to work on it for life.
The thing is that i cant go to any school because i work and have a daughter but i really want to do this so i need to learn the basis.
I want to know with what program to start and what to start learning and where i mean i want you guys to tell me like i was a fresh newbie student that didn’t get anything of this.
Please help me make my dream come true and i will show you my effort and work.

Levi

#2

First things first, what’s your goal?

Which discipline do you prefer? Characters, environments, weapons, vehicles? Would you rather work on games or movies / tv related? Do you prefer realistic work or Pixar style?

#3

Hy,
So i want to start on the really bases. The type of modeling i like is more gaming directioned like anime type games, dragon ball, naruto etc.
But i also like pixar type of modeling, what i want to do is more character and weapons not very much enviroment.

#4

Ok, something along the lines of what blizzard is doing i suppose. That style requires solid painting skills, ideally you’d spend years in a traditional art school but if that’s not possible for you then find tutorials like these:

They’re not free but these professional game artists deserve every cent you give them:
https://www.3dmotive.com/f101801

http://www.cgcircuit.com/lessondetailcomplete.php?val=994

#5

Hello Levi,

Technical skill is just book knowledge that can be learned,
but artistic skill requires much more.

So the real question is, how good of an artist are you?

No matter what type of 3d artist you want to be,
The first thing you NEED to be doing Everyday! is draw!
If you want to be a character artist, then
Open any anatomy book and spend at least one hour a day just copying the human form.

If you can post those sketches on this forum and receive positive results, then you’re ready to start learning about the 3d tools to create a base mesh and start the same human form study all over again in a 3d sculpting application like zbrush or mudbox.
In school for 3D Graphics, we spent months doing traditional art classes before we ever cracked a book about 3d graphics on the computer.

I’ve been doing 3d work for over ten years now, and the software and tools only took me about 3 years in total to learn, but i still spend everyday trying to become a better artist.

So to answer your question, and really point you in the right direction, we need to know,
how good of an artist are you? :smiley:

Hope this helps,

  • Bergquist
#6

hello guys,
I’m so happy with your replies, i started drawing a long time ago but never had classes, i’m a really self-taught guy xD
The thing is that i never knew the basis so what i did was copy some manga draws and faces, stuff like that so to tell you the truth i don’t draw really well.
So i should lear to draw before learn to model?

#7

Hi Levi,
That gives us a pretty good idea of where you are.

So the reason for all the drawing i suggested is for you to be able to grasp the “form” and “volumes” in your mind and then have the hand eye coordination to draw them on demand.

Whether I’m sculpting in zbrush, or painting in photoshop, I’m using my wacom tablet and with a pen. (drawing)

LowPoly game modeling can sometimes be done without as much extensive art skill like the character models in World of Warcraft, but that is only because our machines were not good enough to render fancy high poly assets fast enough for real time game play. But that is changing quickly, and even low end hand held devices are starting to feature normal mapped high poly beautiful characters and environments. So even game artists are having to step it up as time goes on and use those fancy art skills.

If you have 2 hours a day, then I would say you can go ahead and spend one of those learning maya or 3d studio max beginner tutorials. But still spend at least one hour a day drawing human form from an anatomy book and from real life photos! not from anime this time, hehe

Cheers!

  • Bergquist
#8

So after re-reading your original post, Psyko is right.
There is a big difference between a character artist and a prop artist
The advise I have given is centered around being a character artist.

But if you want to model weapons and armor and props,
then you could go a different route of learning without as much drawing everyday.

Those are small hard surface models.
The skills required for these types of game assets aren’t nearly as demanding.

Either way you go, character artist or prop artist,
If you can’t find a good set of tutorials and haven’t ever used a 3d software package before, here is good place to get your started
—> 3D Studio Max
—> Maya

Take a quick look at the first few videos of each set of these beginner tutorials and choose which software package looks easier to you, 3DS Max or Maya, and then just learn that one. Later on you can go back and learn the other but for now I would suggest just picking the best one for you and sticking with that one. In my opinion you can get the same results out of either one

#9

Hey guys,
Thank you very very much for your replies and links. i gess i will choose a software to start with and learn the basics from the links that are awsome.
I’ll post my development for you guys to see :slight_smile:
Thank you for the tips

#10

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