Do you think it's possible to be a skilled 2D and 3D artist at the same time?

derpkhan · Jan 2018

Alright, I know this probably sounds like an absurdly stupid question but I'm curious to see how people's opinions on this will be. I'm now working on my 2D and 3D skills every day and I'm curious as to whether people think it's possible to be skilled/competent at both disciplines at once. I'm sure the answer is probably yes as it's a useful skill crossover, but still curious.

CrackRockSteady · Jan 2018

Yes, absolutely, many are. It just takes that much more practice to get really good at both.

tythomas063 · Jan 2018

Absolutely. It takes time and a lot of the practices. Learning traditional drawing and painting can really help you to be proficient with 3D in my opinion.

For example, Mike Stinnett started out as a painter for about 25 years which his paintings are amazing. Now, he makes the 3D sculptures with wood carving. As you can see in his videos and shop( link below ), his sculptures are carved beautifully and the texture is truly amazing especially because of his painting skill. His 2D skill helps him to make his sculptures look very realistic and gorgeous!

link: https://www.youtube.com/user/StinnettStickStudio/featured

In the end, anyone else can do the same with 3D and 2D in the video game arts. Be patient and practices a lot.

Good luck

JunkieKong · Jan 2018

There definitely are some freaks of nature around who are great at both, here are a few that come to mind:
https://www.artstation.com/peterboehme
https://www.artstation.com/nickcarver
https://www.artstation.com/jfletcher

PixelMasher · Jan 2018

Of course. It just depends on how many thousands of hours you have to invest. There is no shortcut that circumvents putting in the time and practice.

sacboi · Jan 2018

Goes without saying!

Since transitioning across too digital from a traditional background back in the day, I've become aware over my time developing a certain level of competency, renown CG Artists who've trodden a similar path that for me have served as inspiration, namely two of a host I'd followed over the years:

Craig Mullins (Leading Concept Artist, Illustrator and Matte Painter)

http://www.goodbrush.com/

Scott Eaton (Designer, Photographer and Pioneering Digital Sculptor)

http://www.scott-eaton.com/category/digital-sculpture

As an aside, recent enquiries on this board questioning the value of learning traditional art techniques/principles...

Well...collectively the output of these two masters simply illustrate in stark clarity the merits of doing so.

Zack Maxwell · Jan 2018

2D art skills are vital for making concepts for your 3D art, unless you're working on a professional project as part of a team with a dedicated concept artist.

Popol · Jan 2018

2D and 3D art share a lot of the same knowledge, so most good 3D artists can put out decent 2D art. Actually I'm very surprised when a good 3D artist can't even draw, but usualy it's because they don' t really try.

Do you think it's possible to be a skilled 2D and 3D artist at the same time?

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