He's obviously an amazing artist, so I'm wondering what his perception of how much of the above difference in quality is created by the amassing of new skills, versus the availability of new technology.
As an artist with his reputation and skill, I think the answer will be interesting, because he probably has a much better overall picture of 3d art over time than I do having only recently (a couple years vs. a decade at least for him) started.
I imagine even if you look at the most amazing 3d artists portfolios, there is going to be a divide in quality over time, even if skill stays the same. I wanted his take on that.
It marginalizes his improvement by implying that tools and technology improve quality of ones skill-set... I think your opinion is misguided, I think bringing it up in a thread showcasing artist's improvement is crass (wasnt this already covered in the Marmoset thread?)..your elaboration is less crass, but implies the same thing....this is all just my worthless opinion..so back to the Improvents...Yay thread
Edit: ..Gir brings up a good point..ysalex, you're right it would be awesome to hear HPs expierences in the matter
It marginalizes his improvement by implying that tools and technology improve quality of ones skill-set... I think your opinion is misguided, I think bringing it up in a thread showcasing artist's improvement is crass (wasnt this already covered in the Marmoset thread?)..your elaboration is less crass, but implies the same thing....this is all just my worthless opinion..so back to the Improvents...Yay thread
if michaelangelo only had one brush, he would still have been a fantastic artist. but if he were presented a range of brushes, with new hair types, he could create even more wonders than before.
i understand what Ysalex is saying, and i don't think he meant for it to come across in a negative light. HP is a fantastic artist, and a great sauce to put on cheese on toast! his work would look good no matter what it's displayed in. but i think the question that was asked probably came across wrong, and could probably be better asked like this:
Helder, how has the range of tools available changed your approach to art, and how have they affected your results? are there any tools you feel more comfortable with than others? do you feel that your experience or lack of has affected the way your art looks in any particular tool?
I'm not sure what to say about you (Well I do, but I'll keep this civil) if you think the only real reason CG has improved in the last 10 years is because the artist have gotten better.
Hell, just think about the rise of zbrush over the last decade and what potential that has unlocked.
My guess is he couldn't even open the file of his new scene on the 2003 machine he used to create the 2003 machine.
Double that if you think asking the artists own opinion on the subject is 'crass'.
Honestly you can moan and overreact all you want but I'm still curious what HP thinks.
Most of my stuff is 2D because I only started doing 3D stuff the end of last year. I Made this image back in 08 or 09 and have just been adding to it since. And please forgive the gigantic image, shitty spelling/grammar,horrid text transitions, and TERRIBLE drawings haha.
Also some stuff from this year...
And I recently started working on my 1st Character model (still a WIP), so perhaps Ill be posting again in a year or two laughing at how horrible it is, like the rest you you guys and your first character model.
I can definitely see what you mean. When we started we didn't have half of what we have right now. There was no Normal/spec/gloss maps, post process, advanced shader techniques, no modeling HP's and baking it down on LP's, so in a way it was easier for you to learn and mess around with stuff, on the other hand information and documentation was extremely limited and artists were pretty much learning as they go. In fact, back then there was no such thing as an artist position, level designers did all the geo typically on a level editor, they even did all the texture work aside from the normal level designer functions we know today.
Also, it's a back and forth process, the tools only got better because the artists themselves got better (and vice-versa) because we started to demand better tools to work with.
So I think we got way better at what we do naturally and incrementally, not only technically but artistically. So both things go hand in hand.
Although, I honestly believe good tech by itself wont make a good artist. The artist needs to dominate the tech and have good artistic knowledge. (Color theory, smart usage of rule of thirds, etc, etc)
A beautiful horse won't ride and do awesome stunts by itself, it's the horse rider that dominates the beast that makes it do it.
Another sidetopic to this is that nowadays there's so much to learn and work with the challenge might actually be in choosing which tools are going to be beneficial to your personal growth than anything else, it can be overwhelming; therefor information diet is very important, it applies to all of us but specially for people that are just getting started.
Advanced tech also means a huge increase in complexity, new comers get lost and they get their priorities all messed up. People that start to zbrush without knowing how to model LP, or using ndo without knowing what a heightmap map or even a normal map is.
tl;dr It's simple, as your tools improve so does your standards, and tech wont magically make bad art into good art by it's own. The only constant is that the artist is nothing without the gift and the gift is nothing without the work.
It's amazing to see how much progress people make, and over such short amounts of time, too! I'd be interested in seeing people post what they did along the work examples,over time that they think helped them improve, if there was a specific thing then can pin it on. Did you start taking a class, did you start following a series of videos? etc.
I'd be interested in seeing people post what they did along the work examples,over time that they think helped them improve, if there was a specific thing then can pin it on. Did you start taking a class, did you start following a series of videos? etc
i think scott eaton's class gave me a boost as well as the other countless video tutorials i have watched.
nov. 2010 (think these were the very first heads i sculpted)
This thread man, So much good progress:thumbup: , very motivational and gives a sense of hope that my polygonal sins against man might aspire to something good as well!
Beefaroni, that's incredible. I remember seeing that sci-fi dude and being blown away! I think these two of mine show the greatest shift. Back in 2013.
Think I'll go ahead and post in this thread! Sorry if it's too many images. Found a bunch of old ones I'd forgotten I had and managed to track down rough dates for them.
2006
(This first one was my very first digital painting ever)
When I first had the idea to make games, I started with making LFS skins, I had many people tell me I can't do it. Well, I kept trying, with any practice you are going to get good and surpass the people with "natural talent". That is why I hate it when I hear "some people have art skills and some don't". Here is proof that is all about commitment!
Replies
love this! nice one nick!
got me looking through my old college work... not surprised to see I was already a genius a decade ago.
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010 - present
Oh man that Tree Ballista is actually a really cool concept. You were a genius to begin with, just had to hone your skills!
2008 - My first character model
2010 - These where the characters I used in my graduating portfolio, everything in between this and 2008 is about as bad as you imagine
Post Grad 2010 - 2011 (all in order oldest-newest)
This last one was my first normal-mapped character, I decided it was probably a good idea to learn zbrush and baking for real after that.
2012 - Again in order from oldest to newest, I made a lot of models in 2012
Struggles with Zbrush:
Character Art Boot Camp
I did a lot of Anet tests to try and challenge myself and work from other concepts
2013
A comparison of something I am currently working on, a rework of a model I did a year ago.
2012
~2007
~2013
This thread made me wanna google for my old websites, and lo and behold I found this, ahah!! http://helderp.com.sapo.pt/index.html
2003
2013
[UDK] Post Apoc scene - cam 1 by HelderP, on Flickr
That's kind of a douche thing to say
Edit: This is me overreacting
He's obviously an amazing artist, so I'm wondering what his perception of how much of the above difference in quality is created by the amassing of new skills, versus the availability of new technology.
As an artist with his reputation and skill, I think the answer will be interesting, because he probably has a much better overall picture of 3d art over time than I do having only recently (a couple years vs. a decade at least for him) started.
I imagine even if you look at the most amazing 3d artists portfolios, there is going to be a divide in quality over time, even if skill stays the same. I wanted his take on that.
2002:
2013:
It marginalizes his improvement by implying that tools and technology improve quality of ones skill-set... I think your opinion is misguided, I think bringing it up in a thread showcasing artist's improvement is crass (wasnt this already covered in the Marmoset thread?)..your elaboration is less crass, but implies the same thing....this is all just my worthless opinion..so back to the Improvents...Yay thread
Edit: ..Gir brings up a good point..ysalex, you're right it would be awesome to hear HPs expierences in the matter
if michaelangelo only had one brush, he would still have been a fantastic artist. but if he were presented a range of brushes, with new hair types, he could create even more wonders than before.
i understand what Ysalex is saying, and i don't think he meant for it to come across in a negative light. HP is a fantastic artist, and a great sauce to put on cheese on toast! his work would look good no matter what it's displayed in. but i think the question that was asked probably came across wrong, and could probably be better asked like this:
Helder, how has the range of tools available changed your approach to art, and how have they affected your results? are there any tools you feel more comfortable with than others? do you feel that your experience or lack of has affected the way your art looks in any particular tool?
Hell, just think about the rise of zbrush over the last decade and what potential that has unlocked.
My guess is he couldn't even open the file of his new scene on the 2003 machine he used to create the 2003 machine.
Double that if you think asking the artists own opinion on the subject is 'crass'.
Honestly you can moan and overreact all you want but I'm still curious what HP thinks.
2007:
2009:
2012:
Also some stuff from this year...
And I recently started working on my 1st Character model (still a WIP), so perhaps Ill be posting again in a year or two laughing at how horrible it is, like the rest you you guys and your first character model.
I can definitely see what you mean. When we started we didn't have half of what we have right now. There was no Normal/spec/gloss maps, post process, advanced shader techniques, no modeling HP's and baking it down on LP's, so in a way it was easier for you to learn and mess around with stuff, on the other hand information and documentation was extremely limited and artists were pretty much learning as they go. In fact, back then there was no such thing as an artist position, level designers did all the geo typically on a level editor, they even did all the texture work aside from the normal level designer functions we know today.
Also, it's a back and forth process, the tools only got better because the artists themselves got better (and vice-versa) because we started to demand better tools to work with.
So I think we got way better at what we do naturally and incrementally, not only technically but artistically. So both things go hand in hand.
Although, I honestly believe good tech by itself wont make a good artist. The artist needs to dominate the tech and have good artistic knowledge. (Color theory, smart usage of rule of thirds, etc, etc)
A beautiful horse won't ride and do awesome stunts by itself, it's the horse rider that dominates the beast that makes it do it.
Another sidetopic to this is that nowadays there's so much to learn and work with the challenge might actually be in choosing which tools are going to be beneficial to your personal growth than anything else, it can be overwhelming; therefor information diet is very important, it applies to all of us but specially for people that are just getting started.
Advanced tech also means a huge increase in complexity, new comers get lost and they get their priorities all messed up. People that start to zbrush without knowing how to model LP, or using ndo without knowing what a heightmap map or even a normal map is.
tl;dr It's simple, as your tools improve so does your standards, and tech wont magically make bad art into good art by it's own. The only constant is that the artist is nothing without the gift and the gift is nothing without the work.
2005
2009:
2012:
2013: This is pretty much the only thing ive done this year outside of work that's gun related.
Post some work from when you first started and some from now.
I haven't been practicing faces long but I think I've improved a small amount -
Still have a lot to learn but I'm getting there! (started in April/May I think)
And 2 weeks into it you still could do it better than I could after a year!
i think scott eaton's class gave me a boost as well as the other countless video tutorials i have watched.
nov. 2010 (think these were the very first heads i sculpted)
feb11. 2011
may3. 2012 (work i did for scott eaton's class)
aug19. 2013 (getting a bit rusty
aug.21 2013
about 1 year
*tips hat to all*
April of 2012:
Feb of 2013:
June of 2014:
5th February 2013
25th October 2013
2011
2012
2013
2014
ha. boy, have i stagnated
It's nice seeing more posts in this thread too!!
Here's my 2 cents:
Low poly render back in 2013
Recent low poly render that I did this year
~2010:
current WIP:
Loving the progress you guys make, fills me with inspiration.
2006
(This first one was my very first digital painting ever)
2007
2008-2009
2010-2011
2012-2013
2014
2015
some more shots and a render. The gaurd was rendered in M2 with the same materials as used in Unreal.
[ame]
2014
The black bars remain...Some habits die hard.
When I first had the idea to make games, I started with making LFS skins, I had many people tell me I can't do it. Well, I kept trying, with any practice you are going to get good and surpass the people with "natural talent". That is why I hate it when I hear "some people have art skills and some don't". Here is proof that is all about commitment!
My first digital art piece:
My latest 3D Art piece: