Able to draw, born talent or hard work
Hey guys, at age 23 i found all of this CG thing. Been lurking, searching reading stuff about all of stuff. I was interest in everything.
especially in FX, sculpting stuff.
Was okey, until, i read for better character artist need to know drawing. Damn it. to be honest i never draw in my life, all of my drawing made my mother lol, when i was in elementary and high school.
But now, it's come to me that, i need to learn to draw. And i have no idea where to start. Got books, but, i am just reading them, and no idea how to start, there is no explanation how to start etc.
Even i will go for online course for drawing, but there anything like that. There is for 3D, FX, Zbrush, but not drawing.
Is drawing is a born talent? Or it's from hard working? I know kids you are not even 15, know to draw, everything, 2 of them are my cousins both 13, and can draw, fucking good. Whatever they are interest.
I feel like dump, useless compared to them.
Ye maybe. when they grow up, might work in Blizzard for example.
especially in FX, sculpting stuff.
Was okey, until, i read for better character artist need to know drawing. Damn it. to be honest i never draw in my life, all of my drawing made my mother lol, when i was in elementary and high school.
But now, it's come to me that, i need to learn to draw. And i have no idea where to start. Got books, but, i am just reading them, and no idea how to start, there is no explanation how to start etc.
Even i will go for online course for drawing, but there anything like that. There is for 3D, FX, Zbrush, but not drawing.
Is drawing is a born talent? Or it's from hard working? I know kids you are not even 15, know to draw, everything, 2 of them are my cousins both 13, and can draw, fucking good. Whatever they are interest.
I feel like dump, useless compared to them.
Ye maybe. when they grow up, might work in Blizzard for example.
Replies
It's not a born talent - I don't know if you're joking or not but if your mom laughed at your drawings as a kid and that discouraged you from continuing, that's a really sad story
I'd consider myself OK at drawing, if I posted some of the stuff I drew when I was six it would probably look no different than your drawings at six - the only major difference is I never stopped drawing.
Drawing is not required but it is a great foundation skill that you can practice anywhere at a moments notice.
Like anything else, drawing well can be learned through practice and hard work, as well as paying attention to principles and rules of design.
some people can do things easier then others...like some people are natually muscular while others are not. To say its impossible to get like that for the most part isnt something that isnt feasible, it will just require alot more hardwork then someone who natually has that.
Drawing, math/programming, writing etc..All are things that can be learned by doing constantly. Sure there some people better at drawing or math etc, but unless you have some REAL disability there is no reason why you cant do it...just time to practice is all.
for every 1 good drawing you will make you will probably have 100-1000 mediocre drawings to get there. Its not bad, its just practice.
Btw , I have the SHORTEST amount of patience possible and im telling you that!
I have heard people say they where kinda born good drawers, which I look as a bit of bullshit I think they case is rather they did draw at home, draw at school and was slightly better than the rest and got encouraged to do it, when I was young all teachers and the rest of my classmates(me as well) would always admire the ones that drawed a bit better than the others and they got better at it and found it fun, the rest of us did not want to compete(very young here).
But for those who learned at a older age, or has a bit of insight in how things work, know it's all hard work in the end, if you want to be a good drawer, draw if not then don't easy as that.
I for one has not spent enough time drawing to be able to make anything that is identifiable, so if or when I want to do something about that it's all up to me.
A lot of concept art "rockstars" like Jason Chan or Craig Mullins, when you look at their very early works...a lot of their pieces don't hold up by today's pro standards (some concept art for the game Marathon Man, for example that Craig did ages ago). But these guys obviously became better by just constantly working on their skills and/or getting training. Jason went to Art Academy (university now I heard) of San Francisco.
You can't rush being competent with it but if you persist eventually level-ups will happen as well as affirmations that you have what it takes via landing paid art gigs.
Leonardo Da Vinci
Everybody starts terrible.
But, i am not really interest in drawing at all. My goal is doing 3D, like creating characters/creature sin Zbrush.
-Michelangelo
LOL
Then why waste your time? Drawing skills...it's not just some item you can just buy or swallow like a pill and expect to upgrade as an artist all of a sudden.
Nothing wrong pursuing what you're naturally intested in. A lot of famous Pixar animators aren't into drawing. Same with many game artists. It's good to have in your portfolio if you're really good and can do good show-of pieces. If not...and you're just pretending (or worse, stealing somebody's art)...you'll be exposed eventually.
I heard this one podcast episode by "guyswithpencils". The hosts both went to the elite animation school Sheridan. They had a classmate in their first & second years who was a "natural" drawing talent. Better than them when they were newbs. He was good but found his heart wasn't into drawing for a living so he switched to cooking school instead. And he was happier and content to go that career route.
There are the people that give up after reading that, and then there are people who tell me I'm an asshole and prove me wrong and it is entirely possible to prove me wrong but it takes a lot of work and honestly I don't think you have what it takes. You are already years behind anyone else that has been practicing all along. You gave up the second someone criticized your work and it seems like you need a constant cheerleader squad following you around to even you to brush your teeth, so save yourself the heartache and give up, go do something else.
If you still feel like giving it a try then you don't need anyone here telling you that you can do it.
SO how to learn then, human anatomy, proportion, etc tec? With Zbrush, max, maya?
You could get away with that a bit but you'll have to follow the rules as someone said in an earlier post in this thread. You can draw and not post any progress and learn all on your own in secret so no one can say your not good but doing little things here and their will help you.
Also how are you going to make characters/creatures with no idea or concept art?
Human and Animal Anatomy yes, proportions yes.
All things in moderation and it will take time, you'll be better each day!
But the fastest way to learn is probably to draw it.
this.
drawing is a skill that is learned, not something people are born with.
but different people are born with different level of intelligence. it is just genetics and matter of how well your brain can calculate. rest is nurture.
either way, you dont really need to draw to learn anatomy.
i see this being said a lot in polycount. people keep suggesting to draw to learn anatomy.
while drawing is a good approach, it is a slow approach.
start modeling and sculpting.
while drawing you actually have to think in three dimensions/perspective and put all that down in paper by hand.
while working in 3d modeling/sculpting you are actually thinking in two dimensions since the third dimension is taken care of by the software.
so technically your brain does less calculation while modeling/sculpting.
so to get better at anatomy faster, start modeling or sculpting and use lot of anatomy reference of real people while practicing.
no amount of practice can make a dullard good at art:) which is how it should be.
I hate giving people false hope saying yeah you can practise and you will be a top notch artist. you do need a certain amount of natural aptitiude to get somewhere in art.
it's like some folks are good at maths or physics so why should art be any different.
my missus has an amazing natural aptitiude for art, its nowt to do with practise she can just do it.
i used to play snooker/pool to a fairly high standard and got pretty good, but I had to practice like mad to get to that standard on top of a 'reasonable' amount of talent. I had a friend who i practiced with but he was in a different league, he was just damn good. He hadn't played in 6 months but still got a 68 break and beat me easy.
I one made a '1200' break at bar billiards though and that was because I was very drunk:/
do you believe in heritability of certain traits?
or more specifically that IQ is a genetic trait in most cases ?
anyways, i do agree that it depends how one uses their born talent or pushes its limits with lot of hard work.
If you asked me 3 years ago if I'd ever be good at painting I'd have said fuck no. Now I think it's actually possible.
Making arbitrary decisions about your future/potential has a lot less to do with reality and more to do with your confidence level.
it not jut a question of technique, it's about how your mind works/visual memory.
I have a lousy visual memory but am good at observationl drawing, therefore I find myself not very good at concepting, but ok at the other.
i think people who are good at somehting gravitate towards that kind of work. why try and force yoursefl if you are not suited for it. I used to work in accountancy and can quite honestly say i was rubbish at it, because my brain doesn't work in a methodical way. I would not try and push myself to work in accountancy with no aptitude for it?
MagicSugar - yeah I always thought the same way ie there are top notch guys who i will never match but I can still find a niche, but that wasn't really the argument.
it's like saying someone who is crap at art can somehow magically achieve the status of a great asrtist just by practising hard. it could be true in some cases, but on the whole it's the folks with talent who do well.
luckily intelligence has nothing to do with art
It all boils down to how much you doubt yourself.
Ah...good to see you've read that post. :thumbup:
I pooched it fixing your re-quote.
hehe self confidence can get you far, but talent will help you get there faster.
you must be a genius(talent) dis-liker
funny stuff, but not really based on science of genetics or any science for that matter.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=heritability+of+IQ
and dont say IQ has nothing to do with art.
also, just for fun:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=malcolm+gladwell+is+an+idiot
I'm a person who's been accused of being talented and/or a genius my whole life. I feel everyone that is desperately clinging to the idea of talent just want an excuse - it's not your fault, it's this mysterious thing called talent.
Your let me google it for you link is a failed attempt at being snarky, I didn't argue either way the inheritibility of IQ.
The fact that there Autistic artist and people who suddenly become artistic due to brain injuries or disease calls into dispute that high IQ = great artist.
just deal with it, and make good use of the talent if you have it.
also, there are tons of people with born talent who just waste it away drinking, doing drugs and nothing creative at all.
so dont feel bad, it all balances out in the end.
born talent or not, if you lack the determination and dont do the hard work then you wont get better. talent just helps you get better faster.
wait what ?
that actually makes the point even better of relating cognitive functions of the brain to art. autistic artists may have low IQ but in the rare case that they show this symptom of savantism it only shows how the unbalance of the brains cognitive function plays a strong role in this. common cognitive functions get worse while some specific abilities get heightened. brain injuries is similar case of shifting the brains cognitive capabilities radically.
To the OP: the current gen workflow doesn't require you to have much in the way of drawing skills so you should be fine. Maybe I'm a bit biased because I work in the "old school" field of diffuse only games, so it's basically like concept art without perpective.
I'd like to just make a request, try to work on your drawing when you have free time because there's two sides here: I believe you have the potential to be a great 2d artist while the other side believes you lack talent (and may possibly be stupid because IQ = talent)
talent could be high obsession to art and design.
they voluntarily draw or make things over and over because simply love it ( or if that the only source of their income)
then artistic growth became autopilot.
some example ... :
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/the-magazine/the-magazine-latest/ngm-big-cats-art/
"my precious..."
i think i understand where you are coming from now.
what you refer to as talent, i call it skill that is learned over time and not something someone is born with.
i was only talking about hereditary cognitive ability and how it can help learn that skill or say talent faster/slower.
1. Do you like drawing?
2. Can you think about things analytically?
3. Are you willing to work hard at it to get better?
This is the same for any skill that you acquire really. You have to want to get better, but just as importantly, you need to be able to work out HOW you are going to get better. Being able to break problems down into their component parts and solve them individually is the smartest way to tackle drawing, or any other difficult skill that takes a long time to master. Trying to do too much to soon and not meeting your own expectations is the easiest way to discourage yourself. Small incremental steps is the way to go.
If 'talent' does exist, I think it just means that someone develops those critical thinking faculties at an earlier age and advances more quickly as a result. But anyone can learn to think that way and become good at drawing or whatever else if they have the discipline and the persistence to keep at it. I was a late starter with drawing too as I didn't really work at improving at it until I was about 24. And although I'm not saying I'm great at it or anything, I've surprised myself in terms of how much hard work, particularly the right kind of work, can improve you as an artist.
So yeah, enjoy learning and know that you'll get where you want to go if you apply yourself correctly.
if you are on polycount knocking out nice work then you are doing yourself a dis service if you think that just anyone can do that or that you don't have any kind of gift.
kind of like a false modesty. fact is that not everyone could do what most of the people here do even if they practised a lot.
This is not a response, but it reminded me of this (particularly the sketch artist):
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/07/new_orleans_police_seek_9th_wa.html
That doesn't make any sense to me. How can a person be born good at making something that doesn't inherently exist? There's no section of the brain used specifically for making art. I think some people are born more inclined to work hard and not give up (which is how one gets good at art) but that's not being born good at art, it's being born good at getting good.
And frankly I think it's somewhat insulting to tell skilled people that they were born with the abillity and all their hard work was for nought.