Help! Character Modelling

Joshmjc

Hey guys I'm in need of some help, at the moment I'm in my first year of games design at college in the UK, coming close to the end and going onto the second year. Knowing that i have some days where i don't have that much work to do i want to get practicing to stay ahead of the curve, the main reason for this is that by the time it comes to applying for university i will have decent work that I'm proud and not weak work that i would feel as if i just scraped the boundaries.
I'm familiar with the basics of 3DS max and during my first year i have animated and made various models within it. However going into the second year, my main focus is to become a character modeller, so I've done research on character modelling for quite some time now but i get the feeling I'm looking in all the wrong places, so i decided to move on to other aspects of modelling interior, exterior architectural designs, rigging, animation however it just isn't me.
I am hoping you guys could point me in the right direction, any help is appreciated i just feel like I'm running into a brick wall, constantly.

Thanks

Sukotto

I'm not sure what you're asking here? You want to learn more about modeling characters?

The PC wiki is a good place to start. Start with the basics. Learn your anatomy. Figure drawing and anatomy books will be your friends. This is the most important part. You could be an expert in Max or Maya but no one will care if your characters look like crap.

The you can learn the character creation pipeline and all the applications and techniques that go with it.

gray

i will give you some honest advice here since you seem to want it.

most 'character artists' have enough skill to be 'fine artists'. they study anatomy, draw, paint, take picture of nature and animals, collect books, bones and sculpture etc. in addition most 'character artists' have more then a few years of experience as 'generalists'. this means that they get a job modelling props sets, and what ever else is needed. if you continue to develop your skill and you have some experience under your belt then you will have the right skill set to do characters with a fair level of quality in a short amount of time. there is very little chance to get a position in characters at this point unless you have that level of dedication and skill.

my advice given your situation is to put your character artist aspiration on the side and try to get a good generalist portfolio together. that is far more realistic and will give you a much better chance of getting work. so in short keep studying all the things i mentioned above to learn character art but spend the majority of your time on a generalist portfolio.

ysalex

dang Gray, now I feel hopeless.

gray

ysalex wrote: »

dang Gray, now I feel hopeless.

hehe, trust me we all do. every great artist i have known has a healthy sense of underachievement.

its good to feel that way. but you have to combine it with the drive to keep working and progressing. its a cycle of self motivation.

Joshmjc

Thanks for the fast reply. By the sounds of it 3D Character Modelling isn't the path for me then and i will reconsider my options.

Justin Meisse

Don't treat environment art as a stepping stone to character art, both disciplines have their own unique challenges. I have worked in both fields, I became a character artist recently out of necessity and a change of pace. Do the work you are passionate about.

Jason Young

Justin Meisse wrote: »

Do the work you are passionate about.

This. I was a generalist for several years, and don't feel like it ever served me all that well in the job market.

You haven't yet started university, so there's plenty of time to get good and land a character art position. Just make sure you bust ass and post regularly.

Justin said it well regarding not treating Env art as some stepping stone. I think it's a shitty mentality.

Joshmjc

I didn't say i was using it as a stepping stone, however just stating that i did test other types of modelling out.
However thanks for the reply.