Juggling specializations and Art Mediums

Fogbrain

I've had this nagging thought in my head for a while and it's keeping me up tonight on this lovely 4AM morning. I'm still you know learning and trying to find my feet in art and game development. I love alot of stuff like modeling, sculpting, texturing, 2D drawing and painting. Doing characters but also environments.

I know there's not many 3D generalists out there, and I don't know how beneficial it might be to be a 'jack of all trades, master of none' type situation to be in for myself. So far I'm just throwing ideas and trying these new things at the wall and seeing what sticks.


By focusing on those things I listed before, is it too much? If I pay attention to something like sculpting too much, would my skills in another area like modelling fade? Sometimes it feels that way, I mean I'll feel rusty but soon I'm getting back into it.

My point being, is it a good idea to nurture these mediums like drawing and still focus and juggle stuff like being good and learning modelling?

Is it a good idea for where I am right now to wanna dip my toes into both environments and characters? Or should I just choose one and let that be my focus?

I have my reasons for not wanting to do both, like character artists are few in a game company and its a very competitive field, but I don't love environments as much as I do characters but I'm not bad at environments either and I do enjoy it.

Yeah I'm just wondering if you guys have run into the same dilemmas and how you dealt with them and whether or not what I'm thinking here is right or wrong.

Fogbrain

I agree, in fact I've spent more time in 3D modelling programs, and yet with the lesser time I've spent in Zbrush, I feel comfortable in it, when I sculpt it feels like I'm carrying my knowledge of 2D into 3D in a very natural translation. That and it's just plain fun, whether as other stuff is plane jane dull.

So far ZBrush is quickly becoming my primary program, and I think it can help me stay on top of my 2D fundamentals, even though I'm in 3D.

wizo

You can love all those things, its not a bad thing.

you need to have a focus, an expertise, hopefully something that you love doing more than the rest and that you are passionate about. As mr dustin has said, fundamentals are essential, they affect all of the things you mentioned, so practice hard and make studies. e.g studies focusing on silhouettes...then swap to lighting studies on sphere etc.. everything you practice in 2d will complement your 3d skills almost directly.

good luck

Jeff Parrott

My general advice (it could be diff depending on your situation, age, family, hours, etc) would be to do a bunch of general things for a bit. Figure out what you like (or could do for 8 hours a day enjoying) and then go full boar with that.

That could be low poly, pixey characters or ZBrush sculpted rocks. Just find what you love and go into it. Until then try different stuff.

Fogbrain

I pretty much agree with everything you guys have put forward and it's not really far from what I'm doing now, which is a bit of everything. So at least I feel like I'm not doing anything wrong right now. Trying to get those core fundamentals working for me, and ofcourse I'll always will be still learning, what I meant before was I'm still trying to get to a point where I'm happy with my workflow and the results that come out of it, all while feeling comfortable while doing these tasks and most importantly finding my feet as an artist in style and technique.

ExcessiveZero

Generalizing is a tricky thing, the jack of all trades master of none only rings half true, the truth is if you focus entirely on one aspect your skill level is going to shoot right up in that one aspect, if you focus on many aspects it will take you so much longer, even if you are a self described polymath such as myself and learn fast.

But what I have noticed is the more stuff I learn, the quicker I am to learn, and techniques, tools, mediums all cross over and give me a new way of thinking and of course new skills.

I guess I am fortunate to some degree, I need not work, I am not desperate for money, at least not yet and I have a love of learning.

So now I can paint (non digital), make a fractal style of artwork, do my own concept art which isn't the best but coming up huge levels, I know max like the back of my hand and have no trouble with Maya, my Z sculpting skills have come across hugely this past year, and as I improve my chr skills its only going to get better, and I started to learn coding and coded a mobile game at the start of this year, now I am moving onto one in UE4.

But this has far been a quick path to acquire these skills, about 10-11 years ago I started modding game engines, 4 years ago started getting serious about 3D, so if you want a job I would advise not to wander off the track, if you can't help yourself, can afford it, and is possibly a polymath with a learning addiction well what choice do you have lol.

Fogbrain

Hermit wrote: »

I'd also say, don't make yourself a ''generalist, bad at everything''. Focus on becoming a multi-specialist. Don't learn everything at once. Learn and master one skill at a time and keep practicing it once you reach a high enough level. Look at the skills you want to acquire and be smart in the how you can acquire and combine them. What is very nice about being a multi-specialist is that what you can learn from one field can be applied to another and that will make you better at everything you do.

The greatest level designers are also modelers.
The greatest level artists are also level designers.
The greatest game designers are also programmers.
The greatest programmers are also designers.
Etc.

If you goal is to become a character artist or if that's what you think you would love most, then Zbrush + texturing + anatomy + traditional drawing skills is what you should focus on. If your main interest is to just get a job in the video games industry, maybe you should focus more on props modeling and environments, because there are few character artist positions out there.

I'd recommend you look at both what you want and what you would need to survive. Unless you are rich or still are living with your parents...

Absolutely man, and it pretty much explains the dilemma, of where I'd HAVE to go in order to survive and at least get a job, because what if I'm not as good as the people I contend with? I mean I try my hardest to succeed in anything I try to do, but there's always gonna be someone who can just succeed naturally and if that is in a field like characters, then I'm outta luck cos there's so few positions.

Truth be told, I'd love to be great at characters and also specialize in environments at the very least a credible intermediate level, because I enjoy it and there's jobs for it.

I know what I don't like doing, and that's rendering, animation, rigging, programming, particular engine tasks and anything else I don't legitimately have an interest in, but all those things I've at least tried and if I have to do them I will, and I'm glad I've learnt at least SOMETHING about them.

But I'm slowly honing in on stuff I really like, and wanna specialize in and so far to me they seem to compliment each other quite well. Plus I wouldn't wanna take a job like this if I didn't love what I was doing and that's making art and videogames.