[wip] de_fracture; critiques and advice please? (make me cry!)

kinggambitben

So about a year ago I set out to aspire to be an environment artist and/or level designer or level builder. Can't afford school. Still got lots to learn.

I don't think I've learned as much as I should have in a year though. If anyone could give some advice on what I should focus on improving and tips in general, I'd definitely appreciate it.








I think part of my problem is I'm focusing on too many things (source engine, 3ds max, photoshop, a bit of zbrush) so I'm just mediocre at everything.

gnomgrol

Advice depends on what you are trying to do.
If you are trying to create a good map for cs:go, you need to get good knowledge of the game itself and why the "main" maps were picked as such.
If you just care about the looks, the thing that you seem to lack the most is detail. Details are what makes stuff stand out and look unique. But for Cs, you don't want to go overboard with them, to make the map look "clean".
I recommend going into the game and running around on some of the new maps, pay attention to their textures and what kind of detail they put everywhere.

For assets, look for something nice ingame and try to recreate it yourself, as close to the original as possible (without using their textures etc. ofc). Keep redoing it again and again until you get it right.