Where do i start?!

baratation

Hello everyone, looooooooong time lurker here, i´m not here to tell you a sad story or to complain about life, i want a change and i just want your honest opinion, where should i start?

Start with what you might be asking, well i´ve been working in post production for a few years now, mainly compositing but i always knew (since 2006) that i wanted to design things, mechs, spaceships, cars, buildings, levels but i ran from it because i didnt have any artistic skill and lots of negative people told me that it would be impossible, well....maybe if i haven´t listened after those 9 years of practice i would be veeeeery good, right? But since i´m a lot older now and probably going to get married in the next 1 or 2 years my time is getting limited and i need someone to help me build a path or at least point me in the right direction.

To make it short so you don´t have to deal with my terrible english anymore, i have from now to january free time to focus on studying 8 hours a day, but i dont know what i should start, should i start with drawing or painting? Can i go directly to 3d? i´ve been reading on a lot of people designing hard surface on zbrush directly skipping drawing, should i do this or doing this will affect me on the long run, keep in mind that i KNOW i wont be GOOD by january, but thats not what i want i just want to get back to my old work but already walking the path to maybe by the end of 2016 do a carrer change.

EDIT: Let me be clear that i have studied industrial design by my art is really shitty, i can model simple stuff and follow a blue print, i know everything about render passes and even some vray, but i feel like im just spinning my wheels if i just sit in front of a computer and try to model something from my head.

Can someone help shed a light into my situation? thanks :poly121:

MagicSugar

I recommend starting with Blender. I'm assuming you have zero 3d skills so start with easy items (hand tools, simple furniture) to get your feet wet and familiarize yourself with the the tools and modelling process.

You can do zbrush hardsurface but a) you'll have to buy a license b) it's going to be more challenging doing hardsurface modelling with it than Blender if you're a beginner.

Re: being a good designer, realistically even if you've watched all pertinent gumroad videos in a week it will still take you years to design something professional looking from scratch. If you're okay doing shabby models for now since you're just learning there'll be less pressure on yourself to catch up with pros who have years of design experience and training.

Good luck.

baratation

I forgot to mention that i know all the theory behind 3d, i spent a lot of time back in 2006 modeling stuff, nothing good because i didnt have the artistic skills but i know all about loops, extrudes, the importance of quads, even the render passes ( since im a compositor ) what i really need is to work on my artistic skills but i dont know if i should spend my time with drawing or painting or both, as for liscenses i in a position that i can afford 500$ on a zbrush one and everything autodesk i can get for free for non comercial use as far as i know...right?

Oh, and i´m completely fine doing ovals all day long if i feel that this is not a waste of my time i just want someone that walked the art path to help me waste the least amount of time by doing the right things.

Thanks MagicSugar

SonicBlue

The old Weekly Hard Surface Challenge threads can be found here:

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=129938

and here:

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=132146

Some pictures may be offline, just look at what other people did and search for a proper reference.

baratation

Thanks a lot guys, i really feel this is the right place to come practice and learn since i´ve been lurking it for so long i always felt this is one of the best communities out on the web, thanks a lot and i´ll start doing the hard surface challenges right now!

Add3r

I will say, before I got into 3D and games, I sucked at any sort of 2D illustration. Finding 3D was awesome, though now I am pretty hindered when people ask for "quick concepts" of what I have in my head... but I make up for that by speeding up my 3D workflow so I can iterate faster and blockout ideas in nearly the same speed some concept a piece. Turn your "disadvantages" into advantages. In my case, being able to blockout my ideas quickly and clearly, I am then able to use that as a base mesh where I can do a very quick/dirty paint over on my model.


TLDR, I suck at 2D illustration and didnt let it slow me down when building a career in the games industry.

baratation

Thanks for that Add3r, i read a lot o people online saying the same thing, that using the 3d software to blockout your concepts is just another technique to achieving the same end result, this is very inspiring to me, but i do intend to learn how to draw later on, i´ve been avoiding this since 5th grade and its almost about time to confront it, but yeah i´ll focus on mastering 3d modeling for now.