Need advice on texturing skills.

Stranger

Hey! So basically im okay at modeling. but, i blow ass at texturing. I dont really understand what to do, do i use real world images? Say im making a environment and theres some asphalt i honestly dont know how to make the normal for it etc. i would just like a direction.

CharacterCarl

Using photos as a base is one way to produce textures. In case of an ashpalt texture, you would first make this photo tileable (inside e.g. Photoshop). You could then use a program like CrazyBump, nDo or Bitmap2Material to extract the individual maps (normal, specular, etc.) from the photo and fine-tune them individually. Having all these maps in one PS document organized in folders for example would give you the opportunity to compare them and copy adjustment layers and masks between them quickly.

If you were working from a high poly mesh/sculpt, you could also bake AO+normal maps onto a plane for your tileable asphalt and use them as a base.

Another method is procedural textures. By using a software like Substance Designer you can create tileable textures completely without photo information and with highly versatile results. Because the result doesn't have to be reliant on pixel information, these textures could be scaled in any possible way before exporting the maps.

Here are some resources:
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/mAJwv (Vivi model by Xavier Coelho-Kostolny which includes texture PSDs)

Also check the Vertex books, they helped me a lot: http://artbypapercut.com/
Vertex 1: "AAA Texturing" by Mashru Mishu
Vertex 2: by "The Huntress" Jonathan Fletcher

Fwap

What tools do you have at your exposal or want to learn (if any)
The tools you have will greatly effect how you author your textures.
If you aren't sure the Quixel Suite is great and i believe it has a trial version too.

Stranger

Thanks for the responses. Fwap said:

What tools do you have at your exposal or want to learn (if any)
The tools you have will greatly effect how you author your textures.
If you aren't sure the Quixel Suite is great and i believe it has a trial version too.

I have Modo, Substance, PS CC atm. 

Fwap

Do you have access to Bitmap2Material or just substance Designer/Painter?
B2M Is alright at generating the maps,such as a normal map, you need from a photo and removing lighting information.
I think the best place to start would be showing us your attempts at texturing so far so we can jump in and guide you on where to go next.