The Beginning

NkdToot

Hey everyone, 
 My name is Michael I am 26 years old, I have had a hard time moving forward with my art but I am finally ready to join Polycount for the great advice everyone gives. I have some schooling but was never able to finish due to the art school being so expensive. So I could really use the help, the goal here is to post in this Forum once every month and learn all I can from this community. I have to work what ever jobs i can right now to support my family but I also set 2 to 4 hours a day for my art and Polycount. My dream is to be a artist for games because games mean a lot to me. Growing up and even now games let my mind wonder to amazing places and I want to make those places for other people to enjoy. 

NkdToot

Here is my first art piece I have made in about a year, this was more to get back into things. The places where I had trouble in was the metal on the blade, I didn't know what texture to put on it. My references were mostly smooth but it looked off to me with no details on the blade. Im also having trouble trying to make the low poly. How low should something like this be? I see people with something like this that is only 412 tris, every time I make a low poly that would bake well for me it is 6 times that. I use topogun for my retopology any advice on this is badly needed.

The next step I was thinking of doing was remodeling this but in 3ds max first, then unwrap and bring into Zbrush, to me the baking is usually alot better when i do this but it will be alot more work so let me know what you guys think if i should continue this piece or make a new one that is clean from the start. This also will be my first piece on my portfolio another reason why I am just thinking of starting over because I only want the best I can make on there. I also want a job in the industry by 2016 so maybe not starting over but starting a new project might be better. WHO KNOWS THESE THINGS? . Let me know what you guys think.

Texelion

Hey dude. It will probably be hard to find a job in the industry in one year, but starting with lowpoly handpainted stuff might be the best idea, I think it's easier to find a job in a mobile game studio, so that's generally the kind of stuff they're looking for.

If you want an advice : take a concept of something you like from a popular game ( Dota, Diablo, LoL, whatever ) and try to reproduce it. You don't seem to have the skill to create good concepts yet ( no offense, just keep  practicing, it takes years ), so doing something that already exists, and doing it good, will be better. There is also a high chance that that's what a company will ask you : take the concept they give you and do it in 3D.

For the tricount, having more tris for the bake is OK, but then you have to remove the useless tris that don't particpate in the silhouette of the object. The concept itself should take that into consideration by avoiding complex shapes that will take a lot of tris. Also you're not forced to do a highpoly, you can simply concentrate on pure hand painting, especially if you don't plan on using the normal map. You need to be able to do something fast.

NkdToot

Thanks for the reply Texelion. I believe any one can learn programs and replicate whats already been made, If i can contact the artist and they give me the ok on a concept that has not been made 3D I would be happy. That should show I can copy a concept to 3d. Right? As I look for a piece and contact the artist I am going to keep making this sword and see how it turns out. Ill post the concept as soon as I get the ok.