Questions: 3D Character Art

alec2002

Hi everyone. I finished high school several months ago and have been stockpiling questions over the summer while I studied and practiced. I would really appreciate it if I could have some of them answered before I head off to the Savannah College of Art and Design in three days to begin my journey into the game and/or film industry. NOTE: I want to be a Character Artist for production, not a concept artist.

First off, I have been stressing so much lately about how I'm not the best at drawing and that I need to be good in order to be a good 3D artist. I feel that my 3D skills, however, are much better than my 2D skills because I've simply chosen to spend more time sculpting rather than drawing/painting. In other words, I enjoy 3D more. What are your thoughts on this? Would I be in the wrong if I continue putting most of my energy into studying 3D as my medium of expertise? I'm sure my professors will help me with this dilemma, but I'd like to know what you think as well.

Secondly, are character artists working in production expected to design? Would I be required to do any pre-production sketching at a studio with concept artists whose job it is to do that? I just want to know if lacking certain 2D skills like complex perspective will hinder my chances of being hired for a role in the character production pipeline.

Lastly, I've attached some renders of my characters/creatures from the past several months. Some are based on existing concepts and others are my own designs. How do they look? Even though I don't know much about the high- to low-poly process and can't render them in-engine yet (I've been focusing mainly on fundamentals like anatomy and proportion), do these models show potential for a character production role in the future?

I'm just nervous about the requirements of this field and how difficult it is to get a job as a character artist at a studio like DICE, id, Epic, Bungie, CDPR, Gearbox, Naughty Dog, etc. I understand that many artists right out of school start out a bit smaller, but my goal (as far-fetched as it may seem to me right now) is to get into a AAA studio as soon as I'm done at SCAD. I only have four years in college before I begin the job hunt. Who the hell knows if I'll even be ready to take on this industry by then!? Anyway, I digress. I'll just work my ass off at SCAD and do everything I can to get my foot in the door.

Cheers, everyone. Thanks in advance for your input and advice.

-Alec

alec2002

Bump

Brian "Panda" Choi

If you're planning on going Triple-A, keep doing what you're doing and ignore developing design/drawing skills.  You'll be mostly asked to do a limited set of things really well, so your aim will keep you in that zone.

It could only really help you if you did spend a little time learning how to do visual design and draw.  Imagine getting incomplete character concepts and having to either rough sculpt ideas out, or draw thumbnails out instead.

I would generally advise that, if you're not working on a game because of class, it would be super beneificial to you to not only make game art, but volunteer your time as a Character Artist for various game dev teams.  USC is always looking for art talent for their projects, and we've made some pretty clutch stuff in the past that have gone on to win IGF awards, etc.

PattyWhacker

These models are pretty neat! Tell me why you're going to college again? 

alec2002

PattyWhacker said:

These models are pretty neat! Tell me why you're going to college again? 

Thanks, PattyWhacker. I feel that I need more education in art fundamentals in order to truly reach AAA quality. Not only do I want and need some more solid 2D skills, but I also want to learn the character art pipeline as well as the pipelines of other artists in order to make their jobs easier. I want to learn more about modeling, sculpting, texturing, drawing, etc. so I can be more helpful in a studio and in the industry overall. I just wish I knew more about what is required of me as a junior- or even intermediate-level character artist.

alec2002

Brian "Panda" Choi said:

If you're planning on going Triple-A, keep doing what you're doing and ignore developing design/drawing skills.  You'll be mostly asked to do a limited set of things really well, so your aim will keep you in that zone.

It could only really help you if you did spend a little time learning how to do visual design and draw.  Imagine getting incomplete character concepts and having to either rough sculpt ideas out, or draw thumbnails out instead.

I would generally advise that, if you're not working on a game because of class, it would be super beneificial to you to not only make game art, but volunteer your time as a Character Artist for various game dev teams.  USC is always looking for art talent for their projects, and we've made some pretty clutch stuff in the past that have gone on to win IGF awards, etc.

Thanks for the advice, Brian. I'm a bit worried about not having enough time to sculpt and learn more about 3D art after I start classes (at least for the first quarter because my foundations courses focus on drawing, design, and art history.) The main thing is that I kept seeing so much online about how 3D artists who can't draw well don't have as many opportunities as those who can draw and/or paint. It scared me because I have spent so much time on my 3D work in the past year and haven't done as much 2D work. I like 3D more, but there's always a thought in my mind that tells me I won't make it if I don't have the proper 2D foundations and fundamental training. I'll likely feel more confident in my 3D skills if I have a traditional 2D art background. That's why I came to SCAD.

Here's the problem; I don't truly know how important 2D skills are to a character artist in a AAA studio. Like you said, I'll mostly be asked to do a few things really well; however, what if I wanted to design characters and creatures for my personal projects? If I didn't know how to draw or paint, I wouldn't be able to generate ideas quickly through sketches, thumbnails, or fully-rendered images. Also, IF I'm asked to play any role in the design process, I want to be able to help as efficiently as possible. I know this can be learned on my own later in my career, but I want to develop the necessary skills as early as possible

Thanks again for the advice, Brian. I really appreciate it.

Brian "Panda" Choi

@alec2002 If you check out my website, you can kind of see the level of concept art that I'm at that I'm actively using to communicate ideas to my boss.  These situations have definitely been, up till now, times where design has a verbal description at best, so it's up to me to figure out what it looks like exactly on my end and get that reviewed for creation.

As long as you're directly fighting that fear, even if you feel it, you're making progress by putting any time into learning fine art fundamentals of value, color theory, gesture, figure drawing, etc.  It's still hard for me to put a finger on what about my time learning those things has done for me, but I have a strong feeling it has bled into my work.  

Concept art, fortunately regardless of speed, is mostly about process to getting to the final idea.  The act of thumbnailing, reference gathering, understanding construction, pattern, composition, are tools that, even if you don't have the best idea immedaitely, will help you get you close.  Sweat that you can't make an awesome idea as quick as a dedicated concept artist, but know that you too can use the same tools and process to get your own best idea, which will most likely be better than whatever you first came up with.

Iteration.  Iteration.  Iteration.  It's a thing game dev feeds and thrives on, fam.

Someone else might have a different understanding of where concept design fits into a Charatcer Artist's toolkit, so I'm all ears

TomGT

Hey man. Been in your position before. Its absolutely great that you know what you want to do so early on!

So this is from personal experience. Take from it what you want, don't let it dictate what you want to do. But the best advice someone else gave to me back then, was to model characters from various concept artists and games that you would ideally want to be a part of.  Especially when you're first starting off.

My 2D skills are absolutely atrocious, but it did not affect my chances of entering the industry at all as a character artist. On the other hand, being able to model very close to someone else's concept is a key strength people look for. 

Using other people's concepts (make sure to credit / ask permission) allows you to focus on improving your anatomy work, and nailling AAA quality assets without worrying too much about design. Designing is a vastly different practice, and a mediocre design can easily bring down what would have been an awesome artwork. With someone else's concept, you can at least gauge how well your execution was, and improve from there.

That said, I have been asked to make design decisions on the job to fill in the blanks. Such as when you're asked to model a vaguely sketched section of a character or a missing rear view. Really depends on who you're working with. 

Another piece of advice that helped me, was to develop an understanding of how a game-ready character is made. (Baking, Topology, UVs, Texture Maps etc). These are pretty straightforward, so make sure you follow through with your best sculpts and actaully turn them into game ready characters!

alec2002

TomGT said:

Hey man. Been in your position before. Its absolutely great that you know what you want to do so early on!

So this is from personal experience. Take from it what you want, don't let it dictate what you want to do. But the best advice someone else gave to me back then, was to model characters from various concept artists and games that you would ideally want to be a part of.  Especially when you're first starting off.

My 2D skills are absolutely atrocious, but it did not affect my chances of entering the industry at all as a character artist. On the other hand, being able to model very close to someone else's concept is a key strength people look for. 

Using other people's concepts (make sure to credit / ask permission) allows you to focus on improving your anatomy work, and nailling AAA quality assets without worrying too much about design. Designing is a vastly different practice, and a mediocre design can easily bring down what would have been an awesome artwork. With someone else's concept, you can at least gauge how well your execution was, and improve from there.

That said, I have been asked to make design decisions on the job to fill in the blanks. Such as when you're asked to model a vaguely sketched section of a character or a missing rear view. Really depends on who you're working with. 

Another piece of advice that helped me, was to develop an understanding of how a game-ready character is made. (Baking, Topology, UVs, Texture Maps etc). These are pretty straightforward, so make sure you follow through with your best sculpts and actaully turn them into game ready characters!

Man, I'm so sorry for the late reply. Thank you so much for the feedback and advice. I've heard many times that my 2D skills matter tremendously, but I've also heard many times that they don't really matter at all and are simply a bonus. It's good to hear that I can still make it in the AAA world without fantastic 2D skills. Granted, I still want to learn as much about 2D as I possibly can before graduation, but I want to spend most of my time on improving my 3D work.

The next step, as you said, is to get my models textured, reduce them from high- to low-poly, and get them into an engine. I have Substance Painter and will likely begin learning to texture in my upcoming classes here at SCAD. Well, I guess I'll learn all of it here at some point. Getting better at it, however, depends solely on me.

Again, thanks for the feedback! I really appreciate it!