3D artist. What does it take?

brushxo

First a little back story. Over the past year I've been attempting to further my art in hopes of becoming a concept artist. I like to draw/paint and I like games so I figured this would be a great career for me. Well flash forward a year later after having learned what real concept art was, I'm not sure if this is the path I want to continue going down. I find that when doing concept art, I don't really enjoy the process of drawing orthos, variations, silhouettes, numerous re-iterations of the same thing, etc. I find that the things I enjoy the most tend to be illustration based.

I've done 3D every now and then as a hobby, but haven't considered doing it seriously. After having had a more serious look at 3D, I've been thinking that maybe its something I could consider as a potential career. Does anyone have any tips on what it takes to be a 3D artist? I know 3D has various disciplines (character artist, environment artist, etc) but I'm not sure at this point which one to go down as my knowledge on 3D is limited. I'm also in university.

If anyone is interested in my 2D (illustration) art they can view my deviantart page here: http://brushxo.deviantart.com/gallery/

Ged

University is a great opportunity to spend time figuring this stuff out, well done for making an effort. I know what you mean about the process of making concept art, Im a 3d artist but I do get to concept occasionally at work. I like the variety! it is possible to get some variety at smaller more indie style studios. Being a 3D artist doesnt get you away from all those parts of the process though. I have done numerous iterations of 3d models as the project changes course or we get a new art direction etc. Sometimes there are a lot of bits and pieces that need to be set up eg painting vertex data, making extra uv sets for lighting, adding a basic rig, rendering screenshots of models for the ui team etc and these all need to be re-done every time a new iteration is done. No matter what path you choose making games is not particularly easy but it is very rewarding being able to go to work everyday and do something you love and go home everyday and say I did that and its cool!

Advice for a beginner: Id say start simple, make some props (try choose something cool though not some generic boring crap as this could go in your portfolio) get used to good modelling and texturing workflow. Then after a few of those try something more adventurous, a basic environment or a basic character, dont try to bite off more than you can chew, aim for quality not quantity. See how this goes,find out what you have a passion for, what style is your favorite to make, what kind of artist are you? what sets your soul on fire for more? then keep doing what you love till you have a job doing it.

Blaisoid

I find that when doing concept art, I don't really enjoy the process of drawing orthos, variations, silhouettes, numerous re-iterations of the same thing, etc. I find that the things I enjoy the most tend to be illustration based.

Yeah, well if you choose to do 3d I'm sure you'll soon realize that there many aspects of 3d modeling that you also find tedious and boring - and yet you'll have to do them anyway.


So just choose whatever you enjoy doing more and accept that your job is gonna be boring at times.

brushxo

Ged said:

University is a great opportunity to spend time figuring this stuff out, well done for making an effort. I know what you mean about the process of making concept art, Im a 3d artist but I do get to concept occasionally at work. I like the variety! it is possible to get some variety at smaller more indie style studios. Being a 3D artist doesnt get you away from all those parts of the process though. I have done numerous iterations of 3d models as the project changes course or we get a new art direction etc. Sometimes there are a lot of bits and pieces that need to be set up eg painting vertex data, making extra uv sets for lighting, adding a basic rig, rendering screenshots of models for the ui team etc and these all need to be re-done every time a new iteration is done. No matter what path you choose making games is not particularly easy but it is very rewarding being able to go to work everyday and do something you love and go home everyday and say I did that and its cool!

Advice for a beginner: Id say start simple, make some props (try choose something cool though not some generic boring crap as this could go in your portfolio) get used to good modelling and texturing workflow. Then after a few of those try something more adventurous, a basic environment or a basic character, dont try to bite off more than you can chew, aim for quality not quantity. See how this goes,find out what you have a passion for, what style is your favorite to make, what kind of artist are you? what sets your soul on fire for more? then keep doing what you love till you have a job doing it.

True, it won't, though I believe I would still enjoy doing it more than concept art as atleast 3D has things I like about it, such as being more straightforward to deal with. 

I always had some trouble with trying not to bite off more than I could chew with 3D lol. Having played so many games and being inspired by some of the levels (such as Mario games), I'd often try to build them in 3D only to end up with half completed levels, but I loved doing it which I suppose is what really counts. I'll definitely try to slow everything down this time around and start with the basics. 

brushxo

Blaisoid said:

I find that when doing concept art, I don't really enjoy the process of drawing orthos, variations, silhouettes, numerous re-iterations of the same thing, etc. I find that the things I enjoy the most tend to be illustration based.

Yeah, well if you choose to do 3d I'm sure you'll soon realize that there many aspects of 3d modeling that you also find tedious and boring - and yet you'll have to do them anyway.


So just choose whatever you enjoy doing more and accept that your job is gonna be boring at times.

I know that every job has its boring side to it having worked a few in college, even if they are menial jobs. If it were all fun and happy land then it wouldn't be called work/job

I think I may end up going with 3D. It has its boring/tedious sides too, I'm not denying it. But atleast with 3D there are things I enjoy doing to balance it out. With concept art.....I just don't find much fun in it to balance out the boring/tedious side of it.

Michael_Ingrassia

I took a look at your portfolio. Here is some advice before you invest a good deal of time going down the 3D path. Explore learning ZBrush. You might find digital sculpting easier to grasp then 3d modeling. You'll need to learn basic box modeling but below is an example image of a simple 3D base mesh and what can be done all through using ZBrush. Also it's a skill most studios need production artists to have.

I teach for a reason. It's because I have seen many artists such as yourself needing to find direction. The image above is an online video course I just completed. Take a look at it and see if this makes sense for you? Here is a link: Sculpt A Scarecrow

brushxo

Michael_Ingrassia said:

I took a look at your portfolio. Here is some advice before you invest a good deal of time going down the 3D path. Explore learning ZBrush. You might find digital sculpting easier to grasp then 3d modeling. You'll need to learn basic box modeling but below is an example image of a simple 3D base mesh and what can be done all through using ZBrush. Also it's a skill most studios need production artists to have.

I teach for a reason. It's because I have seen many artists such as yourself needing to find direction. The image above is an online video course I just completed. Take a look at it and see if this makes sense for you? Here is a link: Sculpt A Scarecrow

Sure, I'll definitely look into exploring ZBrush and your course on it. Though while on the subject, what is ZBrush mainly used for in studios? I know its used primarily for characters and organic stuff but what about hard surfacing?

Michael_Ingrassia

Well Zbrush has the capability to do anything including hard surface modeling. I personally prefer to use it just for sculpting and polypaint. Depending on the studio it's used in a variety of capacities. In my studio we actually hit every model through ZBrush to some degree. It's part of our production and optimization pipeline.

The other area you should look at, being a hand paint texture artist. Hand painted textures is another area that many modelers lack the skills. Here are a few tuts that may help:
Wood texture
Hand Painted Weapon
Another Wood Tut