I'm 14 and looking to start

47_92_3

Hi; I'm currently 14 years old and live in Germany and I think I want to get into 3D art and maybe make it my career later on if I can. I have never really made any art, except maybe this http://imgur.com/a/m6PKr from my Minecraft phase, or this http://imgur.com/a/mBce5
I downloaded Maya and 3DS Max, and from what I can see, 3DS Max is just a better Maya (for example, this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUqH7Dyy3GA looks much cleaner than for example this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nidxOqxY9is even though this one was probably made by a professional team, but 3ds Max looks way more complicated)
Also, I read a few random threads, and clicked on a few reels and portfolios and almost every one had made something for a big company like Ubisoft or EA. Would I have to work for a big company without moving to the US or Scotland? I heard many companies are based in scotland because of the taxes. Anyway, I know of one local indie game dev studio.
Sorry for the confusing wall of text.

David-J

Ok. First and foremost 3ds Max and Maya are just tools. In the hands of a good artist they both perform great. Don't worry about that. 

There are hundreds of jobs in the industry. Learn about them. You may like modeling, animating, lighting, scripting, rigging, etc, etc. After you more or less decide on what you want focus on learning the basics. There is so much material online for you to learn. 

Also there are so many kinds of fields and types of companies all over the world. Again. Do your research and all will be well.

Cheers!

yabestpal

So since your just starting out, I would suggest you do one or two very simple sample projects in a 3D package like Maya or 3Ds Max. like David mentioned they're both just tools so dont worry too much about which is better for your purposes at this point.

I would just recommend looking through the documentation Autodesk provides you with:
3Ds Max
Maya

 Its fairly straight forward and you can get through most of it fairly quickly, and the sooner your done with learning some of the basics the faster you can transition to doing your own work. I'm a big believer in making your own unique 3D art as your learning it otherwise you'll just get burned out making other peoples art via tutorials. That said the software/ techniques change so much your probably always going to be doing a tutorial of some kind.

I would also recommend spending a bit of time looking at other peoples art and see what inspires you and follow that feeling as your guide for future projects and tutorials! Artstation is a good place to start to see what people are making now!

RustySpannerz

Yeah, keep looking at inspiration and stay inspired. And watch some tutorials to learn to model, you can't go wrong doing that! 

Elithenia

I agree with the above posters. 
I would urge you to experiment, explore, try out things, even if they seem like they are not related or a completely different world.
By trying different things within the 3D world, not only will you start to see what you like to do and what to carry on with, it will also give you a great appreciation for what other people are working with in the industry, and you will start to see how one piece can be made in a multitude of different ways and in different programs. 

Interact with the community, share your progress, stay inspired and keep working!
Good luck!