How do practice 3D modeling skills?

goodmelody491

Hi there, I've signed up a few months ago this year.
In the beginning, I assumed that practicing meant making the models you wanted to make. One day out of no where, I got those thoughts that went something like "What if I'm not doing it right/ What if I'm not practicing properly or doing anything right?".
So right now I feel stuck because I don't really have a guide telling me what to do (one of the downfalls of self-teaching). I've looked at 4 video series on youtube of how to use a 3d modeling tool, Zbrush (I switched over to Zbrush because I thought it was the right thing to do since I was interested in primarily sculpting when starting out.) However those videos, while very useful, didn't tell me how to practice 3D modeling or only left bits of techniques like "lay out the basic shapes in the lowest subdivision/resolution, and slowly increase it by detail).

What is the right way to practice and how do I get better at my art skills? My old method involved making something like a character, look back at it and see the problems, and then go redo the model from zero, but I've been feeling a bit doubtful of this method because I don't really have some sort of confirmation that this works. From my experience, it does work a bit comparing to my first model and most recent on this thread: http://polycount.com/discussion/185439/practicing#latest
But like I said, I didn't have a professional confirm that this is the right way so I feel iffy on it. I have a feeling that my mind is "rushing" to get good too. Because I only started at the beginning of this year. I would like to get better as fast as possible (like everyone) so that's also my worry, if I'm using the slowest method without knowing.

Thanks for reading and help is much appreciated!

Sunray

As far as I know I would say first you need to realise what you want to do. Do you want to make characters, environments or weapons you name it. Once you have decided that you should focus on what you choose. Now you want to suck as much information up as you can. Looking at your previous model I think your choice will be characters? 

So start listening to podcasts where character artist talk about their job. 
Download cheap stuff from gumroad about what you want to learn. As example Adam Skutt has some really nice decent priced stuff on his gumroad. Use it as refernce try to study it.
Look on job openings what the requirements are for the job and learn what they want you to know for the job you want.
Compare your own work to other professional artist since that's what you're going need to be able to do if you want to find a job.
Ask people for feedback you can even ask your friends if they think your stuff looks awesome or not try to get as much feedback as you can.
And just keep making models practice and practice and practice. 

And make sure you can do everything in the pipeline everone loves sculpting but, you will still need to learn proper topology, uvs, textures and so on.

At least that's how I've been trying to learn 3d art hope this helps a bit I'm just a student tho.
 

JordanN

My experience with modeling is that while practice is apart of it, it's more important to understand the process of how to create something from the ground up and recreate an object or character faithfully.

So say you model for 8 hours. Technically that's practice, but if what you made in that time doesn't really have good topology, or the anatomy is incorrect, then your rate of cranking out better models is going to be really slow.

Luckily, in the age of the internet, it's really easy to go on artstation or check out polycount's how the f*#% do I model this and just take down notes of other people's modeling. It's way easier and faster to see people breakdown the modeling process that's up to professional standards, then having to reinvent the wheel on your own and try and do the same thing without any help.

goodmelody491

Sunray said:

As far as I know I would say first you need to realise what you want to do. Do you want to make characters, environments or weapons you name it. Once you have decided that you should focus on what you choose. Now you want to suck as much information up as you can. Looking at your previous model I think your choice will be characters? 

So start listening to podcasts where character artist talk about their job. 
Download cheap stuff from gumroad about what you want to learn. As example Adam Skutt has some really nice decent priced stuff on his gumroad. Use it as refernce try to study it.
Look on job openings what the requirements are for the job and learn what they want you to know for the job you want.
Compare your own work to other professional artist since that's what you're going need to be able to do if you want to find a job.
Ask people for feedback you can even ask your friends if they think your stuff looks awesome or not try to get as much feedback as you can.
And just keep making models practice and practice and practice. 

And make sure you can do everything in the pipeline everone loves sculpting but, you will still need to learn proper topology, uvs, textures and so on.

At least that's how I've been trying to learn 3d art hope this helps a bit I'm just a student tho.
 

Yeah I want to make character models. I'll start off by googling podcasts, thanks for the advice.

JordanN said:

My experience with modeling is that while practice is apart of it, it's more important to understand the process of how to create something from the ground up and recreate an object or character faithfully.

So say you model for 8 hours. Technically that's practice, but if what you made in that time doesn't really have good topology, or the anatomy is incorrect, then your rate of cranking out better models is going to be really slow.

Luckily, in the age of the internet, it's really easy to go on artstation or check out polycount's how the f*#% do I model this and just take down notes of other people's modeling. It's way easier and faster to see people breakdown the modeling process that's up to professional standards, then having to reinvent the wheel on your own and try and do the same thing without any help.

Alright, I'll start looking deeper on how people model things/modeling process. I think I can search it up on youtube, but if it's not there, then I'll check out gumroad or Gnomon workshop etc. I looked at the thread and some parts were difficult to follow, but I was able to save a few pictures that were helpful- and I'll keep that thread in mind in the future. Thank you for the help!

sacboi

goodmelody491 said:I looked at the thread and some parts were difficult to follow, but I was able to save a few pictures that were helpful- and I'll keep that thread in mind in the future.Yeah although sub-d (sub-division) modelling is pretty much essential learning once your progression reaches a certain level, however for the moment I'd advise to just concentrate on getting to grips with the app's feature set, functionality alongside implementing content creation techniques starting from the very basics first before introducing an entirely new discipline which may complicate matters when there's no need to at this stage.Now If you're into figurative characters and/or creature sculpts plus dig Zbrush as well, then you really can't go past:ZbrushCentral - http://www.zbrushcentral.com/They're a community of like minded artists that friggin love this stuff, spread over a wide spectrum of experience and skillset so you'd probably won't be left wondering as to the wherewithal generating content.Check 'em out

TheGabmeister

I also mostly taught myself how to create 3D models through online videos. Never had any background in art, and ironically never even planned to become a game asset creator. I started creating 3d assets about 1.5 years ago, it was a slow and tiring process. Today, I'm a lead asset creator of a virtual reality startup.

You can check out these links which might help:
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Artists
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM39qhXle4g&list=FLDz0bteBybcRo2PQUbZawBw

The importance of fundamentals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rI6q6bv7do&feature=share

For me, the fastest way to learn is to have a mentor who possesses the skill to give constructive feedback. In our startup, I sometimes envy our younger recruits because I teach them in 1 day the things that I learned painfully in weeks or even months of research. If you somehow can't find a mentor, then there's always Polycount  This forum is pretty much my mentor, and I read the threads here on a daily basis and learn from the masters.

goodmelody491

sacboi said:

goodmelody491 said:I looked at the thread and some parts were difficult to follow, but I was able to save a few pictures that were helpful- and I'll keep that thread in mind in the future.

Yeah although sub-d (sub-division) modelling is pretty much essential learning once your progression reaches a certain level, however for the moment I'd advise to just concentrate on getting to grips with the app's feature set, functionality alongside implementing content creation techniques starting from the very basics first before introducing an entirely new discipline which may complicate matters when there's no need to at this stage.

Now If you're into figurative characters and/or creature sculpts plus dig Zbrush as well, then you really can't go past:

ZbrushCentral - http://www.zbrushcentral.com/

They're a community of like minded artists that friggin love this stuff, spread over a wide spectrum of experience and skillset so you'd probably won't be left wondering as to the wherewithal generating content.

Check 'em out

Thanks for the link! It's exactly what I'm looking for!

TheGabmeister said:

I also mostly taught myself how to create 3D models through online videos. Never had any background in art, and ironically never even planned to become a game asset creator. I started creating 3d assets about 1.5 years ago, it was a slow and tiring process. Today, I'm a lead asset creator of a virtual reality startup.

You can check out these links which might help:
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Artists
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM39qhXle4g&list=FLDz0bteBybcRo2PQUbZawBw

The importance of fundamentals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rI6q6bv7do&feature=share

For me, the fastest way to learn is to have a mentor who possesses the skill to give constructive feedback. In our startup, I sometimes envy our younger recruits because I teach them in 1 day the things that I learned painfully in weeks or even months of research. If you somehow can't find a mentor, then there's always Polycount  This forum is pretty much my mentor, and I read the threads here on a daily basis and learn from the masters.

It's wonderful to hear someone being able to have a job in art. I wanted to as a kid but I decided later on that I would just do it as a hobby because it sounded too much for me ( ´¬`). I guess it's different depending on person on whether they can handle a job in art or not, and there's always different options like having it as a hobby.
I watched the first video in the past and I loved it, one of the things it cleared up for me was how to properly "steal" as an artist.
But I haven't watched the second video, so it'll be on my watchlist.
I'm loving this place a lot because of how constructive the feedback is.
Thanks for the feedback!

YF_Sticks

Awesome thread! I am a beginner as well and I started taking classes with CG Spectrum.
I find having a mentor that can point out certain elements or mistakes of your model helps a great deal.

ChromaWitch

I use Pluralsight. According to their tests, I'm almost an expert in 3d modeling but I go through all the courses anyway because there's a lot of things that I missed or forgot when I first learned the software. Of course, it is a subscription based service, but you can cheat yourself into an extended trial. Just google, "pluralsight 6 month trial" to find an article on how to get it legally. Nothing shady, I promise. It's actually a 3 month trial now, but it's still a great deal.

goodmelody491

One last question I wanted to ask, where do I find mentors who will give feedback to something I'm working on?
I'm looking all over google but I can't find any that meets the requirements I have.

Gah, I wanted to learn on my own without spending a cent but I started saving some money for this because I'm having problems learning on my own.

Semi

You don't necessarily need feedback from professional, although it doesn't hurt to ask. If you find artists you like, checking out if they have tutorials on Cubebrush and Gumroad. For tutorials, FlippedNormals, Cubebrush, Pluralsight, Gnomon have paid tutorials that are pretty cool, and youtube is always really good. You should also post your progress for people to give critiques on, most people can give you pretty good critiques! 

Zack Maxwell

The best practice is through doing.

You can learn new/proper techniques and workflows by occasionally watching training videos or reading about them, but more than anything you should be making stuff.
Watching other skilled artists make things is particularly good for learning the proper way to do things.

You should also constantly be pushing your comfort zone, and working on new things that you haven't before.

ambelamba

I want to concentrate on hard surface modeling, mostly vehicles and mechs. What's the best way to practice from the rock bottom? Sub-D is the bane of my learning, for now.

Brian "Panda" Choi

Choose a concept that's fairly simple, looks good, and straight forward. 

You don't have to subD model everything. You should find Amsterdam Hilton Hotel's Pro Boolean modeling method. 

Semi

Try to decompose your model into forms and big chunks that are easier to model. As soon as you start understand basic principle principles like forms and maybe know a thing or two about silhouette, modeling is gonna get easier and you'll see a lot of improvements. I'd say don't forget your fundamentals and use a lot of references. 

Wargo522

i'm no professional but I find it helpful to look at other peoples wireframe models and brake it down. DL UE4 install a Squad or Ark dev kits and then import their FBX files into your 3d software and have a study. Its a good way of learning because you see whats required.

ambelamba

OK, can I tag along?

I started out with Modo 2 years ago with very little progress. Now I feel lagging behind and started practicing from tutorials, not just watching them. But the learning resources are very limited, and the community college class I signed up for teaches Maya. So I am temporarily switching to Maya, partly because there are more learning resources than Modo. And if you get proficient in Maya, Modo will be a walk in the park to you. (and me)

@Wargo522 Yes, that's why I spend money on models built by others. But many of them are badly decimated.

@Brian"Panda"Choi Right. And just like @Semi said I need to concentrate on blocking in with rough shapes first.

Brian "Panda" Choi

Semi said:

Try to decompose your model into forms and big chunks that are easier to model. As soon as you start understand basic principle principles like forms and maybe know a thing or two about silhouette, modeling is gonna get easier and you'll see a lot of improvements. I'd say don't forget your fundamentals and use a lot of references. 

Decompose doesn't mean what you think it means.