3D Environment Art - learn to draw first?
null
Hello. I'm gathering some info on 3d modelling for environments/props and browsed through some similar threads, but I'm still wondering how to allocate time spent on drawing and 3d modelling. Should I concentrate on landscape drawing/sketching before learning 3d, or can I mostly learn the 3d stuff while slipping some time for drawing? I've heard of 3d modellers getting good enough for jobs after a few years, but is that excluding time spent learning to draw? Assuming I give myself up to 4 years to get up to speed before trying for paid work, how long should I spend drawing vs modelling (to have some rough goals)? Is it technical drawing ability that's important, or imaginative (I can copy a reference photo pretty well, but my imaginative sketching is poo).
Should I learn a specific 3d program first before "graduating" into another?
And probably due to low confidence and uncertainty, how realistic is it to self-teach 3d environmental modelling in 4 years or less to get proficient enough to sell myself? I was laid off recently and have no intention of staying in the industry (eDiscovery) that's rather niche. It's either focus most of my free time on learning this or getting some dead-end job. Plus, being in my early 30's I just feel it's now or never. I have some money saved up for the 4 years and can take out a loan if needed but it's a bit nerve-racking.
Should I learn a specific 3d program first before "graduating" into another?
And probably due to low confidence and uncertainty, how realistic is it to self-teach 3d environmental modelling in 4 years or less to get proficient enough to sell myself? I was laid off recently and have no intention of staying in the industry (eDiscovery) that's rather niche. It's either focus most of my free time on learning this or getting some dead-end job. Plus, being in my early 30's I just feel it's now or never. I have some money saved up for the 4 years and can take out a loan if needed but it's a bit nerve-racking.
Replies
Yes. Concepts rarely change. Buttons do.
It's realistic, but most likely depends on how disciplined you are. Self-teaching will require a high amount of proactivity and self-discipline to treat your free time as essentially school time. By volume, I see less self taught than schooled amongst my fellow colleagues up and down the age groups.
Never had a studio ask if i could draw in an interview or daily work. I leave the pretty pictures up to the badass concept art teams and get my inspiration from them, or google image search for reference.
lets say you spend 10 hours a week learning how to draw, thats 520 extra hours a year that could have been spent on building 3d environments and improving that relevant skillset. and likely 2-3 more portfolio pieces. If you want to learn to draw because you enjoy it, for sure go ahead, but if you feel its going to just be another thing leading to overwhelm and are not 100% enthusiastic, drop it and focus on the 3d side of things.
4 years is a long time frame, I would say if you buckle down, learn from some gumroad tutorials made by actual pros and put in as much of your free time into the process of learning and actually making art (ideally 8 hours a day) you could easily be industry ready in 2 years or less. BUt that would mean sacrificing free time with friends or cutting netflix binge sessions etc. Just depends on how badly you want it.
Basically, I would say try and reverse engineer the exact position you want to do, look at portfolios of environment artists working at studios you would like to work at, and then just execute against that until you are at a similar level. Focus on what is relevant.
A big part of why a lot of game art students have a hard time getting a job is they have spent the 4 years at art school dabbling in all the different areas of art. character sketching, making characters, environments, vehicles, props etc. and they come out with this jack of all trades portfolio with nothing mastered, and it looks like a student portfolio.
Now I think for some people, they might not know what they enjoy doing the most, so getting a chance to taste everything is great! For me, I knew I always wanted to be an enviro artist, so that is all I focused on, and it allowed me to get industry ready pretty quickly by comparison, just making 3d stuff in my parents basement.
TL;DR - Set a goal, reverse engineer the position you want to do, and just constantly execute against that, focusing on learning relevant skills.
Good thing that my prior job killed my social life after 8+ years of working graveyard shift lol. But also need to discipline myself after habitually coming home tired and gaming 'til bed.
Yea I explored several majors in college and dabbled in concept art/illustration from some CGMA online courses, but want something more "concrete" in 3d instead of conceptualizing ideas. Maybe I'll try character modelling, but for now I just want to focus on environments.
The hardest thing I find for student is time management...cutting your social life is good but finding a balance is better. Saying I will spend a few hrs on blockout and few hrs step 2 then a few on step 3 so at the end of the week I have such and such done. I see most students just throwing time at something without ever finishing and moving on.
Give your self deadlines and small and large goals. Personally I work on new prop 1 night a week (fast, get it done and learn a bit) then I have my month long project where I am more meticulous.
I have seen the best results when people can plan their entire week to every hr of the day, TIME is a resource like money or food, eventually it does run out.
Just my 5 cents , sounds like you are headed in the right direction.
PixelMasher wrote:
lets say you spend 10 hours a week learning how to draw, thats 520 extra hours a year that could have been spent on building 3d environments and improving that relevant skillset. and likely 2-3 more portfolio pieces. If you want to learn to draw because you enjoy it, for sure go ahead, but if you feel its going to just be another thing leading to overwhelm and are not 100% enthusiastic, drop it and focus on the 3d side of things.
4 years is a long time frame, I would say if you buckle down, learn from some gumroad tutorials made by actual pros and put in as much of your free time into the process of learning and actually making art (ideally 8 hours a day) you could easily be industry ready in 2 years or less. BUt that would mean sacrificing free time with friends or cutting netflix binge sessions etc. Just depends on how badly you want it.
Basically, I would say try and reverse engineer the exact position you want to do, look at portfolios of environment artists working at studios you would like to work at, and then just execute against that until you are at a similar level. Focus on what is relevant.
A big part of why a lot of game art students have a hard time getting a job is they have spent the 4 years at art school dabbling in all the different areas of art. character sketching, making characters, environments, vehicles, props etc. and they come out with this jack of all trades portfolio with nothing mastered, and it looks like a student portfolio.
Now I think for some people, they might not know what they enjoy doing the most, so getting a chance to taste everything is great! For me, I knew I always wanted to be an enviro artist, so that is all I focused on, and it allowed me to get industry ready pretty quickly by comparison, just making 3d stuff in my parents basement.
TL;DR - Set a goal, reverse engineer the position you want to do, and just constantly execute against that, focusing on learning relevant skills.
Quoted for agreement.
P.S
If presented with an opportunity to do it all over again, I'd definitely follow PixelMasher's advice here in terms of tailoring a self paced study regime alongside concentrating on nailing techniques/workflows specific to a given skillset.