Query for one to one mentorship courses for 3D Environment

jamestreno

Hi all, would like to ask something which I have been trying to find for quite some time and that would be finding one to one mentorship for doing 3D environment.

As I am a really slow learner, I have been trying to find a mentor that is able to mentor me on a one to one basis for stuff for improving my portfolio and using the engines like Unreal or Unity to achieve the standards of God of War or Horizon Zero.

Was wondering if there is anything out there like that as easy to find as a one to one digital painting course.
I did look at CGMA and Uartsy but it doesnt seem to cater to me as I have tried a class setting like that and it was great but I feel a one to one is a better suit for me.

I have tried to follow tutorials on Youtube, paid for online short courses but it hasn't reached that level which is required for today's standards.

Hope there is anyone out there that can help me out.

Thanks

Alex_J

jamestreno said:

but it hasn't reached that level which is required for today's standards.



Thanks

The people who are defining "today's standards" certainly all didn't get a private mentorship. 

So you think you are a slow leaner... I'd bet that there is dumber people than you making cool shit in the industry right now. It would be nice if we all had a personal teacher to take all of the difficulty of learning through frustrating trial and error out of the way, but it's definitely not something likely to happen unless you have ton's of cash, and even then, who is more valuable, a person accustomed to having answers given to them or somebody who knows how to research and think critically to develop new solutions?

Somebody will probably point you towards some relevant resources, but keep in mind, unless you are literally half braindead, you can definitely learn what you need on your on (i.e. using the resources available for free or cheap online). Just don't quit.

CrackRockSteady

jamestreno said:

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I have tried to follow tutorials on Youtube, paid for online short courses but it hasn't reached that level which is required for today's standards.

Hope there is anyone out there that can help me out.

Thanks

It's also worth asking, how long have you been working at it?  Becoming an amazing artist isn't something that is going to happen overnight.  The games that you are talking about trying to match in terms of artistic quality are made by teams of experienced artists.  You can't expect to follow a few paid tutorials and start banging out AAA quality artwork.  

Yes, quality tutorials and/or mentorships will help you along the way, but the number one thing that's going to get you there is putting in the hours and hours of practice that it takes to become a good artist.

Do you have examples of some work that you have done?

jamestreno

Thanks for the comments, I understand that being a good artists takes years and sometimes decades in order to reach a amazing artist level and it definitely wouldn't happen overnight
@CrackRockSteady
Here are some examples of personal work which I have done, https://www.artstation.com/jamesong
Currently I believe I have been working at it for about 4 years give or take a few months.

CrackRockSteady

@jamestreno are you looking to focus on characters or environments (or something else)?

I know that there are a few pros around here that offer mentorship programs.  

https://gumroad.com/l/bBrIc

I think Josh Lynch still offers a monthly Substance mentorship too

These programs are likely to be focused on a specific discipline though so you'll want to figure out what you want to learn.

jamestreno

@CrackRockSteady I am looking to focus on realistic environments where I can keep up to date with today's industry workflow as I have been struggling a lot using game engines like Unreal or Unity

Would check those out Thanks a bunch.

Larry

There are a few things i'd like to say. First of all keep creating stuff even in times when you feel insecure . Secondly,i believe you need to start observing more in-detail the stuff you make.I saw your portfolio and for me, it seems like you want it to look good in general and have some kind of balance, but when i pay close attention to a specific area, it feels a bit off. If you want to do characters i'd say focus more on anatomy at the moment, and for their clothing, you have to look at pictures with people having a similar pose, and pay close attention to how their clothes fold and try to replicate them.Also your materials are responsible for the "realistic quality" of your pieces.But from what i see, do you hand paint them? It's really difficult to hand paint and make it look like those 2 games you mentioned. Even if these guys hand paint them, i strongly believe they have a realistic pbr base material, and do stuff on top of it.Also, by creating materials your eye will be trained to see stuff more in detail. Have you watched material creation videos in youtube like this ?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZEkDYaopw4&amp;t=9s? I was just replicating everything these people made and the more videos i watched the more i could predict-understand what he was going to do and eventually i tried out making my stuff. Also, lighting plays a huge role in how good your pieces look.And for lighting, there's a really good guy that explains alot about ue4 lighting and helped me alot on how to light my scenery! Check it out  https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lighting+academy+ue4
Hope it helps, cheers !

jamestreno

Hi Larry, thanks for the tips, will def look through the suggestions! Will def take your comments in the future as well when I do my work, i've did try a couple of PBR and lighting tutorials very closely but when it was time to implement in my personal work, it was quite hard to replicate the same quality like how the tutorials are shown or I just didn't understand what how the software works or what tools or steps I am missing to achieve the same standard.

I def have a long way to go whether it is character or anatomy thats for sure but I still haven't reached the point where I can tell what is wrong with my work or how I can improve it thus I need a guide/mentor to at least point out my mistakes otherwise I would be repeating them over and over again.