Quick 'how to' guide for a wannabe environmental artist
node
Hi everyone,
I would like to explore the possibility of becoming an environmental artist, but I would like a solid plan - kind of one of those people that needs structure/methodology to follow through. I work full time also, so I want to be efficient as possible.
Right now, I am simply sketching Drawabox.com - the lessons I am working on right now seems to be pretty focused on form and construction (drawing animals).
From what little I understand, perspective seems to be the most important fundamental piece, but reading a lot that lighting and values are crucial as well. While I was planning on just finishing out the Drawabox stuff and going from there, someone pointed out that I will want to get started on the software ASAP, because there's a lot to it and there's different programs used for different things. My main concerns are 1) jumping into digital stuff too quick without a good foundation on fundamentals and 2) how do I get familiar with expensive programs without owning them? I was also told I would need to familiarize myself with Unity or Unreal game engine.
So, any kind of plan, or at least a jumping off point, would be very helpful.
Edit: here's a link discussing fundamentals, etc.
Replies
You don't need to get into game engines right now, not until you get some 3D art done and ready to present/render.
You can do both your fundamentals and non-fundmaental art at relatively the same time.
You're esentially looking for a basic, bare bones tutorial on how to make a game prop asset.
If you can, to really cut your learning curve, get a mentor. Someone with experience who looks over your work critically can save you a lot of time and also your results will be better in a shorter amount of time.
You could always falsify the email. Or pay a known college student to let you proxy off their email.
Also just something worth noting. Securing a ADSK student licence doesn't specify an industry computer graphics biased or other tertiary/academic course of study. For example I'm currently enrolled in an ongoing series of training modules for my current place of work in the private security sector:
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/customer-service/account-management/education-program/who-can-join
(As a result have access too both Maya and 3ds Max via a student licence plus I'm on the wrong side of 50 myself
)
As for the mentor thing, probably going to be rough to pull off but I'll look in to it.
Hit me up if you ever have any questions. I'm no professional but I am happy to help point you in the right direction. I have a buttload of tutorials and resources saved up from my own journey.
Once you learn the basics of modeling, it takes a couple weeks max to apply them to a new program
Running parallel with this learning, you'll want to start getting to know the software. Learn which ever 3D package you have access to, be it maya or blender, once again after you have a grasp of it you can transfer this knowledge and pivot to a different one. At the start you'll be learning the software, then you'll want to learn how to model, then you'll want to learn why you do this.
This is a good channel on pure modelling, even though it's in Modo it's still relevant:
https://www.youtube.com/user/stammpe2
After modelling then look at UV's and texturing, introduce new software like Substance Painter/Quixel Suite, Marmoset3 etc.
Once you have a solid understanding of the above and are happy to take it to the next step, then look at UE4/Unity. Here you'll look at a host of new stuff, terrain, foliage, lighting, world building, materials etc.
There's a lot of stuff to learn but it should be fun and exciting, you'll want to 'learn how to walk before you can run' type of deal as it's very easy to get overwhelmed with all this stuff. Best to slowly level up.
Good luck
Applying Materials in Unreal is jusut saying "This texture applies to this model, Unreal." There's little to no painting involved. Your texture painting drives the actual look.
Film modeling can get by with just applying materials to only certain objects, but game assets require textured UV map sets to be more efficient about rendering during real-time rendering in game engines.
Check the Polycount wiki for further explanations of terms you'll be encountering
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Polycount
Its good to hear you give a toss about the fundamentals of art - it's something thats often lacking..
I'd argue that the most important fundamental to study is composition. perspective is a tool for making things believable whereas composition is a tool for making things not look shit and I think we can all agree that's more important
It's probably wise to pick a path to investigate lest you get overwhelmed..
So... do you want to make worlds or props?
If its the former, find some reference for a scene, dig into unreal, block things out using boxes, get your composition sorted and then start building shit in maya or whatever that you can fill it up with.
The best way to learn is to complete a project and the best way to complete a project is to work in complete passes - going over the whole scene and building up the details layer by layer.
Something that might help get you started is to dig out publicly released level designs from old games (Eg. Counterstrike) and use them as a grey box that you can build something pretty upon.
These are usually free and legal to download, can be easily converted to a usable format and importantly are very simple in structure and usually not too large to tackle solo.
If its the latter, just follow some references and build some stuff in maya or whatever. Once you're comfortable making the shapes you want you can worry about how to turn it into game art and ask for specifics on here.