Need help creating a study schedule

Lucasthyel

Hey, guys

I'm trying to create a new schedule for February and beyond, I'm still a beginner, I'll start to focus on 3D but I also would like to study 2D as well, in my opinion, having a good grasp of the good and old 2D fundamentals would help a lot. But I'm having some trouble finding a good spot of balance between the two. I mainly want to be a 3D Character Artist, so in which topics of 2D should I focus on in order to get the best use from it in 3D? Or should I just practice it all in 3D since I want to be a 3D artist? My time is kind of limited, so I'm not sure how to handle this, I don't know if I'm delaying myself studying 2D instead of going straight to 3D. Thanks!

Alex_J

i'm a beginner as well, but i have all the time in the world, so occassionally just for fun i do some tutorials for painting in photoshop or just doodle.

 i would recommend 100% of your study time to go to working in 3d, and if  you have some spare time and just want to relax but still do something artsy, have some fun drawing or painting in photoshop. there is skill crossover but the same skills you can work on in 3d, so why waste time?

Lucasthyel

BIGTIMEMASTER said:

i'm a beginner as well, but i have all the time in the world, so occassionally just for fun i do some tutorials for painting in photoshop or just doodle.

 i would recommend 100% of your study time to go to working in 3d, and if  you have some spare time and just want to relax but still do something artsy, have some fun drawing or painting in photoshop. there is skill crossover but the same skills you can work on in 3d, so why waste time?

Oh, true, makes sense. I'm currently doing gesture drawings in the morning and then dive on 3D as soon as I get back home, but also dividing days of the week into 2D fundamentals (like basic perspective and some anatomy) and then going back to 3D fundamentals in a different day (Maya or ZBrush learning). I'll try to stick only to 3D for a while to see how it goes. Thanks for the input!

Taylor Brown

if you can spare a few bucks, head over to 3Dmotive or CGCookie. They have quality 3D tutorials for beginners and it could cut out a lot of the bullshit for you. This is also some top notch education - https://cubebrush.co/mb?product_id=1jur3a

Lucasthyel

Taylor Brown said:

if you can spare a few bucks, head over to 3Dmotive or CGCookie. They have quality 3D tutorials for beginners and it could cut out a lot of the bullshit for you. This is also some top notch education - https://cubebrush.co/mb?product_id=1jur3a

Thank you! I have this course in my wishlist for quite a while. Have you gone through it, if so, how fast-paced it is? His teaching style seems very straightforward. This course is very expensive in my currency (Brazil), so I need to think carefully before buying some outside stuff. lol But I heard about Marc Brunet a lot already, I might give it a try by next month since the course curriculum looks amazing and to the point.

sacboi

http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Gumroad_Tutorial_List 

Taylor Brown

I did pick it up and quickly realized it was beyond my level, at that time. I also switched away from characters towards environments. It's quality though!

Don't break your bank for it, of course

carvuliero

If I have to start again from scratch will probably give myself following advice :

Are you sure you want to sacrifice all that good life and leisure time for something that Might happen in 5 yeas ?

-clearly define your goals and set for yourself a deadline to achieve them [add something for time management here!!!]

-learn to use all the industry standard software [zbrush and phtoshop probably good place to start or similar equivalent]

-focus on fundamentals !!! extremely important !!!  ...more exclamation marks

-learn entire game pipeline using simple models

-2d draw everyday , there is small pdf called Figure drawing basics on the internet make a goal for yourself be able to draw this simple comics book characters [you can supplement with loomis and bammes just draw cover to cover]

-3d simple mannequin like character should be your first milestone on a road to become character artist

Lucasthyel

sacboi said:

http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Gumroad_Tutorial_List 

Thanks for this list!

Taylor Brown said:

I did pick it up and quickly realized it was beyond my level, at that time. I also switched away from characters towards environments. It's quality though!

Don't break your bank for it, of course

Nice! It looks like a solid way start, so I'll see for myself by next month

carvuliero said:

If I have to start again from scratch will probably give myself following advice :

Are you sure you want to sacrifice all that good life and leisure time for something that Might happen in 5 yeas ?

-clearly define your goals and set for yourself a deadline to achieve them [add something for time management here!!!]

-learn to use all the industry standard software [zbrush and phtoshop probably good place to start or similar equivalent]

-focus on fundamentals !!! extremely important !!!  ...more exclamation marks

-learn entire game pipeline using simple models

-2d draw everyday , there is small pdf called Figure drawing basics on the internet make a goal for yourself be able to draw this simple comics book characters [you can supplement with loomis and bammes just draw cover to cover]

-3d simple mannequin like character should be your first milestone on a road to become character artist

Thanks so much for breaking it down step by step! I think my biggest flaw is sculpting/drawing skills, I have basic knowledge about the tools/technical pipeline cause I've been joking around with some of the software needed for some time, but back then I wasn't thinking about turning this into a job. My current goal is to make a simple character from a rough concept to finished 3D model until the end of this year, considering I'll be starting from learning anatomy, optimal topology, UVs, hard surface modeling, baking maps etc. Just something I can create to get a good grasp of the process. Since I started to focus more on the 3D side, I only draw some basic gesture drawings and sketches of anatomy before making the real stuff in 3D, this currently doesn't take more than 1 hour of my time daily, the remaining hours of the day I'm dedicating for 3D. I've saved your post on my notes and I'll reorganize my studies. Thanks, again!