Keep hitting a wall in skill development

JordanCH2

Hey everyone, I know this is unlikely a new topic here but I really could do with some advice. First things first of course is my portfolio: https://www.artstation.com/jordanch

So I studied Game Art and graduated back in 2015 but unfortunately had an absentee course leader/lecturer who taught us little and just gave us high marks when we did see him. Thankfully in our second and third year we got a much better, willing and enthusiastic teacher who changed everything for the better. Long story short though when we did graduate the first year were putting out work of quality we were just putting together ourselves. Since then I've cotinued to practice and develop my skills since, in the hopes of landing a job and learning even more. I've taken on the substance suite, become a lot more familiar with unreal, grasped the basics of world machine and most currently learning marmoset to really bring up the presentation of my work. The problem however lies with being unable to really excel and produce work that I'm not only proud of but catches the eye of other more experienced artists. This isn't for lack of enthusiasm as I can really get excited sink my teeth into a project, but often along something happens where I feel my work isn't up to par, I'm not improving or I just do not know how to improve. Basically I'm stuck in a rut. This happened most recently with the feudal Japan Artstation challenge (3D Production Environment). I was so eager to get stuck in, really knucled down but about half way through I started to fumble with what I was able to produce and seeing others work it all just seemed so inadequate. It ended up with me missing the deadline with a lot left to do. I definitely want to go back and finish it but I feel its broken on a fundamental level. At this point 4 years down the line I don't know how I'm going to break in.

I know for example I need to improve my lighting, but how do I go about that? I've watched tuts etc. and then try to exercise what I've learnt and it rarely ever comes to fruition. I just don't feel capable of the amazing things I see so many of you create. The only time I find I make progress, feel really pleased and can visually see where to go with my next endeavour is when I'm making materials, in which case should I focus on that?

Thank you for making it through this ramble and I'll be happy to provide any additional images of work such as the feudal Japan scene or marmoset renders I'm working on.

arnov

Hello, I see this is your first post so my question is - have you tried posting your work and get feedback? Especially while it's still work in progress? 

JordanCH2

Hi. I will do so now as that is half the battle. Though I also wanted to post here in as I more so need advice on career pathways, recognizable skill development and I guess motivation? Or perhaps the self doubt I keep getting.

Biomag

Your main issue seems to be the eye for quality and that is something that is really hard to develop on your own. The biggest jump in quality I've experienced was watching pros give critics to other students as well as myself. Not just sitting there and listening, but really try to understand the feedback and the thing the person was working on as if was my project.

The path to making it to the industry is IMHO first learn the basics of your tools. You don't need to be amazing and know every little feature, just get to the point where you can model things, understand sculpting in ZBrush, UV-layouts, baking, texturing... so you understand what people are talking about. Then its about honing your skills by doing assets. Start small. Key is to train your eye to see, not impress - because honestly you won't impress anybody at that stage. Small projects prevent fatigue as you will be going over things many times over to really nail it. You will master the programs while working on assets as you will be learning new approaches and just gain experience, no need to get too crazy about them.

My suggestion: 
Pick a concept from a existing game (don't do your own thing). Ideally find also the asset from the game or at least examples from that game that you can use a guides for the goal. Now do this asset. Again, keep it small. Go through the whole thing as well as presentation. You need to train to see quality and produce it. This also involves presentation. Might not sound as important as its going to be in a game and yadda yadda yadda, but the truth is it is a great training for the eye and artistic sense. Keep posting the progress here or anywhere else you get feedback. Work on this simple asset until you get it to look as good as the game asset. No short cuts, no BSing yourself. You need to get as close as possible to understand what the industry is looking for. Once you get the sense for that, everything else gets easy and its just about building up a portfolio.

JordanCH2

Thank you do everything you said and detailed there. And in regards to really understanding and breaking down feedback, that is something I really would like to do in order to get to grips with specifics of what/where to improve and how.

I'll definitely jump into that which you suggested and will post progress here. You may have realised I'm fairly new here, would it be best to update this specific post or create a new one when I have something to show.

I really appreciate the time you've taken to respond and advise, thank you. Getting excited at the prospect!

Brian "Panda" Choi

New thread, per project.

Alex_J

Get yourself deeply involved in a community for artist. Peer pressure is going to benefit you.

not gonna post link here but i do a stream on twitch (same screenname). You can go there for free reviews of art, advice, motivation, or pick up some different workflow tips. I'm no expert but you can learn something from anybody, so that's there.

JordanCH2

Great idea, thanks for the invite. Where else are good places for this? I feel that that is a big thing I have been missing out on since finishing Uni and not being in a studio environment; not being around that environment of peers where the creative energy and pressure to perform exists.

Alex_J

i dunno about environment artist. Recently there was the polycount awards and one of the winners is Josh Lynch (i think is the name) and he's an enviro artist. I think he has some kind of training or mentorship going on.

Tim Simpson (aka pixelmasher) is starting to put out a lot of tutorial content for enviro artist. Also google "mentorship collective."  that's just stuff i know about from these forums, but there's probably a lot more if you search around a bit.

Probably could get search on twitch and see who is streaming environment art related stuff. See something that looks badass just hang out awhile, pick up techniques, ask questions.

I think watching and speaking with a professional in your field is probably the best way to get a better eye for quality, as mentioned.

sacboi

Biomag said:

Your main issue seems to be the eye for quality and that is something that is really hard to develop on your own. The biggest jump in quality I've experienced was watching pros give critics to other students as well as myself. Not just sitting there and listening, but really try to understand the feedback and the thing the person was working on as if was my project.

The path to making it to the industry is IMHO first learn the basics of your tools. You don't need to be amazing and know every little feature, just get to the point where you can model things, understand sculpting in ZBrush, UV-layouts, baking, texturing... so you understand what people are talking about. Then its about honing your skills by doing assets. Start small. Key is to train your eye to see, not impress - because honestly you won't impress anybody at that stage. Small projects prevent fatigue as you will be going over things many times over to really nail it. You will master the programs while working on assets as you will be learning new approaches and just gain experience, no need to get too crazy about them.

My suggestion: 
Pick a concept from a existing game (don't do your own thing). Ideally find also the asset from the game or at least examples from that game that you can use a guides for the goal. Now do this asset. Again, keep it small. Go through the whole thing as well as presentation. You need to train to see quality and produce it. This also involves presentation. Might not sound as important as its going to be in a game and yadda yadda yadda, but the truth is it is a great training for the eye and artistic sense. Keep posting the progress here or anywhere else you get feedback. Work on this simple asset until you get it to look as good as the game asset. No short cuts, no BSing yourself. You need to get as close as possible to understand what the industry is looking for. Once you get the sense for that, everything else gets easy and its just about building up a portfolio.

Quoted for agreement.

TheGabmeister

I agree with the advice given by the others above, especially @Biomag's advice. I'll try to share my personal experience to hopefully help the OP.

This was my ArtStation portfolio around February 2018:

The first three images are not real-time, while the last one is in Unity. At that time, I thought I was doing really well. I posted my work online, many people liked it. Then, I discovered Polycount and found out that all of my work sucked ass. For several months, I was scouring forum threads, studying how other people were doing it.

This is my ArtStation portfolio today March 2019

The first two are taken from Unreal Engine, while the last two are Substance Designer materials rendered in Marmoset Toolbag. I still have a long way to go, but I think you would agree that there's a significant change in quality and presentation.

Here are some of the things I've learned:

1. Eye for quality. This has been mentioned previously. Reading Polycount threads everyday pretty much taught me what constitutes as "good quality."

2. Baby steps. I started very small, creating simple scenes, focusing on one thing at a time. Maybe today I'll work on my topology, tomorrow I'll try making a material, and then the next day I'll play around with lights in UE4. Eventually, the things you learn will build-up on top of one another, and you'll be surprised that you've learned enough to make some impressive stuff.

3. Fundamentals. I discovered that I did not have a solid foundation on things like perspective, composition, color theory, lighting, hard-surface topology, etc. So, I studied them bit-by-bit knowing that it will be a lifetime worth of learning.

4. Know your strengths and weaknesses. I discovered that my texturing and lighting abilities were lagging far behind my modeling skills. Nowadays, I spend more time polishing these weaknesses.

5. Discipline. I think most of the masters would agree that discipline, not motivation, plays the bigger role in pushing you to reach the finish line of a project. There are several threads that talk about this. You can check them out and understand the importance of discipline.

6. Feedback. For all the work I post on ArtStation, I consult at least 4 other artists. Based on other people's criticisms, you can discover what went right and what went wrong with your work. Eventually, you'll be able to apply these suggestions on a future project.

sacboi

Good!

...in addition try to have fun, also an outlier interest (...if you have one already?) helps when the grind sets in. For me it's just a case of turning off the PC and going bush for a bit of 4x4 shenanigans to clear out the cobwebs.

JordanCH2

Thank you everyone, some really useful insights and suggestions! Really grateful for sharing your own experience Gabmeister. Great examples, motivation and advice.

I'm currently working on Biomag's idea and will post in 'critiques' when I have the High Poly finished. Really feel like I have some serious direction, thanks again.

ToffeeApple

Ryan Benno has a great mentorship that might be able to help - very affordable too. He really helped me improve my weak areas and give me a sense of direction.

https://gumroad.com/ryan_benno