"Mastering" art vs mastering the software

Stensword

Hello everyone, I often hear that it is useless to know everything about a software unless you have good art skills... And I totally agree with that statement but this thread is about the major points to learn for how to become a good artist...

The only two things that come into my mind is mastering anatomy (human, dog, insect...) and mastering hard surface skills (+ thousands of references from other artists)... All the rest is just about raw creativity, isn't that right ?

What I mean is... Are those few points listed above the ways to become a good 3d artist ?

Have a good day

Larry

I guess don't worry too much about one or the other, they come together with experience. You will first learn to use a tool and the more you advance,trying to do more complicated things, you will learn the techniques needed, and at the same time become faster for the easier techniques. You first learn to use a pencil before you draw, but the more you draw the more pencils you need.

What you have to train most, and it's probably the hardest, is your perception and eye for detail, on what you need to improve. You first have to see it and be honest with yourself. Compare your work to senior artists and ask "why" their work looks so much better. Then tackle those things. Also join discord servers like experience points and dinusty empire to get instant feedback.

I would experiment a little with anatomy but honestly I would first get familiar with creating props before making characters. Jumping to anatomy is a more advanced skill and requires you being quite familiar with the creation process, unless you just want to create characters with simple clothes.

Lastly, and this will probably be controversial, I don't think there's a lot of creativity in general. We all just borrow ideas from somewhere else and combine them, having our own technical skills and styles, and we create something new, yet within a box. I'm saying this because many times in the past I tried to envision how the back side of a concept art (non visible) looks, and I had a total roadblock. So I would say try to find concepts that are pretty straightforward at first, and try to guess as few things as possible. Deliberate changes to a concept will come later on.

Cheers~

scottycharly

Lighting, Color, Composition.
Anatomy, Architecture, Art History.
Sculpting, Drawing, Photography.
All those subjects will improve the way you look at things and the quality of your art. It will also improve your presentation skills and consequently your portfolio and your chances to work where you want.

Stensword

Thanks for your answers buddies, really informative  !