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Where should I start if I want to become a character artist in the industry?

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AxelNoir polycounter lvl 2
Hi guys, hoping to seek some guidance or knowledge that will help me along my path in life going forward!

I've spent several years modding videogames like GTA, Counter Strike, Garry's Mod, Left For Dead 2 or Resident Evil etc. as a result I've gained a fair bit of knowledge of things like how textures are created and work in different game engines, different file formats and archives for models, how characters are topologized and rigged etc.

However I'm now looking to take my existing knowledge and build on top of it so I can learn to create my own high quality character models and props to go with it. For this I've spent years learning 3DS Max, Blender, Photoshop, some Maya currently. I find it a bit daunting and overwhelming to figure out where I should start exactly. Since my goal is to currently create characters and props to go with them, where would you recommend I start learning to do these things?

I'm thinking about practicing and learning Maya, Substance Painter/Designer, ZBrush and Marvelous Designer for this sort of thing, would this be a good start? I have very basic knowledge in creating hard model assets inside of Maya and Max but when it comes to organic models like characters I'm really quite awful at that. I guess I'm curious to hear your guys thoughts on how you might approach something like this, thanks!

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  • zetheros
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    zetheros ngon master
    it depends on what you do, but it sounds like you want to make characters with normal maps and a realistic look, and not stylized or handpainted, like WoW.

    This is a highpoly > lowpoly workflow, so you'll want a highpoly sculpt usually made in Zbrush, make a lowpoly by retopologizing the highpoly, UV unwrap the lowpoly, and bake the highpoly details into normal, ambient occlusion, and possibly vertex colour or more types of maps onto the lowpoly using something like substance painter.

    It's years of hard work and learning. There is a lot of nuance with each software you use, from their capabilities to their limitations and bugs, as well as traditional art skills like anatomy, silhouette, and colour. Digital Tutors, Eat3D, Gnomon Workshop, and Michael Pavlovich's yt channel are good places to start.
  • HarlequinWerewolf
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    HarlequinWerewolf polycounter
    If you want to get into character art, I wouldn't do too much at once. Find a concept you like with something in it that you know you can learn in the process - like a simple concept to try your sculpting in ZBrush. Or something with cool hair to learn hair cards. I'm a big fan of pick one or two things to learn and make a project around it. 

    Don't worry too much about software at this point, focus on making something pleasing to the eye. 
  • scottycharly
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    scottycharly polycounter lvl 11
    Character artist is usually not an entry level job. Most Chararcter I know started as props artist. Making props uses the same high poly/low poly pipeline as charatcer, minus the extensiv knowledge in anatomy. You should focus on traditional modeling software (Maya, Blender,  3DSMax, etc.) to create base mesh and retopo. Sculpting (ZBrush). And Texture (Substance Painter). Create awesome but simple props and focus on quality over quantity.

    Having some charatcer in your portfolio is a double edge sword as those will be judge much move severly than props. If you topology and proportions are not spot on, you loose points.
  • Fabi_G
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    Fabi_G high dynamic range
    Hi! Perhaps share some work you did - this way people can see where you're at and perhaps give you pointers what to improve/focus on specifically. If the quality of the assets you created for mods is already good, could already put them in your portfolio (or sketchbook for documentation).

    Agree with what HarlequinWerewolf wrote, keep it simple at first and finish projects (asset rendered in engine). If a character/project proves too complex, you can re-scope by breaking it up into multiple parts/projects (head, clothing, hands, weapon, ...). Working off an existing concept, allows to focus mainly on execution (still useful to gather additional references to fill the gaps). There are plenty of past Character art challenges to read through, perhaps there you'll find some cool concepts and inspiration. Much success :+1:
  • ModBlue
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    ModBlue polycounter lvl 7
    Character artist is usually not an entry level job. Most Chararcter I know started as props artist. Making props uses the same high poly/low poly pipeline as charatcer, minus the extensiv knowledge in anatomy. You should focus on traditional modeling software (Maya, Blender,  3DSMax, etc.) to create base mesh and retopo. Sculpting (ZBrush). And Texture (Substance Painter). Create awesome but simple props and focus on quality over quantity.

    Having some charatcer in your portfolio is a double edge sword as those will be judge much move severly than props. If you topology and proportions are not spot on, you loose points.
    Good to know as I’m someone pursuing characters but also I like doing props to because they’re fun/low stress to make. Funny enough I’m quite a bit better at props than characters though I’ve not found any jobs for props artists. Not even sure where you find them tbh.
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