Tips to Improving as a 3D Game Artist
polycounter lvl 11
Was having a conversation here at work today about how we all managed as individuals to acquire our skillsets as 3d artists. We all seem to have learned in different ways using different methods and techniques - following different instructions and observing in different ways. I thought I'd start a thread on here for people to post some of their most crucial tips on ways we could all help each other to become better at what we do - whether still learning as a student or a lifelong learning professional within the games industry.
A few of the mantras I always held close were the following:
Learn by observation. This was CLUTCH for me. It seems kind of abstract to explain it, but I feel that there is a distinct difference between seeing or watching and actually observing. Say for example, I create a vehicle prop and it turns out looking like plastic and flat. I would do my best to observe other people's work and instead of just sitting in awe at it, I would look closely at the difference in certain areas where my art would be lacking. Simply looking at someone's work did nothing for me, but truly observing the differences between my art and good art helped me to begin to understand the processes artists would go through to achieve certain results that were much more satisfactory than my own.
Be competitive. Another truly clutch behavior for me. As a student, I saw students that were vastly better than me at 3d. I wanted to be able to match their skill levels and have them look at my work with the same awe that I attributed to theirs. It was this drive to succeed in a silent competition that truly drove me to improve . Turns out it worked because I now share an office here at Cryptic with the same guy that I used to put on a pedestal a few years back as a student at AI San Diego. - There can be a nasty catch to this behavior though, I've observed that taking a slightly competitive posture concerning learning 3d can come off to people as being cocky. I've discovered that several old college buddies of mine consider me to be arrogant because of this behavior but hell, it's one of the biggest factors in my success as an artist.
I hope this thread does well. I'd love to learn about how all the rest of you really learned your trade.
Unless this thread seems like a gay idea or it's already been done somewhere else and I'm just too dumb to have found it.
Cheers!
A few of the mantras I always held close were the following:
Learn by observation. This was CLUTCH for me. It seems kind of abstract to explain it, but I feel that there is a distinct difference between seeing or watching and actually observing. Say for example, I create a vehicle prop and it turns out looking like plastic and flat. I would do my best to observe other people's work and instead of just sitting in awe at it, I would look closely at the difference in certain areas where my art would be lacking. Simply looking at someone's work did nothing for me, but truly observing the differences between my art and good art helped me to begin to understand the processes artists would go through to achieve certain results that were much more satisfactory than my own.
Be competitive. Another truly clutch behavior for me. As a student, I saw students that were vastly better than me at 3d. I wanted to be able to match their skill levels and have them look at my work with the same awe that I attributed to theirs. It was this drive to succeed in a silent competition that truly drove me to improve . Turns out it worked because I now share an office here at Cryptic with the same guy that I used to put on a pedestal a few years back as a student at AI San Diego. - There can be a nasty catch to this behavior though, I've observed that taking a slightly competitive posture concerning learning 3d can come off to people as being cocky. I've discovered that several old college buddies of mine consider me to be arrogant because of this behavior but hell, it's one of the biggest factors in my success as an artist.
I hope this thread does well. I'd love to learn about how all the rest of you really learned your trade.
Unless this thread seems like a gay idea or it's already been done somewhere else and I'm just too dumb to have found it.
Cheers!
Replies
Surround yourself with people that have the same drive and goals as you. Anything less and they will just not understand what you are trying to do, but if you are around the right people it becomes so much easier.
This might mean moving cities, looking for sketchgroups or trying to organise events to attract such people
Ill write more when i get time.
Still a student here, so i'll try to keep this brief:
A big part with being able to turn out better and better art for me was getting better with the "boring" stuff. Uv mapping, poly tweaking, the stuff you get head aches over when you're first starting. Something i always told myself was the more frustrated I was the more I was learning. Kinda like in wieght class when you're doing push ups and your Gym coach is shouting "this is where we build!" as everyone smashes their face into the floor trying to do their 40th push up. Arts the same way, you can't build in little bits, you gotta hit this shit hard sometimes.
Keep doing it, there'll be a time where it clicks, and it will actually be fun as you race through it thinking about how hard it used to be. Spend 15 minutes one day to change the hotkeys for your least favorite thing to do and put the essential functions on new control + or shift + combos, and save the UI file so you can take the setup with you wherever you go, got mine on my flash drive, probably a good idea to email it to yourself. Same goes for buttons you use all the time but don't have a hotkey for.
Once you're comfortable with the software all that's left between you and the finished asset is creative energy and hard work. Nothin' to get in your way, it's a nice feeling that i only recently started experiencing of kinda knowing from start to finish what i'm doing. But every project teaches me something new and the playing field is constantly evolving, that's what I love about this field. Just gotta grit your teeth for a year or more... but I think it's worth it in the end. I never thought i'd actually be looking forward to doing my HW, well some of it anyway
Muzz: Surrounding yourself with other passionate people is important, the passion it takes to put together a worthwhile asset just doesn't go hand in hand with a lot of distractions in life. Going to a nerdy art school helped a lot in this area. Polycount helps a ton too. This is one of my new alternative to pissing away time in Left 4 Dead or at a bar somewhere. I can take a breather from the art, but still keep my head in the game (the art game that is haha).
I defiantly have to second what Adam has said, having that competitive nature (more so friendly competition then anything) can really help boost your skillset pretty fast. I know its also one of the main reasons why I try and improve as much as I can, because seeing some really great work from Polycount or other communities can really inspire you to make your work THAT much better.
And as Adam said (ha ha, sorry I think I'm just stealing your points) learning through observation and dissecting how the artists achieves his or her look is probably the number one reason why I am still doing this
I also enjoy watching video demonstrations as well, such as Eat3D or Racer's stuff (you rawk dude). This kinda goes hand in hand with the observation part, but watching them do their work in realtime, seeing (for the most part) the exact steps they take to get their desired look is awesome.
Napples napples napples!
While I do agree with this, at the same time don't forget to compare yourself against yourself. There will always be someone that you feel is better than you and it can be very easy and brutal to beat yourself up over it constantly. Take time to stop and look at your work today as compared to "X" months or years ago. One of the most rewarding things you can do as an artist is to recognize how much you have improved and how far you have come.
this will also get you out and about away from your comp, meet new people, see knew places and ultimately help your basic QOL... fresh air kicks ass
Well, my approach still hasn't been successful yet, but I really think that the most important thing to make yourself improve as a 3d artist is having a very specific and calculated plan.
For example, 3d art takes a ton of time to produce. You can easily waste countless hours working on things that don't improve your skill set, or help you land a job. I see a lot of people who are new to 3d who in my opinion fall victim to bad planning. Not only in the workflow aspect, but in genre choices and so on.
For example, I like to make monsters as much as the next guy, but it's not a very good idea for someone new to 3d to make a bunch of monsters with no anatomical consistency, and say: " I want to be a character artist".
I'm probably just rambling at this point, but I believe spending just 1 day to carefully plan out a strategy to accomplish your goals, will be the best time investment one can make. This can easily save you months of time in the long run.
Ben Mathis wrote an article a while back on the subject: http://www.poopinmymouth.com/tutorial/analytical_thinking.htm
[edt] crap 5 people responded while I wrote this. lol
Great points man. I've wasted countless hours trying to leap frog ahead of where i should be, start with handguns and barrels. It's like when my friends took me up on the diamond course my first time snowboarding. Took me 3 hours to get down and i didn't learn a darned thing, other than my friends were jerks.
It's good to look around, see what other people of your skill area are working on. If you think, hey that came out really good considering their skillset, you might want to try a similar project. And never forget how important the fundamentals of art are in every project you do.
Sit down, take some time, and get yourself a plan of action if you're serious about improvement. My arch nemesis as some know is the internet, for others it may be games, or something else. Set aside time to do that but make sure it doesn't interrupt your art because not only do you lose concentration if you're skipping between things but you won't retain NEARLY as much as you could if you were focused.
If you want to do a project, set aside x amount of UNINTERRUPTED hours per week. and try to meet that quota as much as possible. Usually when you get into art (at least this happens to me) and actually start, you kinda zone out and will work even longer than you expect, which is great!
self control/discipline is reaaaaaalllllly hard for a lot of things but if you work at that as well you will be better off, as it does become easier.
i hope some of this nonsensical rambling helped someone.
Never stop being a student; it's important not to rest on your laurels because technolgy will always be advancing.
That was kind of the point I was going to make, its very easy to look at some of the amazing work here or on other sites or in games and then look at your own projects and think "eh..." But as long as you personally can look at your last project as compared to your latest piece and see that you improved on SOMETHING then you're making progress.
I certainly agree about surrounding yourself with likeminded artists, whether it's in real life or over the internet. While I was at school, there was a group of us that really pushed each other and went above and beyond the regular criteria and tried to learn as much as we could. It wasn't not too long ago that I realized that I had kind of lost that.
Most of my friends are cg artists, be it animators or modelers or riggers or whatever. It's always super helpful to talk to them and get input, and I always try to return that to them. It's great to be around people who inspire you - there's no circling a drain feeling or down time really. I'm almost always inspired to keep producing. Even if I'm slow now, I'm completely confident that my next project will run more smooth, have less issues and that I will finish it faster than the previous one.
Be productive every day. This has also helped me - if I can just have something to show, be it a quick prop or a drawing or a simple texture. Just having something to show is always a great feeling.
I have not followed much videos for a reason, not watching those is a bad thing to do but also, it leaves room to investigate and come up with your own ways. wich is really important for me.
Its easy to watch something, pick up the workflow and create something,
but i feel im missing out the why, or how come you dont.. really understand and feel the properties of things you work with.
This is why for my drawing, painting, sculpting ect, i hit it clean, and wondered off the paths.
By not being influenced and just experiencing the properties you can say, yeah he's not doing it that way because..
Yes it will take alot longer to build up a good base, and you will make alot of unneeded mistakes. but later, i think you fill up the gabs between things and have a good understanding of it. Wich you can also read, but experienceing is worth a lot.
I am not saying at all that you should stop viewing how other people work or how things should be done!. You will need to find this out to get better at what you do and must follow as much of stuff that is out there to not lose track of the technical aspects. Though besides my 3d, i can afford to wonder.
For my 3d i do not wonder, i keep track of other peoples work. I stare at a texture sheet for an hour, see what has been done, think about the why, and im testing this out alot.
I think im a bit known for recreating things, though this is bad for creativety, technicalwise, it can be a goldmine.
For personal work, i do not try and rush things. I like to work detailed, wich is a real painful and unforgiving environment. though if you take the time to observe and study the things you try to build, it will show you its tips and tricks and hopefuly you will get a good resold, or atleast the next project will run alot better because of it.
I think once you have a good idea of how it should be done, and you have the workflow down.
Its all about observing and studying what you build. If you rush this it will most likely backfire and end up looking weird. (Why is it like that, is it really like that or did i overlook something, how would this get filthy or scratched, ect.)
Also really transfering this into the project is key, polish it, and dont always try and find shortcuts to go faster. leave that for when you reached the level where you are ready to go faster.
Right now im .. i dont want to say specialising, because its not, but my priority lays heavely at 3d atm. Im leaving the wondering part out of it. I just do the last step where i study what has been done and incorperate that into the base i have. I do this 10 hours a day and hit it hard. Thats what works for me to go from rooky to rooky+ in a short amount of time.
I should reread what i've said, and edit things because it will most likely not make sense or its a bad way of doing things,
but its a way.
I suppose as a note, adjust things in the programs so you are used to and will help you work more quickly. Having one entire brush set with all the brushes are better than having to waste time changing to select one brush. Shortcuts/ hotkeys. Make it easy to access your programs straight away, I put my icons on my taskbar so I would be able to open the program instantly instead of minimizing what I'm using.
The process which I find takes the longest is setting up and finding suitable references. Sometimes I take days just trying to find the right stuff. I know that the more I have I will be able to separate differences between each one and find the stuff that looks better than the rest.
Don't be afraid to add inspirational artists to msn and such, they are really helpful and if they look more experienced, they would be able to help with any problems I'm sure.
Avoid distractions when you are pushing yourself to work. For me it's playing online games, counter-strike source is a MASSIVE distraction and I always say to myself I'll get back to work after this round. I would believe that if it was a big enough distraction uninstall or lock it until you get the job done. Or even just delete the icon from desktop so you won't be bothered to look through folders to launch it.
Apart from those, set yourself some relaxation and rest time. If you hit a brick wall with an issue, go for a walk and get some fresh air. Don't think about it until you get back. Taking breaks really helps to massage the mind and produce a steady flow of work ethic. Not only walking is good but if your doing it in your spare time, why not observe the environment/atmosphere. I like to look at the rough textures of concrete I walk on sometimes and wonder how it affects the normal maps or spec. Take your camera out when you go walkabouts take photos of anything interesting, specially textures/leaks cracks.
So to summarize in points:
- Adjust program hotkeys/interfaces so its fastest and easiest for you.
- Gather enough references. Never confine yourself to just 1-5. Not enough imo. But that's only if you are able to get more.
-Create an inspirational folder, anything that is just amazing and looks interesting should be saved.
-Add other artists to msn/yahoo for advice or help. Another perspective is always good.
-Avoid distractions and try to create a suitable clean environment where you can think clearly and create ideas.
- Set aside some rest and relaxation time, if you have a problem go for a walk and get rid of it out of your head until you come back. Getting fresh air and not thinking about issues stimulates personal senses and gives the person reassurance that their not confined to their workspace.
-Perhaps in free time have a look around and bring your camera. Take photos of anything interesting.
-Socialize more at home and with friends, this will help with jobs or new jobs where the people are always foreign.
Hope this helps!
Wow man, you are insensitive! You can't use words like that! Nope, wait. You actually can. This thread is GAY btw.
http://kotaku.com/5336182/campaign-against-thats-so-gay
But seriously, observing does help, but what I found to be really useful is getting burned with crits on forums. I mean, really really getting a written spanking will not only motivate your competitive drive (which I agree is very important) and your desire to become better but it will also every now and then provide you with some hints on what you're doing wrong.
What I think is the most counter productive thing that can happen to a person, is becoming complacent. Ergo, whatever you do that keeps a fire lit under your ass is agood thing.
Of course, an incredibly close companion at number 2 is working smart and having a plan for getting better. You don't get better without working hard, but I've seen people work themselves into the ground without actually going out of their way to figure out how to properly aim that work towards learning specific goals and in the end hardly get anywhere.
Like folks that want to learn to draw, so they start out by trying to do perfect fanart of their favorite character and then getting discouraged when they don't improve much. Well, yeah. Big surprise.
Along with AstroZombie's post, yeah; it's important to be competitive and look up to folks, and be hard on yourself in a sense. But staying motivated so you have the drive to work hard is vital, especially if you aren't so lucky in the motivation department. Don't be hard on yourself to the point where it starts mucking up your working confidence.
When i think about doing a complete environment or play a game like Baldur's Gate (200h time to play) i give up before i did the first step. For me it helps to just do it step by step. And if you are afraid of starting work because of the huge amount of work - try to ignore it and just start!
Post very early WIP shots
It's important to me that the whole world means: Simon, you are a grea artist! So i'm afraid to show early shots because maybe they others think i'm not a good artist. But i force myself to post my work in early steps and every time i'm so happy because with the help of the others i improved so much!
If you are afraid to post your first steps, look my at first post of my unearthly challenge entry
Do tutorials!
I'm so lazy. I have to say: i do not read so much tutorials. But every time i did, i learned so much! Also when i read a tutorial about a issue i thought i knew very well, i learned at least one new thing.
Use contests for deadline!
As i said: I'm lazy. That's why i need deadlines to finish my work. That's why i love mini-contests and big things like the unearthly. The deadline in combination of the great feedback, watching what the others do and my own progress makes me not to have kick myself in the ass...it just flows
1) Observation.
Hands down this has been key, always has been.
Not just app learning and processes, but if a 8,000 year old pot buried in the dirt can speak volumes about a society what does a trash heap or alleyway say about us? I could get lost in a 1920's junk yard and have more fun in a day than spending my lifetime at a Disneyland.
(Seriously, a 3 day pass is more than enough time to visit the magic kingdom).
I'm lousy with names and dates, but visual details and spacial proportions I'm pretty good at. I still have a way to go in translating that to 2D/3D but really that's just putting it into practice.
2) Just games, art and fun.
I think I started learning at a sweet spot in time. This wasn't a career path. I didn't feel any pressure to learn the software and finish projects because I had to; put a portfolio together, to get a job, to pay the bills, to get out of my parents house and pay back the loans. A position that seems pretty common now.
3) Learning.
It never seems to stop, I love that. All the disciplines in this industry have a lot of depth to them. Its up to you as to what cup you drink from and when. I learn what is interesting to me, not a predefined agenda that someone shoves in my faces and says here learn this its not important but its expensive, so do it.
Built into learning is a general sense of helping other people learn and problem solve. Helping other people forces you to analyze your steps, look at your process and refine it. It also comes back when you need help.
Whatever you do.. don't stop... Just keep cranking until you can't. I feel like these perfect work zones don’t come around every day, so make the most of them and enjoy it. Recognizing these moments made me a better and more productive artist.
i look at tons of portfolios, and there are people that honestly think they are great and that could not be further from the truth, and i have come to the conclusion that they have no idea where they stand or where they are at, and if they can't distinguish between what is good and what is shit then i really don't know what to tell them.
i can say its bad and this is why, or practice this, but if you cant look at your own work and say i need to work on this or that then your not getting any better.
i hate everything i do after i am done, and it makes we want to one up myself with each new model i do. it would be impossible for me to make something that is worse than anything i have ever done, i just cant do it, it has to be better or i might as well quit.
one major problem i see with people that have been doing this awhile is that they get comfortable with what they do and how they do it, they level off and just stay there until everyone passes them by and then bitch and cry when they lose their job.
I'm like this, was never sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing, good to hear someone elses input on it. Its not that I'm hating it in a way that make me feel down and want to give up, but in a way that I feel if I tried again I could do it 10 times better after what I've learned. That might have been a whole load of mumble jumble..
I couldn't have said this better myself. It harkens back to my statement on observation. If you are unable to observe difference between your work and other professional work you'll never understand that to do to get better. I guess some people are just not cut out for art.
I've debated with people many times about whether "natural talent" exists and I always argue that it does not. That anything can be learned. But the more I go into my career, it seems as though people that have made it this far simply have something that others do not - I always called it a keen ability of observation but maybe thats just what people call "talent".
There are 2 kind of artists, the ones who reach a level and can't level up more, and those who are constantly improving because they notice all their flaws day by day.
Tips for improving:
1. Avoid distractions (Forums, internet, mail, etc.)
2. Focus on your goals and plan the projects very well.
3. Work
4. Study
5. Relax
6. Work
7. Study
8. Relax
9. Repeat the cycle lol
Work=Practice... so you want to improve.. dedicate hours!!! less playing! and less fooling around the internet madness.
I learned SO MUCH early on from RichKid here on PC (he went to my college a few years ago). Every time I'd sit down with him at a coffee shop with a laptop which would be once every other month or so, I'd learn at least three or four new Max tips and tricks. Going to him on a private basis for critique during my entire time at college via emails or IM. Simply knowing that I had a mentor that was vastly better at art than I was was an inspiration of it's own. I always wanted to impress my mentor.
Finding innovative ways to inspire yourself is very important. Mentorship was just that for me.
I would like to acknowledge the power of self learning and self exploration of ideas. Its one thing learning how to do something from a tutorial - yet so much more can be learned by exploring your options, your right and wrongs along the way to becoming a better artist.
Don't get me wrong, I have gained most of my technical know how from tutorials and what not, but as an artist you have to go out of those "tutorial boundaries" and explore new ideas, techniques and possiblities.
I take an old adage from when i used to teach snowboard racing teams:
"you stop falling, you stop learning"
I took that as, you have to be willing to go out on that limb and push beyond the simple rules and mechanics of it all. Don't be afraid to fail, it will teach you more than you think.
I don't like this - i like the rest of your post but i think when you done with a project, you have to look at it. If you hate everything you did...that can't be right. Then i think you also don't have the clear look about your work. Sometimes the work is crap, sometimes the work is good - that's ok. And i think an artist should see where he stands. But to hate all the own stuff cant be right, isnt it?
Thas is what i was trying to say, thank you!
I think it can be quite dangerous to hate your own stuff. Very dangerous. When I first started modeling, I hated my own work. Everything about it: the mesh, the UVs, the texture. Eventually, I talked myself into thinking I could never produce something I liked and gave up. I didn't touch 3D for 2 years afterwards, and it was a damn miracle that I managed to pick it up again.
You can't hate your work, but you should be critical of it. Look at what's right in your work and know that you need to improve. Know that your time and efforts weren't a total loss, and that next go-around, you will improve.
why
Europe outside UK ?
Things *really* clicked for me at that point- I kept saying "oh, this would work so much better if I extruded here and..." But kept plugging away and pretty well mangled the whole thing, but learned so much that day.
A trick that works wonders when you're stumped with something is to pull someone aside and describe the problem to them. Even if they understand what you're talking about, lay it all out as if they don't. Most of the time, you'll be about halfway through talking up the basics and say "Oh! duh, thanks!" (occasionally leaving them totally confounded, but that's fun too)
On the flipside, I've also learned a lot by helping other people. (seeing the threads here, I don't think I need to expand on that one)
Isn't that why we become 3d artists for interactive simulations in the first place? We may scour the world and never find what we're looking for, but with time, skill, and dedication, we can build it ourselves. (then have Sectaurs 'n' co. print it.)
I started noticing a direct link between people with awesome 3D skills and the quality of thier 2d artwork. I always wanted to be a better artist but never bothered to sit down with books and stuff and actually practice drawing. Get an anatomy book, bookmark everyones brilliant sketches, find some resource sites and get drawing. Better drawing instantly translates to better sculpting, texture work, knowledge of proportions, scale, composition. And all you need is the internet, paper and a pencil! I'ts somethign I'm still working on, but its already helping me loads.
Also, obviously,
Edit: I mean critisize fine whatever.
-Dont piss anyone off in this field EVER. You never know that person you didnt get along with might be working at blizzard as a high up somebody or at ID or double fine etc etc. Even if you dont get along with the person , be civil enough to agree to disagree and leave it at that.
advice 2 I learned
- Share the wealth dont be a dick, people remember stingy people who hold out awesome for to long
Edit: I should mention these are ways to improve in a social manner of the 3d end versus a skill set but trust me both of these are really important when your meeting people in the field face to face or going out for a beer to hang with them or something. Always learn while not learning is my key ! Theres always a guy who knows a guy who knows how to do something and if your friends with X-Y-Z , you can get that info and learn.
in my brief foray into the game industry i've been on the verge of burning some bridges, but on multiple occasions been VERY glad I didn't. The world's not perfect and sometimes you gotta suck it up. Some people get paid to do work, some people find a way to get paid doing jack diddly. Sooner you accept that the happier you'll be.
Whatever or whoever it is that's bothering you isn't worth risking your future over. If your company thinks they're a valuable asset, then maybe you're at the wrong company. Keep in mind they write your checks so it's often a good idea to just deal.
Except if there names are per', johny, or earthquake theirs a exception to this rule
Does anyone want to mentor me? :poly121:
are you coming on to us?
also, don't eat a huge meal with meat and lots of fat just before you start working, it'll fuck you up, and make you incredibly drowzy. don't eat chocolate. same effect. don't drink soda, it'll really really fuck you up and make you deathly drowzy after the sugar-high has worn off.
energy drinks the same. it'll make you drowzy.
preferably, you should starve yourself for 3-4 hours while drinking water before you start working.
your head will be cleared out, and you'll have a drive to do something.
also, do a workout after you've done some art. push yourself. it'll improve your ability to focus.
oh and eat healthily. the end product is that you'll have more energy and focus, and thus have more energy and time to put into your work.
Maybe, if it will get someone to mentor me...
:poly142:
and who is us??