Studding Anatomy
I've noticed that for creating amazing characters i need to know some anatomy.Do i really need to know anatomy to modeling a chaarcters, like people,animals... I really don't want to learn anatomy because i know that i will lose time when i understand something from it. What is the best book/DVD for a beginner?
Is there something else i can do about modeling that is it away from anatomy:D?
Is there something else i can do about modeling that is it away from anatomy:D?
Replies
Starting with Andrew Loomis or George B Bridgman is probably a good idea -- other than that, just consume all of the information about anatomy and anatomy for the artist as you can. And take life drawing classes, if possible.
Dont be lazy, there are no short cuts. just get on with it.
Any good modeller learns to understand what they are modelling before they can do it well.
Well, you need to know a lot of anatomy in order to create some believable looking characters. And yes, you will have to spend a lot of time if your goal is to become a character artist, anatomy studies are a must and they can take months if not years to master. There are no shortcuts, unfortunately.
If on the other hand you don't want to learn human anatomy, then maybe you should look into hard-surface/environment modeling. It differs from organic modeling in a way that it is not necessary to learn anatomy since you'll be creating props like weapons, vehicles or levels. Not saying it is an easier field. To really nail down your modeling skills it will still take a lot of time. There's no magic button as many beginner modelers like to think.
Constant practice, dedication and commitment are the most important steps in getting that dream job of yours!
That's what characters are, anatomical forms....
its like saying "I want to model a car, but I don't want to do any automotive modeling."
<3Favorite+ that's why, ego quest is the name of the game.
*cough*furries*cough*"anime artists"*cough*
You could learn from example from a certain strange pimping thread here to observe what it's like to avoid the will to learn anatomy for style, and right now, it is not ending well.
Obligatory Andrew Loomis books mention.
If you're skipping on anatomy, don't bother being a character modeler or artist for that matter. All studio require at least a basic figure of male and female character, followed by maybe a dog to show that you understand how the anatomy works on said characters.
You'll also have a hard time on the internet posting your work when everyone will mention this point.
Even anime and furries artwork (pending on movie, series, artbook, artist, etc...) use at least basic anatomy understanding to get their stuff done (unless you go into cheap porn, in which case I wouldn't be too proud of myself), but even porn/rule34 use basics use anatomy to get the money shot correctly.
NSFW: http://babelab.blogspot.com/?zx=398e5473f0716ff2
If pinup and erotic artwork are having a standard on anatomy, why shouldn't a CGI or a traditional artist?
exactly, people hide behind style alot and remain shite. Any good art has a strong basis in observation and understanding of the subject matter.
Even if its Dragons having sex with exhaust pipes.
(great blog btw, thats Autodestructs stuff is it not?)
Yep, it's him alright, you can tell both from the artwork and the occasional line of "don't be fucking embarrassed to watch porn to get the girls right".
Also, he has some interesting studies, like how even if you're making porn, the image MUST have context, so yeah, I think he's fapping material is top notch stuff when compared to other easy riding artists
http://babelab.blogspot.com/2010/07/porn-caveats-pt-1.html
Actually i want to tell you guys that i am not sure what i want to be. My interest is between Modeler( hard surface) Animator or visual effects.
Awesome site btw.
I drew in anime style alot, but anantomy is always a fundemental to drawing characters. Even if you want to do robots, you would need to understand how it functions and stuff. Really humans are just robots with soft surface that eventually rots away.
It depends, what exactly are you looking for in your work? Do you want to do all the fancy 'explosions' and effects like that? Or you do want to go Transformers type of body parts changing, moving and such?
Lets me cut it down like this:
Animations is also very anatomy based, but it depends on what you want to do, based on the type of things you want to animate, in the case of humans, bones, muscle structures, and most 'aliens' we create usually have a emphasis on structure we already have, mammals, insects and such stuff.
If you're going on something like Transformers on the other hand, you can get away with ALOT of stuff, so while you don't need to study anatomy in his case and you can cheat alot by simply hiding stuff or scaling them, you are going to spend ALOT of hours, animating all the small stuff as they turn and change.
Visual effects are abit easier, but what will kill you is the rendering times, as it will sometimes take you several seconds to preview one frame for an effect, and when you're changing alot, having to wait 10 seconds between each change to see what it looks like can get to you.
Hard Surface modeling is pretty easy to get into, granted, you need to learn alot of technical stuff, such as floating geometry, control loops, breaking UV's at correct places if you making low poly bakes.
The thing is, as Frell said, you need to try the stuff. We can't tell you what to do, you choose, but either way, you're going to have to learn something.
Determination
Having this you will learn all things and create great art
And ILM would screw those who try to 'cheat alot by simply hiding stuff or scaling them', these guys are super picky with everything.
Transformers may it be VFX porn, shows that you clearly need anatomical skills as well since they are humanoid robots.Anatomy is not only shape but also movement of elements. You may cheat for stills but animation, specifically for big shows like that, its pretty complex to sell the characters... Since they also have barely any deformable material people have to find ways to offer all the range of motion that is required.
VFX is a sum of many jobs, so you find many artist in different positions, like simulation, concept art, matchmoving, previs, editing, and of course modeling, lighting, texturing, shading.. many more. Depending on the studio you may have to be a generalist that knows more areas or a specialist who is focused on one thing. The more the better, and if you wanna go supervisor you should be good with colors, shapes as well as editing with few years of experience ...
You say you want to be a modeler maybe the first thing you should do is crack open a 3D program, make some shapes, learn how the programs work and then figure out the things you want to model, then proceed from there.
regardless of what your modelling you need to study your subject and try to understand it. the better you understand how things are structured/work the better your models will be.
Its sounds like your quite young, so you've got some time to find out what you like. Experiment, try things and post in P&P for crits.
I guess I made it sound whimsical, and sorry about that, I didn't mean too.
In Transformers, they do hide alot of the parts, they even scale parts of the suspension which would hold robots together, same with Iron Man (although Iron Man is more about folding stuff without any actual scaling).
Also, yes, Transformers does require anatomy, my bad, I don't know why I said you didn't need, bwah?
What I wanted to say that you don't need it to the extent you would require on a human or organic/hybrid model, basics and deformations are nice because since you have giant robots which are extremely inflexible, you're limited to their motions being governed the 'core' rigidity of the bones rather then flesh, so knowing that is a must (although you can still very clearly see they're breaking that rule in the movie several times).
I don't mean to belittle the VFX guys, sorry about that, my bad, it's just that there is no magic in either place, everyone cheats in the industry, only way to make deadlines.
No its okay, but be careful telling people how the business is this could lead to wrong expectations:)
Most of the time our job is fun even when you work very hard , depending on the facility, clients, coworkers and so on
But you need a good portion of determination, the will to exceed your own limits and mix it with fun sometimes .. then it is no job but more a hobby where you get paid pretty well for things you like a lot
Anatomy knowledge is something you will gain while becoming a character artist, rigger or animator... the more you know the better for you and your supervisors who may assign more challenging tasks to your plate ..
One of the most remarkable artist of all time Leonardo DaVinci was also interested in almost anything you can imagine, so DaVinci did some exceptional stuff far beyond his time...