Sculpture and it's relevance to game art

Tom Ellis · Oct 2009

Hi there,

I've recently enrolled on a Life Drawing class to hopefully improve my character art skills. I've never taken any formal art classes since finishing school a few years back but I know it should be of great benefit.

I just found out that I could move to a different course which covers both the life drawing, as well as sculpting the human figure. It sounded like it could be fun and useful so I switched over.

I just wondered whether the skills used for sculpting human form are directly beneficial to someone in the game art field. I mean, obviously any artistic development will be of some benefit, but it seems like sculpture might relate in a kind of 'real-life' ZBrush' way.

Also, I know there are a number of people here who have produced some fantastic models from clay / Sculpey and I wondered if there are any kind of beginner tips for what to do and what not to do when starting out from an experienced sculptors point of view.

Many thanks.

EmAr · Oct 2009

I'm not great at it but I think sculpture helps a lot. Being able to touch your work makes it easier to learn. A tip I can share is that you should work on the bigger forms first and proceed with smaller ones once you are satisfied... You probably knew that

...and don't give up if you don't like one type of material. I almost cannot do anything with super sculpey but I love working with plastiline.

Irreal · Oct 2009

Provided you have a good sculpture teacher this course couldn't be anything but beneficial to your development as an artist. I'd personally take the sculpture course over the life drawing class. Also, I've known people from sculpture backgrounds get character artist jobs without any zbrush experience.

crazyfingers · Oct 2009

Sculpting would help more than a drawing class for sure, but why not find a zbrush class and skip the bull?

Tom Ellis · Oct 2009

Thanks for the replies. It's good to know it can be directly beneficial.

Just to clarify, I think I must have worded my original post badly. It's not that I don't know how to sculpt in ZBrush, i just wasn't sure whether hands on sculpting with physical material would possibly help with digital sculpting. Similar to how generally speaking (and I know there are exceptions) a good ability to draw with pencil and paper will mean one could draw well with a Wacom or whatever.

It seems to me that the understanding of anatomy and form that I will get along with getting this down on paper or onto clay will hopefully translate well into my characters.

Thanks again for the replies.

Noia · Oct 2009

I never took a sculpture class, I do recommend playing with sculpey. One of my projects involved me drawing a scary creature head, making it with Super Sculpey, and then recreating it with Max and Mudbox. I got through the last part fast because my brain was already familiar with the dimensions. I think the tactile aspect of it better helps your brain understand 3D so its worth trying at least for fun.

Oh, and get Super Sculpey. The other versions are crap.

kat · Oct 2009

Drawing helps conceptualise your ideas. Sculpting helps you understand three dimensional space. If you have the opportunity to do both, do them.

Don't get lost in the anal-ity of detail, i.e. human anatomy for the sake of it... it needs to be looked at in the broader sense of understanding 'shape' and 'form' rather than left brained technicalities.

Sculpture and it's relevance to game art

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