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Where Do I Start?

I feel like such a n00b. I guess i should.

Ive been working with photoshop for about a year and a half now, i've worked a lot with vectors, little with composition, and little with illustration. I thought that i was awesome, then i come here, and i realize that my skills are as nothing to anyone here.

I have very limited experience with blender, and that is as far as my modeling goes. I have no idea what i should be using, where to start, and where to go for tutorials. Im also semi decent at old-school illustration (and doing the same kind of stuff on the computer with a tablet), but definitely not any good at being able to really get my concept ideas on paper, and I have never done a proper painting in photoshop.

I started to ask around, and my friend, who is a modeler, said to head here. I really have no idea what im working with, and i need a lot of help building my skills almost from the ground up.

(I wasnt sure where to post this, but I think this section fits best)

Replies

  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter
    What do you want to achieve ?
  • Av7xrocker97
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    You say blender eh? Blendercookie.com, do it. It makes you have teh 3d knowledge.
    But seriously, it has a good section of beginner interface tutorials and many other tutorials that dive into various different things. I also recommend looking at some other more general 3d tutorials once you pretty much know how to do everything.
  • jimmypopali
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    I would definately start at the Polycount Wiki (very top of the page) for some nice resources. It is really useful for someone starting out.

    Are you looking to do some environment stuff, character stuff, animation, texturing etc?
  • Eric Chadwick
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    With any new learning experience, I find it really helps to have a goal in mind. Something I really want to strive towards, that I can refer back to, to give me direction and keep my yearning strong.

    Right now I'm learning Python (a programming language) and my goal is to automate the steps I take to post family pictures on the web. I'm nowhere near to improving it yet, but I'm getting closer and closer, and that's what it's all about.

    What kind of art do you want to do? Pick a discipline and go for it!
  • telmac
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    Theres two things that I'm really going for.

    Whenever I do try to do concept art, even if I can imagine something amazing, i always have trouble actually drawing it. i can draw decently from reference (link), but i can never draw something from my head. I know this will take a lot of time, but if I could be given pointers on how to do so, whether its some sort of giant tutorial somewhere, or little tips and things, that would be great.

    Id also really love to be able to do organic modeling. Hard surface is one thing, but id really like to deal with that later. I understand the process, box model the shape, and then bring it into a sculpting application, but i still cant really ever get it to look how i want, and this is what i need help with.
  • Eric Chadwick
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    For item 1, this all stems from daily drawing practice. Just draw things that you see in the world around you. Anything that strikes your fancy, draw it. Inside of the commuter train you take to get to school. A tree on the street. Someone's ear. Buy or make a sketchbook and draw, draw, draw. Your ability will only grow if you put the time into it.

    For item 2, this also stems from drawing, believe it or not. Learning to draw is not just teaching the hand, but it is learning how to see. How to break down the shapes you see in the world into shapes on your page (or in your sculpting app). As you get better at drawing, you'll get better at recognizing form, which you can then put into practice with sculpting.

    Some modelers can't draw worth a damn, but if you want to be an artist you really should learn how to draw. And that mostly just takes practice practice practice.

    My 2 cents, of course.
  • telmac
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    I get what you're saying.

    By the way, im working on a witch model thing.

    7oV4
  • Eric Chadwick
  • telmac
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    Ok, sure!

    By the way, ive been trying to draw more, especially trying to reallt6 get motion of people walking around very quickly. I had no reason to take my notebook home on a friday, but i have quite a few pages of the teacher and other people around the room; and i think they're actually pretty good.

    URL="http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1241919#post1241919"]Thread[/URL
  • Treacharous
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    What you should do? Practice, practice, practice. Try all the programs, Autodesk has an excellent student program where u can get their programs for free, I personally am an Autodesk fanboi, but its an awesome thing to be a fanboi of. Click on everything , see what all those buttons do, tutorials and more tutorials as well.
  • telmac
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    Regarding student programs, you have to have a .edu email, which they only give to high schools and universities, so... yeah. I have been looking at more tutorials, and studying a lot of anatomy and such.
  • fearian
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    fearian greentooth
    If you're looking to draw from your mind, check out the Structure of Man video training series at http://www.alienthink.com/
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