Want to get into hand painted textures.

chrisjuuuh · May 2013

Dear Polycount comunity,

I am an aspiring 3D artist and am about to graduate and start looking for a job. At the moment the biggest weakness in my skill set is my texturing and i am looking to improve on it. Over the years i have fallen in love with the "simple" hand painted artstyles from games such as WoW, Bastion and now wildstar. I would really like to start working in this kind of style and was wondering if anyone had any pointers for me starting out. I have been trying things out but i feel like i lack the basic understanding of how these textures are built up. if anyone knows of any guides that would help me understanding the workflow behind hand painting textures i would love to hear from you.

Thanks a ton!

Torch · May 2013

Yes, practice painting anything! Look at certain surfaces or materials, rocks, tree bark, etc. and study how light interacts with them, then try and replicate that. I would also recommend studying color theory and tonal variation. Got this book recently and its awesome:

[ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Color-Light-Guide-Realist-Painter/dp/0740797719"]Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter: Amazon.co.uk: James Gurney: Books[/ame]

On another note, if you happen to have WoW (I'm guessing you do,) there's a model viewer for it available for download which allows you to check out the in-game models, really good for study and practice. Lastly, post your work in the P&P section and update us on your progress. Peace!

GrevSev · May 2013

Heres a list of some Links to threads/Learning sources here and there Hand painted texture Links compiled by toxic_h2o,

Ott · May 2013

I hear 3dmotive has a killer tutorial on Hand-Painted texturing

https://www.3dmotive.com/f101801

Torch · May 2013

Yeah, by Tyson Murphy right? That is a pretty sick tut, definitely check it out if you haven't!

praetus · May 2013

I would credit that 3D Motive tutorial for teaching me the most about hand painting. It is one thing to read up on or see someones written tutorial, but watching a video of it in motion with narration; for lack of a better way to say it, it just made things click for me.

There isn't much to how the textures are made, as most of them are just straight up painted by hand. I think one of the biggest steps for me was just getting off my ass and doing it. Research only takes you so far and you'll be surprised how much you learn by just looking at concepts and nailing things out.

MainManiac · May 2013

^^ agreed. 3D motive tutorial pretty much got me to the point where any models I paint are above average in quality easily, and they only get better with practice (which is fun once you already know what you're doing)

Jeff Parrott · May 2013

Just do it a bunch. That's the only way you get good at anything. Color and Light is an awesome book. So is the 3dmotive.com tutorial. The http://wiki.polycount.com/TexturingTutorials#Painting_Stylistic_Textures is awesome too.

chrisjuuuh · May 2013

at the moment i dont have the spare cash to spend on the 3dmotive subscription (thats not a copout i literally have 20 euros in my account...student life

...) tonight i did a bit of practise with a tutorial from the online magazine "vertex" which was published about a year ago. I think you guys are right in saying that I realy just need to do it and eventually ill get there.

Isaiah Sherman · May 2013

That's kind of how all art works. Just do it, and you'll eventually get there

The only thing that can speed up the process is how often your practice and what quality bar you're setting for yourself.

MainManiac · May 2013

chrisjuuuh wrote: »

at the moment i dont have the spare cash to spend on the 3dmotive subscription (thats not a copout i literally have 20 euros in my account...student life ...) tonight i did a bit of practise with a tutorial from the online magazine "vertex" which was published about a year ago. I think you guys are right in saying that I realy just need to do it and eventually ill get there.

Actually I believe a polycounter filmed himself painting an axe, it can't be but 1-3 pages back in the pimping section im sure itll help you out

Another polycounter filmed himself painting in blender in the big "blender is trying to compete" thread, so the process is the same

murph · May 2013

I would just add to remember to work on fundamental, traditional, 2D art skills. Even if you don't want to be a 2D artist.

Keeping a sketchbook, painting from photos/life/movies, and doing studies of other artist's work will help you more than you know. There's a lot of techniques out there to learn, but building up your foundational skills will add to every piece of art you ever create.

Jessica Dinh · May 2013

I agree with praetus! Have fun!

joeriv · May 2013

and another timelapse someone has recently posted:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XmGaCe2uTO0

Torch · May 2013

frell wrote: »

Actually I believe a polycounter filmed himself painting an axe, it can't be but 1-3 pages back in the pimping section im sure itll help you out

This one? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C08MOPV3bwg

EDIT: Also check out sketchfab models, some of them are awesome! This druid by skyflakes is great:

https://sketchfab.com/show/aXy93NRB6TAmzlSyGzkHSEwZlhb

Come to think of it I'm surprised more hand painted tutorials haven't sprung up given the demand for them...

Michael Knubben · May 2013

Torch: that's just ripped from Dota 2. Nice reference nonetheless, though, but it's intended to be shown with all of its beautiful shader trickery as well.

Justin Meisse · May 2013

"back in the day" this was the defacto tutorial everyone shared on polycount for texturing PSG Art Tutorial. It's all about concepting/illustration but those fundamentals apply to the old school, hand painted style.

Want to get into hand painted textures.

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