what are the most important basic skills and styles any "digital" artist should know?
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hi,
i thought it might be a good idea to get myself familiarized with a range of different techniques and styles, to be able to better express myself, and also draw inspiration from. probably one of the things a college program is good for, but that is not a practical option for me.
i would love to hear what do you think are the most important basic skills, tools and techniques,
and also the most important styles to study for reference and inspiration,
for anyone in the visual digital fields (2d, 3d, illustration, anything else...)
thanks!
i thought it might be a good idea to get myself familiarized with a range of different techniques and styles, to be able to better express myself, and also draw inspiration from. probably one of the things a college program is good for, but that is not a practical option for me.
i would love to hear what do you think are the most important basic skills, tools and techniques,
and also the most important styles to study for reference and inspiration,
for anyone in the visual digital fields (2d, 3d, illustration, anything else...)
thanks!
Replies
Make starter base meshes, I never did this but kind of wished i had.
^depending on your desired area, Tidal mentioned props so think of say a street cone base mesh then with that create a damaged street cone crushed, melted, ect. to give you a better idea of what i mean, do that with other objects. (Not a prop artist so i wouldn't know many.)
A more tangible piece of advice in comparison would be to not generalize to start, but rather find a style that you enjoy immensely and work through every single step to make a game or film ready asset (depending on what you want to get into). This would be working on making or finding concepts and reference, working out blockout, highpoly to lowpoly modeling, baking, texturing, and a full presentation. Do not get stuck, or stop at any step. Keep pushing until your asset is presentable, and it will help you become a really solid artist, fast.
Discipline > "Inspiration".
And using this to analyze all sorts of visual arts, drawing, sculpture, movie, photography, etc. Building a visual library and culture.
For example, if you're making a chair in 3D for a game, it better be put together in a way a chair really would be, or else I'll be ripped right out of my immersion.
daVinci once said, "Art is never finished, only abandoned." There's a temptation to work on something until it is absolutely perfect. There is no such thing as perfection. You'll always want that extra moment to polish something that is "wrong" - a certain something that only you can see. This sort of creative hell can keep you from tackling the next project. You need to find it in yourself to say, "It's not perfect. It's never going to be perfect, but that's okay. It's just good and, well, good is enough. Time to move on."
Ironically, it's the sort of thing that (imo) gets harder to practice the longer you've been doing CG. As a newbie, you don't notice the many flaws in your work. However, with experience comes a critical eye that you just can't turn off. Ever. You're always going to find something wrong even when nobody else will. Exacting this sort of self-restraint is tough. The best you can do is remind yourself that life is short and your idea book is big.