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Noobs: Starting from the ground up.

Noobs. It sounds like boobs, and rightfully so. They're cute to laugh at but next to useless.

I concider myself a new.
Although, I've been doing concept and design since my teenage years, I've just begun 'pulling my head out of rear'.

Before we go any further let me make something known:
This is my first forum post(outside of college classes) ever.
I looked around a little at the available threads and wasn't sure where to start, so I decided to start here.

Now, I've been living a drifters life for a long while. From early on family members would say things like: "Youre worthless. You need to get your head out of the clouds, and forget about all that dreaming." "Sorry MFer, Dead beat".

A year and a half ago, my wife and I moved from "Boondocks" Texas to the Seattle area. Here there are people of common interests. There are people with more open minds.

It's just now, taking Game Art & Design part-time whiler working, that I feeling 'natural'. For once in my life, I don't feel like I have to justify my existance in the universe. I am moving toward justifying my existance if for no other reason than making a living off of what I love.

But, I digress.
In the stretch of things one can have talent or natural ability all day long. Though it means nothing if one lacks the culture and technical knowledge.

So, here I am. My first forum ever.
My name is Richard Lee Westbrook, and this is my journey toward the future.

-Soulsteady

Vash11-03-08-1.jpg

Replies

  • ebagg
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    ebagg polycounter lvl 17
    First order of business, learn proper anatomy before drawing anime. Otherwise, best of luck and welcome to the area!
  • PeterK
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    PeterK greentooth
    Welcome to the boards. I like Vash as well, it was an interesting series.

    On the art site of things, you may consider the following:

    1) http://wiki.polycount.net/

    2) http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=373024

    3) While anime is enjoyable and a nice art style, consider branching out into other styles ( often "newbies" spam with anime inspired artwork and never graduate beyond it; which is something I think you can and should avoid.

    4) Lots of great artists and mini-tutorials exist on this board, so take advantage of the expertise of the people here.



    On the forum side of things, please consider the following:

    1) Generally posting with 1-2 word responses is almost universally considered lame/annoying.

    2) Don't bash people.
    ___2a) No racism
    ___2a) Foul language if you must, retain more self respect if you don't.

    3) Post things where they belong.
    ___3a) "Fanboy"ing to a minimum.

    4) The ops are helpful, so contact them if you're having issues.

    5) The technical talk forum is a great place to learn and post technical questions.

    6) pimping and previous is a great place to get info and feedback. (You will almost always get information that will help improve your art)

    7) In accordance with #6, and what nobody will probably say out loud , please look at who is giving you the criticism, as someone without much ability may not provide the most useful feedback (exceptions abound no doubt).

    8 ) Don't be obnoxious with huge images and retarded sig images that make people lose respect for you. Thankfully this is not a big issue on this forum

    9) try to have a good time, and hopefully you can learn a lot from the people who are here and contributing.
  • killingpeople
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    killingpeople polycounter lvl 18
    Welcome to forums. Welcome to Polycount. Don't disgrace boobs here, I will not stand for it.

    Regarding your family's harsh encouragement: If your head is in fact still in the clouds or in your ass, you will need to eventually remove it, because it will be required, even in the video game industry.
  • ElysiumGX
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    ElysiumGX polycounter lvl 18
    1) Don't listen to anything PeterK says. He's one of "them".

    2) Pliang will probably reply to this thread with "Hello friend, I also like cheese toast..."

    3) Generic anime/manga heads are for the DeviantArt account nobody will ever look at...unless to say "thnx fo da fav+ lol ^_^"

    4) You're in for a long bumpy ride.

    5) No one cares.

    6) Welcome. :D
  • danr
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    danr interpolator
    the whole notion of noob or newbie or whatever should be cast forevermore into a pit of shit and piss. Consider it finished, never speak of it again

    oh, and contrary to the belief of many : swearing IS big, and it IS clever
  • low odor
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    low odor polycounter lvl 17
    Burn all your anime videotapes..unless it is tentacle porn..there is much to be learned from tentacle porn...not to be confused with testicle porn..only the leet can gain knowledge from tteh mansack pictureshows..and when you drink white russians, it has to be out of a skull mug bought at the dollar store....anything less will get you shunned..and do not forget to model genitalia...if your model does not have lots of cock...best to restart ..with lots of subd cock..and vieny..make it vieny..polycount is all about the cock

    Welcome
  • pliang
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    pliang polycounter lvl 17
    I would stop with the "noob" thing as it really can be a crutch for people to lean on, sometimes when taking critiques.
  • System
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    System admin
    And the winner is... low odor.
  • Soulsteady
    Wow, I mearly meant this as a jumping off point.
    So far I've learned that 'noob' is not an accepted expression anymore (even though I was trying being cheeky), and anime is not that much respected.
    This instant induction of Game Art culture has been shocking.

    It's a good thing I suppose. In years past, I've had so many portfolio's lost, damaged, or stolen it would make one cry.
    It's important for me to rebuild a viable 2D, and eventually 3D, portfolio.
    To do that I need 20 to 30 pieces covering a wide range.

    So, here I am looking toward a future in game art and design. To tell you the truth the only real experience I have in 3D render is the time when I friend had a free triel of 3D Studio Max.
    Beyond that, the programs needed are still in transit.
    The Art Institute is sending me Adobe Creative Suit 3.3, and my son-in-law is getting me a rip of a 3d program, the name of which I can't remember.

    When I say 'starting from the ground up' I really mean it.

    To even the casual observer it's obvious that there is a massive different from 2d concept and design to 3d.

    As far as the 'head in rear' thing, it was more about letting other people hold me down.
    I could be so much further along as an artist if I hadn't been so weak as the let other people hold back.

    But I win.
    Being born in middle-of-nowhere Texas, but now just north of Seattle following my dreams.

    Whitecat-1.jpg

    This is a pencil of a photograph.


    Originalcharacter.jpg

    A Character design began in 95, but finished this year.
    Later appears as a character in Double X.


    double.jpg

    Some lighttable work.


    Anyways, please be gentle with me.
    I hate to admit it, but I may have set myself up to look up to the people here as peers.
    Even though I may not agree with you, I'll sincerely concider your input.

    -Soulsteady
  • bounchfx
    yeah man, don't let anything get you down. as long as you have the desire and are willing to put forth the work necessary you will be fine, it just takes time. There are a lot of great people here with loads of awesome advice.

    but we are also quite cheeky from time to time as you have probably noticed, just don't let it get to ya :P
  • Paul Pepera
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    Paul Pepera polycounter lvl 9
    Put down the anime and manga and do some still life and figure drawing.
  • leilei
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    leilei polycounter lvl 14
    ebagg wrote: »
    First order of business, learn proper anatomy before drawing anime.
    Eraserhead wrote: »
    Put down the anime and manga and do some still life and figure drawing.

    Amen, I can't stress this enough. Anime is not a shortcut to escape the rules of basic anatomy, despite what anyone on deviantArt would tell you.
  • rooster
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    rooster mod
    by the way, as people are telling you to put down your favourite subject matter consider the reason- good anime drawings rely on solid anatomy knowledge; solid anatomy knowledge will not come from drawing anime.

    So people don't mean give it up for good, but you're going to have to shift focus and acknowledge that real anatomy study is where it's at, if you want to get anywhere.

    that goal is a whole different ball game, and if you seek out the people who excel at figure drawing it's humbling, but inspiring.
    heres a blog I just came across now, but plan to continue reading; some great stuff in there:
    http://artisticanatomy.blogspot.com/
  • killingpeople
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    killingpeople polycounter lvl 18
    Purpose is step one. In order to hit a target, you'll need a scheme.

    If you're serious, you'll need to work on your draftsmanship and the basics:
    Line, Shading, Perspective, Color, Composition

    The majority of polycount isn't going to go easy on you, so put on your armor and keep your cool.
  • System
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    System admin
    8+ hours a day consisting of self portraits / anatomy studies / life drawing / full figure drawings will help a ton. Then I guess you can throw in photo referencing for colour unless you can get outside or paint from life.

    Then theres drawing from imagination - something ive overlooked - to apply the things youve been observing.

    http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=114449

    ^ Look at the progress he's made in a year and that should be more than enough to inspire. Hell, I still dont take it seriously enough.
  • Vrav
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    Vrav polycounter lvl 11
    Haa. I read your post and was going to link an algenpfleger thread, but then your link already was.

    Inspiration for anyone to learn to draw.
  • bounchfx
    wow, thanks for linking that thread, that's insane!
  • System
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    System admin
    I see it more like normal, or rather... how it should be, everythings earnt through hardwork and if you want something enough then theres nothing that can stop you really.
  • Soulsteady
    Thanks you all.
    Also, I"ll concide to the still life thing.
    My 'happy spot' is anime. Sometimes I have trouble just believing in myself. So when I can draw something for fun and pull it off well its a thrill.

    It's a whole different ballgame here. I acknowledge that.
    So with that I will start posting things that people in this thread have guided towards.

    By the way, everything that has been posted so far has merely been art samples left out of what as been lost. Let no one piece of art here be an example of my over all ability.

    I plan on posting something inspired by this thread by Monday night.

    For now, here is something I drew back in '05 when I was addicted to Final Fantasy XI Online.

    Demandredandtsusha-1.jpg

    Thanks again.

    -Soulsteady
  • sir-knight
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    sir-knight polycounter lvl 10
    hey soulsteady, as an artist who uses heavily based anime as a personal style, I have this advice for you. Follow the advice of the guys that posted before me. Learning good anatomy makes anime a whole lot better. Most of the top guys in japan are insanely good fine artists and painters that stylize their way towards the mainstream and lead it. The rest will imitate them.

    If you study the classical methods, you can always stylize it into anything you want, that includes anime, but if anime's all you do, the anatomy, structure and posing can suffer greatly. It's a bit of a one way street...


    It's not so much that anime isn't respected... it's that people don't take the time to study where anime comes from and most anime people see is just junk.

    Even a lot of the stuff from japan is very generic, and junky. It's an art style that has it's own nuance, strengths and weaknesses, study it, find out why it works and what people don't like about it and correct it for yourself, don't just stick with the method.

    My animation peers always said that my style is no longer anime, but some weird 60/40 split of anime and disney since I can animate to disney's standards and 'rules' but apply it to a visual style that relies heavily on anime in design - that was my goal through animation school, it sorta worked, but here I am... having worked in the tv animation industry and opened the door into the game industry with a very heavy anime portfolio.
  • Soulsteady
    Roger that Sir Knight.
    My next post (tomorrow or monday) will be a good ol' fashioned still-life of... something.

    Even before starting this thread I had begun reviewing the fundementals of art, but I now have a renewed interest in getting 'back to basics'.

    Like Kusanagi said in Ghost in the Shell,"Over-specialization breeds in slow death".

    -Soulsteady
  • t4paN
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    t4paN polycounter lvl 10
    Soulsteady wrote: »
    Noobs. It sounds like boobs, and rightfully so. They're cute to laugh at but next to useless.

    Oh no, you didn't. Does that actually imply that you consider boobs to be useless?
  • Joshua Stubbles
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    Joshua Stubbles polycounter lvl 19
    Jackwhat wrote: »
    if you want something enough then there's nothing that can stop you really.

    Exactly. I barely graduated high school and never went to college. In most regards, I'm a pretty stupid person. I spent many years teaching myself 3d art in my spare time, sacrificing a lot along the way. Making games is the one and only profession I ever really wanted to be in, and I made it happen. I'm the only member of my family to get the job they wanted and that makes me feel great about myself. Coming from a very poor childhood, it's quite an achievement, imo.

    It doesn't matter what your family or friends say about you, negatively. Go out there and prove them wrong, simple as that. If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.
  • sir-knight
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    sir-knight polycounter lvl 10
    you guys want a great parental quote? Here's one from my dad when I was about to graduate highschool 9 years ago...

    "your oldest brother, see... he was born with a lot of talent... but no ambition, he's lazy... your older brother... he wasn't born with the most talent, but he makes up for it in hard work.... you... you have no talent and you don't work hard."


    HA. I think I've proven them all wrong this past couple years as i've been holding 2 decent jobs in my industry and take care of the house.. while my oldest brother is nearing 34 and living with my parents, somewhat unemployed after 6 years of post secondary. My older brother is a hard working workaholic that stresses out over not having enough time because he makes his own schedule so busy, he totally ignores the house ( that we share) and is the laziest slob you have ever met. Where I basically singlehandedly painted the entire first floor and manage the property while he is out working or hanging out with his friends.

    So... who's a talentless, lazy hack?

    Prove em wrong, boyo, you can only go up.
  • System
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    System admin
    Vassago said it nicely!
  • System
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    System admin
    Vassago wrote: »
    Exactly. I barely graduated high school and never went to college. In most regards, I'm a pretty stupid person. I spent many years teaching myself 3d art in my spare time, sacrificing a lot along the way. Making games is the one and only profession I ever really wanted to be in, and I made it happen. I'm the only member of my family to get the job they wanted and that makes me feel great about myself. Coming from a very poor childhood, it's quite an achievement, imo.

    It doesn't matter what your family or friends say about you, negatively. Go out there and prove them wrong, simple as that. If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.

    omg, we could be twins, apart from the poor background thing and that I haven't ever had a job I liked, yet!
    *Edit Soulsteady - I think your doing the right thing learning 2d first, I did it the other way round so you could have a big head start. Feel free to challenge me on this but I firmly believe that 2d art is more important than the 3d mesh you are painting it on.
  • Spug
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    Spug polycounter lvl 12
    Like Killingpeople says....Draw without greed....plain and simple....
  • Soulsteady
    Pocketstuffstilllife.jpg

    This is a still life of most pocket stuff.
    It took about 45 minutes.

    -Soulsteady
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