Digital 3D PE Week Day 2

   Normally I spend a good amount of time exploring an idea by searching for reference and inspiration.  This can come in many forms and you can come across inspiring stuff at any time – so always keep a look out.  Generally I like to jumble up my imagery with reference for anatomy/form/style and inspiration on mood/emotion/idea.  Even though I'm still inept at drawing I sometimes also do a quick couple sketches as a mental note to any parts I think might be tricky or to get a general idea of what I'm trying to do.   This is such a useful period for me because I can get myself pumped up for all the possibilities of a piece before I <*strike*>ruin<*/strike*> attempt it in 3d.
Some people get bogged down in this phase and spend forever, but don't forget that it's nothing but research.  You still have to do the actual work.  For game characters I usually create basemeshes in 3ds max first – they don't have to be very good, I just sometimes find it easier to start with a basic shape rather than building it all in Zbrush.  A bonus is that can make it much easier to edit later if a client changes their mind (and they often do!).  For quicker digital sculpts I consider it good practice to try and create everything from scratch just to familiarize yourself with the forms and not get too caught up in traditional modeling tools.  But ultimately every program is just a tool, so don't be afraid to use different tools for whatever the current job may be.  Eventually you'll probably narrow down a specific set of 'tools' that you prefer in your pipeline.
As far as actual sculpting, pretty much every resource I've read on sculpting or drawing says to 'start with the broadest of shapes and refine', and I subscribe to that school of thought.  When sculpting a face, for instance, I usually start out by blocking in the basic landmarks of the skull – thinking about what the general ratios of each axis of the skull are, then where the highest point is, where the widest points, etc.  Then what angles the jaw and chin should be at in relation to the brow and where the eye sockets should be, then just gradually refining your focus to different features.  I try to only subdivide when I can't get the precision that I need.  
This whole time I have the most applicable set of inspiration/reference images on my secondary monitor – Or if you don't have a second monitor, then you can always print that stuff out! The point of this is so I don't lose sight of my intent for the piece.  Maybe it's a particular emotion or idea that I want to come across.  Or maybe it's just a color scheme or anatomical detail.  It doesn't have to be profound, but hopefully when I'm done with the piece I've achieved whatever my goal was.


There are tons of books, articles, timelapses, and tutorials from people way better than me though.  So I'd highly recommend checking out the information shared by Hai Phan, Phillipe Faraut, the guys/gals at Eat3d, and other great artists who've put time and effort into creating stellar learning material!


2. What are some key factors to creating this art you think beginners or even other artists should remember?

   I guess if I had to choose an important factor to remember when creating 3d art, it would have to be the intent of your work.  There are different times for every kind of art; sometimes you may just be creating a piece to technically show that you can model a character, weapon, or vehicle to a high level of quality – other times you may be simply trying to evoke a specific emotion or communicate an idea.  That's the main reason for gathering all that reference early on, so you have that visual 'roadmap' of where you were heading when the piece began.  Eventually you may grow to not rely on a roadmap so much anymore, but I'm far from that level still.

I think we often get stuck in the grind and can forget or overlook both why we're doing this current piece of art and ultimately why we're doing art at all.  It's a shame when I see vibrant people enter art school with work that's so creative and full of life and they exit reformed to a much higher level of skill, but at the cost of their intent and end up creating boring work.  There's nothing inherently wrong with the art school!  I just think as long as you keep these questions in the back of your mind you'll never lose that life and artistic identity in your work.

3. How long typically does it take you to finish a piece (maybe use one of your art pieces as an example to explain this) ?

   I'm definitely not the fastest artist around, but most of the time hand-painted low poly characters will take less time than 'current-gen' characters – something like 3-5 days depending on complexity.  I'm sure plenty of better people can do it way faster.  Once you're required to sculpt and bake normal, AO, etc it complicates the process a lot for me.  I think those game characters usually take around 2-3 weeks.  There are different production requirements to each project, though.  So you just have to keep that all in mind.  You may only get 1 week for a character that should take 2-3, so unfortunately you'll have to find a way to cut corners.  But at the same time some companies will allow you more than a month to finish 1 character!  

But don't use that as an excuse to be lazy with your time!  Ideally you should know how to budget your time for both and you'll be that much more nimble in a production environment

4. What would you say was your favourite piece that you can show us you worked on?

   As much as I enjoy working with clients, my favorite work is almost always personal work because it's entirely my own doing – so if the intended audience doesn't like it then I know have to try harder next time and if they do like it then maybe that's something I can pull from on my next piece.  My favorite piece was probably my Dizzy fan-art game model just because I was lucky enough to make characters with a group of like-minded artists for a few weeks while absorbing the wise words of Jon-Troy 'HazardousArts' Nickel.  That was a great time of artistic growth and reflection on the many things that I don't know how two do yet, so that's what Dizzy represents to me.  

Still, the fact that my favourite piece is a year old now means I haven't been working hard enough!  

5. What piece was the most challenging to work on?

   I think they're all challenging in some way or another.  I'm constantly being pushed to get better, so I think my most recent piece is usually the most challenging haha.  Right now, it's a freelance piece I did recently because it's so much higher specs than I'm used to.  This next generation of hardware is going to be crazy (Playstation 4, Xbox One, etc).  I think it's really important to be able to do super low rez hand-painted textures, and more current-gen characters, but once you have a few really good examples of that, I wouldn't be afraid to slightly push the limits of the hardware a little bit and see what you can create.  But keep in mind that you can't use that as an excuse!  If you're trying to push through current technical boundaries, it's got to look way better than it could have on current specs!

6. What is the difference between a professional artist and a non-professional in your own words ? 

   I suppose there are 2 main schools of thought on the differentiation between professional and non-professional.  On the one hand, you're technically a professional when you make - or set out to make money or a living with your art.  But I think the implications of that decision are that you've determined to dedicate yourself to honing your craft for as long as you possibly can.  By that definition, I guess you can be professional without technically being A professional.  I don't think you should ever lose the feeling that you had when you create art as a 'non-professional' though.  In many ways, that's some of the 'purest' work you'll do, since you're doing it solely due to your passion for creation.

7. Any scripts/brushes/etc you recommend other artists to try when creating or trying to create similar work? (ie: a good brush you like to use when texturing plants, etc) 

   I have a sorta strange workflow in Zbrush where I use alphas like 'brush profiles', which I picked up from the amazing Andy 'Kite' Nisbet.  I also think it's worth your time to create a custom Zbrush interface specific to what you often use, so you don't have to go hunting through the same ol' menus time and time again.  Here's my main zbrush UI if you want to see how you like it (here's a screengrab)

8. What kind of artist would you classify yourself as? (character, environment, animator, 2d, etc)

   I'm a 3d character artist by trade, but I'm still focusing on learning as much about it as I can.  I definitely can't claim to be competent at any other disciplines as well.  But of course I'm always interested in expanding my skillset towards reaching for whatever creative ambitions I might have

9. Do you specialize or generalize in your skill set?

   I like to specialize just because the level of skill you need at any one discipline these days is so high.  Students are picking up these programs and busting out total masterpieces now.
Computer graphics was once so exclusive that, if you could render a chrome sphere and could sorta animate, you could get at least some small job somewhere!  With the constantly improving skill of the industry, and the increasing competition, it's really hard to master every single skillset.
BUT I think it's important to understand the basis of as many disciplines as you can – if you don't survey your options, you may not ever find your true calling as an artist.  You may even find multiple disciplines that draw you in.  For instance I like to do tools and 3d characters.  In order to make a living though, you have to soberly recognize where the competition really is in your target industry.  If your skill is far below most people who have jobs within your discipline (characters or weapons or environments or lighting or whatever), then you have only 2 options: either you give up and focus on something you're better at, or you have to get better at what you really want to do!

10. What is one tool/program/device you'd be hesitant to give up when creating your work? (one that you favour might be a better way to word this member question)

   I really can't get by without a few programs, but probably the one I favor most is zbrush.  Imagine having to model every little detail by hand in 3ds max or XSI or Maya or Blender without using any sculpting tools.  That'd drive me bananas!  Mad hats off to the dedicated guys and gals who did that (or to those who still do!)

11. Do you have any links to any work you can show that gives an idea of your process? (ie: tutorials, time laps, or even tutorials you've used) 

   I have a lot of timelapses for my shorter sculpts on my youtube channel.  I've been asked to do tutorials a few times, but there are so many amazing tutorials out there already.  If you're interested in game art I highly recommend Hai 'Haikai' Phan's wonderful tutorial series on CgCircuit.  I also really like watching timelapses from fantastic artists like Zbro365 or Adam Fisher or Ravenslayer.  Some artists even livestream realtime like Hazardous or DominicQwek!

12. In your own words, what do you think kind of content should go into the game development art category on Deviant Art or any improvements you'd like to see too it?

   To me, game development art can include anything and everything that could be related to a game – from 2d sprites and UI and backgrounds and concepts, to 3d characters and environments and animations.  I actually didn't even realize this was a category until you mentioned it :S

13. In your own words, what do you think kind of content should go into the 3 Dimensional category on Deviant Art or any improvements you'd like to see too it?

   I think any original 3d work should go into the 3 Dimensional category.

14. In your own words, what do you think kind of content should go into the Fan art-> 3 dimensional category on Deviant Art or any improvements you'd like to see too it?

   To me, a work that pulls anything from an existing intellectual property (movie, game, tv series, comic, etc) should go into fan-art

15. Are there artists you look up too? 

   I look up to so many great artists.  I think it's so important to try and surround yourself with as many of them as you can

: Hai 'Haikai' Phan
: Jon-Troy 'Hazardous' Nickel
: Jonah 'MrSkullface' Gilbert
: Adam Fisher
: Eugene '3eof' Folkin
Bogdan 'bogdanbl4' Gabelko
Vadim 'SlipgateCentral' Bakhlychev
Rod 'Bad Koala' Pralier
Rafael Grassetti
Greg 'sasquatchPoacher' Callahan
Zbro365

are just some of the awesome 3d artists I regularly look to for inspiration, but there are a ton more in every medium.  Don't restrict yourself by only looking at 3d art.  Inspiration and creative guidance comes from everywhere and you should always be open to it


   Thanks a ton for inviting me to take part in this
I can't wait to see what everyone rocks out for this competition