Reply To: How to improve but also create your own quality artwork?

Welcome to CG Cookie Citizenship @baukepost! 3 years is a good amount of time to prep your 3D skills for going to school. As I understand your question, you’re struggling with learning a lot (probably mimicking tutorials, not your own work) and building up a portfolio of unique work to call your own.

There are many cliche sayings like “you have to walk before you can run” where walking can be learning from tutorials and running can be applying what you learn to create custom artwork. My recommendation is 3 stages, let’s say one stage per year:

1. Year 1: Assuming you’re starting 100% as a beginner, it’s probably best that you commit to mimicking tutorials. Try to follow along as closely as possible to achieve the same result from the videos. This way you can learn the tools while confirm your progress based on accurate results. Specifically spend the year going through the Intro to Blender Learning Flow. If you make it through that and feel confident about your understanding, start into the Modeling in Blender Flow.
2. Year 2: Continue learning by following our courses, but substitute your own unique asset. For example, if you do the Sculpting a Wrangler course, follow along for workflow but sculpt a female character instead. Find your own artwork on Pinterest or Artstation and use that instead of the provided art. This way you can still trust that you’re learning a reliable workflow while making it your own. Consider finishing all courses in the Modeling in Blender Learning Flow for year 2.
3. Year 3: A diligent first 2 years should teach you enough to feel comfortable and confident about your abilities in CG. Use year 3 to build up your portfolio. Pick unique projects that you’re passionate about, whether characters, environments, vehicles, whatever – passion is crucial. I’d say 4 unique, well-executed CG assets is great for a portfolio. For my college demo reel that I sent to studios, the requirement was 3. I pushed a little harder to stand out with 4 and it paid off. Set out to create those 4 assets entirely on your own, no video tutorials. But if you get stuck, of course check back with our curriculum for guidance.

I hope that helps paint a picture of how to both learn and develop your own unique art along the way. You must be patient. Like any trade or artform, practice makes perfect and practice takes time. There’s not fast-tracking it.