Reply To: Drawing skills for a 3D modeller

[Chetan Ranjan]

@zickkie In my opinion drawing is not important if you are aiming to be 3d modeler. From what I have researched(not employed yet) companies will give you a concept art which you have to model. For a 3d modeler its more important to convert 2d drawing in 3d than creating concept in 3d. In the texturing phase, you can simply color pick and paint from the concept art. You can get that simply with some practice.

Now, if you want to model something that is not based on only one image then you can try to model one thing that is inspired from many other things. For example- you can model a hammer with skull at its top and a knife at its bottom. Here, you will need references of different type of hammers, skulls and a knife and then go with whatever you like. This way you can even model a dragon in suit and a tie.
In this part, you can use photobashing or simply cut paste photos or you can do a simple overpaint on your base model to create a rough concept. Then, make it in 3d and when you reach to the texturing phase do the same step above if you want to.

One important thing to do as an artist is to study other people artworks- composition, shapes and colors. By study I don’t mean that you copy it, trace over it some simple shapes like cubes or cylinder to know its shape or color pick to know what color are used.

In my case, I draw to create a rough concept. Overpaint a base model. If i can’t do that then I will write in as much detail as i can whatever concept comes in my mind then I will research on that topic and write some more notes until I have a rough idea of what I want to create. Then, if something feels off I will research it and then tweak it.

I have been where you are right now. I did jump to 2d and then back to 3d many times because I have a passion of visual storytelling and I thought that I can do that only with drawing. From what I can tell you from my experience is that Art is a form of expression and the way you express it. What medium or tools you use are only their to divide your art into a category.

I hope this ESSAY helps you. 🙂