Reply To: Suggestions for new courses

[Jan-Willem van Dronkelaar]

@theluthier 

As an artist, I have never needed to learn the proper names to be able to form an anatomically correct/believable human body. Instead I learned that all the information you need is embedded in photographs/illustrations and the ability to interpret lighting and shading into 3d form. And as a bonus, visual interpretation works for every kind of modeling beyond anatomy.

I could not disagree more. While learning anatomy has many benefits the main two as far as I am concerned are these

1. Creating a sensitivity to details that you normally would not even notice (essentially improving your artists eye) 
2. Becoming less dependent on reference. (use it but don’t be dependent on it)

There is a definite difference in the work of someone who is a master of anatomy and one who just works by eye without a deeper understanding of the actual mechanics. The body is a functional machine, its appearance reflects that.

When it comes to anatomy its so powerful that I would almost consider it a shortcut/cheat to boosting your skills to a whole new level. I know nothing else that will give as clear a boost to the quality of your work. It was for me and I only seriously went for the head, the difference before and after was pretty nuts.

But please understand that you’re asking for a tremendous effort compared to other courses.

This is a very honest statement. It is a gigantic effort and, don’t take this the wrong way, in my humble opinion, outside of CGcookie’s offering. CGcookie offers great value for money but this is something for a specialist. I personally would not expect a high quality anatomy course from CGcookie.

Not only that, if I would go for an anatomy course I would specifically look for an artist who is a master sculptor and whose sculpting work I adore. Screw how good he is with materials, lighting or even composition, just mindblowingly good sculpts.

These are just my two cents.

Oh, and just for clarity. None of this means that I find Kent’s work below par. What I have seen from his stuff on character looks really great (loved the part on lighting a character; I learned a ton) It’s just that if I would want to learn anatomy I would choose to get it elsewhere. 🙂