3D Modeling & Clay Sculpting- Essential?

[Fletcher Li]

Hello my name is Fletcher, I am new to the world of 3D art so forgive this possibly noob question.

To cut to the chase, how essential is traditional sculpting when becoming a 3D artist, especially aimed towards organic concepts like creatures and characters? 

Personally I don’t think I’ve ever seen a 3D digital artist that wasn’t a clay sculptor of some capacity but I’m not sure whether to chalk that up to popularized media. You may know what I’m talking about, those demos inside game studios, classrooms or lining the shelves of a 3D artists in their tutorials. I have a grasp on traditional 2D pencil and paper dry mediums but could always use improvement.

Do you know of any 3D artist (especially organic) that know little to none clay sculpting that produce great work? Is it worth my time to invest into clay sculpting to improve 3D modeling or can I get away with not knowing clay sculpting?

I want to make an informed decision before I sink time and money into clay sculpting.

Thank you for your patience with me.

[Panus Boonyok]

I can not say for sure about this.

If you think you have time to spend on clay sculpting,it’s ok for you and good for you to practice.

It does not need to do Clay sculpting before you can create 3d,actually it’s the same way you do in clay sculpting.

You just need to learn how to work with tool and options.

The most important thing is human anatomy without strong knowledge about human anatomy practicing with clay sculpting or 3d sculpting won’t get you anywhere as well.

It’s easier to sculpting in 3d because you can edit anywhere,anytime,no resource are wasted.

Your choice and welcome to 3d artist world.

[Jonathan Lampel]

Exactly what @zenogias said. I definitely didn’t know clay sculpting when I started 3D, but trying it a bit definitely helped me get a better understanding of forms in 3D space that is hard to grasp on a computer. Just like learning how to sketch has helped me be more observant of an object’s form and details. That said, it’s not something I do regularly or am particularly good at. I know @jonathanwilliamson took a clay sculpting class a while ago, so maybe he can chime in. 

Usually the biggest barrier to entry is the price of the clay and finding the right tools. So if you’re interested in clay, definitely give our SculptBox a try since it has all the tools and is a good bit cheaper than buying everything separately. 

[Chetan Ranjan]

Being a 3d artist is a lot more than being just a great digital sculptor. It means that you are mainly going to create art with the help  of technical stuffs- polygon limit, texture limit, hardware and  software limits etc.

If you feel like trying it then by all means go for it. I have tried it and it is fun but most of my knowledge came from sculpting digitally. 

Any person who excellent in clay sculpting will also be excellent in digital sculpting after knowing how to work digitally and what kind of restriction it presents. Likewise a master in digital sculpting will also be excellent in clay sculpting after adjusting to the absence of undo button and symmetry. 😀

I hope this helps. 🙂

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