Hey guys, Just wondering how good at art do ya have to be to be a 3d modeller? Like how good at drawing ect. do you have to be? The reason I am asking cause I wanna get started in 3d, I have played around in a few programs, but never done anything big and good. I am presuming you have to be a good drawer and Im NOT Thanks.

Actually I think all that you have to do, that is if you are the Game Designer, is have a picture in your head. I think that the person who is in charge of coming up with the idea is the one that has to do sketches.

If you''re getting a job at a company, how good they want you to be at 2D art will vary. Sometimes you are given concept sketches by concept artist, there might be times when they don''t care what sketches you make as long as the model looks good, and some companies might want a multi-talented artist. The best thing for you to do would probably be to get good at drawing. I suggest you read "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards. It''s really good at getting people to draw realistically. After that you just need to practice a lot.

Recently I was reading an art message board where one of the people there got a job to do some modelling. The company had only seen his drawings, though. So it would seem like learning to model comes easily to those who are good at drawing. I don''t know how easily modelling comes to those who aren''t good at drawing.

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Original post by Mofu
The reason I am asking cause I wanna get started in 3d, I have played around in a few programs, but never done anything big and good.

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Don''t expect to do good stuff right away. It takes lots of practice. Life drawing will help alot with creating things from your imagination. You can''t expect to draw or model a good looking human unless you know anatomy, for example. There''s the drawing thing again. I''m not a 3D artist so don''t take my advice as the total truth, but I think it would be a good idea to learn drawing like I suggested in my previous post.

Here''s another spin on the subject. I personally don''t think you need to be good at traditional drawing to be good at 3D modelling. The computer shades everything for you and shadows and lights and does perspective for you. I think you will probably be able to make MUCH better looking stuff in a 3D program than by hand just for the reasons stated above. Also practice makes perfect you''ll get better at it. Obviously have a creative side and being able to draw well would help but I really don''t think it''s absolutely necessary as the skills are different.

It all depends. You certanly need some artistic talent to come up with some original models but if you have someone to provide good concept art you''ll be fine, with a lot of practice of course.

My Mum, a painter, has a really impresive talent and drawing technique but I couldn''t picture her as a 3D modeller.

One of my traditional art instructors (sculpture) once told me that there are two dimensional thinkers and three dimensional thinkers, but what ties them together as artists is their ability to see.

Indeed. I couldn''t draw a stickman, yet I''m a proficient modeler (it''s my current job). You don''t need to be able to draw to model, and if you can draw, you may not be able to model at all (my concept artist comes to mind ). It all depends, you have to be able to "see" two dimensional things in three dimensions. Some people can do it, some people cannot. It also helps this day in age to be your own texture artist, but again, not everyone is a photoshop guru... :D

Thanks guys for the replies