Ok, I'll look into buying the books.

For now I'm drawing (on paper) again, and I'm wondering if I should take either a "drawing" course or a "life drawing AND painting" course.

Drawing is hard enough as it is, I'm not sure about painting yet...What do you think?

The drawing courses are for beginners/novices such as myself. You can eventually gain levels and then go and get a degree in art if you want. But I've still got my mind set to go on with the 3d art rather than just traditional drawing.

I take it I don't really need to take courses in 3d art with e.g. Maya, I can just learn myself? But with drawing I may as well go on a course. This should all be the perfect compliment to my writing (which I have "under control", so have time to do this art thing too.)

You'll NEED to take a life drawing course. Not only will you learn how to draw, you'll learn poses, and movement, and weight, and balance, and all those other fundamental things. It'd be best for you to do alot of short-length drawings (ie, 30 seconds, one minute, two minutes, five minutes), since the things you're worrying about most are poses, which are the first things established in a life drawing.

If you're animating, don't worry about painting. Painting will help you paint textures and model, it would be good, but I wouldn't call it integral.

While you do all this, learn the technical aspects of Maya... ie, go through a tutorial book (I'd suggest 'Learning Maya 7: Foundation (I think that's what its called) for your basic get-familiar-with-3D stuff, and Exploring 3D Modelling with Maya 6 and Exploring 3D Animation with Maya 6 for your foundation in modelling and animation.) Maya 6 is similar enough to Maya 7 that you shouldn't have any inhibitions about getting a Maya6 book. Avoid 'Bible' type books, IMO, they are too expansive at your stage.

Once you are able to draw dynamic poses/figures well enough, and once you get a handle on on Maya's toolset, I'd suggest really concetrating on animation theory books like Survival Kit, and a 3D animation textbook of your choice (either The Art of 3-D Computer Animation and Effects, Third Edition, or maybe Principles of Three Dimensional Computer Animation (I had the latter author as a professor, and the former author used to work with him).

The main thing you're going to have to leave your computer for is drawing... you really need to take classes and get instruction and just get out there and draw!

Thanks, that's very helpful.

atm I'm just drawing e.g. from photos of models (women etc) straight from the computer screen, with the paper (book for support) on my lap.

I'll probably go for a life drawing class then.

atm I'm just drawing the face, not the body of the person...

...and you say "30 seconds", "one minute"? I take quite alot longer. Interesting, I'll try to speed it up then.

Also, what you're confirming for me is it's important to draw from life (for some reason) not just from photographs and other artists pictures...which is what I've heard/been told.

Thanks again.

Generally (in my experience, at least), figure drawing is done with a large pad (18x24) and charcoal. You draw from the shoulder, to capture gesture, it is a much stronger stroke. Perhaps there are good books or videos to instruct you, but nothing will replace a proper instructor. This will give you the strong foundation you need to pursue any other form of visual arts.

I really, strongly suggest you go to a life drawing class, open drawing, sign up for a class, or ask a fellow artist or professor. I can sit here and try to describe why gesture drawing from life is more effective, but I would be spending the better part of the day. I'm sure fellow artists will be in agreement, just do it! No ifs, ands, or buts, if you're serious. I'm not saying you NEED to do this to animate, I'm saying if you want to make GOOD animations, you have to learn gesture and pose and dynamics. Its really up to you... but, IMO, no amount of 3D animation experience will make up for the fundamentals you'll learn in figure drawing.

Depending on your budget, www.thegnomonworkshop.com will be a great friend. Their DVD's are second to none... however, DVD's WILL get expensive, so a couple good books would be better for teaching you the more basic things (videos are more cost efficient for more nuanced and advanced techniques). Also, study some anatomy books.

thanks again.

I read through some of these posts and here's the first thing you do. Listen to professor ;).

Drawing is a great way to start. And the 30 sec, 1 min, 10 min etc. was something I did in a 2D art course few years ago. Basically, I took a pad and some writing tool (charcoal works great, pencil or pen is fine) and I found a thick magazine such as a clothing store's advertisement booklet etc. The instructor yelled go (quite the class, trust me), and we furiously scribbled a quick sketch of a person. When time was up, we would flip the page and draw another person. We would do different timings such as 1 minute all the way to 30 minutes. I burnt through several thick pads, so I suggest you go ahead and buy some. Computer paper just doesn't cut it, unless you aren't in a course and just practicing.

I finish my 2D art stuff a year ago, and for the past 6-8 months have been working on 3d art. It will take you at least a year to get a beautiful result in animation because you first need to know the basics of 2d art (esp. human poses in your case). Then you need to establish a good foundation in 3d software (like I'm doing now). That takes quite a while and hours of work reading through tutorials & books. Then you need to know advanced stuff like texturing, lighting and so on. Zbrush helps here..you should visit the Zbrush website; the pictures (of humans) are so incredibly detailed and realistic. You won't achieve this overnight, but as mentioned before, it'll be fun. You'll reap the benefits down the line.

Good luck with your advancement.

I see Prof recommended Gnomon. I plan on buying one of their dvd's for environments down the line. Here's a link for a Character Animation DVD ($60) if you're interested.

http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/dvds/rco01.html

Thanks. I plan to start 3d and 2d at the same time, for the first week or so it'll probably be mostly 2d. I'm just playing around with Maya. Eventually I'll need the book...

I'm looking it up now for myself, but does anyone know which graphics engine created the graphics for Unreal Tournament 2007?

I find that several of the games that use it, such as Huxley, seem to have better animation than some of the pre-rendered "3d art" I'm finding via google [ the art is still high level, however.] Does anyone know the names of any impressive 3d artists, I've seen some by an artist called "Meats Meier"; would like to see more.

Also, as with just about every subject, there are magazines specifically for 3d art -- could any1 recommend me one? Thanks.

Quote:

Original post by Blad3 I'm looking it up now for myself, but does anyone know which graphics engine created the graphics for Unreal Tournament 2007?

It's the Unreal Engine, and the models were made in 3D Studio.