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To Those Learning 3D

13

cube_th.jpgGlen Moyes (Metsys on the forums) has written an excellent article on the key steps to becoming a great 3D artist.

He writes about the importance of mastering a tool before taking on a more complicated project, about the importance of being an artist before being a software user and about the process of designing art that captures the attention of your audience.

To me, the essense of his article is this:

Blender is a tool, not a process. If you can't make something good without it, you won't make something good with it. It doesn't enable you to create a well-designed image without first being an artist and understanding the principles and elements of design.

This is one of the most insightful articles that I have seen in the Blender community during the eight years that I have been around. Please do yourself a favour and take 30 minutes to read it.

Link: To Those Learning 3D

About the Author

Avatar image for Bart Veldhuizen
Bart Veldhuizen

I have a LONG history with Blender - I wrote some of the earliest Blender tutorials, worked for Not a Number and helped run the crowdfunding campaign that open sourced Blender (the first one on the internet!). I founded BlenderNation in 2006 and have been editing it every single day since then ;-) I also run the Blender Artists forum and I'm Head of Community at Sketchfab.

13 Comments

  1. Coyoteknight on

    This is a great article. I've been involved with art for around 15 years now and I agree with everything that Metsys says, especially about natural talent.

    I remember one gal in college that was taking an art class just for the credit until she was surprised to find that she could actually paint quite well. In fact she was awesome! I've scarecly met another artist with as strong a grasp of color or instilling a sense of mystery into a piece. The funny thing is that she never painted outside of grade school and just never thought that she could paint, basically because she never gave herself the chance to try because of the expense of art materials. It took our professor's pointing out similarities with her early works (that weren't exactly Da Vinci) to several artists. That gave her all the confidence in the world.

    The biggest hurdle that I've seen in budding artists or the everyday average Joe or Jane is that they don't have someone to tell them that this aspect of their piece is reminicent of one painter or sculpter or that another aspect was the basis of such and such a designer's work. Knowing that you are on the right track can make all the difference in the world. Everyone has natural talent, sometimes it just takes pointing out the less obvious aspects of this to the unexperienced artist.

    Take it easy and many blessngs,
    Rob

  2. I agree with that article entirely. Blender - or Maya, 3D Studio Max, Lightwave, photoshop, or really anything for that matter - will not make one a good artist. They're just tools. The tools don't produce magical works of art on their own; it takes the artist to do this.

    However, I'd just like to interject that the tools -are- powerful. They make things possible that wouldn't have even been feasible otherwise. Since I first downloaded Blender nine months ago I've been able to do things I never would have been possible with my sketchpad, pencils, pens/inks, etc. It hasn't made me a better artist, but it's given me an amazing tool to work with.

    So... no, Blender doesn't make people into artists. It certainly does allow artists to do things they could never do before, though.

    Alright. End tangent. Just wanted to say that. ^_^

  3. I realize, that that this was posted a couple of months ago, but Id like to put in a word here for anyone who reads it.
    Good Software or software in general does not an artist make.

    but...

    Anayo hit it dead on.
    I got blender about a year ago and have to admit, Ive had more success than with plain old freehand. Ive been told Im a talented artist, but this has really opened up new roads for me.

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