Yes thats exactly my question, what is the path to develop what is needed over the years. Do you have any concrete poniters, skills, courses, etc?
I can only recommend what I went/am going through. I wanted to improve my 3D modeling skills both as a modeler and as an artist so I had to learn the basics of both.
-3d Modeling-
I suggest learning with blender as it's a comprehensive 3d modeling program that is completely free to use.
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Once you download that, you must go through the rite of passage for all blender beginners and create a donut:
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Afterwards, look up a variety of tutorials and objects online and just practice creating them. You want to focus on developing a flow and getting use to the program. Things might not look super realistic in the beginning, but I can guarantee that you will take less time doing them.
I suggest going on sketchfab and just looking for stuff that interests you and try to recreate it. Things will come naturally afterwards so stop trying to plan everything now (dont worry about topology or rigging or any of the other complex stuff until you master making the model first). I can guarantee that as you develop your skills, your tastes will change.
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(not my model)
(I wanted to make realistic stuff too until I saw how good hand painted textures and low-poly models could look)
And this is the first character model that I made (no textures)
There was a ton of stuff that I could have done better, but as you can see the movement and shading help hide a good portion of it.
-Traditional Art-
Learning the principles of art can make this process a lot smoother. Its important to understand human proportions, how light and color works, etc.
You don't have to do this to become a 3D modeler,
but it will definitely take your art to the next level.
(It's easier to 3d model when you can draw all of the reference images you need instead of going online and trying to mix and match)
There are a bunch of YouTube videos on learning how to draw but I went for something a bit more structured. If you want to have the same lessons you would get at a traditional art school, but without paying thousands of dollars in tuition then you can check this link out.
(Still costs a bit of money but you can get a 20% discount by making 2 free accounts and sending yourself the invite a friend discount code)
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Marc Brunet is a self-taught artist who has been doing professional work for years (worked in Blizzard as a 3D/concept artist) and made a course to help others do the same.
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