Advise for becoming a top tier designer

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hi dear im on a quest to become professional designer and artist but i have found that

my designs looks like lego

and i cannot achieve good shapes and most topology when creating ends in a mess, i fail at details and to doing correctly booleans and i lose drive on putting details , also i want to end the desings on 1 or 2 days

what good advise you can give me to achieve

AAA designer quality style?

like overwatch or predator badlands?

any tutorial or book?

the main goal is to make me like the rambo or jack of all trades of design so i can be put to serve big tech companies and small indie studies for entertainment industry

the problem i have not found a guide that would help me

what i know:

how to handle bevel and subsurf mirror and stuff but i fail to achieve consistent design and texturing loke the last image from overwatch

thank you any advise and collaboration

about the " design "
https://cara.app/post/b4d2550a-5a5f-430c-8fb5-737b9e49504e

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Well, first it’s hard to tell without looking at your work, honestly I don’t trust cara.app or weird links , but if you have an artstation of yours to share it would help a lot…

From there, design / concept art is quite difficult, you should consider taking studies or look for a job that is a bit simpler. Concept art implies to have good technique and be able to communicate well visually, to be able to try different ideas and iterate very fast. This is hard to learn but still possible.

Then it’s about your visual library, your ideas, and that’s the main tool you’re working with…
This is the main thing we have to evaluate, say your ideas are good but you lack technique then it’s a small problem to solve. However, if your ideas are lacking then it’s much more difficult to get the needed culture to account for that …

Sadly, it’s hard to judge our own ideas …

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Most what you’re talking about is just gonna take years of practice no matter what. There’s no specific videos/tutorials/books, that cover everything from design, artistic appeal, to practical 3d game ready topology. I would just try to watch/read everything you can possibly get your hands on, and practice practice practice. A lot of art is also observational, on your humanoid robot for instance, the biggest thing that stands out is a lack of proper mechanical joints. The textures/materials are also really lacking in realistic wear and dirt gathering, the texture map on there really does just look like a standard slapped on maybe cube mapped UV, which isn’t how things look/work in reality. It might be helpful to post specific pieces asking for critique/feedback instead of a very big general thread like this.

A lot of times good scifi art design relies on real life study of manufacturing processes, so for robots, think about everything underneath the surface. How the designer would build a skeleton to mount motors or pistons or wires on, and how they would then make panels as an outer shell to protect those things. The panels don’t just float, of course, they need to be screwed/bolted/snap on to the frame somehow, so you need those details, the frame needs to have mounting points, the shell panels need divots and holes for the bolts/screws to go through. There’s also things to think about like milling out material to reduce weight, and the shape you might do that in to maintain maximal strength, as well as the actual manufacturing processes and their limitations, where the CNC machines cannot reach, how vacuum forming can’t really do overhangs, etc.

Just like how all those real processes have their own strengths and weaknesses, 3d also has its strengths and weaknesses, certain shapes are really really easy to accomplish in 3d, like perfect cubes, and perfectly sharp edges, and its kind of your job as a designer to not fall into the easy traps of 3d, you don’t want people to be able to look at it, and instantly see, “oh yeah, extruded cube, edge loops here, bevel modifier” etc.

As you start to understand the 3d look / lego look you dont like right now, and the real processes that go into making things, you’ll be able to shift away from what you’re doing into greater realism.

It’s important as an artist to both be able to critique your own work, and show yourself grace, you have room to improve of course, as we all do. But never beat yourself up so much that you lose motivation to continue. Every piece is just a learning experience, and you are going to get better and better with practice. so.. keep it up!

Cara.app is safe and respectable, its an alternate Artstation that popped up with no AI allowed, when Artstation/Epic announced they were fine with AI, and would be using all uploaded images to train AI.

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Thanks @NiklasWerth, so I watched the portfolio.

@fiverrdirectboss, what you’ve done is already a good achievement but there is some work to reach a professional level. You can keep grinding youtube tutorials and also look here for more advanced tutorials :

Also from what you said something is confusing, you talk about design but it’s hard to tell if you just mean 3D modeling, or if you’re talking about actual concept art / design.

Generally it’s two different skills and people that do the design, like a movie needs giant robot. Designing is about solving how that robot will look like. Then they give some kind of a blue print to 3D artists that do the actual 3D model you see in the movie.

And 95% of the time, there is a clear distinction on art team that works on concepts, storyboards, ideas, but nothing they do appear as is in the final product. And actual CG artists that take those ideas and make a functional 3D model or else.

From what I see I advice that you focus more on the CG art stuff and don’t try to be a concept artist which is a much more difficult position to fulfill.

Hope that helps and feel free if you have further questions !

Have fun !

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i want to become not a concept artist but a hard surface and a sculpter but is hard there is a lot of stuff i dont know good.. can you tell me a good complete course?

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Well, it would be too simple if we just had to follow one course… but…
A long time ago this one helped me to catch up on hard surface : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtZ_qpmIf84

Also, while it’s important to master the technique, you should also learn about artistic stuff in order to know how to use that technique to make something that looks good !

Even if you’re not into concept art, knowing a bit of that stuff will help !

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thanks for the big advice, i did not saw it as a designer i just tought like oh ok i shall make similar to this and f it if the joints are not well made.but now i see your perspective … im having hard times to try to think like a real designer and the most thing that happens to me is that i often get frustrated when im not achieving shapes and that i dont have a solid workflow for adding details so i end doing the basic shapes without blockouts and adding that i feel the urge to end the design on the same day i start or at max the next day, or ill lose motivation due my poor professional design amd texturing cappabilities, see how the cara app design lacks propper beveling and shading doesnt look good… thank you for your advice

any good course cheap i can take to learn a good workflow and other good for 3d substance painter?

feel like i lost 9 years on this and due to lack of correct education and also add that i live on a war zone country i spend most of my times living like a nomad and trying to survive… i feel tired… but still my dream doesnt die…

your advice lighted a candle of hope on me.

thank you

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cara app is an alternative to artstation and i feel its better because is fresher and simpler also you dont need password, its safe and it was made from artists for artists,

thank you for the advice too!

actually im a quick bit of random i just see a good model and i say ok lets do it

i put the reference images on pureref and then study the shapes like how can i achieve it on blender and then i work, its like shaping wood. buuut

i lack of a proper pipeline or workflow so i just go full random cowboy and try to rush it the same day…

thats why im trying to seek advice and help from others… so maybe on 3 years(with ton of luck) ill be on weta or blizzard(i hope)

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Yes I think it’s good to do these quick one day projects, however it only can get you so far, and it’s not going to teach you how to add details and push your models further.

So at some point try to go the extra miles and go further into details, not just the main shapes.
Try also to make a complete image, not just a model over a black background. At least put a ground, a sky, or a studio setup, so you present the model in context !

Yes, first don’t hesitate to post your work here and ask for review. You can also post in the focused critique section especially if you’re willing to keep working on the model, you can get feedback and it’s a good exercise on the overall.
From there if you work a lot, yes it’s possible to make an industry ready portfolio and apply to big studios, however there is a lot of things to understand to make that work.

First there is a lot of people and students on the market, likely more that the industry can offer. It’s a cool job, people can learn on their own with blender, we all grew up with movies and videogames, therefore many people want to work in that field. So you have to become really good, and consider if it’s worth the trouble… Maybe think of a plan B, or make sure you really know where you’re going into.

If you think this is your passion and you don’t see yourself doing something else, it might be worth taking your chance. If you prefer stability and comfort, maybe think it twice … Anyway it’s something you can think of later and for now you can just enjoy your passion.

Another thing to consider : weta or blizzard, it’s two very different studio . One is about hyper realistic creatures for VFX, the other is about stylized video games. So it asks for different skillset. Your portfolio, and your studies, should target one or the other. Obviously you can have a portfolio that works for both, but this asks for more work as you must be comfortable with both style/workflow, and be better than all artists that have specialized in one.
And it’s not only about style and modeling for VFX or video games, but at weta you’ll probably work with Maya, Mari, Houdini and Blizzard is likely to use more Substance, Unreal… so consider learning their tools as well !
And these studios being the best in their field, they have a lot of artists to choose from … Again it’s not impossible but maybe consider getting your feet wet with smaller studios to begin your career, and focus on one main industry, like video games, VFX, animation…

There is a lot more stuff that I would like to say, but too much information can start to be pointless, and you have time anyway… What you can do is to pick a movie or video game that you like to work on, and look at the credits. Take something like ~ 20/50 names and look for them in artstation. Try to find junior artists profile as you’ll see more their personal work. Since studio work can be misleading as it’s hard to tell exactly who did what.
Seeing those portfolios while it will probably raise the bar high and comparing to other is tough, but it can give you some goal to reach and a proper example of what you need to work on.

I suggest also to look for other departments, modeling is an entry skill. Every 3D artist know how to model, but few of them are really good. But there are more niche department that are more technical which could be easier to reach. For instance I started my career as a rigger. After that I did a lot of programming, and eventually I managed to get more into artistic position which was what I wanted to do in the first place even if I like tech stuff as well.
Currently my specialty is being able to have an artistic eye and a technical mind and be able to work with both. Therefore it’s easier for me to find some work. Obviously there isn’t a lot of work for a seasoned technical artist working with blender like myself, but I get to work on projects I really enjoy and that’s enough to get a living out of it…

On the flipside it took me something like 6 years of studying by myself to enter the industry, and my first 5 years there was quite intensive before I get into animation and rigging. That was a long time ago so nowadays it’s different but it’s not necessarily easier either …

Ok, I hope this gives you food for thoughts and don’t hesitate to ask if you have further questions !

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god i wish i could be like you…well in my opinion i started as developer then switched to graphic design now i want to become designer for models, my current tier is pixar style but thats pretty basic and big thanks for your advice i will try to push hard to see if i can achieve my goal and soul dream

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i did watched the gleb alexandrov method course but it was like 5 years ago, i think its time to rewatch it again

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Yes it’s definitely not simple but still possible !

Yes it’s great ! it explains many techniques and gotchas, at least it helped me a lot at that time to catch up with hard surface modeling.

However, it’s mainly about the techniques, but that doesn’t means by just following it you’ll make stunning models or images. That part is more about the artistic culture and eye you need to develop. It’s like with a pen, you can know how to use it but that doesn’t make you a good artist or good writer. Same principle apply to CG !

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i think the main limitation of mine is texturing and hardware, most game ready model are watered down primitives with just baked normals and very hard textures

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Well, then you know what you need to work ! Hardware is generally not an issue, just try to make the most of it until you can buy something more appropriate.
I think if you consider advice that have been made, and work regularly you’ll make progress !

Have fun !

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thanks! o7

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