I’ve been trying to do modelling for some time now, but my results are never good in the slightest. I’ve tried seeing if scultping would click, but my sculpting is worse than my modelling. I’ve tried a lot of different tutorials, but nothing helps. What should I do to improve?
I don’t know what you should do to improve. What aspect of modelling are you having trouble with?
Though in all honesty, the answer will probably be ‘keep practicing the thing you’re bad at’ 
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You should try different types of modeling to see if one sticks better than the others. Also this stuff takes time.
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How I learned, back in the bronze age of 3D, was to find crap in my office or laying around the house, and model the hell out of them until they were perfect. And I am saying explicitly to not model things from reference images you find online at this stage. You need to be able to hold them in your hands and rotate them, use a magnifying glass, etc… and I very highly recommend having a digital caliper (even a $9 one on Amzn) to take accurate measurements all over your objects. Do this, many times over, with multiple types of objects, until your meshes are a spitting image of your objects, and you simply can’t lose. This applies to texturing too. Good luck.
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Good advice @norka. Not only that but for some things, you can get exact dimensions online. For example, if you’re modling an interior scene, go to hardware store websites like Home Depo or Lowes. You can get exact dimensions of kitchen appliances, doors, door trim with profile illustrations, windows, etc.
Developing your 3D modeling skills is about the same as any other art. You have to accept the fact you won’t be as good as you’d like to be starting out, and the only thing keeping you from getting better is you getting discouraged to the point you stop.
I’ve gone through the same process. There have been plenty of times I’ve dropped modeling, thinking I didn’t have the necessary mindset, and the whole thing was beyond me. But I’d eventually pick it up again, play around with it, get a little better, and now, here I am, a helluva lot better at it than I thought I’d be.
I can now proudly proclaim myself moderately decent enough, and I have every intention of honing the skill I’ve slowly earned.
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I remember in my early years where most of you guy’s were not even born that i cried because i was not able to achieve good result but as stubborn as i was i persevere until i was able to do anything i want but this took me at least 3 to 5 years before i could do any shape or form and that my mind knew exactly the tools and procedure to model it in the quickest way possible.
I am not saying that people cannot do nice model in a few month of practicing since some people are very good at anything they touch but they are the exception to the rule. What i mean is that before anyone become fluent in 3d creation in both organic and hard surface it take experience to do it in a reasonable time frame with proper topology.
The key word is perseverance but only if it is a true passion since sometime we are meant to do something else!
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It’s not so much that I have “one specific issue.” I think it’s just that I’m not good at doing a load of different things, so my models just always look “eh”
Oh, also, thank you for all the advice! I feel I should clarify, I’m aware that it’s really a matter of practicing until you start to understand how to make things look better, but I was simply wondering if I was just doing one thing really wrong or something.
Well, other than keeping at it, there’s only one thing I can think of - before you start modelling anything, make sure you have a very clear idea of what it is you’re creating. Either find references, or better yet, draw your own concept art. Even for the simplest things.
If you know what exactly it is that you’re making, your modelling will go smoother and you won’t make as many bad decisions. This also makes sure you don’t fall into the bad habit of adding detail that happens to be topologically convenient.
Also, there’s magazines aimed at fans of modelling - the real world hobby type - which often contain plans, references, drawings, etc. Maybe try translating some of that into a digital model for practice.
Modelling is not something everyone favours, try something else like sculpting or procedural shading
Hard to say what exactly your weakness is, without seeing something you created. I guess it one of these:
- difficulty to get topology right
- difficulty to get proportions right (applies mostly to models of living beings)
- artistic issues, you can make it look ‘correct’, but not expressive, stylized (or whatever)
Which one do you think it is?
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I mean, honestly, the first two. I know how to use Blender, just not well.
I tried sculpting, but my sculpting is honestly worse. I’m just really not good at it in a way I can’t explain. Really, it just seems like nothing works out. Possibly the most frustrating part is not I’m not sure why is I’m not sure how to describe why my models are bad, and I don’t know how to make them look good. Even when following a tutorial, whoever’s making it will grab one part and if looks nice, then I do the same thing and it makes change, but it looks bad. I’ll try to redo it over, and over, and over, but it still looks bad.
Could you show us a sample of your 3d model?
That sounds like it is a matter of proportions. Getting them right without aligning to an image (or some other kind of measurement) cannot be put into a simple recipe. It is a matter of practice. What helps me is spending more time looking at stuff. Important is from various angles, which usually is impossible with images, so better either in real world or video. But already that requires training, to memorize shapes well enough to recreate them. Give it some time.
Start simple and build up from there.
The FlippedNormals YouTube channel has a beginners modelling tutorial of a Light saber. Might look basic but starting from nothing and getting an end result will boost your confidence no end.
Set the time aside and go through it from start to finish, don’t skip any of it, even if you already know it.