Character Art Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)

[@shadow_xts]

Anatomy!!! Yes! Usually people get away with human models ... sort of okay, because we look at humans every day, but with animals it is generally catastrophic. I used to have 2 old books: Animal Painting and Anatomy by Calderon (more axed to realism) and The Art of Animal Drawing by Ken Hultgren (more axed on stylization and movement). I also have the Taschen Anatomy Atlas for humans, and that book called Evolution with super black and white pictures of many different skeletons with details and comments about what they’re for. And if you dont have all these things... look at a mirror and do weird gestures. A lot of the time when I’m confused about how stuff like veins do roll with a pose, or how a muscle does flex in some particular pose, I just go in front of the mirror and do it and observe. It’s a quick way to solve your conundrum. I also noticed that I draw women much better than men for this simple reason: I see myself all the time, and most of my friends are women. Having a boyfriend did ramp up my anatomy knowledge of men too 😅especially since touch was involved, it is silly to say, but it helped with understanding the spatiality of the human body and that does translate in sculpture yes. Draw from reality, and do it A LOT. If you do that with different species, cats, dogs, humans, horses, you’ll soon notice that the bones and muscles are the same but just disposed in different ways (birds and dinosaurs are another thing though). You start to get an instinct of how a muscle should be placed and even if you get it wrong, it still will look natural. It is good to draw from books but it’s much better to do it from reality. Even your house cat, pet dog, boyfriend, girlfriend, kid, will teach you more about the human body than a book will, because you see them rotating and moving in weird ways all the time. If you can, pose yourself or ask someone to pose in extreme poses (like that require maximum extension or contraction) because that’s where the muscles show most. Also it shows you the limits of what a body can do without looking creepy. If that is not accessible, look at Olympics videos. A lot of them. Try to redraw them not from the image, but from memory. Drawing and sculpting from memory will greatly improve your ability to form a mental model of anatomy. Then for production I do use references to ensure I’m not deviating, but the sheer speed of the blocking phase is there because I have formed that mental image first.

[@estikenal3078]

Your return was long overdue king 👑🙌🏾. Welcome back🎉

[@artofjhill]

[@seanakima50515e]

I would also get the book "Anatomy for 3d artist" it has helped me A LOT especially with faces Starting posing got me a lot more attention as well.

[@mundane.]

Great video, really needed this! Your videos have leveled up so much🫡

[@artofjhill]

Thanks!

[@jesuisankit]

Very well-made video, everything shared is so important. It's a video I can now share with anyone looking to improve at Character Art. Thank you!

[@artofjhill]

Tysm

[@РоманМатисов-у2ы]

Montage is on such a high lvl! Thank u so much for ur effort for videos on this channel despite they don't get much views :(

[@artofjhill]

Thanks, I appreciate it!

[@joshwallaceart]

Really good stuff as always! Presenting your art and yourself is super important. I like to tell my students to think of it as marketing a product. Always take time to make your art look sexy and appealing in the presentation. Make it pop so that people want to click on it. Taking extra time with posing, lighting, composition, and even some post process is super important. Custom thumbnails is also a huge must to stand out, I like to think of it as "clickbait" to tease and lure people in and make them think "huh whats this"

[@artofjhill]

💯

[@VFX]

thank you for the great tips again J !

[@landonwarnick]

Your videos are so inspiring! I’m excited to do your class!

[@DejiDigital]

i think another mistake you didnt talk about is spending too much time trying to do original designs. i think more artists need to get used to recreating characters based on existing concept art. that's what you'd do as a character artist in a decent studio environment anyway. you'll be working from a concept image to begin with

[@M1d32]

Yeah working with references is very important. Good shout.

[@artofjhill]

This is a great one and you’re 100% right. This may be in the top 3. I have some others I didn’t get too so maybe a more mistakes video needs to happen

[@mihailoandonovicvi329]

​@@artofjhill Bro i feel like a mistake now

[@mushudamaschin2608]

Yes designing is a different skill all together. No one should be demotivated when they can't do both at the same time, very few people can

[@anasalamanca3444]

I love your videos, Iam not a English native speaker, but your English is perfect, I understand 100 percent,for me is not easy listening at Indian or UK speakers, I don't know where are you from, but you are very clear at your explanation, I have learned a lot, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!

[@szilardhazi]

Such a good topic as always and lot of helpful tips! Also it was really funny to hear from someone else, that he also takes photos of himself as reference for the final pose :)

[@artofjhill]

Haha you gotta do what you gotta do

[@erickendoka2953]

Always amazing videos 🔥🔥🔥

[@artofjhill]

🙏 glad you liked it

[@uwiz]

Welcome back J❤

[@artofjhill]

Thanks man

[@Yuzach]

Great tips as always! Thank you for all the useful content you're sharing J!

[@artofjhill]

Of course

[@aliqaheri2459]

Every video from J is an instant classic🤌 Thanks man!

[@JulesVeghte]

great video, lots of good tips!

[@M_k-zi3tn]

Yes!! He's back.

[@anasalamanca3444]

The king is back!

[@walleater]

please don't disappear my king as my will to live and motivation perishes with you🙏

[@seankennedy4548]

excellent advice. Thanks!

[@artofjhill]

[@terenceteb3020]

I had to laugh when you said those are some BORING objects🤣. Awesome as always.

[@AA25-bc6sw]

You are amazing. Thank you sir

[@ashleythornton3606]

Do you use shape keys for your facial expressions?

[@SculptEon]

Well said 👍

[@Professor_Oaks]

Great Tips! So important.

[@mihailoandonovicvi329]

Great video

[@CaptainPrice360]

Actor Core is a free auto rigger that does a pretty cash money job for getting some nice posing or even animations

[@Badguy292]

There's also this tool called "Rigify" that I've heard makes rigging easier. I think it was a Blender Plugin but not sure. I tend to do it by hand to get practice.

[@pn4960]

It is a free pluggin that comes with blender. KZbin channel CGDive is known to have an excellent in depth tutorial series on how to use it.

[@BenInTheWater]

Thanks for the new video J! Always stoked when I see a new one of your videos on my feed. Great info as always! Hope you're well!🥳

[@artofjhill]

Thank you man. I’m good, hope you are too

[@temimitsu]

Stellar!

[@milo20060]

Anatomy for sculptors is a great book.

[@artofjhill]

So good

[@nehamehte]

Can you tell me at which stage of the game you change the character's pose?

[@artofjhill]

After the model is finished it can be posed

[@nehamehte]

@@artofjhill Is it done through animation or is there any other way to do this? Can you tell me if fibermesh is used professionally or not?

[@OnePatrix]

I know what im going to do today..

[@GA-br8wj]

I just realized your characters look a lot like you.

[@artofjhill]

🙃

[@darioalejandro180]

Let's goooo

[@Prahinsfilms]

i really want to learn to make characters from scratch incase these addons are high priced or not available anymore

[@JoshFryer]

Great to have you back, my friend! We've missed you! Do you have any resources for Substance Painter? I might not be giving myself enough credit, but I feel like I know enough to be dangerous in Painter, but I'm always down to learn as much as possible. If you have any recommendations, even paid ones, that'd be awesome! TY!

[@JoshFryer]

The ones you provided were great too, but looking for a comprehensive one that gets into the weeds a little.

[@playcebovision5319]

I find it hard to use myself as reference because I have a bum leg/knee, where the knee isn't formed correctly and the femur is shorter than it should be, maybe that's why my anatomy has been rusty lately (I joke) 😁

[@sarapregel5981]

can this work for 2d character artist? any tips on that?

[@artofjhill]

Presentation makes a huge difference no matter what

[@sarapregel5981]

@@artofjhill beside that part?

[@dhedhekuncoro]

what a bad time to become video game artist. person I know with 20 years of experience are getting laid off. a video on how to get career out side video game industry as a character artist would be nice.

[@KonstantinGdalevich]

NAKED ADONIS

[@OmniVenom]

we still using art station?

[@artofjhill]

Best public art portfolio website for entertainment business. Literally everyone’s work I review for potential jobs is on there. So yes.

[@OmniVenom]

@@artofjhill Well not since the whole Ai thing happened. At least for illustrators.

[@olgfried3630]

Do you think AI will replace character artists in a few years?

[@artofjhill]

I don’t know but I don’t think so

[@gevikshanazari9972]

The demand for junior character artists has significantly decreased over the past few years. This trend is evident with a quick job search-junior positions are rarely posted anymore. Studios are increasingly developing in-house tools to speed up content creation, and with the rapid advancements in AI technology, these tools are becoming even more efficient. As a result, artists can now create game-ready characters much faster, which I believe will further reduce the demand for junior positions. Breaking into the industry as a character artist was already challenging when the field was thriving; it required years of practice to reach a professional level. Today, the competition is even fiercer, as you'll be going up against seasoned senior artists who are at the top of their game.

[@olgfried3630]

​ @gevikshanazari9972 I never see any junior artist jobs anywhere. They always want senior artists with experience on a AAA title. Seems like a common thing in this industry in general, to me.

[@ShidouItsuka777]

quick

[@game.art.101]

when you pose in zbrush, would you pose the high res then retopologize it with the pose baked in, or would you pose the game ready model (at the end of the process)

[@artofjhill]

You’d pose the game ready model at the end

[@waitaminutepause]

there are no mistakes in art....there my be deviations from best practices for commodities and commodifiers but you cannot critique art

[@saulthetaxidriver6100]

hey J how is paying rent going on?

[@artofjhill]

🙃

[@saulthetaxidriver6100]

@@artofjhill really love your videos they teach me nothing with editing and those cool intros only to telling me just go practice .... But i mean its good for you right? ad revenue- selling courses and showing your portfolio for the 1000 time and people with no talent watch you and think you are some cool artist just because you did the art for b4b What a world we live ... Right J????right? ???

[@Cye_Pie]

​@@saulthetaxidriver6100 Are you okay? He already directed you to what you need to focus on, gave you book recommendations, and pointed you to other legit pros in the industry. Maybe try actually learning from the content instead of whining about it? Practice isn’t a suggestion, it’s how you get good. Not everyone who watches is gonna end up a pro just by osmosis, work harder, all the knowledge you need to be a professional artist is available for you in the internet if you're willing to put in the work necessary.

[@IridiumZero]

Would it kill you to crack a smile bro

[@artofjhill]

Yes

[@tushar8118]

​@@artofjhill😭

[@jeanclaudethedarklord6205]

Jeez dude why does it matter