How to Practice Your 3D Art - Practice WITHOUT Wasting Your Time

[@Eostud]

"The power of fresh eyes" was something one of my teachers taught me in the first year of university and to this day it is probably one of the most useful things I learned at university. Anyway, thanks for all the great advice!

[@seanakima50515e]

For characters what helped me was making sure I understood 5 things 1. Anatomy 2. Cloth 3. Hair 4. Texturing 5. Animation

[@erickh555]

what about shapes, silhouette, color and pose?

[@seanakima50515e]

@@erickh555 I mean initially it's good to know these things buts it's not a direct thought it's more of something that happens. For me personally things like that were common knowledge a silhouette has to look like the character otherwise it doesnt make since. If you csnt slap all black on it and you still tell who or what it is then theres a silhouette issue. Shapes is more of a beginner thing because when drawing tou start off with basic shapes and refine from there. If you use zbrush you can start with spheres and other basic shapes to get rough positions. This stuff was just second nature to me though

[@anarchycypher]

hi questions pleasee what tools can i use to learn anatomy i am an absolute lv1 beginner just enthusiasm is what i have going on

[@Lysanderofthewildwind]

@@anarchycypher Anatomy for sculptors book is a pretty good tool to get. But you will need understand how to "read" all that stuff, btw just grab some anatomy references put in your screen and try to figure out what's goin on. Good study bro and have a nice day.

[@milkbread5036]

I really needed this! Thank you. I did feel burn out since I was doing study after study. Art started to feel slightly dull --- I had to apply what I've learned by doing a piece. Through that, I learned what my true weaknesses and strengths are and it helped me "shortcut" into better practice!

[@FlashDAH]

Really working hard this year, currently balancing short study projects like baking, and doing portfolio pieces to stop my family thinking I'm sat here wasting my life Your advice was what I needed to hear. You two have helped me a lot, and you keep on doing so, thank you so much guys :D

[@Ginsenguy]

Thank you FlippedNormals for reminding me I need to focus on what I need to be doing xD

[@nebezial1]

just recently got back into zbrushing (i'm a comic creator with a side passion for it) and the advice here is spot on. so far my driving force for improvement has been i make the stuff i love, my own comic characters, in 3d and as i encounter a problem than needs solving i turn to tutorials with a clear purpose in mind and it keeps my learning motivation going strong.

[@yanreing2014]

I find that constantly checking on myself is very helpful to keep up productivity. Ask questions like what is bothering you, why don't you wanna do what you wanna do right now. You wanna slack right now? No problem let's stare into the distance. Find that out, satisfy yourself and get back to work :) Btw I would love to listen to your talks all day, Love em!! >_

[@Gcrowan]

I'd recommend doing tiny practice sessions. If you're doing anything that takes a non-trivial amount of time, but can't get some detail right, follow a short tutorial or just practice doing that detail for the next 20-30 minutes off your model from a sphere or plane. You don't need to devote 30 hours to doing hand sculpts every time you can't get them quite right. Sometimes you just need to have a refresher and view it as an isolated task, that doesn't need to look good on your model, to get back on track.

[@abdullahdief1491]

Guys you seriously need to make a full blown podcast talking all artistic related stuff, from software to videos like this about how you can improve. It will be amazing to see that happen

[@sedghammer]

As a professional 3D artist and musician, I'm going to echo your advice on timeboxing. That is, just do a short, perhaps 30 minute session to accomplish something. Then step away from it. It makes it easier to digest and a lot more fun. This is especially helpful when you are learning a new skill. Never take on a personal project that will take you more than a handful of these sessions at a time. Don't take on a personal project that takes a whole week to complete (with rare exceptions). You might find that these kinds of projects never get done, or you get stuck up on them mentally and it prevents you from moving on. Do a project that takes a couple sessions to complete and move on.

[@yingbowang3068]

Thank u for sharing these things, which my native language ppl seldom share. I have to re-watch it in order to understand. But it worth it. not only the way to plan ,to get things done. most important is , u guys remind me, I am not the only artist struggling on my works hours after hours and gain nothing.everyone is clumsy at the beginning.. Thank u very much guys ❣️

[@PlasticAddict301]

I realized a year or so ago I don't take steps back to question my dislikes. What makes me dislike this area of muscle? Am I using the reference I have or am I just winging it? Am I using the right brushes? Things as simple as that went completely under the radar and I realized there was lots for me to relearn, things as basic as which muscles connect to which bones or other muscles, how they wrap around the bone and things like that. I realized I had been learning wrong the whole time. Like a broken bone that I didn't take steps to set correctly. All because I simply didn't think enough.

[@KiKiArtWorks]

These are very obvious things that you are mentioning! But it's so easy to forget them. So thank you for the reminder!

[@FlippedNormals]

It's easy to get tunnel vision when you work. Happy to hear it helped :)

[@ubercactus5612]

TUTORIAL HELL that's it, that's the point i needed to know existance about to get out of it, thanks

[@tjcousler]

You guys have really helped me develop discipline and good practice through these videos. Thank you for encouraging me to keep at it and press on!

[@yusrighouse]

This has to be the most important video I have ever watched to plan my studies in 3D. I realized I already sorta do some of these things, but man I could do so much better!

[@Gilla12341]

guys, great advice! as a practicing sculptor I agree and need to be reminded! Please turn down the amount of ads shown, it's very distracting. 8 ads for 34minutes?

[@FRO_O]

FlippedNormals: «How to Practice Your 3D Art - Practice WITHOUT Wasting Your Time» Length of this video: 34:11 sorry guys!

[@amandad8922]

Two weeks into my intro to 3D modeling course we did two minute speed modeling of mugs and helmets and stuff and I cannot describe how much screaming was in the lab. I was so traumatized, but now going back and speed modeling (albeit, a little more complicated and longer than two minutes) I see how important it is. I just don't know if my heart can take it

[@rlsvid]

I bought the new course Introduction to Sculpting and its amazing how it opened my eyes. I was only following more "tutorial" types of courses, learning fundamentals was exactly what I needed.

[@FlippedNormals]

That's amazing to hear Rodrigo!

[@tsccst8618]

Thank you!

[@jehriko7525]

for me as a beginner this is extremely helpful FN thank you

[@Not_Pulsus]

Kick-ass video, I love the way you guys seem to actively avoid the vague, simplistic, easy to give, advice that teachers and random dudes on the internet love.

[@FlippedNormals]

Thank you Ethan. We try our best to give you actual useable tools as much as possible :)

[@eliasdegasperi_art]

Excellent video, amazing tricks and tips as usual. I'm always trying to make this balance, do some studies and try to apply this studies in my portfolio piece. I'm kinda of stuck in my first full character, but because whenever I need I pause my character and do some studies to improve my quality of work and than comeback to my work. Ps: I love the Henning's face when Morten is talking, sometimes look like 'I know its work with you but for me is so different" and that is what makes this kind of video so good and special. We always have 2 good way to see the things and 2 perspective of content. Thx guys

[@kendarr]

I'm not an animator but i like animation a whole lot, so when i have the time and i'm in the mood i'll just go over and try to get something like a walk cycle, or a run cycle, and repeat these, looking around studying on how stuff moves and all, and keeping the stuff i've tried on the PC and looking it over, watching the animations i made and giving my self a critic, thats really important imo, slef critic, not self beating, self critic.

[@Xxicewolf97xX]

I think for me my main issue is finding something to make of interest and then commiting to seeing it through to the end. After a few years I've only learnt the basics of Maya modeling tools but after watching one of your videos I've found that sculpting would be better for doing something like characters, whereas before I've just tried doing it purely by poly modeling, then given up part-way through and scrapping the project. I think another issue is environment for learning. Being stuck at home I find that I just can't find motivation to start anything, whereas I feel if I found like-minded people to learn alongside and give feedback to each other, then I can put more focus into actually trying to make something and have fun doing it as well Like you say as well about intent of practice, I think for me my mind just wants to be able to make stuff without doing exercises/practice beforehand to get me into the mode of doing a main project, kinda similar to like how 2D artists can do doodles as warm-ups before starting on a main project.

[@blakejohnson4834]

Awesome video yet again. Keep it up! :)

[@robertochriqui8171]

always spot on, thank you guys

[@lukengulube4204]

Thanks! This was really helpful advice!!

[@masonb9351]

Is the Nike "Just Do It" apparel intentional here in regards to practicing?

[@FlippedNormals]

Haha no, complete accident

[@RareTechniques]

@@FlippedNormals Kapp

[@emmanuelgili3498]

please do more videos like this. I'm doing 3d assets for our game while listening to this, and I'm not sure why, but I'm being very productive while listening to you guys. Thank you so much!!! Love from Philippines!!!

[@martinzachary6632]

Naks

[@papagodzilla5465]

actually very insightful. thank you !

[@RyoMassaki]

3 years ago I saw Tor Frick break through the sound barrier while modelling - doing 150 clicks/keyboard presses per minute ( he had a tool to actually count this ). He was kind of cheating though by moving the 3D view erratically fast which increased the amount of clicks dramatically. I downloaded the tool, tested my speed and immediately removed the tool out of frustration - but the will to improve my modelling speed remained and I brought my gaming experience into the mix. I bought a gaming mouse with 6 buttons, and I customized the shit out of Blender with Pie-Menues and shortcuts. Took me while but I think I am really fast now. Like 60 actions per minute fast (real actions, not rotating the 3D view around), and there is still room for improvement. The biggest speedupdate I got from unwrapping. I hated it and i was weak and superslow (taking me hours) - so I mastered it and now I am superfast (minutes). I don't even have to look at the unwrapped mesh - I just look at the 3D mesh and the marked edges and I know how it will look like unwrapped. If you are too slow and want to become faster you actually have to train that consciously. Practice makes you better, but you can increase that by really pushing yourself towards speed by bringing a gaming mindset to work. Just imagine you are not modelling but playing Devil May Cry or something like that. You gotta master these combo's. Constantly ask yourself: can I do this faster and more effective? The answer almost always is yes.

[@terrainaholic]

I did a lot of drawing art when I was younger and just started out in blender to do table top figure sculpting and I'm finding a weird situation that I start doing one thing and it dramatically changes into something else. I think the new thing looks good but it bothers me that I kind of accidentally back into it as opposed to strive for it. Is that normal?

[@adityaprakash1148]

thank u so much for your efforts these are really great tips that you share from your experiences.......

[@chrisSandersASX]

good advice

[@davinsaputraartandgamedev9453]

thanks for making this video :)

[@kasperrubin5754]

Are you tracking my thoughts? I decided some time ago that I would include simulated content as part of a project (like falling objects, objects affected by wind, particles and so on). I have managed this semi-well, but I'm still really good at stopping in a (good) process and getting dirty with a (useless) rendering. Three years ago I couldn't do anything in 3d. Now it's different. I always experiment.

[@jacobhowie532]

thanks!

[@gameluencer]

Great video, a lot of great, yet simplistic tips! However, I find it hard to create something that's not suppose to be a final product. to create something that isn't going into a project. do you have any tips on motivating yourself to do such studies?

[@FlippedNormals]

Maybe think of what it does for you final projects. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet. You're not going to progress as fast without practice. So try to keep in mind that you are actively leveling up your skills :)

[@gameluencer]

@@FlippedNormals Alright i'll try my best, thanks for all the tips and i'm looking forward to future videos!

[@darkknight4353]

well i am trying so hard to learn anatomy. i just cant get the torso shape right. i have raf grasseti course aswell as bought Female anatomy course of Speedchar. but i always suck at porportions of human. but i am getting better in stylized monster characters. what should i do

[@marconapolitano2821]

I mean Rome wasn't build in one day to get this kind of thing right you will need usually need from 4 to 6 months.

[@FlippedNormals]

I would say keep at it. Do studies and try to compare to your previous ones to see where it got better, and where you understood more about the form. Most importantly, patience :)

[@m-g-gamer4149]

I aspire to be a sculptor in 3d but I cannot afford pc. I only have blender on a old Dell laptop which takes days to render something big or even simple stuff

[@DapperProf]

I learned Zbrush in the early 2000's on a 1.5 ghz single-core Athlon with 512mb of ram...you don't need a good computer to sculpt amazing things in Zbrush. You can do it bro, with the commitment. Great things don't need to be 20million polys or whatever.

[@Yoshimitsu_Tera]

Where can I go to post things online for critique? also, what drawing software do you guys use or recommend to concept in?

[@Gcrowan]

For Zbrush in particular, there's the Zbrush reddit and a discord server you can find by googling. I assume other software have similar communities.

[@Yoshimitsu_Tera]

@@Gcrowan Thanks dude, I appreciate your reply.

[@ayoubmoumni5263]

U can join dinusty empire discord too

[@cardieshe1371]

Ah yes it's what I needed thank you

[@HosseinThePoet]

For the time boxing most times i use a particular podcast or two to practice if the podcast ends i stop or i give myself a reward ahead like for an example "If i finish this torso in an hour i'll do netflix afterwards"

[@Southinator1]

For me it was from that blender guru guy who said to do work for at least 1 hour every day

[@ntshgoku]

hi guys thank you for all this guidance i have question i want become good modeling and rigging artist what should i do for that in Blender ? can you help me with this ?

[@abdullahdief1491]

Ok according to my understanding, timebox's purpose is forming a habit of blocking out general form and gesture and putting something on the canvas as quick as possible. In other word, blocking out on steroids

[@TheWartechgaming]

I'm at a problem right now, I want to do a diorama which will show studios that I can actually do an environment of AAA quality, I already have a diorama published in unreal but it's very basic, in my next one I want to show vegetation, rocks, substance designer, now the problem is there is too much information about all this, do I start with designer which I have little to no knowledge of or start my environment and figure it out as I go along or learn things seperate and then combine them to make it?

[@Maartenyt]

But how do i practice if i don't have much time.

[@FlippedNormals]

People tend to procrastinate more than they think. Try to time all of the things during your day that aren't productive and see if you can't cut down on them

[@haroldalmeida]

Hi Guys, I believe these talks will look more natural if you face each other as a conversation instead of staring to the camera :) just providing my friendly feedback, Amazing content

[@IAmTheKanadian]

If you're doing 3D modeling, do you have to work on perspective in the same way people drawing do?

[@elcascavel]

do you guys have a teleprompter to know when to let the other speak?

[@masonb9351]

I highly doubt it. Most likely they just have a rough set of points that they want to cover, distribute who talks about, what, and then usually rehearse a couple of times. This gives a much more natural appearance than reading word-for-word off of a script. Very common practice for collaborative presentations.

[@FlippedNormals]

No, we just wing it based on a few talking points :)

[@marcosmartin7487]

Hello!, why cannot I activate the caption? :(

[@RR-kn1tg]

Living life is not wasting :)

[@scottkrueger8461]

I pretty much suck at all of it

[@liporadamichael8966]

The thumbnail nails it.

[@habag1112]

What's up with the audio? It feels like the levels are constantly going up and down and it's quite distracting

[@FlippedNormals]

We had some technical difficulties. We'll try to sort if for our next video

[@marconapolitano2821]

I am not a zbrush cowboy A person who use zremesher for retopology and thinks it's good because he never tried doing actual retopology. Joke aside the first thing to get good at something it's trying to do It. P.s. don't be a zbrush cowboy.

[@tealeaf3210]

Zbrush Cowboy here! Currently screaming in pain on blender. learning to do correct retopo for creating hard surface (armors etc) is damn hard.

[@moh.irfanrivaldi4326]

turn on the english subtitle please :)

[@janiniiranen4860]

These videos are sadly almost unwatchable, not because of the content which is quality but due to way too many ads.

[@jobsonchelsea6434]

i must stop procrastinate

[@styxinclouds4747]

woow every 5 min adds

[@zackaryfry1825]

Me with 35 hours total in ZBrush taking 15 hours to make a basic Pokémon that looks really bad 😅

[@imscaredoftoasters1414]

bruh why it look like someone took the inflate brush on the dude to the right's head with the intensity set to 1

[@nikolatesla5308]

6:00 you mean i m stupid but faster

[@IGarrettI]

Comparing yourself to Raf is just putting yourself down

[@JoshMarshain]

Could help encourage you to improve though, all depends on how you view things, but yeah straight up comparing yourself to him and thinking "welp, guess I suck" doesn't help anyone

[@diadokhoi5722]

I guess its like a goal in a way. One day if i practise enough i will be as good as that guy if not better. So.ething like that

[@gerdsfargen6687]

Oh dat Whiplash

[@oliveiraluis3540]

It just sucks that all this stuff is at the moment, serving the productions of assboring broken messes of games, AAA industry for example. It sucks. Theres very little stuff of quality, very scarce. And yet, theres people in 3D that make amasing stuff, its the money thats on the wrong place.

[@ShadeAKAhayate]

You look dead inside in this video. Everything OK? Otherwise, great aid, especially to beginners who don't have this concept of biting the pieces they can actually chew and digest in a timely manner. Not that they don't know better and will most probably ignore this lesson on learning, but they'll come around in a year or two)

[@jamesnnabeze687]

This guys have the same voice

[@MrRoland47]

1. Don't skip legs day.

[@handlehaggler]

make mods for games. simple. You're doing what you like hopefully for something else you like. every game virtually can be modded. go figure it out! why do you think im here

[@graemechung]

I stupidly stared at the thumbnail for the longest time wondering why morten's hair color changed and Henning looked way older lmfao

[@Melachesh]

Is that Devin Townsend in that thumbnail?

[@onurbasak793]

your head anatomy is off, study more

[@Stoffemollan]

@guy with glasses, if you don´t want people to think you are a girl on testo hormones, don´t press your arms against your body like that. Relax your posterior and have some air between your body and your elbows. But if looking like girl on testo hormones is intentional, pls ignore this comment. Have a great day and walk with Jesus!

[@TheAngelArrow]

2:06 no... no they don't, what're u talking about lol?

[@sunnitaylor5795]

Awesome 😍💋 💝💖♥️❤️

[@sunnitaylor5795]

Lovely 😍💋 💝💖❤️

[@sunnitaylor5795]

Hi Guys 😍💋 💝💖