I'm a beginner, I don't know how to start ^^;

[Helaine]

Hi guys ^^ This is my first year in Digital Animation major...


It's been bugging me, if my aim is digital art, should I learn traditional art too? I never got art lessons so I don't know anything about the basics..... I got serious like, last month. So far I only think art as a hobby... Now that I'm going into university, I need to study seriously.


I want to work at Game company after I graduate. Either as Illustrator, designer, animator... or anything related ^^;

Should I learn traditional art? Is it okay to skip to digital art to color/shade? If not, what traditional media would you suggest for beginners? Is it ok to master just one media? Like, colored pencils?

As for anatomy study, since I never go to any art lesson and my nude model painting lesson starts next year, I've only been drawing nude models via photos... And some poses from posemaniacs.com Is it enough?

Thanks for the tip, I'm really clueless ^^;

[Eugie]

There is a crapload of these threads on this forum use the "search" tool so people do not have to repeat themselves. As for your question yes, foundation is insanely important and you will have a hard time with digital media if you do not push through it.

[aylap]

Like Eugie said, there is a search function that you can use to help you find the answers to your questions, but if you're wanting to go into an art field, basics are VERY important. You really can't get anywhere without them, it's like trying to build a building with no foundation, it won't get built because there isn't anything to build it on. Really digital media is just a different medium, it requires the same basic knowledge as traditional media does. The difference is learning is in the medium, learning to use a pencil and paper, learning to use a paintbrush and paint, and learning to use a digital tablet and Photoshop are different things entirely, but all require the same basics of light and shadow, perspective, line, color, form, texture, etcetera, etcetera to make a good piece of art.

[Jason Rainville]

For starting media: paper and pencil.

Drawing is the most important part of 2d visual art. Those lines are the foundation for everything else, and just when you think you've "got it" and you don't need to use your pencil anymore, you peel back a new layer and find out there's a whole aspect you've been missing. Going digital right off the bat means you could be distracted by the colours or filters or brushes when you should be focusing on just drawing. Since you'll be drawing from now till death, paper and pencil would be a good first investment.

Now if you're asking if you should/need to study in a traditional painting medium before or while you work in digital, the general consensus is that it may help you (exposing you to different ways of making strokes, blending etc) but it's not required. I remember Dave Palumbo saying once that if you're desired medium is digital, you may as well just use digital (aside from pencil and paper)

Posemaniacs is good mainly for gesture drawings and basic proportions. It's not to be used as a reference for in depth anatomy studies. Nude photos are better than nothing, but life drawing is always the preferred. If you have access to a life drawing class, always take that over photos.