CG artist but cant draw (is it a pre-requisite)

First topic message reminder :

Gusto ko sana maging CG artist/animator/modeller/etc pero hindi ako marunong mag drawing. Is it a pre-requisite ang excellent drawing skills para maging animator/CG artist ka? I.T. kasi ang course ko at Im aiming for the multimedia side unfortunately hindi ako marunong mag drawing but im starting to learn 3dsmax little by little. I started to do adobe photoshop muna then > after effects > then 3dsmax. Pangarap ko kasi to kaso nawawalan ako ng pagasa kasi hindi ako marunong mag drawing.

nid advice sa mga senpai dyan =)

Wow....good point mga ka Cgpips. Ako naman ang opinion ko dito is 'Advantage' kung marunong ka mag drawing pero
hindi pre-reguisite. Para sa akin ang visualization is an Art din kung papaano mo interpret ang isang bagay at diyan
sa tingin ko lamang ang marunong mag drawing. Kaya ko siya nasabi na lamang kasi Talent na
yan eh and I believe na kung meron ka niyan mas magaling ka sa Composition, choice of colors, proportion,shadows
at maglagay ng palamuti sa gawa mo. I remember when I was in college kung sino yung magagaling mag drawing
sila talaga yung magagaling sa Rendering eh. I believe Drawing is a talent and gift given by God pero pwede
pa rin natin matutunan like Sir Nomer said ang pagbabasa ng libro............

God bless bro para sa mga plano mo!!!!!

good read here

it's not a pre-requisite but learning it doesn't harmed you as well.

i bet 98% of great cg artist has 98% probability of having great talent in freehand drawings and rendering.

talent cannot be acquired because it is God's gift but skills & knowledge is everywhere. you just have to spend time on learning it. aral ka rin bro ng freehand drawings balang araw magagamit mo yan.

good points...

Practical-wise indeed, it'll be good if you could draw it. Why? cause it's a faster means of communicating your idea, especially if you want to 'sell' this idea to the client.
If you went to do render direct in 3d..then it'll just eat more time. Which means more time spent to get the idea across. or a more tedious process to communicate visually. (e.g. Architectural visualization or camera layout)

In some instances it may not be necessary though...but...in real-world it's a skill that can separate you from just being 'some CG Artist'. hence Any plus skill = plus asset / value

Unless your fast and can communicate & nail the stuff render out 'kick-ass' then..who cares if you cant draw as well -- afterall if the end result still requires CG image. That's a different story altogether. (e.g. CGi in terms of visual effects..fire..particles -- it'l be crazy to just draw it)

..something like that.

i dont think its a pre requisite. But i highly suggest to learn it as well. I myself cant consider myself as a very good in CG and Freehand or traditional rendering. I know both but not really good at it. Before i can do a freehand perspective a lot faster than 3d. Then time pass by, i go the other way around.Yun na kse ang naging practice. Nasanay na ko doing my presentation sa cg. Thats because dumami na din yung alam ko and i set a lot of libraries and templates to do a decent and presentable images in a given short span of time.
Freehand, is it still necessary?? Yes it is. My bosses are born on the 50's and 60's.Yes they re old. So what do you expect? Can you communicate with them using editable poly? or editable mesh? IR + LC??? Even a simple curves,brightness and contrast in PS they cant relate with you. So thats why we are still using traditional way of communication as a designer and a CG artist as well..
Hope you get our points.. Almost all the same but we are just sharing different experiences and thoughts about it..

it really depends sa gusto mong field bro but you have to be specific in modelling kasi if youll apply as furniture 3d modeller you have to know manual drawing , i just remember kasi 11 years ago when i applied sa isang furniture company for riyadh , i was asked to do manual drawing for the piano in front of me when the employer knew already my ability sa cad modelling and said to me that he knew already that my skill in cad has no question but you have to be at least able to draw isometric coz sometimes there walk-in client would describe what they want and thats the time youll be drawing it manually while they are talking bout the outlook they want .it doesnt have to be that quality but at least can be understood by the client . kala ko nga bagsak ako kasi isometric ang ginawa ko sa piano .pero pumasa naman pala .. among those took the test dalawa lng kami pumasa but i declined later kasi i was offered a project dito sa tacloban kaya di na ako tumuloy , nagsisi din ako kasi 45t 11 years ago was quite an offer already ... kaya eto ako nag aapply uli at sana palarin na .. hope it helps bro... kahit papano kailangan di natin mag mano mano kahit di masyado maganda kailangan lng maintindihan..

CG is such a big field sir, has a lot of branches. So it would be better if you focus on the field that you really want to do. You asked this question:

"Is it a pre-requisite ang excellent drawing skills para maging animator/CG artist ka?"

If you are aiming to be an character animator and you will be using Flash then you should have decent drawing skills since it is more like the traditional way of animating. You have to draw frame by frame if it's really needed for the scene to work. The program does a make the process of animating in 2D a whole lot faster, but then again you gotta have those drawing skills. Now, if you are aiming to be a 3D character animator then I believe there is less burden for you to be a very good draftsman. Since everything has been modeled already and rigged you now have the opportunity to focus more on how the character would act. You don't have the problem of drawing each character in a very difficult perspective and then put the action within them since you can adjust the camera angles in 3D. But even with these advantages a 3D program has, I still think that you would become a better 3D animator if you know at least the basics of drawing, i.e. anatomy. You still have to position your 3D character properly on each key frame to make the whole scene believable and with drawing skills in anatomy you can easily create very good key frames.
So, it would really help you a lot if you start to grab a pencil and paper and start practicing to draw if it's character animation in 2D or 3D you are aiming for.

Just my humble thoughts for the question you raised. Hope it helps a bit even though I focused only on the animation part as that's where my experience is. Good luck sir and always remember the most important things in order to reach your dreams: PASSION and HARD WORK.

If I am an employer making a choice for an applicant - it will all boil down to two things:

1. either you can visualize and draw an idea
2. or you can render the idea with lightning speed and precision.

It is not always late to learn a new thing or two. If you can't draw - why resign from the inability - you can always learn how and cherish the new opportunities it could bring.

In a real world production setting, no matter how cool you can render but if you do not know how to draw your ideas, character or backgrounds, or paint your own maps - you will be left out in the cold when everybodys too busy minding their own jobs. And then ... somebody better (and can paint!) will come before you and you will be forgotten.

So improve your marketability and try to learn new tricks - drawing included.

I agree with vasq about specialties but the way I'd propose it is to learn them all first before specializing. Now matter what we do - generalists (and those who do them better) sell like hotcakes.

bro share ko lang sayo to mahilig ako sa mga "the makings" ng mga cg films, at napansin ko yung artistic team naguumpisa lagi sa mga conceptual drawings tpos nun 3d na

In my case it doesn't matter kung magaling kang magsketch.. nakita nyo n ba mga wood sculpture some of them di nila ginuguhit mga work nila...and i ask them kung bakit wala silang visual guide..then ang sagot nila di n kailangan yun basta malakas ang imagination mo at magaling kang mag observe sa surrounding mo at ang maganda pa nito yung blueprint mo nasa utak mo na di n nila mananakaw. 3D Modeling was so similar in wood sculpture and its obvious n madaming sculpture sofware like z brush... sa texturing naman you must know the fundamentals of color and lighting..ito ang aking pinag-aaralan this time..good luck

Ako rin hindi magaling sa sketching/freehand, pero since above average na siguro ang speed pagdating sa 3d modeling, di pa ko sinisibak sa archi firm na pinapasukan ko:D pero everytime nakakakita ako ng mga tablet drawn cg art sa mga websites, or mga photoshop speed painting sa youtube, nakaka inggit lang talaga, and gusto mo matutunan.. iba pa rin kasi ang dating ng classical medium, less mechanical kung baga, at may makukuha ka dung techniques para bigyan ng "realism" or "life" ang mga 3d renders mo.. yun lang po.

imagination sir ang mahalaga.. kahit di mo mavisualize gamit ang pag pagguhit.. nanjan ang ibang materials.. madami jang resource...

Its an edge talaga if you have talent in both worlds. but if you can interpret your visuals in terms of 3d agad, why not di ba

there`s a similar thread in CGtalk about this, and sadly, this is what they said about this matter:

here`s the link ---> http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=283&t=822161


the one that caught my attention is this statement from leigh:
(and i quote)

"more and more studios are asking to see traditional work along with people's showreels these days. I guess it's a way of separating the button pushers from the artists. Every single one of the best modellers I know is also good at drawing."



a very discouraging statement indeed, its sad but also true.

Nkaka inspire nmn ung mga cnabi nio..ako marunong ako mag drawing pero nde ako ganun ka galing. Kaya naisip ko rin yan. Nung nka raan nga nag apply ako sa Secret Six, tpos sabi nila my art test p daw..so dahil ang pag kaka alam ko marunong nga ako mag drawing kaya pumunta ako. Ayun! sobrang hirap pla nung art test..it took me 5 hours just to finish those 6 items of the test. Kaya ang nangyari...nde ako tanggap hehe! pero ok lng bata p nmn ako at marami pa akong pdeng gawin para mag improve ako sa isang bagay n pinaka gusto ko ant nde ako npipilitan.

nasa puso yan sir,,,maybe you ain't got the talent to illustrate by hand,,,but in comes to cg its another different environment,,,all you need is the idea,inspiration,patience and curiousity....