Making art is a tough business. You have to be really thick skinned. No matter what you do or how good you do it, someone is going to come along and say it sucks. So, while it’s important to be open minded and learn from constructive criticism, there are also plenty of times when you have to simply disregard what other people say and just keep doing your thing. Lets not forget how many great artists throughout history were never recognized during their lifetime and how many mediocre or even awful artists make it big. (If you need to be reminded of this fact, just walk into practically any modern art museum or gallery). I would also point out that while formal training and technical skills are important, that’s not what makes or breaks a work of art. Most people aren’t going care if the Coracobrachialis or the Serratus Anterior aren’t just right. Whats more important is the overall feeling and the statement it makes. I think your model is quite good. I think it’s passionate and intriguing and it tells a story.

danjay, that’s literally the biggest load of disingenuous crap I’ve ever heard.

‘how many mediocre or even awful artists make it big. (If you need to be reminded of this fact, just walk into practically any modern art museum or gallery)’

What point are you trying to make here, that even if he is awful, it doesn’t matter because he could still ‘make it big’ anyway?
That’s great advice. Don’t bother learning anything, just spew out crap and you’ve as much chance as anyone else.
My only slight concern with your fantasy world view is that he wants to work in the cg industry, not in the modern art scene (I don’t think the modern art scene would be too receptive of such a naive image as this anyway, in fact, they’d laugh at it) and the industry DOES require people with technical skills and people prepared to put in enough effort to do things properly.
He is much better at painting than 3d, so he has obviously put some effort into learning that, and needs to put the same amount into learning 3d, and specifically 3d character art, because currently it’s WAY off the mark.

http://www.pixelwerks.be

Disengenuous is shamelessly promoting oneself under the guise of truthful criticism.  Your comments couldn’t be of less value.  Far from anything remotely considerable as constructive, these comments are simply abusive.  These aren’t truths that need to be told, these are simply the opinions of one insecure artist who happens to hold himself in extremely high regard.  Please abide by the forum rules and keep your posts constructive.

I agree with several earlier posters that, though this work may not yet be masterpiece level, it indeed shows promise.

Maya 8.0
Vista 32 Bit

I’m not going to get drawn into arguments about it with the likes of you. I gave my opinion on the matter. He knows who I am and what work I do, and that I never bullshit people, so he can either believe me, or the other anonymous ‘nice work, keep it up’ zombies who post the same thing in every thread.

However, I had to laugh at the idea that I’m both insecure AND hold myself in extremely high regard.
I should get some sort of award for that feat of mental agility.

http://www.pixelwerks.be

Being honest with yourself is the key to being a good artist.  Why are you all such haters?  Get some skin and learn to laugh at yourself.  Anyone want to rip my work apart you are welcome!

They’re just typical products of modern society. They have far more ambition than talent or skill, and they’re keen to keep it so that no one develops any skills, that way they can have a chance of floating to the top themselves.
That’s what all this bullshit is about in most threads you see on forums, people trying to appear as though they’re being kind and encouraging by saying nice words about even the most pathetic work, but they’re really just trying to keep everyone down at their own level by manufacturing a status quo whereby bad work is actually perceived as ok.
They’re literally trying to lower the general level of quality closer to their own skill level.

Conversely, I’m trying to raise the level of general quality by making sure no one ever gets complacent or content with their current ability, and force themselves to improve in some area with every model they make, and put in 100% effort as well.  I’m convinced that simple laziness is responsible for at least 90% of bad work.

http://www.pixelwerks.be

It strikes me that you are far lazier in the art of constructive criticism than are these artists you dismiss so rudely.  These comments of yours are ugly and ill constructed.  If you’re not going to spend time crafting useful comments don’t post them.  There is nothing noble or unique in the brand of antisocial vitriol you spew here.  What differentiates you from the “zombies” is a lack of simple respect for fellow artists.  I’m quite certain that you could have offered the artist some pointers, instead you took the lazy route of simply panning his work entirely.  Rationalizing your poor behavior doesn’t make it acceptable.  If you don’t have anything constructive to say, simply refrain entirely from commenting. 

Thanks.

Maya 8.0
Vista 32 Bit

Heh, you haven’t said anything remotely constructive about his work or helped him in any of your posts. At least I did talk about his work, all you’ve done in all your posts is attack me to try and start an argument. Pure trolling.
I already clearly explained why I didn’t offer any specific advice about anatomy, because there’s just too much wrong with it, it’s a total write off. I’d either have to write a book about it or nothing at all.
Like I said in my initial post, he needs to go right back to basics and learn how to sculpt, starting off with heads.
Anyway, as many people are already aware I’m releasing a DVD soon which I’ve been putting a lot of work in to, and will teach everyone at once how to properly construct a figure and pose with correct proportions and anatomy and how to sculpt it properly.  Much more helpful and far reaching that typing a few lines on a forum telling people the breasts on their model aren’t the right shape or ‘nice work, keep it up’.
What have you done to help anyone recently?

http://www.pixelwerks.be

Lets tone it down a bit and keep this about the art work in question and not about different peoples opinnions about how to best critique digital sculpts.

Wayne…

http://www.MudboxHub.com Independant Mudbox User Forum

http://www.DashDotSlash.net - personal site

oDDity 23 June 2009 05:39 PM

The first model I ever sculpted with zbrush and the first model I ever sculpted with mudbox both won CGtalk awards. They weren’t perfect by any means, but I didn’t use the fact that it was my first try at sculpting as an excuse for doing bad work like this.

Could you clarify this Rod? Does that mean that you did practice sculpts and studies for a long before takling a large project which is what won the awards. I am just trying to figure out myself best working practices.

whirlwind123 26 June 2009 03:04 PM

Could you clarify this Rod? Does that mean that you did practice sculpts and studies for a long before takling a large project which is what won the awards.

Well no, I didn’t, because I didn’t need to. Some people just have a good natural eye for what looks right and can see their mistakes and rectify them, and therefore even at an early stage produce something that looks reasonable without too much trial and error.
Other people don’t have that ability and really need to force it out of themselves by rigourous training and observation, and I think for those people the fastest route is to start off with the fundamentals and work towards the bigger goals. That would seem obvious to most people, and applies to almost everything not just sculpting. However, this approach does require a lot of discipline.

http://www.pixelwerks.be