Online Schools of Digital Drawing Smirnov Ivan : the possibility of free training on the course on the basics of CG-drawing!
Amazing Fact: half of the artists in the game development industry do not have a special art education. At the same time, a huge number of people with artistic skills can not get into the industry for years. Do you want to find out what some have, what others lack ... and take the first step towards the profession? Then the Basics of CG Drawing course is for you.
CG - from 0!
The Basics of CG Drawing course will allow you to master the basic techniques and principles of CG drawing and give you more confidence in your own abilities. You will learn how to work with volume, silhouettes, color and textures and develop your artistic perception to effectively solve real professional problems. With the due desire of the student, the course allows you to work out and consolidate the knowledge and skills necessary to start working as a junior 2D artist. You are waiting for detailed lectures, large homework assignments, individual analysis of work with a teacher and a lot of practice.
Who is the course for:
· For beginning artists. You will learn the very basics of CG, master various drawing techniques and techniques, learn how to draw objects and objects, and effectively use the Photoshop graphics editor. We will also discuss with you options for your further development and application of the acquired knowledge.
· For artists who want to brush up on the basics of CG and painting in Photoshop, as well as move from traditional materials to digital painting. The course will help you achieve better results and teach you how to work in Photoshop no less efficiently than on paper.
· For people who are just starting to learn how to draw and want to learn how to use a graphics tablet and Photoshop tools. You will learn a lot, overcome the fear of a "blank slate" and be able to further develop your CG skills.
The work of Nadezhda Polygalova - a student of the course "Fundamentals of CG drawing"
The program of the course "Basics of CG drawing"
Lecture 1: The Basics of the Basics
Learn to work in Photoshop and draw three-dimensional shapes.
Learning the basic steps of working in Photoshop:
· Basic tools of work in Photoshop.
· Consider the main hot keys needed to simplify and speed up the process of drawing in Photoshop.
· Learning to work with layers.
Learn how to set up a basic brush.
Learn about blending modes.
Learning to draw a simple object:
· Mastering the principles of color mixing and drawing gradients (color stretch marks).
Learn to draw a three-dimensional figure in black and white.
We lay out the figure by tone depending on the lighting.
We study the main mistakes when working with lighting.
We paint the figure in your favorite color.
Drawing: pay attention to details.
· Post-processing: learning how to make the perfect final picture.
Lecture 2: Design is everything!
We learn to come up with the design of objects and embody this design in a drawing.
Learning to draw an interesting subject:
· The basis for constructing an object in perspective.
· Learning to invent an object.
· Work with references.
· Learning to create line art (linear drawing) in several stages.
Learn to choose the right angle.
· Learn to work with design, come up with a cool design of the subject.
· Learn to work with the shape of the object.
· Learning to build objects in space.
Life hack: perspective grid.
· Learning to transform objects.
We master the skill of accurate drawing of the line art.
Lecture 3: From 2D to 3D
We learn the principles of working with light, shadow and diffused light and draw a 2D object with a 3D effect.
We study occlusion, light and shadow:
· Learning to draw okljuzhen (shadow from diffused light): theory and principles of work.
· We study the most effective ways of rendering okluzhen.
We study in detail the principles of building light.
· Learn to build your own and falling shadows.
Draw an object with a 3D effect.
Lecture 4: It`s render time!
We learn how to competently compose a color composition, draw and work out various materials in detail, and correctly combine them in design.
Render: Color and Materials:
· Learning to work with color in terms of design.
We create a competent color composition: we learn to choose a good combination of colors and shades.
We continue to work with references.
Learn to render materials - learn how to draw different materials:
Let's analyze the approaches in which any artist can independently learn to draw any material: metal, glass, wood, stone, plastic, and others.
Learn to draw details.
· Learning to create compositions based on a combination of materials (iron and wood, etc.).
Lecture 5: Survivor Bonus!
Let's change the mind! How to do all the same, but much faster?
Render around the head:
· Alternative rendering techniques.
· Efficient cheating and process simplification.
· Life hacks to quickly achieve the desired result.
For classes you need: computer, graphic tablet, internet, graphic editor Photoshop.
Visual effects and computer graphics have firmly entered our lives. Today, anyone is able to explore the mysterious and magical world of post-production and become an expert in this field. The tips below will help raise your VFX and CGI knowledge.
This is fairly obvious advice, but it is often ignored by beginners. The habit of looking and analyzing should become part of the work process or training. After watching a film with cool visual effects, review it again, but not as a spectator, but as a specialist. Try to find mistakes and partners, there are actually a lot of them. Analyze how the shot was created, how it was lit, and why it was done the way it was.
Copy
Try repeating frames from your favorite movies or videos. Of course, a cool team of artists was sitting on the creation of one cool shot. But I am sure that most of the frames can be realistically recreated with a minimal budget. The task is to create something similar with a minimum budget and maximum quality. Remember, you are doing this in the interest of your professional development. As a result, these works will fit perfectly into the portfolio, and they can be published on behance.
Who am I?
When you watch a Hollywood CGI blockbuster, remember that a team of professionals worked on every frame. Each team member did one highly specialized job. One group modeled while the other lighting these models, someone drew the environment, someone animated the characters, and someone composited it all, blurring the line between reality and the CG world. If everyone did everything, the result would be disastrous.
Therefore, it is important to decide what the soul lies to. What are you ready to do for 10-12 hours a day, not regretting a single second spent on work? You can choose several directions for yourself, but it is important to highlight the primary ones, and pull up the rest, if possible.
Learn the Basics
Being a highly specialized expert is important, but you need to understand the whole process of creating a visual work. If your job is to rig characters, then you need to understand and know how those characters were modeled, how best to light them, and how they will fit into the footage. Basic knowledge in each of these areas will give you a huge boost to development.
Chat and meet experts
Go to CG and film related events. Of course, there are very few of them in the CIS, but when they pass, real sharks of visual effects gather there.
It's never too late to learn or how to save a few years
A few years ago, it was believed that only a select few could become a VFX artist. In fact, that's how it was. Only the most diligent and persistent could find the necessary valuable information and spend hours studying programs through trial and error. Now everything is exactly the opposite. There is so much information that you can watch only tutorials all your life. But you won't get that far.
The only right way is to learn from professionals. Only under the control of the master will the student conquer the heights of the CGI industry.
The only question is where to go to study?
There is only one answer - to the best masters of their craft. For example, take studio courses TerminalFX just look at them portfolio to understand how cool teachers work there.
The money spent on training will pay off dozens, if not thousands of times. The field of computer graphics is only gaining momentum and specialists are always needed here.
A documentary about the unprofitability of CG graphics in cinema as a business. The company that drew Life of PI went bankrupt two weeks before it won an OSCAR. Over the past 10 years, 21 well-known effects studios in Hollywood have closed. Despite the fact that CG is traditionally an industry where people work day and night without days off (as well as video production, by the way) and without guarantees - almost everyone is hired individually for the duration of the project and constantly changes jobs, often leaving their families for months and years . Almost the entire American CG industry is dying due to the fact that Canada has made tax breaks (as well as gamers, by the way - that's why Ubisoft does almost everything there). As a result, artists are constantly swinging from country to country, where there are benefits and the industry is on the rise.
In general, the film is about the time to change the business model - CG artists are the same filmmakers as everyone else and should receive a percentage of the income from the film or hourly pay (like operators, etc.), because, like any creative activity, it is difficult to calculate in advance. Most studios force contractors to work at a fixed price - they say, we pay you 10 million and let's fulfill all our whims. Well, then it started - the director changed his mind, they decided to reshoot the scene, redo it, throw it out and replace it with another one - CG people do this work for free. The loss is borne by the studio and nothing can be done about it.
In 2013, the film's characters did work in two Oscar-nominated films that won Life of Pi. Former employees gathered for a demonstration near the ceremony. When from the stage the employees of the already closed studio tried to tell that the company that made this work had a problem, they were drowned out by the music from Jaws. In addition, Ang Lee, when he thanked everyone from the stage for participating in the film, listed everyone except for the CG artists, who in this case made 70% of the film.
As a result, the entire CG community was just beside themselves. In protest, the artists began to put green screens on their facebook avatars and publish real stills from films without CG. Now the entire VFX industry is trying to develop a common policy for working with Hollywood. 
In principle, all these problems are very, very familiar to us at FXA, although we are not talking about CG. Description of problems with customers and changes in plans - 100%.
On March 3, Hollywood will host a massive showcase of VFX artists against the biggest studios. At the same time, a lobby is being created to change the legislation. In general, the big companies are accused of playing off governments, forcing them to fight among themselves more and more incentives for cinema at the expense of taxpayers, while they themselves profit by setting rental records.
Creativity and Hobbies
Become a Professional CG Artist
I love the world of CG since childhood, and more recently, drawing has become my life.
I am already 24 years old, I have a higher non-art education and several years of work as an office hamster behind me. At one fine moment, I decided that such a life does not suit me and something needs to be changed. Gathered all her will into a fist and went to college as an animator. Now a year has passed. While the training was going on, I began to study what professions there are in the world of artists. I realized that the profession of an animator does not really attract me, just like the cartoons themselves. I like to draw and look at static pictures more. I prefer sci-fi, military, I like the cartoon style in the drawing.
I want to develop, engage in self-education and gain skills. I would like to come up with concepts and different objects for games.
Termination Criteria
Draw in such a way that you will not be ashamed of the drawings. Receive orders for drawings.
Personal Resources
Two years left, a great desire, a personal computer, video tutorials, books, an initial level of drawing and support from her husband.
Green Goal
I want to make money by drawing, because this is the only thing that really gives me pleasure. In addition, I want to see how the gaming industry is developing in the country, I want to see this process from the inside.
CG or CG Painting is nothing more than digital drawing, or short for Computer Graphic. This direction includes all pictures drawn on a computer or, as it is also called, Digital.
What CG artists draw in depends on what exactly they draw. Roughly divided, there are raster, vector and 3D. The vector can still be animated later.
Raster - first of all it is Adobe Photoshop, in which you can draw in raster, partly in vector, create flash animations, work in the technique of photo art and collages.
Is there some more Corel Painter with a huge number of different brushes that mimic real painting. Some paint in less popular PhotoImpact, GIMP, SAI, Artweaver, Open Canvas, Art Rage, MyPaint, Krita. And of course in Paint, in which, by the way, it is convenient to draw pixel graphics.
Vector is drawn mainly in Corel Draw and Adobe Illustrator. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, but both are the largest and best known vector editors.
3d players also have a choice. 3D Max, Maya, ZBrush, Cinema4D– editors for 3D modeling. To fully create this type of computer graphics requires a VERY powerful computer.
Why is digital painting better than traditional?
- Very high speed of work and a large selection of materials. Choosing the right color is a matter of seconds (unlike traditional painting, where you have to mix or buy more paints to get the right color - it takes experience and time), choosing the right brush / tool is also an almost instantaneous operation. You can do work with imitations of oils, pastels, watercolors, or all at once, which is difficult in the real world.
- The ability to undo your actions, as well as the ability to save at any moment of your work and return to it later, and even a large list of features and benefits - all this makes the work of the artist several times faster with the same quality.
- Computer work is immediately ready for use in digital technologies of cinema, games, layout - the work done on the material with paints must first be transferred to digital form and there are also a lot of troubles plus an additional stage of work.
- Unlike traditional painting, digital painting has some cool and handy features and tools: for example, working with layers or applying textures from photographs to the areas of the picture you need; generation of noise of a given type; various brush effects; HDR pictures; various filters and corrections, and much more.
The problem of education still remained outside the brackets - there are few schools and courses, a lot of personal time and money. But I think few areas can boast of its instant and easy development. In general, now I know what CG is with some additional details and I'm not afraid of this term. It seems to me that despite the "warm and lamp" aura of traditional painting, the possibilities of CG are still developing and in the future this direction will only be cooler.
