An eye for details!

So I've not been here long maybe 3 weeks and I am working through the courses. On the latest one which was the sculpting of the shark which I enjoyed but something I realised when near the end of the last video when he said its never perfect, there always more detail to add but you have to find a balance and stop when your happy.

I had the opposite problem. I think I lack an eye for detail and I was struggling to find details to add and when I did find them was struggling to understand how to translate them to my model.

I think that if Kent never pointed out the lips and the eye creases I probably wouldn't have thought to add them either. So aside from experience and natural progression I was wondering if there was a particular activity or method to improve in this area and up my modelling skills?

Thanks

  • Wayne Dixon replied

    Hi Dan.

    If you keep at your art, you will have the exact problem that Kent mentioned, no matter what area your art is in.

    It was Leonardo da Vinci who said "Art is never finished, only abandoned".


    If you are having the opposite problem at the moment, don't stress too much.  Your eye will develop with experience and regular practice.  

    It's probably really annoying to hear people constantly say something like that but it is true.  

    Here's a couple of things I can suggest to get better at what ever you want to improve at.

    -Don't aim to be as good as X person or Y person.  Sure, use them as inspiration but the real aim should be to improve at 1 little thing each time you do it.  Aim to be a better artist than YOU were yesterday.  It's not always a straight line of improvement, but the days, weeks and months add up.

    -You gotta keep doing it.  Set yourself a goal of modelling at lest 1 vert per day.  I'm serious, 1 vert.

    If you don't feel like working on your skills, you can just open it up and push one vert where it needs to be, save it and feel happy with yourself.  

    But what you will most likely find, is that you open it up, push your vert, push another vert, and other and then all of a sudden you've done 2 hours of practice when you didn't think you had it in you.

    But the key is, you gotta keep doing it everyday, and you can NEVER beat yourself up if you only do that one vert.  It's a deal you have to make with yourself.

  • Danbone replied

    Thanks very much! I put at least an hour aside each evening to play around or get some lessons in so I'll keep at it!

  • Wayne Dixon replied

    Go Dan, Go.

    Regular practice is the best and fastest way to progress.  The more time you put in, the faster you will progress....up to a point.

    If you push too hard, you can become blind to your own work or even suffer from burn out.

    But 1 hour practice a day is great.