#ILM
Well … If "you either have it or you don't" with art, then why do
people go to art school?! <g> True, every person has a particular
degree of aptitude for every area, be it art or maths or whatever,
but you have to agree that anyone that has *some* artistic ability
can develop it further with art classes.
If you do something a lot, you get better at it. I can't necessarily
draw a perfect picture the first time but if I plug away at it, it
eventually looks good. With things I have drawn a number of times
(for example, I drew my cat about 1000 times when I was young) I can
draw them well in minutes. Ask me to draw a clown (or a camshaft,
for that matter) and I'll struggle for hours. I think anyone who
tries at it long and hard enough can succeed, same as with computers.
Another example is an aboriginal painting I once had to scan in and
clean up to be used a texture map. In comparing the scan to the
original and retouching it, I learned a LOT about aboriginal art.
It's one thing to look at something and another to be involved in its
creation. You really only learn by doing.
Especially with classes in animation, where you (a) learn the concepts of
motion, weight, follow-through, overlapping motion, etc., then (b) are given
exercises to do to show the concept then (c) do the drawings and record them,
and see the concept working for yourself. It seems like an ideal way to learn.
I agree that any art-related studies will help you with 3D animation. Colour is
a good example as it is hard to master and very important.
As for my art training to date, it's been a hodge-podge of varied art
classes (mostly in my high school days), reading and
experimentation. For example I once took the all-night bus from
Paris to London and spent the entire 12-hour trip sketching the
people around me who were all snoring away in weird positions. Then
I didn't pick up the pencil again for about 3 months. It's kind of
been like that. Hopefully with assignments and teachers hanging over
me I will be made to draw more often and thus advance faster than I
have been.
And don't you tell me that someone with a Comp Sci degree can't draw! <g>
Seriously, I have yet to meet a person who is completely non-artistic.
Everybody has their area. I once had a roommate who couldn't draw for beans
but used to prepare the most beautiful artistically composed meals you ever
saw. All the vegetables were arranged just so. <g>
Michele