Just my 2 cents … I read the article, and it immediately left a bad taste in my mouth for a number of reasons. But at the same time
I am not disputing some of the points he made. You can painfully realize how far you still have to go on your learning curve by visiting
other art forums. You can gain inspiration from them as well which hopefully will encourage you to continue your quest to get better.
Andrew would not have any kind of real following, had it not been for this site … and for the life of me, I don’t know what he was thinking in the way he worded certain things in this article.
The truth is that on average, the blender community is producing art at a lower quality than the larger cg community
I don’t know what sites people go to who are learning to use 3ds max, Maya, zbrush ect… but I can guarantee you there must be beginner art there just like at this site.
He’s correct in that there are a larger amount of people who turn to Blender because of it being free, I certainly did. When you look at the ridiculous cost of ALL this commercial graphic software you can understand why.
There are many tremendous artists on this site who are every bit as talented as you see on these other sites, and they continue to grow in bigger numbers. Sadly some of them leave most likely due to the ridiculous flame wars that pop up often here. One only has to look at the Cosmo thread.
I would encourage you to take a look at sites linked below. You will see tons of creative, beautiful and inspiring 3d art. But I’ll tell you what you won’t find, is any kind of sense of community. Look closely at the number of views and the lack of comments about these professional art work…it’s pathetic. I agree that you will be inspired, but I totally disagree, that your going to find any sense of community that can help you technically improve your chops at these sites…especially as it relates to Blender.
Right now on this forum, I can post a question about something I don’t understand or am struggling with and I’ll get it answered. I can reach out 10 or so people I know at this site, and they will help get me to where I need to go. That’s what I am referring to as a community.
There is absolutely a lot of beginners at this site, and the artwork looks exactly like mine did when I first started. I hope when you
can that you will take the time to help some of those people through your critiques and more experienced advice.
I have learned a lot from Andrews tutorials over the years and he does an excellent job with the tutorials. I can’t blame him one bit for getting into his commercial endeavors. I would love to see Andrews art which has been inspired from these “more professional sites”
cgsociety
CGarchitect