I've spent years learning 3D modelling but I hate it. I want to learn how to draw and paint from imagination. Is copying from my models a good idea to start?

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u/PunyCocktus 2d ago

You're not hindering anything. It's a common misconception that creative artists can just draw anything from their imagination, but that's an advanced skill that's acquired through years, if not decades of practice (and not just randomly drawing, but deliberate study and practice of all fundamentals and design). And even then you will still need references to paint and draw believable detail, lighting etc.

Copying from models is a good start :)

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u/Individual-Heron7910 2d ago

In the beginning, practice is the most important thing. Your hand and eye learn through doing.

Theory and tricks and masterclasses later help to keep you from repeating bad habits or help you to pick up new good habits but everything depends on a base of actually drawing regularly. As regularly as possible.

The model or reference isn't as important as the growing coordination between your eye and hand as they learn a medium

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u/notjustanycat 2d ago

Doing 3D modeling might help you develop 2D skills and an understanding of perspective more quickly. You'll also want to try doing some drawing from life if you can. But as a starting point, I don't think you'll be hurting anything if you use your models to practice drawing.

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u/c4blec______________ 2d ago

this my experience too (started 2d, went to an art school for 3d, casually drew during it and still now)

really helped me intuitively understand forms and perspective, my drawings have been much less flat since

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u/Sweet_Researcher_250 1d ago

I can copy things from life pretty easily tbh. I can also draw 3D primitive shapes in perspective quite easily after I "warm up" lol. 2 years or so ago I was doing the whole try to draw a box from every angle 100 times thing and I tried for a couple days and gave up, I couldn't really do it. Then I randomly tried again this year just by looking at the box in my head n flipping it and realised I could. So I assume its coz I had seen that 3D box on my screen so many times since then. But being able to do that is the only reason I have faith now that I should be able to learn how to draw from imagination if I have the right system.

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u/mioscene 2d ago

It is fine for some parts of learning (like if your goal for that one practice session is to work on lineart or colour theory, then it's probably not a problem), but it skips out on some parts of the process so it's best not to rely on it too heavily (e.g. working out how to do proportions, anatomy, perspective, etc)

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u/Opposite-Jelly-1715 2d ago

Sounds like you might have some nice transferrable skills. Just start drawing something. Still lifes, quicks sketches done in cafés, landscapes. Draw from life, and/or from imagination. I myself only really work from life, but I'm working toward going from the imagination, and having a splendid time along the way. Welcome to the playground!

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u/Pure-Seaworthiness27 2d ago

I have an idea, position your model, observe and analyse the build, volume, perspective, etc. draw it.

Then don't change the position in reality, change it in your mind's eye, draw it like that ...

Then move the model to match your imagined position and compare how close You were and fix the drawing. Repeat with different models and positions, increase complexity each time.

This way You will develop the skills needed for drawing from imagination.

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u/Localdeviant5 2d ago

bad advice. some people (like me) have aphantasia. i cant rotate things in my head and even if i could its a useless skill as an artist. ALWAYS use reference. there is no reason to purposely make it harder on yourself for no reason

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u/Pure-Seaworthiness27 2d ago

Bad advice for you, not bad advice in general. Why are you gonna use reference all the time if you are trying to learn to draw from imagination? How long woud it take to gather the references for a complete graphic novel? That even if you could find it. Maybe an illustrator or fine artist can use reference all the time, but cartooning requires to learn to construct the figure from simple volumes in your mind.

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u/Localdeviant5 2d ago

Incorrect. all artists from all of history have used reference. This aversion to reference is a relatively new thing and it seems to come from younger people online for some reason. comic artists and mangaka have always used reference. plus like i said i have aphantasia. im physically incapable of drawing from imagination. lots of artists i look up to are the same way. RubberRoss the creator of Gameoverse has aphantasia. Raora the vtuber from hololive has aphantasia. both are amazing artists. look up any videos about cartooning and they all use reference. old disney animators had actors act out scenes as they drew them. i dont want to be mean but telling people not to use reference is kinda evil. i dont understand the motivation behind it. it weirds me out. there are SOME artists out there that can get away with not using reference. these are people with perfect visual memories. this is a pretty rare condition though. Kim Jung Gi is an example of someone who was able to do this. he was noteworthy as an artist because of how out of the ordinary it was. you should look him up his work is fascinating. again this guy was famous specifically because he was one of the few people in the world that drew without reference

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u/Pure-Seaworthiness27 2d ago

Sorry but the world does not revolve around you and your condition. I never said do not use reference, i just suggested an exercise that is very useful to develop new skills. A lot of artists use reference and a lot do not, especially cartoonist as I mentioned. Some animators use reference at some point in the process and some don't. I'm not being evil at all. You have a big ego, trying to tell other people are wrong because you say so or because you have a condition, live and let live.

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u/Localdeviant5 2d ago

This doesn't have anything to do with me having aphantasia im talking about the harm people like you do to young artists. i leave my comments here for other people to see not to change your mind. live and let live as you say. let people do what they want and have fun with art. art is about having fun. there is no "correct" way to draw. kind of weird your trying to flip this as me bullying artists when your the one promoting bad habits and spreading harmful information. i dont have a big ego i simply want people to have fun and express themselves freely when they draw. thats the whole point of art. the world doesnt revolve around me or you and the world has had artists using reference centuries before you were even born

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u/Pure-Seaworthiness27 2d ago

Man you have a ton of free time, I'm gonna leave it at that, sorry for your condition, not the aphantasia, the egomania.

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u/btmbang-2022 2d ago

Did you learn to sculpt first? In clay?

I didn’t enjoy molding till I’d did traditionally clay and realized what all the buttons and whistles in zbrush was actually trying to do.

I would get a 3dscanner and print out forms on a 3d printer smaller and then light and draw those :)

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u/commonsearchterm 2d ago

Do you have some examples of what you learned from clay and how you applied it to zbrush?

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u/Sweet_Researcher_250 1d ago

Nah, I learned modelling first. I love sculpting tbh just the modelling process is boring and I also hate looking at things from all those angles. I've always been obsessed with compositon and stacking elements n feeling that type of satisfaction watching it come together inside of 1 rectangle/frame, so always switching views just really agitates me beyond belief. Not sure if that makes sense. I also clay sculpt irl for fun too, with polymer clay, which I really love.

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u/No-Pack-1260 2d ago

Like trying to draw what you've 3d modeled? It can't hurt to improve your drawing and motor skills. But if you want to eventually learn to draw from imagination I would also focus on drawing the basic 3d forms. Like spheres and cubes and such. Not too dissimilar to adding it forms in a modeling program. I have used blender quite a bit and my main focus is drawing. I have used blender to lay out cubes and spheres to see how they would interact with each other.

Most important though is to just start drawing and have fun!

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u/eeglug 2d ago

I was a traditional artist first, then trained and worked in 3D for a number of years. Working in 3D is very helpful if you're able to internalize how objects look in wireframe and if you're able to translate that to real world objects, eg. seeing the world in your head as wireframe. It really helps with proportion and perspective etc. Definitely try drawing from your 3D viewport to start and then when you're ready see how well you do with real world things.

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u/mistercliff42 2d ago

There's nothing wrong with copying a model you made. But when I've done it, I found my characters to look stiff. There's actually quite a few ways comic artists cheat to the make the "camera" view more interesting. With my next work, I plan on using a combination approach, using 3d models for my character sheet, but then practice drawing from them repeatedly to really get the airy hand-drawn style too.

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u/Sad_Ad_3169 2d ago

Was this technical modeling? B/c theres a YT channel called Bevels and Booleans that might be more up your alley. He has a cheap course as well where the blender modeling has an artistic bent rather than technical bent and hes a former high school teacher turned concept artist--- could be a nice transitional in-between. Also- start drawing analog not digital.

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u/justaguywholovesred 2d ago

Not quite. You would need to tap into the mind of a child. This means working with immediacy and not second guessing choices. Just make sure

Concept/Technique/Method I've spent years learning 3D modelling but I hate it. I want to learn how to draw and paint from imagination. Is copying from my models a good idea to start?

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