Beginning VFX Artist - Advice for beginners, from a beginner

[Travis]

I’m sure there are others out there too, I just wanted to show there are other options than expensive schools. You can certainly get far on your own without spending outside of your means. College has benefits, but just to start out and improve on your art, it’s not necessary, and very few will actually give you the skills and guidance to be ready to enter the work market right after graduation.

We’ll all be here whenever you post some wips and want feedback

[Aaron_Harley-Bishop]

@Travis

Skills to have:

• Be able to model simple to moderately complex meshes in a 3d package, and UV them.
• Use photoshop or another digital painting program to create and edit textures.
• Be able to render out frames and set up flipbooks from a 3d package or After Effects.
• Navigate and create particle systems in engine (UE4 and Unity are free to use)
• Simple material creation and understanding. UE4 has its built in, Unity will need a plugin and I recommend getting it
• Understand simple optimization and incorporate it into your vfx workflow

Suggested VFX to have or learn:
(stuff I use most often and what I was making when I started. Applies to realistic and stylized vfx)

• Fire. Torch fire would be simple, camp fire or oil fire is more complex and I recommend shooting for that.
• Magic. Something abstract; anything from your imagination on this one.
• Elemental impacts. Think bullets hitting various materials, ex water, glass, dirt, rock/concrete, wood
• Realistic explosion. Showing you understand elements and can layer complexity and timing in your systems.
• Blood splashes.

This is great information! Thanks for posting it. Thanks to this I have something concrete that I can work on to put in my portfolio.