Researching Resources

I have been to many art sites since I got into the field back in 2004, but most of the sites I've been to focus more on traditional art like hand drawing, painting, and figure drawing. I have great respect for these fields since I lack the nimble fingers and the talent to be a great hand drawn artist. The only real site that I have been a part of that gave me a great look into the 3D art field is Deviantart and even then most of the people do it more out of habit than wanting an actual career. Although, some are still very good.


I decided to really look into two sites: polycount and cgsociety. From what I've seen from looking at both sites for the past couple of days is that they seemed to be two sides of the same coin.


Polycount seemed to more focus on getting feedback on your work to find ways to make it better and improve your skills. You post on that site because you know that you need work and you want opinions or even ideas on how to make your work better. Just from the small post I stated, I got allot of feedback form people who gave me tips to make my work better and they did it in a kind and even humorous way. It really feels like they want you to succeed.


Although, it wasn't completely sunshine on this polycount. It was one post, but it was so rude and over the top that it was jarring. The most disappointing thing that no seemed to have reported or has any qualms about the post and poster. I will not give the name but this is what this person wrote:

I gotta hand it to you, I didn't think anyone could do it. But you did.

This is the worst piece of crap I ever seen. You just single-handedly destroyed video-game art. This piece is so bad, that it's offensive to our very art form. Really can't imagine anything worse than this. It's offensive to the senses. The Hindenburg wasn't as much as a disaster as this is. Only 35 people died in that one, but I predict mass suicides over this. I know I'll be quitting game art and switching to photography after this.

Way to completely trivialize 20 years of game art.

Talk about melodramatic right and I personally thought the artwork was very well done.

Cgsociety, to me seems more focus on the professional side. You go there when your work is nearing completion and you want some last minute ideas for touch ups. I seems this way because the work I've personally seen on that site are head and tails above most of the work on Polycount. They seemed close to the professional level and they have artists who make stuff that rivals some of the best 3D work in high tier games like Mass Effect or Gears of War. It was a really humbly experience to see how far I still have to go, but it also made me proud too. Mostly because the people use terms and ideas that I didn't know or really understood not even a year ago. I also understood the techniques they used and can apply their own creation into my own future work.


Overall, I like both websites and I wish I found them earlier. Both formats are clean and you can't get lost. They are also both healthy and active communities unlike most sites I visited which has a very small and selected pool. I will definitely be using both in the future, although my main focus will be polycount for the time being.