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How would YOU design the perfect drawing/painting curriculum?

polycounter lvl 6
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Urzaz polycounter lvl 6
I need Polycount’s help for good curriculums you’ve thought of or heard about to learn drawing and digital painting for games.

At my college I got an independent study class with one of my professors for a drawing credit. I've been doing graphic design and 3D work for games for a while, but I'd really like to improve my drawing skills and creativity.

I kind of have an idea of what I’d like to learn, but I’m less sure how to organize my time, what kind of exercises to do, what to do first, etc. I was wondering if you guys had ever thought about what would make a really good drawing curriculum for games, or if you know of any good ideas I could “borrow” from specialized programs, online or otherwise.

I’ve taken your basic state-college foundational drawing classes, and I’ve watched most of Matt Kohr’s videos on www.ctrlpaint.com, so I’m familiar with the mechanics of digital drawing and painting and feel plenty comfortable using a tablet. (Although I’ll work in traditional drawing as well)

Here are some goals I’ve been considering:
1. Develop skills for form and perspective
2. Become confident with making marks / getting things down the page the first time
- I’ve always been pretty bad about having thousands of messy lines, I’d like to fix this.
3. Drawing from life around campus -> scanning and refining -> turning those observations into creative concepts?
4. Build my “visual library” so I can better create from scratch. (What’s most important?)
- Insects
- Animals, birds
- Hard surfaces / structures
- Fashion and clothes
- What else?
5. Drawing people in dynamic poses. Not much opportunity to practice this in figure drawing, Matt Kohr recommends drawing from stills of action movies. Any other ideas?

5. Learn how to use color, light and texture together. I’ve drawn my whole life with only a pencil, so my work has only the most basic grasp of how to paint / use color.
Basically any input you could offer would be tremendously appreciated, especially in regards to specific exercises or ways to structure my time over a semester period. I’ll be talking with my professor this week, but I’m sure he’ll be open to good ideas, especially if I have a solid plan.

Thanks guys!



P.S. - My art department has maybe one Wacom that nobody uses and generally seems to avoid technology if they can get away with it. I have my own gear, but I’d like to produce some really good work in this course to maybe help catalyze some change.

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