Holiday Gift Guide for 3D Artists

Holiday Gift Guide for 3D Artists

As the holidays approach, you may be finding it difficult to gift-shop for your friends and loved ones. Never fear! We’re here to deliver the ultimate holiday gift guide when you’re looking for something special to gift to a 3D artist you know. Here are a few great gifts for 3D artists of all skill levels and expertise:

3D Artist - Beginner

3D Hand-Painted Weapon Workshop

This tutorial kit is perfect for understanding how to hand-paint 3D assets for video game development. This is also a great introduction to the general pipeline required for a career within the gaming industry, as the low polycount and minimal texture sizes are more realistic to the demands of the industry. This 2-hour tutorial covers how to create a game-ready hand-painted axe in Photoshop.

Creating A 3D Game Asset From Start To Finish

This is another course created for CG artists looking to step into the gaming industry. It walks through the entire pipeline, describing how to build flawless game-ready weapons. It gives you a good foundation for creating other 3D high-spec weapons by teaching you to first model a first-person knife.

Complete Introduction to ZBrush

ZBrush is a complex world of technicality that can be quite daunting for newbies. This 6+ hour tutorial takes away the elusivity and breaks down ZBrush basics into in-depth and digestible steps. 

The exercise teaches you to create two diverse forms— a stylized barrel and character bust— so that you can begin to experiment with other forms in ZBrush on your own. This is a great module from ART School that can also be of use on its own.

Video Game Weapon: Modeling / Substance Painter 2

For those just starting in 3D asset creation, it’s sometimes difficult to know what the whole process encompasses. This 2.5 hour tutorial will give you a taste of just that, running through the entire pipeline of 3D video game asset creation from concept to real-time renders. 

You’ll learn essential technical skills such as low poly modeling, sculpting, and texturing in Blender and lighting and shading in Marmoset Toolbag. It also contains a bonus lesson on compositing in Photoshop.

Hand-Painted Texturing in Substance Painter

This tutorial focuses on various techniques and approaches to hand-painting textures in Substance Painter. It walks you through the basics of creating texture studies such as a pork cube, adding complexity in the next stage, in which you will model and texture a dagger. 

This bundle comes with over 3 hours of content and is great for anyone looking to master stylized hand-painted textures. 

3D Artist - Intermediate / Advanced

ULTIMATE Career Guide: 3D Artist

If your giftee is a passionate non-professional artist looking to take their skills into the industry, this is the perfect guide for them. The 45 hours of content includes 7 chapters that cover an introduction to the CG 3D art industry, sculpting and detailing, topology, UVs, baking and textures, creating accessories, and more. 

It then covers the basics of putting together an industry-ready portfolio, exposure, applying for jobs, and interview tips. It introduces all of the necessary software such as Zbrush, Topogun, Maya, Substance Painter, Photoshop, and more. This will give anyone the knowledge needed to confidently chase their professional CG art dreams.

Military Radio Tutorial - Complete Edition

This tutorial bundle is another great one for anyone looking to enter the world of professional 3D art within the gaming industry. It will help you master all of the fundamentals of high-quality game asset creation through concepts like modeling, unwrapping, baking, texturing, and rendering to the specs expected within the industry. 

In the exercise, you will be modeling a military radio, which will help you grasp certain details required to work in the field. With over 3 hours of commentary and video tutorials, you’ll work in Maya, Zbrush, Substance Painter, Marmoset Toolbag, and more to begin to master 3D art asset creation.

Stylized PBR Texturing with Substance Painter

This mini 40-minute tutorial helps you practice and master physically based rendering (PBR) techniques. The short and sweet exercise walks through the entire process of creating and texturing a stylized sword from the legend of King Arthur in Substance Painter.

|TUTORIAL| Realistic Face Creation in Blender

For those looking to learn the complexities of human face creation, this is a great tutorial for just that. The tutorial uses Blender, XNormal, and Photoshop in order to run through the essentials of a skull and facial anatomy, landmarks, proportion, facial hair, and rendering in Cycles. 

It also runs through all of the more technical aspects like base sculpting, detailing, banking, texturing, the hair particle system, and more.

PBR Character For Games

This is another great PBR-related tutorial for specific AAA game production stylization. The 15 hours of video content and commentary covers high poly models, base sculpts, low poly game models, gradients, textures, and more. Software used includes Zbrush, Topogun, and Maya.

Creature Production

This comprehensive tutorial kit includes over 16 hours of content that covers one of the most in-depth tutorials on creature creation. It gives you an in-depth explanation of concepts such as base body in ZSphere, material, and lighting, refining, eyeballs and teeth, horns, secondary details, nonamesh scales and topology, custom skin, material painting, basic lighting, modeling live, mask filters, Marmoset features, and more. 

It also comes with 2 hours' worth of bonus content that focuses on extras such as Photoshop compositing as a cherry on top.

Marvelous Designer 7: Making a Biker-Style Jacket

For those interested in accessories such as clothing, this tutorial will give you a foundation for understanding the intricacies of garment creation in Marvelous Designer 7. It is ideal for intermediate CG artists ready to dip their toes into certain specialties and skills, such as the use of the non-destructive technique. 

Included in this 5-hour tutorial are sleeve details, pockets, shoulders, belts, details such as stitches, and everything else you’ll need to create your first natural-looking garment.

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