the way I see it (my opinion)

The way I see it, in design, there are many tools. Your foundation is pencil and paint or marker even (and some may even argue just pencil because without an understanding of values in black and white in pencil, line, etc, you shouldn't even be painting). To me (and who am I anyways but myself) Photoshop is just a tool (a tool that too many people are becoming too reliant on). So this term, I'm learning yet another tool in my arsenal; sculpting. I'm staying as far away from digital as I can for a while, and just focusing on traditional; particularly just anatomy because it is one of the hardest things to master and the easiest to read in terms of when something is off/skewed/ etc. I was super excited to hear in my first maquette class that if you have a strong illustration background, you tend to do better in the class, particularly in anatomy, because you can already 'see' the human form in 3d, and what he is essentially teaching you is how to 'see'. I liked that a LOT. A lot of my teachers have been saying the key is to just get really really really good at drawing. It makes sense since essentially you are simply training your eye, brain and hand to see and work together. I'm hoping that the part about illustration is true, also, because otherwise I am going to suck and suck HARD. HAHAHA. But it is okay...I'm very excited to learn yet another tool that will also better my approach to anatomy and strengthen the way of seeing the human form (and details in general). My prof said that very often people can be very good in Zbrush, but not good in traditional sculpting and just tank in his class, but very rarely is it the other way around. Plus, all the guys at P!x0l0g!c came through traditional backgrounds. That is just so awesome. I wish they would stress that kind of stuff more. It is great to be around like minded individuals who want to take the craft seriously and just work hard at it. I truly believe that there are no easy solutions (thank goodness or any schlub could take your job Ha!). And I want to be doing this for the REST of my LIFE. Nothing compares to the sound of a room full of newsprint turning as a room filled with artists life-drawing turns the page almost simultaneously to proceed to another drawing when the model moves (someone out there might know what I'm talking about or I may have just freaked the world out Ha!). So awesome. Everyone keeps saying, "the people with the strongest traditional skills tend to do the best" and adding "and that's the way it should be". Very inspiring stuff!