One of the comments that I was surprised to read in "Secrets of Poser Experts" came from Les Garner. He recommended that Poser artists should draw more. He said, "There's more to creating artwork than just loading a figure, slapping on a pose, picking out a neat prop or two, tossing in a light set, and clicking the Render button. I'm going to say it again now: Draw, draw, draw! Even if you think you completely blow chunks at drawing, do it. Stick figures, silly little chicken scratches--anything! Just do it." I'm not sure I wholly agree with that advice. I think that there are a lot of different thoughts going on in that statement.

Having Poser doesn't result in any quick solution to creating great art. A bunch of Poser figures and props can be quickly slapped into the program and rendered nicely. That doesn't mean that anything great has been created. It typically takes me a couple days to do something in Poser that I'm happy with. Even when I'm done, I usually wish I'd spent a few more days to do an even better job.

I generally do not create a pencil sketch before entering Poser. I usually have a mental image of where I want to go with the illustration, but I've learned not to set out using Poser with too detailed a concept. It's better to approach Poser in a more organic fashion and use the program's versatility to create the desired image. Using 3D figures presents a far more literal image than sketching out a drawing. It's a lot easier creating a dynamic pose in a hand drawn image than with a 3D figure. The drawing can exaggerate anatomy to enhance the motions in an image whereas the 3D figure is built with a certain anatomy. That figure can be distorted in Poser or in another 3D application, but that process isn't as smooth or as easy as drawing the same thing by hand. Limitations like that have taught me to work with Poser rather than to push Poser to do things that are less natural within the program. I've occasionally sketched out a concept before entering Poser, but it's usually easier to skip that step and block out the image entirely in Poser.

When it comes to using a program like Poser, I'm not entirely convinced that starting with a pencil sketch is a great idea. It nudges the artist into a specific idea and approach whereas working in a 3D environment invites a lot more experimentation.

In a traditional 2D drawing, a sketch makes more sense. Once an artist starts fleshing out and detailing a painting, there's no real going back. If the artist isn't satisfied with the way things are going, there is only so much the artist can fix before having to start from scratch. The farther along the artist is, the less there is that can be fixed without tossing away hours of effort. It's usually necessary for the artist to start with a very strong initial sketch to avoid wasting time. Any time one can see a 2D art tutorial, the finished work looks very much like that starting sketch. A 2D artist commits to a specific approach with the initial sketch. The sketching stage is where the artist plays around with angles, perspective, poses, lighting, and the overall image concept. It's a lot easier to modify and change a concept with a series of thumbnails and quickly realized sketches than to spend hours detailing the texturing on a figure's arm and realizing that the arm isn't in the right position and having to completely paint over and add that detailing again. Experimentation is essentially over after the artist starts detailing the work.

With Poser, or other 3D programs, significant changes can be made all the way to the final render. Even after the final render is done, the 3D artist can come back a year later and open up the saved file and modify angles and positions and render a completely new image. A 2D artist has to start from scratch to do the same thing. That is very liberating for a Poser artist to always be able to modify the work up to, and even after, it is done. There is no point where the work cannot be altered.

Instead of putting time into an initial sketch, I prefer blocking out the image entirely within Poser. Rather than start with a sketch that may or may not transfer well into the more literal 3D figures in Poser, I find it easier to add all the main elements into the image up front and start moving around with the camera and throwing in stock poses to find what I feel is the best starting point. Even though things can always be changed in Poser, it can be more difficult to do when there are multiple figures interacting with one another. How good a pair of figures look together at one angle may not be so good at a different angle. Having two figures holding hands in one position is a lot of work getting the hands together correctly. That work has to be redone if the figures are in a different position such as standing up instead of sitting down because every finger now has to be repositioned to look right in the new stance. Even though a 3D environment has a great deal more flexibility than a 2D one, there are still details that are best put off until the image is close to a final state. In my last image for the RDNA contest, I changed the camera angle and focal length when I was very near completion. That's a flexibility that doesn't exist in a 2D environment.

It doesn't matter whether a person sketches out their image in 2D or 3D. The point is that the human brain requires visual feedback to be totally comfortable with the artistic choices being made. One can imagine whatever they want in their heads, but it doesn't start becoming real till the eye sees it. Until the idea is represented in the real world, the artist cannot get beyond the imagined image. Art cannot be finished until it starts becoming rendered in the real world. It doesn't matter whether or not those initial renderings are sketches or 3D blocked out figures. Once the artist sees something real, the artist can proceed to the next step. Most creative endeavors follow a similar process. Writing is the same way. Until a writer starts putting words to paper or word processing screen, the writer cannot get beyond the concepts in the brain. Once the writer gets things out of the brain and into a more concrete real form, new ideas and interacting thoughts can start and more creativity can occur. An artist or writer can start with a concept in the imagination, but it is rarely fully fleshed out in the imagination. The act of transferring information from the mind to a real world form allows further creation and refinement that isn't possible when that work is stuck totally in the brain.

I'm not against anybody starting with a pencil sketch. I'm only interested in the end product and only judge the merit of a piece of art by that final product and not by the process of how the artist got there. It's why I tend to chuckle when I see people arguing over a particular technique or program or media. One is not better than the other. Everybody has different tastes and approaches and I'm not going to get overly hung up on what somebody does. I like to read about the processes people use to achieve their work because there are often tricks and tips I can learn to do something different with my own. If somebody likes to start with a 2D sketch before entering Poser, that's fine. It works for them. I don't think it's necessary. I've tried it and found myself frustrated with making Poser look like that sketch. I mostly skip that step unless there is some complexity to the image that I'm having a hard time envisioning in my head. Then, it takes a few quick thumbnails to help me make up my mind how the image should start out. I'd certainly encourage a 2D artist to do all their experimentation in sketches before committing to the final painting because 2D work, even on a computer, tends to be locked into the final stages fairly early in the conception stage. Experimentation with 3D graphics can continue far into the artistic expression, so a pencil sketch isn't as important. Considering that Poser limits exactly how a 2D sketch translates into a 3D render, I'd rather work more within Poser to express my concepts.

I would totally agree with Les that artists should draw, draw, draw. They cannot improve if they don't. A person, who has never expressed themselves artistically in their lifetime, is not likely to produce a great work of art in their one and only expression. As with everything that a person does, exercising creative muscles is the way to improve what one can create. I just don't think that the process has to be limited to drawing in 2D. I happen to be a decent 2D artist, but that's because I didn't have the option of 3D when I was growing up. Nobody even imagined that these kinds of capabilities could ever exist back in the '60s. I drew in 2D because it was all there was. Rather than wrestle with the differences between what can be done between 2D and 3D, it's easier for me to work entirely in 3D and then use the 3D render as the midpoint to the final work and use 2D post processing to come to the final product.

3D graphics aren't the be-all and end-all of artistic expression. There are very few renders that cannot be improved with some degree of post processing. It can be as simple as color correction or more complex such as adding elements such as hair and clothing that Poser cannot render as realistically as an artist can. The best artists don't restrict themselves to a single media.

My visual indexes of Poser content are at http://www.sharecg.com/pf/rgagnon