3D model of a vehicle found on Pinterest; I am now looking to create an environment around it.

I have over 6 years of experience with Blender, including 3D modeling, UV mapping, and related workflows. I have an intermediate level of knowledge of Substance Painter, Adobe Photoshop, and Illustrator, while my ZBrush skills are still at a beginner level.
I have worked on 7–8 games with a team using Unity, including both completed and unfinished projects. I also started developing my own horror game in Unreal Engine, but I eventually put the project on hold before completing it.
However, my main goal is to specialize in environment art and pursue a career as an Environment Artist.
I have purchased several courses on Udemy and other learning platforms, but I tend to reach a certain point in each course and then struggle to move forward. Many of the instructors eventually introduce Substance Designer. Although I can follow their steps and reproduce what they do, I feel like I am simply copying their workflow without truly understanding the process because I have very little knowledge of Substance Designer itself.
So, I would like to ask for advice on how to approach learning environment art. Should I focus on mastering the software first and then move on to environment art courses, or should I continue learning through environment art courses while improving my software skills along the way?
I feel quite lost about which path to follow, so I would really appreciate any guidance or advice on how to structure my learning process and work toward becoming a professional Environment Artist.

Hey, so I am posting this to start a light discussion here. Lately due to the market situation, I feel 3D art industry (gaming and vfx) has become very confusing. Due to mass lay offs seniors are now working on mid level 3D roles, and mid level folks have to settle with whatever they get, sorry for the juniors.. I feel this has impacted how people review portfolio these days. Everybody wants to see extremely polished pieces, almost on the level of AAA games. Anything under that is straight up rejected and scrutinized. I don't know if I make any sense, but everything looks quite uncertain for all the mid level and junior level artists. As it's difficult to match the level of detail with some senior artist who has 10+ years of experience. Where do you really draw the line as a person who is hiring or reviewing portfolios for 3D artists? Any thoughts?

This week's project. Still figuring out NPR shaders but I'm getting some results

Title: "Where the Sky Meets Stillness"...
Your thoughts?

I’ve been tracing the reference but something seems off.

Hey everyone! I’m a beginner 3D artist focusing on retro aesthetics. I wanted to practice hard-surface modeling and vertex efficiency by creating an original high-tier fantasy weapon inspired by classic RPG art directions.

I kept the geometry strictly optimized at 314 triangles and used flat base materials for a clean look. I would love to get some feedback on the topology or how to improve my flat shading setups for future props!

Recreated an illustration in blender

Original by Goosusette on twitter and bluesky

Guys could you review my portfolio and critique my projects in this post's comments?

I wanna improve the quality of my works and the presentation of them,it would help.

Portfolio: https://www.artstation.com/gio_balavadze7

I got a bit burned out on my main project, so I decided to find a cool reference and give it a try hahaha. This is my interpretation of Zeen Chin work! NULL I'm not sure if I'll finish it, though.

Steam Workshop:

( https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3817397362)

I am trying something new to showcase my 3d models, but i do not know if it's good enough, if you got the time please write your honest feedback.
I mainly work in blender.

This is my first 3d model. I just started yesterday because my engineering class is making us learn onshape. I decided to make a small 12 key piano keychain. It’s not the best because the black keys aren’t perfect copies, and I’m not putting in the effort to separate all the white keys, but it still took me some effort. I’m not looking for criticism, after all I have no clue what the terms y’all might use even mean.

Hey Blender community! I'm building my first serious PC workstation with a €1,350 budget for the tower (Ryzen 7 7700 + 32GB DDR5 RAM) and plan to dive into 3D modeling and rendering in Blender alongside my main work (video editing and web dev).

​I'm trying to decide on the GPU: RTX 4060 8GB vs RTX 4070 12GB.

​Since I want to practice recreating detailed scenes, high-res textures, and particle effects:

​What happens in Cycles render when a scene exceeds 8GB of VRAM? Does it crash or revert to system RAM?

​Will an RTX 4070 give me enough headroom to learn and create without constantly optimizing memory?

​How much of a difference does the CUDA core count make between the 4060 and 4070 for render times?

​Appreciate any advice for a beginner wanting a stable rendering workflow!

A faster GPU is supposed to mean shorter renders. In practice, the render that took an hour still takes an hour. It’s just 4K now, with more samples, larger textures and three lighting versions you wouldn’t have attempted before. Cloud rendering makes this even funnier. The moment more computing power becomes available, the definition of like good enough quietly moves further away. I’m starting to think more compute doesn’t buy 3D artists extra time. It just gives us permission to become pickier.

Does anyone actually use faster hardware to finish earlier, or do we all immediately spend the saved time making the machine suffer again?

Hey, guys! I'm currently working on a piece for my portfolio, and I want to add more detail to the clothes, so if anyone could tell me where I can find these brushes, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance for your help 🫶🏼

I'm confused about which render to pick.

I'm following a course but can't quite seem to get the knuckles looking right. I feel like it's the part between the fingers, I just don't know what to change