Im a 3d Character Artist, why do i need 2D skills?

I was asked this a couple of times recently from students, thought i would share my thoughts here with you guys n girls.

My answer consists of 2 things:

1. Because 2d helps to rapidly build a visual library of self-knowledge in your brain, which ultimately through focus and repetition translates into 'artistic instinct'.
2. Because 2d is much faster to iterate with, enabling more rapid development of 'artistic instinct'.

Have you ever noticed when watching a master artist at work, that the subject seems to come alive so quickly, or that meaningful lines, shapes or silhouettes jump out right away, and then think:

'They seem to know exactly what shapes to put where, how to nail the composition so quickly, how to draw everything perfectly, without even thinking about it!!'

This is artistic instinct.

What you are watching is an artist call upon their whole lives worth of visual library development and self-knowledge, expressed using their 'artistic instinct' in the form of the subject.

There is simply no way to compete on this level unless you too have a similarly developed artistic instinct and visual library of self-knowledge. It's also unreasonable to feel like you should be able to if you haven't been developing it.

The same 'artistic instinct' is the biggest difference between the beginner character modeler, the average character modeler and the legendary character modeler – the good ones almost certainly have an understanding of 2d, or better yet, are pretty decent 2d artists as well.

Lastly, you cannot develop an artistic instinct by 'watching someone else do it', it's not something that can be taught, and it cannot be transferred or passed on; There are no SHORTCUTS or tips and tricks to developing 'artistic instinct'. It is self-knowledge and must be built up by you, for you, and in this sense you will truely and always be artistically, the sum of your efforts.

Happy Arting!