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[GreatWyrmGold]

I have a bunch of ideas for various types of works of fiction. For some reason, anything I try to write never gets very far, so I'd like to try something more visual. I haven't really done that. There's just one little problem...I can't draw. (Well, I can draw. I just have two crippling flaws: I can't draw the same thing twice if I want it to look the same, unless I do something stupidly basic, and I can't make things look as neat and pretty as they do in my head. The latter should be work-aroundable with time and effort, but that just makes the former problem worse.)
I've heard of a few programs that let people get around such fundamental limitations in their own abilities, which let you create and save various elements of stuff to put together later. However, I'm only vaguely aware of most, and would like some of your opinions.

A few features I would desire:
-Obviously, I need the aforementioned ability to create and save designs in some format.
--Also required: The ability to take designs and arrange them somehow.
-Flexibility would be good. If I can only make faces, that's a problem. If I'm limited to a handful of stock models, that's problematic. If I can make anything I can design, that's great!
--Relatedly, a simple 3D thing would be nice (but not necessary) to have. I'm thinking of Poser, used to make RWBY and some other stuff I'm unaware of, when I say this, even though I have zero clue how Poser works.
-It can't be too arcane to use. The basics, at least, should be easy enough to pick up.
-Color is a must.
-Far from a requirement, but due to a combination of a video project for class, a compilation I made on my own, and having recently binged on RWBY, I feel like I would like to make animations of some kind. If you know of a program which lets me do that, that would be awesome!
-It has to be either free, or fairly cheap and worth the investment.
--Demos of the "advanced features off-limits" type are great. Demos of the "you get everything for X days, but then you don't get anything anymore unless you buy" are a pain.
-If a collection of programs lets me do this (Program A creates the models, Program B does stuff with them), that's fine, as long as all programs fit the simplicity and cost criteria.

Does anyone have a program to recommend?

[Araph]

Adobe Flash? It's 2d only, but it can do most of what you need.

If you'd prefer 3d, I'd recommend just going all-out and learning how to use Maya or some similar program (Blender seems like a good alternative, and it's free). Be warned: you'd be approaching a task with a learning curve just as steep, if not steeper, than traditional art.

In all honesty, you're going to be facing some hefty limitations if you're approaching art with the mindset of 'I'm not good, but there must be some way to avoid problems with a new program'. The best thing is to choose a form of media you'd want to work in and just start learning and practicing. As they say, sucking at something is the first step to being kinda okay at something. We've all been there.

[Nirur Torir]

Wings 3D is free, and seems to commonly be recommended to people who don't know how to use a more advanced program for making models for Mount and Blade. I've never tried it, but it might be worth a look. Note that it needs a different program (like Blender or maybe Poser) for animations.

I like Blender, but it has tons of arcane buttons that you don't need. On the plus side, once you're comfortable at making models with it, you should be able to learn the basic animation and rigging tools in a session or three.

I don't advise trying to learn 3D modeling without decent 2D skills, unless you're only after fairly simple shapes. You might be able to succeed with enough practice and spatial skills, but it would be more frustrating than just learning to draw.


GIMP, for drawing, has a 'smooth stroke' option, which works decently. Combined with zooming far in and having a rough sketch on a different layer, you should be able to get decently professional-looking lines, even with poor mouse drawing skills, but it's a bit annoying. If you can't draw at all, even with that, you really should get more practice with 2D art before moving to 3D.

[GreatWyrmGold]

In all honesty, you're going to be facing some hefty limitations if you're approaching art with the mindset of 'I'm not good, but there must be some way to avoid problems with a new program'.

The way I was thinking about it was more like "I have these limitations; before I dive into it, I'll see if I can work around them. While I'm asking, I might as well ask for a couple things I don't have any clue how to do."

Thanks for the advice so far, I'll look into what's been suggested and see what I think.

[Armok]

You're asking the wrong question; the "can't draw the same thing twice" problem does have solutions more specific than just trying it naively over and over, but not in software. Certain type of drawing exercises can train the skill more rapidly than just drawing what you want to anyway, and you might also want to look for tutorials for designing things that are easier to replicate and other ways of saying "on model".

[Eagleon]

Sculptris is nice and free for more organic work than Wings3d (which is what I started out with - IMO it's better for things like ships/cars/buildings and such with rigid, well-defined geometries), but it can't do animation. It's big cousin ZBrush can, in sort of an unconventional way (with export to other workflows), and also has an interesting take on 2D art using 3D tools.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Unfortunately animation is still a pretty arcane task, though I'd say more on the technical and less on the artistic side than 2D animation. Once you've rigged a model, tools like Poser sort of just ease some aspects of the physics of natural movement, which is where most animators stumble.