Becoming a Manual Designer

Last Updated on 8 months by The Mintly Team

3D Manual Modeling

The future is bright for the manual designers working on 3D manual modeling – there is plenty of opportunity for anyone skilled in the trade. Manual 3D models are used just about everywhere – scientific research, engineering, architecture, TV shows, movies, games, website pages, and mobile apps all use 3D manual models. They are made to represent not only objects that exist but also imaginary things. 3D manual modeling freelancers make the entire creation process look easy, but they were not born experts.

Everybody has to start somewhere. At some point, today’s experts were young students in design schools or perhaps professionals in unrelated trades without formal training in 3D manual designer modeling. The point is that every 3D modeler has undergone a learning phase to acquire the skills and knowledge required to excel in this field.

For the vast majority of those people, the journey to arrive at a point of mastery did not happen in an instant. It could take weeks if not months to learn the basics of the manual 3D CAD software of your choice. However, 3D manual modeling is easier once you understand how the software works.

Overview of Manual Designing

An exclusive course for the student to understand the basics of jewelry designing along with the CAD on Rhinoceros. It provides a working foundation for sketching, interpreting & creating computer-generated 2-Dimensioned drawings to 3D models. The computer has become an indispensable part of manual jewelry design as well.

Program Goals

It provides a judicious mix of soft skills and domain-specific subjects. By imparting knowledge in manufacturing and jewelry manual design concepts, the course aims to create a professional talent pool for the Indian Jewellery sector as manual designers.

Skills required:

• Understand the basic elements and principles of jewelry designing, techniques, processes, and concepts related to jewelry design
• Ability to create jewelry designs using imaginary fundamentals and digitally, apply different effects on design, apply 3D Rendering objects, 3d rendering effect by Corel
• Understanding the customer demands, choices, socio-economic and cultural background, and manual design development accordingly
• Understanding the specialties of motifs from different cultures and the basics of manual design concepts
• Ability to develop mood board and color board, picture placement, use of Pantone color
• Ability to define design & principles of composition & 3D compositions, rendering stones and metals, follow a manual design jewelry process inclusive of mood boards, client boards, etc.
• Analysis of the methods & techniques of visualization & drawing
• Fluidly work with many dimensional materials, like paper, plaster, wood, wire, and more
• Illustrating various parts of a piece of jewelry
• Knowledge of trends and forecasts in traditional and contemporary color stone jewelry
• Ability to create texture, filigree, enameling, and Kundan Meena in digital form

Pick your path to becoming a jewelry manual designer

There are many different routes you can take to become a professional and skilled jewelry manual designer. One way you can help pick your own path is by deciding what you may want to specialize in. Decide if you want to only design, or design and create your jewelry.

• If you want to stick with just the design aspect, you may consider focusing on your illustration skills, as well as getting an education in fashion and jewelry design.
• If you want to create your designs, you will then have to gain practice, knowledge, and expertise in working with medals, jewels, and various raw materials used to create jewelry. Try attending a reputable trade school for jewelers.
• Many jewelry manual designers skip school and learn through apprenticeships and on-the-job training they find by applying for work at reputable jewelers.

Learn the basics of manual designing

New jewelry manual designers usually just start out by learning how to adjust, re-shape, and resize jewelry. From there, you can learn more difficult elements such as cutting and setting stones, mold-making, metalworking, and engraving. Once you have these basic skills learned, you can focus on your personal style in areas of shape and texture that you can practice mastering.

• Jewelers suggest learning about gemology, sales, and jewelry fabrication to understand the process of jewelry production from beginning to end.
• While you do not need formal education, there are certain skills you may want to consider taking classes on. You will need manual dexterity, artistic skills, steady hands, experience with CAD software to design, the ability to visual design ideas for actual jewelry, and a knowledge of popular fashion.

Give yourself a competitive edge with a degree

Depending on the specific route you take, you may benefit from going to school. Jewelry makers who become specialized or independent tend to be more successful with formal education. Also, employers find jewelers with a degree more appealing because they do not require as much on-the-job training as a person without a formal education. This will help you stand out against the competition. You can take your education as far as a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, or Masters of Fine Arts in Metalwork and Jewelry Design for becoming a manual designer.

• Many accredited universities and art institutes can allow you to cut and shape gems and pieces of metal first-hand.
• A few of the best jewelry design schools are Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, Istituto Lorenzo De Medici – The LdM School of Design in Italy, and Birmingham City University in England.
• Advanced credentials and experience can help you one day if you decide to start your own business.

Plan a timeline

Make the Most of Online 3D Modeling Tutorials

Students in schools have a teacher to guide them through building various objects step-by-step, pointing out mistakes, suggesting improvements to make, and teaching them how to avoid mistakes. Learners who take online courses or classes have the same advantage. If you’re not in those categories, online tutorials are your best friend.

Depending on how well you absorb the knowledge and understand the tutorials, you can really build your first simple model within a week or two, and that’s assuming you practice more than several hours a day. If you are a busy person, you may need more time. The good thing is that you can only get better.

Keep in mind that the initial phase of 3D learning will appear daunting because you have no idea what each option in the software does and how any particular function changes the model. More knowledge always makes the work easier.

How 3D Modeling Design Can Make You Money

Freelancing

Instead of being stuck doing one job over and over, freelancing allows you to try out various things at your own pace and get paid for the same.

With more and more people wanting to work for themselves than others, this serves as the perfect stepping stone in solidifying your career.

Creating Online Graphic Design Skills Courses

As a manual designer, you can provide back to the community by sharing your knowledge through websites like Udemy, Skillshare, Pluralsight, and so on.

The companies require you to submit an audition video so that they can evaluate your skills and if they are marketable. Once signed, you can record videos and instructions and edit them to stitch the perfect video course.

Payment happens on a contract basis with the company and wildly varies from person to person. The significant factors are how much traffic or demand your course warrants and the royalty percentage that you have signed for with the website.

Mintly aids in providing tips on how to become a manual jewelry designer as well as finding employment opportunities for the role of a manual jewelry designer in various jewelry showrooms/ stores.