3D artist without 2D abilities?

[Hanuka]

i was having a conversation with a friend the other day about 3d artists and their drawing abilities. Do you think it's obligatory to have (strong) drawing skills in order to become a very good 3d-artist? And I'm not talking about all those Bryce-artists and logo/font-designers ;)

Im not that much into 3d-modelling, so I cannot really answer the question myself... guess, some of you have more experience in this field.

[Daunting]

Not neccissarily. See plenty of people that have reputable resume's that can't draw worth crap. However.. I would say you would need some drawing ability or an understanding of drawing and a very big imagination to become a great 3d artist. I do have to say that most of the super uber awesome 3d artists I see can draw though..

[troymcoy]

Not obligatory but it helps alot to have drawing/painting skills, do a search on cgtalk.com, this has been discussed alot there.

[darth massacre]

Its a YES for me.

I'm not in this line of work but I've observed that most good 3D modellers have an excellent collection of sketches.

[Mike Frank]

I'm sort of an aspiring 3d/2d artist.. got started with 3d and realized I probably wouldnt be getting much of anywhere without a good traditional background, so I spend most of my time drawing now. Most people seem to stress that art is art, 3d is just another medium of expression. If you want to make good 3d organic models then you will need a good knowledge of anatomy at least so your models can deform correctly. If you want to make good textures I'm sure it helps to have some knowledge of painting. Same goes for setting up scene compositions and lighting. All of these things you can experiment with and learn alot more I think through traditional experimentation rather than spending a ton of time learning through 3d. Not that I think it isn't impossible to do just strictly 3d, but why limit yourself to just one medium?