Where to start learning computer design?

Question

Design

The question arises from the following problem:
I am a developer, in particular, I am engaged in backend for applications. For some time now, there has been a desire to develop games for Android and iOS on my own, but the trouble is that I can draw poorly, but in Photoshop, etc. I don't own things. There are many different courses on the net (computer design courses, computer graphics courses, 3D graphics courses, interface design courses, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator courses, etc.).
Please tell me which courses to enroll in to learn how to draw such graphics as, for example, in Plants vs. Zombies or at least That Level Again? What should you even start with? Learn how to work with lighting? Learn how to correctly determine proportions? Or even take and go to an art school, so that they simply teach you how to draw with a pencil?
The more I delve into the subject, the more questions arise.

Answer 1

To make a competent and user-friendly interface , you need an interface designer. Read books on interface design or take training to master this knowledge. This is one of the components of the application, because an inconvenient interface can generate a lot of negative reviews and alienate users.
To make a pretty picture, characteristic of high-grossing games like Plants vs. Zombies, needs an illustrator. In That Level Again, the graphics are simpler, but even for a result close to it, you need to be proficient in graphic editors (not only raster, but also vector ones, since the tool is selected based on the task). This is how you can do everything in Paint, but there are more convenient tools. Here, either an illustrator with experience, or learn the full functionality of the editors to be able to select the tools and methods for creating designs on their own.
At the same time, to make the picture more pleasing to the eye, more realistic and more natural, you need to know the basics of color, perspective, anatomy and everything else that creators are taught at the very beginning. I'm not talking only about photorealism, but even cartoonish design still has to be literate from the point of view, at least, of logic. And this is laid initially and honed with experience. here either an illustrator / designer is needed again, or to study the basics taught in art schools (well, or in courses for beginners).
If you are alone and write code, design the interface and draw illustrations for games, then the process of creating the same Plants vs. Zombies clone will drag on for a very long time. There are many examples of single developers. In summary , I personally see two options for solving this problem:
1.If you really want to master the design of applications / games, then start learning from the very beginning. Universities, schools, courses, etc. Surely, somewhere there are training programs for this specialization. That's just either to work hard in the next year at least, or little by little, but stretch for a long time. In any case, funds are needed to live on something during the training and pay for this very training. You can also start as an intern in the office of a specialized company and learn along the way.
With each new application, your design will become closer to good. Theoretically =)
2.Focus on the software part and hone your skills in this regard, do not spend a lot of time learning a new profession for yourself and entrust the creation of graphics to a designer / illustrator. In parallel, in your free time, you can study everything mentioned above by any chosen means and, perhaps, over time, the services of a third-party specialist will no longer be needed.
Partially, buying ready-made sets of graphics for the game can help (fortunately, there are a lot of them and they are easy to find), but there will be no uniqueness and there is a high probability of meeting dozens of games with the same design. And it will most likely be so.
As a result, you should once again evaluate your capabilities (financial and time in particular), understand the cost of designing applications that you want to do, study the courses offered (offline in your city, remotely or with training in another city/country) and their cost and then choose the most suitable path. After all, if you have the funds for a dozen years of a comfortable life, this is one thing, but if you want to write games because of the need for additional. earning is something completely different.

Answer 2

Naturally, I'm going to draw in my spare time. The most convenient way would be to attend some courses (even a year). But again, courses are different.
What would you recommend in order to learn how to make graphics for an application, say, the same Plants vs. Zombies? Is it enough to take courses in Adobe Illustrator and focus only on graphic editors? Or should you first take some general course for artists to learn colors, perspectives, proportions, learn how to paint in oils? Is it even possible to learn to draw something interesting without having any special training?
As for artistic skills, it’s not that I don’t know how to draw at all. According to my friends, I draw quite well, and once in my youth there were even attempts to make my own manga, but it didn’t go beyond 5-6 not very related pictures.
Thank you very much for the replies. Recordings from CGSpeak are interesting, but for some reason nothing was found for absolutely beginner dummies.