This isn’t exactly a Godot question, but a general 3D art question. From looking around online, I see some suggestions pointing that an idea of a character should be sketched out and draw in 2D first. There should be front portrait, side portrait and back portrait. Then, afterward, bring those three 2D images into Blender and start 3D modelling. So 3D artists, do you normally do this?
I have also seen some people online just go ahead and start modelling in 3D right away without doing anything in 2D first.
It really depends on your skillset, preferences, and which way you model your character.
You don’t necessarily need to sketch your character in 2D if you don’t think it will benefit your workflow.
I’m pretty terrible at drawing so 90% of the time I go right ahead and model my character. If I know how I want the character to look like I can achieve it, but additional 2D sketches can help me flesh out the vision. But that’s because my workflow doesn’t necessarily require any sketches. I do subdivision modelling, which means I can block out my character in 3D (basically sketching it in 3D) before moving on to fully fleshing out all the defining features, which allows me to precisely define all the body features and proportions before fully modeling the character. Other people create the mesh topology based on sketch/concept art, some people also sculpt the character and retopologize later. All are valid approaches, and it very heavily depends on each user.
If you know how you want the character to look and don’t think you need sketches to achieve the look, you don’t have to do them, but for example in most studios character artists will receive concept art that they will have to follow closely.
I have little to no 2D drawing abilities, so I get the best results with using reference images as a guide for 3D modeling (which is where the vast majority of my artistic abilities lie, such as they are).