MOTIVATION THREAD -- What do you WISH you had practiced?
polycounter lvl 17
Recently i've been reflecting on how much damn time I wasted in 2007-2009 being a moody teenager instead of bunkering down and getting badass at art.
There are a lot of times when awesome artists, eq and b1ll and perna and mop, gave me very specific advice, and I just lost interest in my project or didnt work hard enough to implement it. That sucks! Somewhere on my HD I have a paintover b1ll took the time to give me on a sculpt that didn't really deserve it, and every time I see it i feel like I totally wasted the help it couldve given me.
I don't have any real regrets, but looking back and seeing what I should have done really helps to drive and focus me now. I could be 10x the artist I am, easily, if I had just started putting the hours in sooner -- I found some old threads of mine on polycount with work like this from 2007 that I never put the time or work into.
This has become on of the driving, motivational forces in why I keep sitting down and doing art or working in unity even when I don't really feel up to it. I would love to hear similar stories from you guys -- what do you look back on and wish you had done better as an artist?
There are a lot of times when awesome artists, eq and b1ll and perna and mop, gave me very specific advice, and I just lost interest in my project or didnt work hard enough to implement it. That sucks! Somewhere on my HD I have a paintover b1ll took the time to give me on a sculpt that didn't really deserve it, and every time I see it i feel like I totally wasted the help it couldve given me.
I don't have any real regrets, but looking back and seeing what I should have done really helps to drive and focus me now. I could be 10x the artist I am, easily, if I had just started putting the hours in sooner -- I found some old threads of mine on polycount with work like this from 2007 that I never put the time or work into.
This has become on of the driving, motivational forces in why I keep sitting down and doing art or working in unity even when I don't really feel up to it. I would love to hear similar stories from you guys -- what do you look back on and wish you had done better as an artist?
Replies
I've spent a lot of years experimenting with such and such technique, or looking for this tutorial, or trying to work in this style, or trying to use whichever brushes...and while that was all well and good, and I certainly improved, I think I would probably be a lot farther along (or at least have more to show) if I'd just said "fuck it", put "thing that makes marks" to "thing that gets marked on" and just did whatever I really FELT like doing.
Short version, I guess I just wish I'd spent less time trying to figure out how everyone else got to where they are, and more time simply doing it in my own way and having fun with it.
Thankfully I am still young and have plenty of time. Better I realized it now than 5 or 10 years from now.
~ In all seriousness though. Don't Wish or Regret. Its a wasted emotion. Just get to work.
Im only 17 and im still studying anatomy like a fuckton. I have quite a history with weapon modeling so I should be good with anything hard surface, but ultimately anatomy will help me organically
I however keep my DA updated with stuff dating back to 2008, so I love to see my progress
One thing that I regret is not always using solid concepts before modelling. Wasted so much time figuring how to add new elements to my model in 3D, spending hours adding these things, then realising they don't work
Totally!
Doesn't have to be a negative thing!
~ Actually it does, dude.
It's okay to have mistakes. Just don't waste time regretting them. Be happy you can learn from them. It seems frivolous to wish they never happened or you else you wouldn't have gained a lesson to change your future from it.
Touche, I shouldve said it doesn't have to be a bad thing.
This thread isnt about moaning that you're a failure, it's about identifying things that shouldn't been done differently and learning from them. I'm not sure why you're hung up on the semantics of it.
Now i gotta relearn how to draw
Get my Body back to its beautiful state (I consider myself Art when Im in top physical condition)
Though i didn't really pay much attention to drawing when i had started giving my interest in 3D drawing was easy painful and simple back then now its wtf i don't even remember how to shade anymore!
I assume some people here know how frustrating it is to have amazing ideas on the brain that wont just gtfo but they cant gtfo of your mind because you lack the mind body connection and your so eager to rebuild the connecting you rage so much along the way making it feel like forever. RElearning how to draw is not as easy as jumping into 3, for me its not.
my hands shake my mind goes blank i begin to tear the page, i can see it before me its like connecting the dots with each angle you make but when i put down the pencil it does the opposite. WI have a photographic memory as we all do mine is just trained to an extent of remembering even vibrations of pain so why in hell cant i scribble some lines on a white sheet and be recognized as the Champion i am!
Now 3D Wise its a more rage worthy story. i know i have the power to make anything i chose that was naturally easy for me it took em 8 months to open my mind and see how simple it but for some massive reason i wont Model/Texture anything unless Im being told to 3 years later i cant make shit for myself and when i force myself i end up quitting on it, i had over 400 maya scene files that were about 70% complete they just were boring after i finished most the modeling. its like the vision died But when i was in a dedicated team working on a fanbased mmo it was an amazing experience so much fun, when asked i made something and tried to beat my record with the best results i could provide i felt as if i were being praised when asked to make something. your not suppose to be praised for making art wtf am i thinking! I dont even plan on making a game i just like Art and a way to express myself at that time was through making a game
I identified my problems 1. Puberty 2. Being cocky/Arrogant thats all.
I start a project and out of the blue Im thinking about this girl i like her face just takes over my thoughts and i go lay in a conner and smile at the celling
Being cocky/Arrogant wise i just think Im to amazing that i need to be begged before i can output an asset or a form of art
After joining Polycount (Mainly) i realized how much i need to improve how bad my skill's were and how awesome Im not and could be so being here around people better than i helps me feel inferior making me want to be one of the best! My old team is all broken up doing things other than Game development now i feel accomplished being the last one still going through with CG
I have many goals so i have a multitude of motivation only death or the loss of my hands can stop me now
I also wish i had practiced being a mime when i was younger...the things i could do with that power!
Edit: No disrespect to Suprore and the group, just the dood above me who posted seems a little off their rocking chair is all :P
And to bring it back around... I wish I had focused more on traditional, since now it's becoming very clear to me that by lacking key fundamentals, it (at times) has made my job a bit harder due to lack of "creativity" on my part.
Basically, having the ability to both produce and realize ideas on paper is a skillset I lack and very much will be working towards improving in the coming year.
Didn't mean to disrespect you guys (if I did).
I now have a great passion for making great art which I haven't had before. I felt reborn when a friend told me to follow my dreams instead of doing what I think would be the right thing to do. I don't regret not have done it before because I would have missed out on the amazing feeling then and most likely not put my heart in it.
The reason you feel bad from a bad experience is because your mind is trying to make you learn from it so you don't repeat the mistake. It's not a bad thing like suprore said. Sitting and whining about it while not doing anything to fix it on the other hand is a very bad thing. The most important thing is to stay positive!
SupRore, your stuff was always ok - don't dwell on stuff too much man, think yourself lucky you are not an old git like me.
I'm not posting it to mope or be down on my own work or encourage anyone else to be down on theirs, i just dont think i wrote the OP very well. Possibly a bad idea for a thread in general
ruz, but you're an old git with mad art skills!
I have actually recently been thinking that I should have done environmental art instead and keep toying with the idea of switching over:0
OR I might become a lumberjack, leaping from tree to tree
i wish i practiced anything other than game art
Indeed.
Either way, aren't you super young? You've got professional level 3d skills locked down, you have plenty of time to do other shit!
Sure there were a couple here and there that could have been different, but if I didn't make them then I wouldn't have learned from them.
Always look forward.
Probably...I shouldn't have stressed myself too much wondering if my skills will be good enough to land opportunities (like paid work).
From my experience, even when there's nothing on the horizon that equals opportunity, if you just keep on working at getting better and being prepared (like having a portfolio to show) awesome attainable opportunities do show up from time to time. (It helps if you're also consistenly looking.)
For example, I thought there's no way for me to get a chance working for Pixar primarily because of visa issues. But they opened Pixar Canada not long ago. I have Canadian citizenship so...I just have to work on the folio that's good enough for an interview. And Pix Canada has been hiring off and on since they opened. I know it's not the same (Pix Canada do legacy content stuff), but in my book it is.
Another recent example, I just got rejected from a dev job application (after an onsite interview and h.r. bullshit). But I kept on spamming this other local dev looking for an artist until the owner contacted me directly. I managed to get them to give me a test. Probably won't equal an offer but it's better than being completely ignored.
Stuff like that.
Before I felt I had to hurry to catch up. Be good fast. But you know it's different for everybody. Now...I stressed about making my freelance deadlines and getting paid. But in regards to work opportunities...I don't worry about it even when I don't live in a dev hotbed.
On a side note, based on the OP wishing to have not wasted time when younger, that's actually where I am now, but the thing is it's not the kind of thing you can just get out of, that I could somehow just avoid. I can't get motivated to do things, nothing feels original and everything has become a waste and without value.
It's an incredibly frustrating thing, but every time I go to make things I can only think about how unoriginal and valueless they are and how contrived the pursuit is. It feels like I'm staging myself to make things everyday, but the action could be replaced with counting grains of sand and I'd feel just as invested.
It's not the type of thing you can just tell someone to snap out of, it's like telling an atheist to just believe, believe in the value of your work, but in reality it's the same uninspired garbage and no one can tell you otherwise. It's painfully apparent when there isn't much feeling going on and you are supposed to be creating something that you feel is great.
Hopefully this doesn't last.
It doesn't! Keep drawing, keep searching for what you love about art and reminding yourself why you do it. Eventually you're gonna hit a stride and start to love it again... Or come to peace with not wanting to be an artist, which is just as good.
MagicSugar, cool insight! Good post man.