I work at a call center currently so thats my 8 hours right there I come home watch movie or two with my girl. She has the same days off as me as well. Then I wake up and from 10am-2:30pm I am doing 3d get ready for work at 2:30. So I can only dedicate about 4 and half hours a day to 3d on the days me and my girl have off I can do 3d at night just as long as I spend time with her during the day. I wish I could devote even more time to 3d thats the way I feel. It was been working good for me though. If I had an 8 hour job doing 3d I would still come home and do personal projects.
My day starts at around 6 or 6.30. 4 hrs before the actual core hrs at work start. I can get some research if i want, but mainly is so that i can work without any distractions. My day can be pretty hectic, and most of the time i find that the solid 4 hrs of work that i get before the day start is one of the most productive. Whether i am distracted with meetings, or other people need direction or tasks, schedules or what not. So around 70 percent of my work comes during those hrs. The rest is during the day. If i don't get distracted in the day, then i am even more productive.
I work until 5 or 6. If its a build day or week then i stay a little longer. But right off the bat i am putting 10 to 11 hrs of work and leaving early enough to have an evening to do something else.
I don't work on my portfolio. My skills improve on my actual work. If i see some tool or want to try something out. I try to incorporate it into my work. I have found that if you overload your work with the same thing you do all day, into your free time, you will be not do better. If anything your art is a little bit more dull. Relaxing and enjoying some culture, a good book, time with your family is what motivates your work to become better, and i know that a lot of people here that are vets share that same point of view.
I'd rather dive around for an hour, come back and work an hour of inspired work than to sit in front of my computer and work 2 hours of uninspired work.
Getting away from your art is sometimes the best thing you can do.
Work: 9 till 5. Do my 40 hrs. No crunch or overtime, ever!
personal work: I try to do at least 30mins a day. Usually its speed sketches at lunchtime. I also do freelance work and I have an indie game in development. On average I probably do 2hrs a night.
My girlfriend has an insatiable appetite for reading. So I usually work while shes reading.
But... I do have a strict rule that I stop working at 10pm (if i'm not on a freelance deadline). I find that if I work on something just before I go to bed I can never get to sleep and my mind continues to work on whatever it was i was doing. Especially anything involving working out topology and edge loops. Must be something to do with the problem solving elements of that kind of work. While I was at college I worked till at least 1am every night and it did me no favours at all.
JFletcher I don't think you are depressed or weird but totally normal. I think every artist goes through that and I even think its necessary. There are times that you just have to dig in and eat sleep and breath something in order for it all to come together, its even more rewarding if you love what you're digging into, like you do.
At some point when you want to start branching out and do different things I think you'll find it helps your art in unexpected ways.
I'd rather dive around for an hour, come back and work an hour of inspired work than to sit in front of my computer and work 2 hours of uninspired work.
Getting away from your art is sometimes the best thing you can do.
This. If you're ever just tired of it, feeling burnt out, just leave it be for a while. Go do something completely unrelated. I'm not sure how the quote goes, something like "If you love it set it free, if it's meant to be, it will come back."
I try to get in as early as possible and leave early enough to have time left in the day... That said it isnt easy as i have a commute 1.5 hours to work and the same back... (i live in denmark but work in sweden).
usually during the week i spend the evening playing with my daughter and spending time with family, and dedicating weekend nights on my own stuff when everyone is asleep.
I dont do much overtime at work... maybe a month this year it was an hour more every day and 3 saturdays for a few hours. But I try to work focused during the day to get everything done and plan ahead the work properly to avoid overtime...
nerf bat ninja save your money invest it in savings account always have emergency money for when your in between jobs. Plan ahead and you can't go wrong.
Earlier in my career (and even while I was still in school), I sacrificed a lot of personal time toward focusing on improvement. Like other people have mentioned, I had the mentality that if I wasn't working, I was wasting my time. If you can imagine how hard it was for me to juggle a dating life with this mentality.... But somehow I managed to not turn into a total recluse.
While there's still a lot I could work toward improving art-wise, I'm not a young single guy any more who is only sacrificing his own time to do personal work. I'd be trading time with family for time to do art and I don't want to do that. So, my typical schedule now is to go to work, do the best art I can while I'm there, then go home and spend time with my wife and daughter. I just try to recharge for the next day.
There's still a lot of personal work that I would love to do, but due to time restrictions it often moves at a snails pace right now. If I really want to do artwork, I usually sacrifice sleep and stay up late to do it, but I'm one of those people that really, really needs sleep to function on a basic human level the next day. So it's not something I can do every night. The last character I worked on at home took forever to finish working a couple hours here and there on it, and after that I vowed to not do anything so time consuming anymore.
My plan for the future is to focus on smaller, more design-oriented tasks. I've come to accept that my schedule is the way it is, now I just need to maximize the limited time I do have so I can learn & grow the most from it.
I have a lot of respect for the range of attitudes expressed in this thread.
My attitude is: spend time, don't waste it - and that applies to every facet of life that's worth your time. Work, play, people, self. Even spending time doing fuckall can be important.
If only I was better at sticking to my own philosophy
These are totally the kind of threads I enjoy be a part of: they exemplify the Polycount community as one of good nature and integrity. But really I usually have nothing to say since I don't have the experience to back it up. Especially in a thread like this where I am clearly a bad example, with hardly any of the variables nor the time-management skills required to balance them.
Jfletcher's situation is also exactly how I feel. A crippling guilt and self-deprecation for a desire to show capability and value to the outside world, but with a terrible difference. While many artists this situation retreat into a workaholic state chasing unending productivity, I retreat into the guilt-giver. Laziness and disconnection with work feels like what i can only describe as a drug addiction. I know I feel horrible actively not doing what so many people tell me to do, but eventually I forget that feeling while lost in content consumption (playing games all day) or the pit of procrastination we all fall into easily.
This is where somebody like Hazardous would tell me to work harder (and many others, I'm not just picking on him) and I will sincerely acknowledge their advice as rational, feeling inspired by the harsh realism, and then continue to do the wrong thing. Generally I suppose this means I don't really want the future I am after yet I can hardly believe in the alternative. Many people here a correctly asserting that your work-life shouldn't take over you, but damn I'm starting to wish that would happen to me. (in the good way, if it was forced I know I'd break down like a child missing playtime.)
Well; I felt the need to chime in here as well. Unlike most here, I have a full-time job as a Corrections Officer (fancy way to say Prison Guard); as well as a Family to look after. I've been tinkering off and on with Game Art for the better part of 7 years or so; with very little results. I've had large breaks in actual work done, over the years (sometimes a year or more in between).
I'm trying to come up with a viable solution for getting in at least 3 or 4 hours a day, to get back to speed (using Lightwave currently) and start pumping some work out....possibly to sell at some point. I have 1 or two programmers that I keep in touch with, and hope to start up something small some day; but I need to break this long cycle of "artist block", and get to it. One of my problems (ironically), is the "addiction" of surfing the net, and visiting places such as this; rather that clamping down and getting some learning/work done.
I've done plenty of "paper plans", and had plenty of "starts" on 3D projects; but I haven't followed through as much, over the years. There have been plenty of times (last summer for example) where I put in mucho overtime at work (one week I worked around 80 hours total); and as you can imagine, prison is a pretty negative environment.
I just need to find a constant block of time where the kids are either out of the house (such as during the school year), or asleep. When they are around/awake, I need to spend time with them....they grow up so fast! I work the 2-10 PM shift, so during the school year I have many hours before going to work; where I can work on the 3D stuff, I just need to get into a better sleep pattern, and wake up early.
I know once I bring in some actual money from this stuff (at some point), my wife won't roll her eyes when I talk about it. A few hundred extra a month would do nicely; after that, we'll see. I'd rather work during hours the Family is gone, and keep my days off; than work OT at the prison (sometimes 16 hour days), and not see them at all.
I've known JFletcher since his days with us at TGC (The Game Creators), and his work on packs for FPSCreator. He's a very amiable person, and easy to talk to about things. I had no idea he felt the way he did; but he should know he's made plenty of friends along the way, whether we're on the "net" only, or real-life.....we're here for him, if he needs to talk, etc. You're still young Jon; I remember when I was your age (pushing 40 now), and new experiences popped up all the time. Just be yourself, and the kind of people you would want to hang out with will show up...sooner or later. I made lots of buddies in my years in the Army; I don't really talk to any of them as of this day, but I know if we ever ran into each other, it'd be like it was back in the day.
Anyways; I thought I'd add a bit for those that do this as a hobby, or as a source of side-income. Someday I'd like to "get out of prison", and do this full-time; as a freelancer, and part of a small team developing small independent games. Maybe I'll start showing some work here, when I break this damn cycle I'm in!
Cool thread Me, I feel like I'm heading in the opposite way as some here.
I'm a extremely outgoing and sociable person, to the point that I felt that it held my work back a bit. I'm about to turn 28 and I'm nowhere as good as some guys in his 22s. I used to go out with friends or even by myself and making random friends, girls, partying and getting drunk several times a week. But I do feel that this actually contributed a lot to me even though it might seem meaningless.
But then for the last couple of years I just don't feel like that anymore. I feel that I got enough of it and I'm becoming increasingly silent, introspective and focused. I'm still the same person, but now I turn down like 90% of the invitations I get so I can focus on my work. I even quit alcohol, and I've been enjoying it so far. I regret nothing, pretty happy with who I am and who I'm aiming to become.
I just go with the flow and do what I want to do, I sometimes do overtime because I'm really enjoying what I'm doing. Other times I'm passionate about personal work. But I personally take a fairly laid back approach, I do what I want when I want. I can sometimes go weeks without doing any personal work, other times it can almost become a second job because I'm enjoying it so much.
One thing I always make sure to remember is making time for my partner and getting away from it all to not burn myself out. I can sometimes go a whole week of working flat out, coming home from work and sitting on my computer, headphones on and not saying anything until I crash. My girlfriend knows that after the week or so is over I will make that time back.
So to sum it up I personally don't have this scale of balance I follow each day, I just go with the flow and remember to do what I enjoy, but also not to be to selfish to effect those around me.
Replies
My day starts at around 6 or 6.30. 4 hrs before the actual core hrs at work start. I can get some research if i want, but mainly is so that i can work without any distractions. My day can be pretty hectic, and most of the time i find that the solid 4 hrs of work that i get before the day start is one of the most productive. Whether i am distracted with meetings, or other people need direction or tasks, schedules or what not. So around 70 percent of my work comes during those hrs. The rest is during the day. If i don't get distracted in the day, then i am even more productive.
I work until 5 or 6. If its a build day or week then i stay a little longer. But right off the bat i am putting 10 to 11 hrs of work and leaving early enough to have an evening to do something else.
I don't work on my portfolio. My skills improve on my actual work. If i see some tool or want to try something out. I try to incorporate it into my work. I have found that if you overload your work with the same thing you do all day, into your free time, you will be not do better. If anything your art is a little bit more dull. Relaxing and enjoying some culture, a good book, time with your family is what motivates your work to become better, and i know that a lot of people here that are vets share that same point of view.
Getting away from your art is sometimes the best thing you can do.
personal work: I try to do at least 30mins a day. Usually its speed sketches at lunchtime. I also do freelance work and I have an indie game in development. On average I probably do 2hrs a night.
My girlfriend has an insatiable appetite for reading. So I usually work while shes reading.
But... I do have a strict rule that I stop working at 10pm (if i'm not on a freelance deadline). I find that if I work on something just before I go to bed I can never get to sleep and my mind continues to work on whatever it was i was doing. Especially anything involving working out topology and edge loops. Must be something to do with the problem solving elements of that kind of work. While I was at college I worked till at least 1am every night and it did me no favours at all.
At some point when you want to start branching out and do different things I think you'll find it helps your art in unexpected ways.
*With a large scale...
This. If you're ever just tired of it, feeling burnt out, just leave it be for a while. Go do something completely unrelated. I'm not sure how the quote goes, something like "If you love it set it free, if it's meant to be, it will come back."
usually during the week i spend the evening playing with my daughter and spending time with family, and dedicating weekend nights on my own stuff when everyone is asleep.
I dont do much overtime at work... maybe a month this year it was an hour more every day and 3 saturdays for a few hours. But I try to work focused during the day to get everything done and plan ahead the work properly to avoid overtime...
While there's still a lot I could work toward improving art-wise, I'm not a young single guy any more who is only sacrificing his own time to do personal work. I'd be trading time with family for time to do art and I don't want to do that. So, my typical schedule now is to go to work, do the best art I can while I'm there, then go home and spend time with my wife and daughter. I just try to recharge for the next day.
There's still a lot of personal work that I would love to do, but due to time restrictions it often moves at a snails pace right now. If I really want to do artwork, I usually sacrifice sleep and stay up late to do it, but I'm one of those people that really, really needs sleep to function on a basic human level the next day. So it's not something I can do every night. The last character I worked on at home took forever to finish working a couple hours here and there on it, and after that I vowed to not do anything so time consuming anymore.
My plan for the future is to focus on smaller, more design-oriented tasks. I've come to accept that my schedule is the way it is, now I just need to maximize the limited time I do have so I can learn & grow the most from it.
My attitude is: spend time, don't waste it - and that applies to every facet of life that's worth your time. Work, play, people, self. Even spending time doing fuckall can be important.
If only I was better at sticking to my own philosophy
Jfletcher's situation is also exactly how I feel. A crippling guilt and self-deprecation for a desire to show capability and value to the outside world, but with a terrible difference. While many artists this situation retreat into a workaholic state chasing unending productivity, I retreat into the guilt-giver. Laziness and disconnection with work feels like what i can only describe as a drug addiction. I know I feel horrible actively not doing what so many people tell me to do, but eventually I forget that feeling while lost in content consumption (playing games all day) or the pit of procrastination we all fall into easily.
This is where somebody like Hazardous would tell me to work harder (and many others, I'm not just picking on him) and I will sincerely acknowledge their advice as rational, feeling inspired by the harsh realism, and then continue to do the wrong thing. Generally I suppose this means I don't really want the future I am after yet I can hardly believe in the alternative. Many people here a correctly asserting that your work-life shouldn't take over you, but damn I'm starting to wish that would happen to me. (in the good way, if it was forced I know I'd break down like a child missing playtime.)
I'm trying to come up with a viable solution for getting in at least 3 or 4 hours a day, to get back to speed (using Lightwave currently) and start pumping some work out....possibly to sell at some point. I have 1 or two programmers that I keep in touch with, and hope to start up something small some day; but I need to break this long cycle of "artist block", and get to it. One of my problems (ironically), is the "addiction" of surfing the net, and visiting places such as this; rather that clamping down and getting some learning/work done.
I've done plenty of "paper plans", and had plenty of "starts" on 3D projects; but I haven't followed through as much, over the years. There have been plenty of times (last summer for example) where I put in mucho overtime at work (one week I worked around 80 hours total); and as you can imagine, prison is a pretty negative environment.
I just need to find a constant block of time where the kids are either out of the house (such as during the school year), or asleep. When they are around/awake, I need to spend time with them....they grow up so fast! I work the 2-10 PM shift, so during the school year I have many hours before going to work; where I can work on the 3D stuff, I just need to get into a better sleep pattern, and wake up early.
I know once I bring in some actual money from this stuff (at some point), my wife won't roll her eyes when I talk about it. A few hundred extra a month would do nicely; after that, we'll see. I'd rather work during hours the Family is gone, and keep my days off; than work OT at the prison (sometimes 16 hour days), and not see them at all.
I've known JFletcher since his days with us at TGC (The Game Creators), and his work on packs for FPSCreator. He's a very amiable person, and easy to talk to about things. I had no idea he felt the way he did; but he should know he's made plenty of friends along the way, whether we're on the "net" only, or real-life.....we're here for him, if he needs to talk, etc. You're still young Jon; I remember when I was your age (pushing 40 now), and new experiences popped up all the time. Just be yourself, and the kind of people you would want to hang out with will show up...sooner or later. I made lots of buddies in my years in the Army; I don't really talk to any of them as of this day, but I know if we ever ran into each other, it'd be like it was back in the day.
Anyways; I thought I'd add a bit for those that do this as a hobby, or as a source of side-income. Someday I'd like to "get out of prison", and do this full-time; as a freelancer, and part of a small team developing small independent games. Maybe I'll start showing some work here, when I break this damn cycle I'm in!
I'm a extremely outgoing and sociable person, to the point that I felt that it held my work back a bit. I'm about to turn 28 and I'm nowhere as good as some guys in his 22s. I used to go out with friends or even by myself and making random friends, girls, partying and getting drunk several times a week. But I do feel that this actually contributed a lot to me even though it might seem meaningless.
But then for the last couple of years I just don't feel like that anymore. I feel that I got enough of it and I'm becoming increasingly silent, introspective and focused. I'm still the same person, but now I turn down like 90% of the invitations I get so I can focus on my work. I even quit alcohol, and I've been enjoying it so far. I regret nothing, pretty happy with who I am and who I'm aiming to become.
One thing I always make sure to remember is making time for my partner and getting away from it all to not burn myself out. I can sometimes go a whole week of working flat out, coming home from work and sitting on my computer, headphones on and not saying anything until I crash. My girlfriend knows that after the week or so is over I will make that time back.
So to sum it up I personally don't have this scale of balance I follow each day, I just go with the flow and remember to do what I enjoy, but also not to be to selfish to effect those around me.