Polycounter Oppinions needed!
polycounter lvl 17
Hey guys n girls, wanted to get your thoughts on something thats been bouncing around in my head for quite some time now.
Whilst timelapses are valuable tools in and of themselves, and certainly there is absolutely no shortage of places to get that kind of information from artists & people much more skilled and experienced that I am - What I keep saying to myself are things like " I wonder how he or she arrived at this conclusion, what experience propelled him or her to this point? How does this person manage their time? What approach in learning worked best for them?" and the list goes on and on.
The short version is that in the coming months / years I'd like to express and document my own experiences dealing with some of the more complicated mental issues that pop up like motivation, focus, getting jobs, folios, freelance, visas, work / life balance. Things that aren't really covered in sculpting time lapses or step by step tutorials on how to do something in 3d, but for my mind are just as important as they encompass the reality of life outside of manipulating those pixols.
Where I'd like your opinion is, firstly, if it would be of interest at all for people? And secondly, whats the best format to deliver it in?
Im thinking something along the lines of time lapses and recording a voiceover discussing these topics initially from my viewpoint and *hopefully* later on wrangling the viewpoints of other artists in my circle of friends.
Welcome any thoughts you might have
Cheers!
Whilst timelapses are valuable tools in and of themselves, and certainly there is absolutely no shortage of places to get that kind of information from artists & people much more skilled and experienced that I am - What I keep saying to myself are things like " I wonder how he or she arrived at this conclusion, what experience propelled him or her to this point? How does this person manage their time? What approach in learning worked best for them?" and the list goes on and on.
The short version is that in the coming months / years I'd like to express and document my own experiences dealing with some of the more complicated mental issues that pop up like motivation, focus, getting jobs, folios, freelance, visas, work / life balance. Things that aren't really covered in sculpting time lapses or step by step tutorials on how to do something in 3d, but for my mind are just as important as they encompass the reality of life outside of manipulating those pixols.
Where I'd like your opinion is, firstly, if it would be of interest at all for people? And secondly, whats the best format to deliver it in?
Im thinking something along the lines of time lapses and recording a voiceover discussing these topics initially from my viewpoint and *hopefully* later on wrangling the viewpoints of other artists in my circle of friends.
Welcome any thoughts you might have
Cheers!
Replies
There's something similar here, if you want to use as a base to do your own:
http://www.theartoffreelancing.com/
But good point man, thanks for bringing that up, no it wouldnt be something that people need to pay for, it is just my humble opinion after all (and hopefully the oppinions of others eventually)
Also, a Pro is just some one who gets payed for doing what they are supposedly pro at. You get good ones and bad ones - but you are definitely one of the top ones ^^
It's always awesome hearing how some of the top guys who have similar issues push through those motivation blocks and various other obstacles to put out amazing art.
Oh sorry, my poor noobie friend.
Noah Bradley's blog post "Stop Whining, Start Working" popped up here a few days ago. His blog is filled with information similar to what you're describing.
http://http://www.noahbradley.com/blog/
Matt Kohr (http://www.ctrlpaint.com) discusses this stuff from time to time as well.
Both are some of the best learning resources I've seen online, but they're concept artists.
i think this would be realy helpfull to a lot of artists.
having something to guide you through the dark times is always good. especialy since every good artist around here seems to have some outside motivating factor, that a lot of aspiring artists may not have.
As for format, if you're talking about stuff not explicitly workflow-related that doesn't require images to explain, maybe package it either as sound files or as a video of a Powerpoint-style slideshow with you talking over it, that way people can listen to it while working.
Looking forward to this!
but seriously, i think that whole idea is too subjective and varies person to person.
topics like motivation, focus, getting jobs, folios, freelance, visas, work / life balance etc. are all matters of individual experience and varies person to person and i wonder how much if it all it has effect on how other people progress.
in my opinion, technical workflow or timelapse of any technique are more general and universal which makes them more useful.
If you ended up sculpting stuff and did Bobby Chiu style voice overs, that'd be rad. Noone's gonna object to that i dont think :P
Actually yeah just do that, those vids are crazy motivational
also: is this in response to Shanthosa suggesting you write a book in the unemployment length thread? because i'm a +1 on that.
you should do podcasts, kind of like Games Industry Mentor http://gim.acanaday.com/
but more often :P
Personally, what I like best are videos of an artist making art. I find that there are two kinds. The kind where the guy records himself working and talking at the same time, and the kind where the artist records himself working, and adds a voice-over later.
They're both good. The latter seems to be the more common, and I guess it makes the most sense, because otherwise talking while working would make each piece take forever to complete. But the problem is that the commentary can be some times nothing more than the artist simply describing what's going on on-screen, much like the Arnold commentary on the Total Recall DVD (check that out if you haven't, it's hilarious).
The former is usually much longer, and probably more boring too, but it seems to be the best place for gems. You're working on something, and as you're doing it you're talking about why (not how) you're doing it. It's like having a direct brain-link to an artist as they're creating something. And the thought process can sometimes give you serious hints.
So yeah... I think I went off-topic here. But those are my thoughts on that.
You should do a voyeur cam. That is the best way I think.
Format-wise, I think keeping it simple is the best - go for text so that it can easily be looked through, referenced back to and such like. There's no reason why you couldn't add a video portion as an addition though if you thought it'd add an extra element.
I sorta agree with MM that some of the deeper stuff can get very personal and subjective, but that's not so bad as long as it's presented in that way. I've been lucky enough to have several talks with you about this type of stuff and it's always been very illuminating. It would be really cool to hear more haz-thoughts