Getting off of a Skill Plateau

YakZSmelk

Hi Polycount Forum!

I'm writing to ask, what's the best way to get off a skill plateau?

Recently I've been trying to push myself in new directions and feel like I'm not getting better just getting stuck and frustrated.

Any feed back is welcome, thanks for any and all help!

Lamont

Be very critical of your own work. Do not be afraid to ask for cits on things you have done recently. If it seems like a landslide of crits, group them into categories (textures, lighting, mesh (low/high). Fix the asset, and keep the notes you made and then move on to the next and adhere to those notes.

Hopefully someone else can chime in.

Acid_Wire

Recognise habits that have formed because they're comfortable and also probably kinda bad - then deliberately break them.

I very much agree on posting work here for crits, and be as revealing as possible. That said, I'm a hypocrite for not making any WIP threads for a while..

Learning new techniques or software can also help as long as it's not used as an excuse to stall

ExcessiveZero

Acid_Wire wrote: »

Recognise habits that have formed because they're comfortable and also probably kinda bad - then deliberately break them.

I very much agree on posting work here for crits, and be as revealing as possible. That said, I'm a hypocrite for not making any WIP threads for a while..

Learning new techniques or software can also help as long as it's not used as an excuse to stall

have to agree with the new techniques and software, using mudbox made be better with zbrush, Maya better with max, just gives you a deeper understanding of what you are working with and different approaches.

Observing, Learning and practice is fundamental for the advancement of your art, self and skill.

JacqueChoi

Do something completely vastly different than anything you've done before.

Preferably something you know you suck at. Then really really go 'all in'.

Rurouni Strife

Also, if you've been in a grind working and working and working for a while and your head doesn't feel right, take a week off and vacation or explore or something. I tend to stagnate after a long period of work because my brain needs a bit of time off to rest and put together all the things I've learned.

Autocon

JacqueChoi wrote: »

Do something completely vastly different than anything you've done before.

Preferably something you know you suck at. Then really really go 'all in'.

This

passerby

tackle a new problem every week. That you know you struggle with.

ZombieWells

Okay, So when somebody reaches a "skill plateau" I assume that they have exhausted all creative, skill base, and technical know how they have. Sort of painting themselves into a corner because they have reached a certain peek of self awareness and are hungry for new ideas to balance themselves back out.

So taking a quick look at your portfolio I am seeing that the most challenging single prop on there is probably this helmet.


Right, so I am assuming that this is the "skill plateau" you are referring to? Punch knife, helmet, shield, totem pole, etc.. My advice is to find something more challenging to do, which shouldn't be hard,(not super tough to find concepts, or military guns/vehicles, or fantasy ZB stuff, (Skyrim concept art book) to do) or to actually complete a whole armor set instead of a single helmet or shield, (EXAMPLE BELOW). The room for improvement alone is vast, and honestly it doesn't look like you have made the effort to see what others are doing.

Create more challenging assets!

moose

One thing that always helped me was to look at a specific thing I was weak at, and do a lot of repetitious studies. Dropping my confidence on something makes me work hard to improve at that one thing, and use that as fuel for all areas of art. It may not be an immediate gain, but after doing a lot of studies - with the focus on what you can improve after each one - you should start to notice improvement.

It may be useful to be very specific about what you want to improve in as well. Something like "why can't i model better?" is not a goal, and when phrased "i want to model better" is a terrible goal. You need to be specific with yourself "I can't model mechanical parts" or "I don't feel confident modelling hands" are much better, specific goals. Setting real, attainable, actionable, and specific goals for your brain to focus on will help push your art forward.

practice, practice, practice (specifics, specifics, specifics).

for example, I bad at drawing horses. I need to do studies, so I am more confident while drawing them.
sample:

Jeff Parrott

moose wrote: »

One thing that always helped me was to look at a specific thing I was weak at, and do a lot of repetitious studies....

practice, practice, practice (specifics, specifics, specifics).

This! Do something a bunch! Model screws all day for a week. Then take a break for a couple days and model a screw. You'll find you've developed your eye more for it and speed as well.

Another thing I find myself doing is if I'm working on a giant personal scene that's all next gen'd up or whatever I'll do a quick hand painted sword or something totally left field. I find often that the left field thing ends up being a home run and the larger project ends up being safer and more typical. Not sure why. Maybe it's a scale issue and allowing myself to take leaps more or something.

I say practice a crapton then take a weekend off. You'll notice improvements.

heboltz3

Learn new things, maybe not even technical things applied to asset creation. Watch documentaries, learn about places, and construction, and smithing, and anything!

Keep learning, keep working, talk to people, go h.a.m.

Isaiah Sherman

JacqueChoi wrote: »

Do something completely vastly different than anything you've done before.

Preferably something you know you suck at. Then really really go 'all in'.

Also agree.

All forms of art practice aid all other forms of art practice in some way. Perhaps another workflow or subject forces you to think about perspective more, or makes you evaluate color theory more than you have before.

Those skills will then transfer in to the other work you do.

It's good to specialize but diversifying can help your specialization!

YakZSmelk

Thank you all for the feedback and input!

I've started pushing myself to break some bad habits and will be starting to focus on larger more challenging projects.

StephenVyas

JacqueChoi wrote: »

Do something completely vastly different than anything you've done before.

Preferably something you know you suck at. Then really really go 'all in'.

Yep

Mask_Salesman

Bug someone who is ultra good at what your trying to learn, Steal all the rainbow juice you can :thumbup: