Problems with learning at home

palexpereira

Hi everyone

So here's the thing. I've been learning 3D at home for almost a year. I read through some of the threads on education and a lot of you feel like sometimes it's better to learn with DVD's and books than to spend a lot of money on a course and getting pretty much the same education.

To give you my background for context: I graduated from Multimedia Art (Fine Arts) two years ago and took a VFX course at The Animation Workshop a year ago (to have a strong foundation in CG which I absolutely lacked back in college). I landed a job at a advertising studio as a junior 3D artist.

The experience was nice but didn't help me much in achieving my goal to become an environment artist in games, but I don't really have many options career-wise, here in Portugal.

Now I'm unemployed again doing the odd freelance work, while working on my portfolio. But it's getting more difficult to actually push myself now as an artist. I really need a structure to keep focused. As I said, a lot of you feel that school is mostly wasted money, apart from making connections. I have to say that my time at The Animation Workshop was not a waste at all, in all aspects (but one could argue that was because I was so green, anything would be good).

This is what I got so far (I'm yet to make a showreel):

https://www.behance.net/PedroAPereira
http://imgur.com/a/AsMww

A UE4 environment I've been working on:

http://imgur.com/a/3U7Zr

So my question is: taking into account my current skill level, is it a good idea for me to enroll in a online course or some other program specializing in environments and hard surface (which is really what I like)? Or a more general course related to game art? If so, what could I look into? (Remember that I'm from the EU)

Or on the other hand, should I just finish what I have and just try to find a job as a Junior Prop/Environment Artist and hone my skills from there?

EarthQuake

Keep in mind that a lot of the advice in terms of cost of school is from or targeted to people in the US, where a 4 year course at a specialized school can cost nearly as much as buying a small house. I don't know what its like in Portugal, but if its similar to the rest of Europe, schooling there is likely much more affordable and thus a much more attractive option.

In the US, its often a question of learning on your own or taking on crippling debt, and the crippling debt bit is really hard to suggest to people.

I think anyone, regardless of skill/experience level, would benefit from some sort of training/school work, but since you're not really a novice, you'll need to really push yourself to get the most of it. At which point, the value of working on your own vs putting yourself through a course and still essentially working on your own needs to be weighed.

Leinad

I really love being in a classroom environment, but like what EarthQuake has stated the biggest negative is the cost+interest (loan) in the US. Some of the artists that I know are $70,000+ in debt. Most of the recruitment in the U.S. for art schools can be quite predatory so they tend to get a bad reputation.

I don't see how taking an online course is much different than doing work on your own time and freelancing. It's obvious you've spent a lot of time getting your skills to where it's at now.

My answer to your question would be this. Do what makes you feel happiest. It's a journey so regardless of how you get there it's important to enjoy the process. If I had the option here in the U.S. I would definitely join an affordable art school on the side while freelancing. But sadly, it's pretty damn expensive so it's not an option.

Mstankow

I used misery to push myself to do work at home between me graduating and landing a job. Kind of hard to suggest being miserable when usually it just makes people depressed and work less.

Zack Maxwell

Pushing myself to keep doing what I need to in order to improve has been a bit of an issue for me as well.
So far I've been working on it by placing iron-clad rules on myself. Like not touching any games until a current project is finished, finishing X number of projects per month, finishing X tutorials per week, making at least one simple model per day if I'm not actively on a project, or not spending a single penny on anything frivolous that was not earned from art work (all day-job pay goes to food/bills/toiletries. Nothing else).
Technically I wouldn't do anything to myself if I failed to meet one of those, but I treat it as life or death; failing to meet one of those goals is simply not an option.

Brian "Panda" Choi

Lemme just extend a hand out and share your sentiment about it being really hard not to work without other people around.

Man, the work we do can get really stagnant and lonely sometimes.

That being said, what may be a BABY step to solving the above would be to join one of the advertised projects in the Opportunities section. You'd have to fess out the quality of the projects they're working on down there, but closest to team-based work you can get from the solo work point.

PyrZern

In the mean time, use Google Hangout...

palexpereira

DKK wrote: »

The big issue that I've had with learning at home is not being able to fit into a studio setting very well. I've only been working for two months though, and I know I'm getting better, but I spend too much time thinking about how to do things the best way and not just committing to a workflow. It's something I'm working on. Although you say you've got studio experience so the point is maybe moot for you. This is just food for thought for others reading this thread.

Man did I have exactly the same problem. The biggest for me at the studio was nailing down a basic work flow using just Maya + Photoshop. At home you can always as many extra tools as you want

palexpereira

Leinad wrote: »

My answer to your question would be this. Do what makes you feel happiest. It's a journey so regardless of how you get there it's important to enjoy the process. If I had the option here in the U.S. I would definitely join an affordable art school on the side while freelancing. But sadly, it's pretty damn expensive so it's not an option.

Thanks a lot for the reply. Schools around here are indeed much more affordable. But here in Portugal the schools that exist teaching Cg art are pretty weak. That's why I moved to Denmark for better education.

I think what you said about happiness is really important. My problems basically boil down to management of time. Pushing myself vs a good social life. And, at least for me, the more I'm at home the more I tend to not leave home.

palexpereira

EarthQuake wrote: »

In the US, its often a question of learning on your own or taking on crippling debt, and the crippling debt bit is really hard to suggest to people.

I think anyone, regardless of skill/experience level, would benefit from some sort of training/school work, but since you're not really a novice, you'll need to really push yourself to get the most of it. At which point, the value of working on your own vs putting yourself through a course and still essentially working on your own needs to be weighed.

Yes, at this point it's really just a manner of finding a structure to push my skills. That's what a course at this point would represent.

And talking about the US: are the Gnomon on-campus 10 week courses any good?

Baj Singh

"And the last two looking at Facebook."