Motivation, how does one achieve such a Rare thing?

Jaykrass

I wanna say I'm somewhat between a novice and intermediate when it comes to modeling and texturing and I've been feeling like I have been in this same spot for more than a year now, it's frustrating, I've learned a few new things but haven't pushed myself enough to achieve the skill level that I desire, which is the skill level of a lot of the bigger people on here.

Would like to see myself using Zbrush more often, making very well made textures, designing characters, landscapes, assets the such, but I can't seem to find the motivation, I WANT to learn, I WANT to make things, but I just can't find the motivation, I sit myself on my couch, put on a tutorial Via Chromecast, open up the program on my computer and then nothing I doing some things here and there but after that I just lose interest and lack motivation.

I love 3D I want to do better, but I find it difficult to change my mindset to do what I want to do and force myself to practice, I guess I lack discipline?

PyrZern

Motivation is the hype. It comes and it dies out. You need discipline to work through a project. Art is definitely learn by doing. So do more, and watch less. Browse pinterest/artstation or whatever, pick something you like. Then start working on it. Post progress often. (everyday is fine, if you need people to pressure you into working)

Also, any portfolio we can see ?

Jaykrass

PyrZern said:

Also, any portfolio we can see ?

Not much currently, I really want to focus on setting one up, I have done a lot, I have a lot of screen shots of things I've done and renders of things I've designed, but it all feels to amaturish, not really something I want in a portfolio.

Here's my DA though, http://jaykrass.deviantart.com/

huffer

You could try joining a game project, non-paid or royalties, you'll have stuff to do and will be a great learning experience. And it won't be as aimless as watching tutorials, because they'll give you specific tasks and goals. If there's anything you're not sure about how to do, then you can look it up and learn as you go.

Jaykrass

huffer said:

You could try joining a game project, non-paid or royalties, you'll have stuff to do and will be a great learning experience. And it won't be as aimless as watching tutorials, because they'll give you specific tasks and goals. If there's anything you're not sure about how to do, then you can look it up and learn as you go.

That's the tricky part I have nothing good enough to show for my skills, I don't have the skill level yet to do projects.

Biomag

I know this part when motivation starts to become hard to find as progress doesn't seem to show up or feedback is lacking. But there is a simple truth: The industry doesn't care.

Nobody out there is waiting for you or has the time to listen why something doesn't look as good as in someone's else portfolio. As long as you are not better than expected nobody will want to know why.

So its up to you. Especially with disciplin and motivation. You don't have it? Then I guess someone else wants it more than you. You might say under different circumstances you could do so much more, but why should anyone bother to listen to that if there is again someone who is already delivering?

The truth is as simple as reckless - its up to you. You have to find a way. Some need a structured day with clearly dedicated time, some need to find a group, some need to put up stuff on the internet to expose themselves,... there are many threads about motivation, you can easily find them for advice, BUT they all start with YOU.

Be honest to yourself how much you want it. And probably be desperate to make it.

And I am telling you this from personal experience as I am fighting the same problem. I left a career behind to make game art and now looking for a job questions do arise if that was a stupid idea and where all of this is going. Me at 30+ looking/hoping for a entry level gig, while friends of mine getting into senior positions in their jobs. But at the end of the day there is the motivation too - I know I want to do it and I sacrificed already a lot of time to get there, so if it isn't enough it means I have to work harder and all I've done so far just hasn't been enough. No reason to dwell on it. Learn to accept the adversity and use it as a motivation.

huffer

There's plenty of small hobby projects around, I'm sure you'll find one suited for you, check the UE4 forums for example. If it's non-paid, there won't be any crazy expectations from you, and if you're dedicated and eager to work and learn you'll be a good asset for a team.

PyrZern

Reddit always to be looking for artists for rev-share. I don't know how many of them will actually finish their games, but I guess you really don't have anything to lose.
https://www.reddit.com/r/gameDevClassifieds/

Or, pick a concept here, start on it, and post progress frequently here for feedback.
https://www.pinterest.com/PyrZern/inspiration-n-idea-characters/

Beestonian

I'm actually amazed that nobody has linked this legendary post made on this very forum only months ago.

kanga

I suppose one of the greatest hurdles in game art is the actual time it takes to get out a finished product. You can start something and then have to fight your say through lots of processes. That can be pretty tiring. This wont work for everyone but i like to practice with new character sketches at the beginning of the day. When I was am illustrator the head of the studio would tell us that it always tooka couple of hours to warm up (that meant getting to work on time ).

There are artists that forge ahead but I reckon doing quicker sketches ar rhe beginning of the day is a good way to start.

Joao Sapiro

something i see nowadays more recurring is new ways of procrastination , wich incur in a lack of self discipline  :

1 - watching lots of video tutorials and requesting them anytime they see something that impresses them -

   - that happens alot on this board , instead of trying new ways to achieve the goal , people simply want it spoon fed , kills the drive to investigate and problem solving , they give a "false" sense of accomplishment because we just saw someone doing what we want to be able to do so we treat it as a "task" when in reality it should be considered a pre-task , being the task to apply that to our art and finish stuff.
  - *puts old man beard* back then we only had skindom and some other few websites that taught us to skin and the game files from the games we were playing. Tutorials werent common and used to be broad wich led us to curate alot of the info by simply doing skins etc.

2 - "reference gathering"

  - This is also a huge source of procrastination . Usually when i see threads with lots of imageboards and huge walls of text of what "i want to do" i instantly get this feeling that this person wont finish what they spent at least an hour typing , what usually happens is that some props are made and then the project goes to die in the hard drive . Just gather the refs, dont make a big post about it , block shit out first, give camera passes , maybe work on the lightning and then work on props , people tend to do this on reverse and i dont know why, i suspect that its that instant feel of "i did something" by starting with the micro stuff instead of the macro.

3 - Irrealistic Goals and Scope of projects

  - Be realistic , aim high but know your limitations, its true that practise makes perfect but abandoning stuff halfway because the quality isnt  there and we get frustrated by it isnt also very good in my opinion. Instead of a grand opera of an enviro or a Gears of War type of character just go for something simpler but challenging , there are tooooooons of cool concept artists around that you can pick really cool simple artwork to try to make. This is all due to...(read below )

4 - lack of self awareness

 - I see lots of mediocre portfolios with random props that dont fit a scene and arent also very well done\presented . And the worst part is that those artists keep applying desperately to companies without working on improving their art  , this is due to them either surrounding themselves with "pat in the back" friends that dont challenge their views and simply dont help them improve . Aiming high is what i recomend , find artists that you admire and aim to reach their quality. EVERY. SINGLE.DAY. The market is over saturated so it only depends on YOU to stop procrastinating , desciplining yourself and get the ass out of the couch to work on art everyday.

Hope what i wrote makes sense, its only my personal opinion on a matter that keeps popping up almost daily on these boards and its something i always tell students when i do workshops , and according to them , it works


Now go make art.

pangaea

This is a good podcast from http://www.thecollectivepodcast.com/vitaly-bulgarov/
He talks about it. 

Then there is this 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3Al7QAS89s
Sort of says what Joao says. 

Jaykrass

Was finally able to do something.

Biomag

That's the way to go Up and working again