Online School Recommendation

ambelamba

 I can't tell you guys about my whole life situation but I can tell you that my life is comfortably useless. 

 I do have a decent credit score. I just can't get a student loan since it was forgiven. (a long story) so I can only get higher interest general loan to pay for any online programs I'd choose. So far, The Think Tank Online and CGMA caught my attention. 

 My career goal? Vehicles and props. I am not sure about anything else. What I can tell you is that I am not that interested in cinematic CG. I am very reluctant to jump into photo realistic character modeling. Not my cup of tea. I do have some interest in stylized character modeling and sculpting but I am not even sure if I can do that along with vehicle and props modeling. 

 And some rudimentary rigging and intro to game engine, too.

sacboi

If you're interested in hard surface as a primary career goal then I'd advise looking at Gumroad, Udemy or 3DMotive prior too committing a ton of money for a skillset that you can actually self learn at your own pace for next to nothing plus they're typically pro authored as well.

...for example:

https://gumroad.com/snefer

https://gumroad.com/timb

https://www.udemy.com/topic/hard-surface-modeling/

https://www.udemy.com/3dmotive-hard-surface-vehicle-detailing-and-texturing/

http://3dmotive.com/series/high-poly-tank-modeling.html

http://3dmotive.com/series/hard-surface-tank-texturing.html

EDIT:

I've said this time and again on this forum, please don't unnecessarily put yourself into debt learning this stuff, only attempt these dedicated workshops if your financial position enables you to do so without incurring any hardship, otherwise those resources linked above are the most optimal avenues when on a budget which from firsthand experience are not indicative of either their quality or delivery of content.   

Meloncov

I agree, I wouldn't go into debt to pay for workshops, especially not if you're paying consumer-loan level interest rates. Workshops give you three things:
1. The video training. This can be gotten for much cheaper through YouTube, Gumroad, 3DMotive, and the like.
2. Deadlines. It really does help to have an external deadlines to keep you on track, but this can be gotten for free by participating in challenges/contests here on Polycount, the Dinusty Discord, or Artstation.
3. Expert feedback. This can be the trickiest part to get. Obviously you should post on Polycount, art social media groups (e.g. Ten Thousand Hours), and art Discords (DiNusty, Flipped Normals) but detailed feedback is frustratingly rare. Sending polite personal messages to artists you admire can help, but it might be worth it to consider spending some money on a mentorship through Gumroad or the Mentor Collaborative after you have a solid understanding of the technical side of what you're trying to learn (and ideally after you've saved up some money to pay for it).

ambelamba

I see. Thanks. I guess I will have to make do with subscription based tutorials like Gnomon Workshop.

Taylor Brown

I've attended a couple terms with Think Tank and will be attending an upcoming CGMA course (UE4 Modular Environments with Clinton Crumpler). If you have the money and the discipline to make meaningful use of the time then I'd say go for it. As mentioned above, there isn't any hidden knowledge that paying $1k or more will get you. But, there is something to be said for having all the bullshit cutout by an experienced (and currently employed) professional artist. As in, not having to piece together a curriculum or workflow from a few dozen youtube tutorials and forum threads.