Hey guys.
Just curious, to all polycounters already working in the games industry, how's your motivation to work/practice when you get home after a day of work? Can you do it?
Fortunately or unfortunately in our line of work you should never stop learning and you need to keep practicing, otherwise you will stay behind. Working in the industry makes it easy(er) to keep track of shit, you talk with fellow artists about techniques, new app releases, you show your work, get feedback and give feedback, etc. But do you still find time / motivation to get home and practice?
Now, I think it's safe to say everyone here got his own side projects, some personal project we have laying around to practice and improve our workflow, tests, what have you, but how often do you have the willing to open it and carry on with the work.
Just bringing this up cos I'm curious to know how others bear with this problem in this industry where things such as crunch-time and girlfriends do not help! :poly121:
Cheers!
Replies
I tend to try and work in areas that I don't cover during my day job, so if I'm doing some industrial design at work then I will attempt some characters or environment thumbnails when I get home. I think this is a good way of keep things fresh and enjoyable. I also don't pressure myself when it comes to working at home. I always think to myself, 'I'll work for 10 minutes and if I'm enjoying it I'll keep going' and usually before I know it a couple of hours will have gone by and I will have done something worthwhile. Most pieces I work on are things I can finish in an evening or two as well. Even if I'm working on a larger project - like I am at the moment - I break it down into manageable tasks and that way I don't lose interest and I feel like I'm making decent progress.
I think the bottom line is that personal development is really important but you should do it because you're excited about it and want to do it, not because you feel obligated to do it. Ideally, it should be a relaxing and rewarding diversion from your day job, rather than feeling like overtime at home.
I's hard to start, but once you opened max/ps time flies..
I'm trying to though... just trying and failing
I love going into work every day and generally would stay for 9 or 10hrs a day even on non crunch weeks and when crunch hit I was pushing 70+ hours a week with no problem as I loved doing it and found it more fun then working at home. But going home after that I struggled to actually start up a project and enjoy it to the end.
Always kept up with reading new stuff on PC and other sites, watching tut dvds when ever I saw a new one and doing small practice peices here and there to test new things. Just never anything really worth finishing up to a nice polished stage. Might be the fact that I also tried to just jump into making huge projects/over complicated things and not breaking things up. That plus a few projects I just lost intrest in half way through, enjoyed the start of the project but finishing it up I was not happy and if your not happy with something personal there is no reason to keep working on it as it will end up worse then if you start over on something you do enjoy.
Has been a nice break but I indeed need to get back into working a lot more at home. So thats what I am doing now. Main work on Halo is over so I feel like actually working again. Going to make sure I break things up more into small little milestones.
A lot of my friends who I went to school with haven't finished any new pieces in over a year, though. They do have issues with the motivation and getting things done. To help them get motivated we've started an "art club" where we are meeting up each week to give each other crits and hopefully get some work done, though, it usually ends up we just play Smash Bros after going through everyone's work. We're setting goals for where we want to be at for next week's meeting and trying to get stuff done everyday. We've only done it twice now but it's been mostly successful. If you have other local artists that you know it might be something to consider.
For me all is 3D, and to be using the same apps to be doing the same thing, that is 3D, can be really annoying. At the end (for me), it does not matter if you model a scene, a prop or a character.
By general, my friends and me, we totally disconect, and if we use the computer in our spare time, it's always for other different things than 3D (work).
To disconnect for a good time is a good thing to recharge batteries. Our lack of motivation can be a product of mental fatigue.
So take things easy! and don't do huge projects! just simple, easy and fast to do.
Also I totally agree on Nick's advice - just start the app with the goal to spend a few minutes in it. In most cases it'll turn into half an hour or longer and you'll get a little bit done
Oh and on a sidenote, for those who didn't see it yet, here's a vid on the topic of motivation. (Bit off topic since it's more about motivation inside work, not outside, still...)
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc[/ame]
I really don't have a problem getting motivated, I'm always itching to sit down and just lose myself in the groove for a few hours. I definitely need to adjust what I'm working on to match the reality I live in, 5-10hrs per week just isn't enough time to take on big projects. I need go back to props or smaller scenes, and stop doing full blown environments or maps.
That said, I don't force myself to work every night. I'm married and I still try to have a social life outside of work/ artistic growth.
If you want to work on something in your free time I'd recommend setting a goal and then telling your friends/ coworkers about it/ getting critique from them. I find that goals also help in the gf/wife department because it gives your art a justifiable purpose. (read: stability in paying for children, bills, etc.)
As for crunch, yeah. I don't really have an answer for that one
I muzt say though its a bit daft working after you come home if you work in the industry. you can easily get burnt out if you don't take a breather now and then
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P785j15Tzk[/ame]
according to your blog, you lie! :poly124:
http://vimeo.com/9553205
another cool one about procrastination
hah, sad but true
Au contraire, mon ami! I'm working on developing an idea for a movie/world in my spare time. I've got about 3-4 months of work to put up, but I'm waiting until I have enough finished pieces before I show what I've been doing. I want to be able to explain it properly and I need more art to be able to do that effectively. Maybe I should bite the bullet soon, though...
Sorry for thread hijack!
When i have 1-2h time at the evening, mostly i'm not enthusiastic enough to learn more new stuff. Then i start steam and play "Plant vs. Zombies" or the good old Battlefield2-Demo (not Bad Company 2!). Imagine that: i'm too lazy to learn new game mechanics or re-read the complex story of a game i played a month before.
The only thing which motivates me is when i see brilliant work from other artists OR enough pressure (job, boss, portfolio, jobsearch, challenge, ...).
For me i made my hobby to a job and that's fine and i love it. BUT one question: does it feel right, when it is just a hobby and you have to force yourself to do it? I mean: we do funny things in the sparetime because we love it or we want to relax or have some fun. If i have to force myself to do a hobby...is it fun anymore?
Another thing I'll tend to do is save up problems I want to solve (whether technical, workflow, technique or whatever) in my every day work. I'll keep these noted somewhere (usually google notes) and every now and then, tackle solving some of those problems. This type of problem-solving usually leads to me doing more testing/experimenting/personal-work-type stuff based on my findings, and I find it very rewarding.
It's fun to do personal stuff, but when you actually have to seek motivation and force yourself it stops being fun, doesn't it? So, what's the point? Is it better job? Becoming the best artist in the known universe?
Do you always want to work from other peoples ideas or do you want to work on your own? Not everyone in this industry is always doing what he likes best or what he thinks is cool and even if, some people in this biz destroy themselves for their employers, while they could better spend the unpaid extra hours for their own stuff...
Also where would this community be if everyone in here would only either do work for their bosses or hobbyists?
@nick: :poly122:
My question was directed to people who are actually not having fun because they're not motivated/burned out/other reasons but are trying to force themselves to work anyways. I'd like to hear about their motives besides obvious ones.
So yes, it is important for me to do my own projects besides work, because its fun, but at the same time I think there is a lot of things in life to do as well besides being in front of a screen.
believe me after 8+hrs of work on anything you have sometimes to force yourself to do your own stuff
I totally understand why people want to do something completely different from work when they get home. Personally, I really enjoy cooking so generally I will do that for 30 minutes to an hour when I get home and it's a good way for me to unwind in a creative way with no pressure or stress attached. Art for me always has a sense of expectation and even doodling or experimenting has to satisfy me on some level, otherwise I just get frustrated. It's kind of bizarre - fundamentally art is a hobby that gives me a lot of pleasure, but I take it very seriously. I guess it's the same for a lot of artists.
it's definitely a pleasure to put some music on, make a coffee and get lost in your own world, but if you actually plan to make something that will be useful for your portfolio, there are bound to be a few dull moments along the way (cleaning up bakes etc)
the times when I least enjoy personal work is when for some reason I feel rushed, then it's a real pain, cos your just creating unnecessary stress for yourself