Affordable Workshops

Animesh · Feb 2011

Hey all I was just wondering if anybody has come across an affordable workshop where the instructor gives individual feedback. I looked at Gnomon Workshop and Rydan but those are asking for hundreds of dollars each. I'm not really looking for a tutorial like DT either because those have no individual feedback. Anyway I would really like to be part of a workshop but I don't have $500 to dish out.

Ark · Feb 2011

I don't see whats wrong with watching tutorials and posting your work here for C&C. Paying over the odds for workshop just because of the named instructor sounds a little bit daft to me.
By posting your wips here, you open your work up to multiple views and opinions to people with different skill sets, instead of one person that is either a jack of all trades and knows a bit about everything or someone skilled in one area.

Rockley Bonner · Feb 2011

I see where your coming from, you have a closer relationship to your teacher and you can totaly abuse the teacher in a workshop becasause they are obligated to help, where as polycount we do it from the goodness of our hearts (Polycount iz da shit still and should be utalized aswell). but if you cant afford it go pure polycount, IDK...

How long are these workshops?

Jungsik · Feb 2011

Me and couple of my friends did some CGMW - http://www.cgmwonline.com/
I dont know if this is what your looking for - the masters classes are really expensive, howeever if you go to the workshop section there are some nice classes - and when they do the workshop you can actually see the artist's face and chat log comes out and you can ask questions while you learn - the downside is that You would have to start the workshop on the exact time the artist is going to be (this information is sent to you in advance when yo buy the workshop) also..the workshop is already over for feb 15th..I do not know when their next one is - I just usually check often

edit: I Just checked the website - the workshops run till April 4th !!

3DLam · Feb 2011

Animesh,

Out of curiosity what exactly are you looking for? Just feedback for you portfolio? (A one off type of deal?) Or constant and consistent feedback for a project? Polycount is an awesome resource and community. But it depends how you learn and what you're looking to get out of it.

Animesh · Feb 2011

I love polycount, I think the community here is great and the feedback I get is priceless. The downside to polycount is the commitment, there is none. An artist can pop on and comment on my work and never respond again. Also polycount lacks videos explaining how to do a particular excersice or technique. Another thing is too many different oppinions can delay my work rather than help it but with a workshop I would get one oppinion from a professional.

Animesh · Feb 2011

I'm sorry I didn't mention that I need the workshop to be about 3D Environments. I need an environment to make using Maya/Zbrush or like programs and put on my portfolio with the direct guidance of a professional.

3DLam · Feb 2011

Hi Animesh,

Well.. to be honest.. there's no much out there that's gonna be cheaper than $399 for 8 weeks, 3 hours per session. That's $16 something per hour. Pretty cheap comparatively. Btw, sorry I should say I'm instructor at the Rydan Workshop. I think you hit it on the head regarding consistency of feedback for learning. We have sessions going on right now. I recommend you talk to our students and see what their feedback is. What separates us from others, is that we are live. You're not watching videos, it isn't forum based. You are given lectures and demos by the instructors in real time and can ask questions anytime during the sessions. Anyhow I don't want to sound like an infomercial but you can email me if you have any questions, david@therydanworkshop.com

All the best.

Rai · Feb 2011

I'm not trying to steal any glory here or anything, but I'm also looking for a nice workshop, preferably Digital Sculpting for either creatures or characters.

Animesh · Feb 2011

Something like a $100 would be great. As long as the instructor can view the scene on a weekly basis and give feed back. Kind of like Animation Mentor but with modeling instead of animating. $130 is what I paid per full symester college classes but I feel I've learned all I can from those.

David-J · Feb 2011

Animesh. I don't know your level of expertise but I would suggest that if you feel that you are lacking knowledge buy some good tutorials. There are great tutorials from Eat3D and many other sites.
Start working on a scene and post it on polycount. I understand you want the instructor to check it every week, but if you constantly post your progress and are committed to your work people here at polycount respond very well and very often. I suggest you start with that, give it a chance, if you don't like it then look for workshops.

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers!

Jason Young · Feb 2011

Animesh wrote: »

Something like a $100 would be great. As long as the instructor can view the scene on a weekly basis and give feed back. Kind of like Animation Mentor but with modeling instead of animating. $130 is what I paid per full symester college classes but I feel I've learned all I can from those.

I don't think $100 is a reasonable expectation. You'd have to get a lot of students to make it worth the instructor's time, and then you run into the issue of having large class sizes and missing out on that 1 on 1 time you seek.

Rydan's probably the least expensive option right now for a full fledged workshop. You might be able to find a local atelier or something depending on what subject you're looking to study.

It seems like you're really just looking for focused critiques and some amount of direction. The critique part is something you can definitely find in forums, and it really comes down to developing the skills necessary to filter critiques and figure out what's worth listening to. If you're not at the point where you feel comfortable doing this, perhaps you have not fully learned all you can from traditional classes.

Videos explaining techniques can be found for free or purchase in maaaaany places. It really depends on what you're looking for, but I'm sure people here can point you in the right direction.

I'm certainly not arguing against workshops, as I'm currently in one at Rydan and I see the benefit. But if you're not able to spend the money right now, you should be able to find a lot of what you need here or on other forums.

David-J · Feb 2011

JMYoung wrote: »

I don't think $100 is a reasonable expectation. You'd have to get a lot of students to make it worth the instructor's time, and then you run into the issue of having large class sizes and missing out on that 1 on 1 time you seek.

Rydan's probably the least expensive option right now for a full fledged workshop. You might be able to find a local atelier or something depending on what subject you're looking to study.

It seems like you're really just looking for focused critiques and some amount of direction. The critique part is something you can definitely find in forums, and it really comes down to developing the skills necessary to filter critiques and figure out what's worth listening to. If you're not at the point where you feel comfortable doing this, perhaps you have not fully learned all you can from traditional classes.

Videos explaining techniques can be found for free or purchase in maaaaany places. It really depends on what you're looking for, but I'm sure people here can point you in the right direction.

I'm certainly not arguing against workshops, as I'm currently in one at Rydan and I see the benefit. But if you're not able to spend the money right now, you should be able to find a lot of what you need here or on other forums.

I agree with JMYoung. hahah by the way. your grunt sackboy is amazing. Love it!!!!

Workshops are great. My wife took a fumeFX cgworkshop and she learned a lot and made lots of connections. That would be another reason to take them but I suggest you try showing your work here first.

Affordable Workshops

Replies