Hustle Time - Good Habits for the Aspiring Game Artist

Polygoblin · Jul 2011

Hello there! Like many other aspiring game artists, I have to work day jobs in order to pay the bills. The time I don't spend making a living or fulfilling necessary household/family duties, I dedicate to my art. I've sacrificed many of my personal pleasures already to allow time for my passion (I hardly play video games anymore). With life seemingly always getting in the way with this-that-or-the-other, I'm here looking for ways to make the most out of my art time.

Are there any tips, attitudes, or work habits you'd like to share with me and the rest of the community about making the most of a short daily development window?

Obviously, "keep working everyday" is a good one. Besides that, I've adopted some habits to help speed up my artistic development, which I'll go ahead and share here. I hope you find them useful:

Early Morning Art > Late Night Art - I've started waking up incredibly early (before work) to have the first part of every day dedicated to 3D. In the morning, your brain is firing on all cylinders and it feels much easier to chunk out large amounts of work in short periods of time. I used to focus on art strictly after work, but after a full day of non-industry tasks, motivation is lacking. A good breakfast with some mellow tunes and a cup of joe helps make the morning jam session a highly-productive one. After trying this out for some time now, I have concluded that staying up super late to do art is not as productive, and I tend to split my time and head to bed earlier.
Eating Healthier - I'm a nut for junk food, but I won't deny the way it makes me feel Being uncomfortable distracts me. Eating healthier with more fruits and veggies has seemed to keep my brain more active throughout the long days. Lay off the fast food.
Exercise and Fun - Working consistently on art is incredibly important. But if your body and mind are sluggish, it will affect your work. Taking the time to get outside, stretch out, and release tension will only help productivity. Some of my favorite ways to blow off steam is sports (frisbee is a sport right?), time at the dog park, put-put golf, swimming, and of course gaming. Fun is productive, as numerous studies have concluded that play is beneficial to creativity. Make time for it

I'm interested to hear suggestions, or maybe some personal experiences on how you took a tight schedule, and worked it to the bone. If I'm wrong about something, don't hesitate to let me know. I'm very open to input right now

Any tips would be greatly appreciated by me (and many others, I'm sure).

SnakeDoctor · Jul 2011

Hey, I agree with everything you have said. In fact I think I will try your morning idea, as I have been working late into the night on my 3d art with limited results. I currently work at a movie theater and don't get in until 1 am in the morning usually. Also that last thing you would like to do at 1 am is cook dinner so I need to lay off of the fast food as well.

I have recently been going to the health food store and buying my meals from there and I feel a lot better and not as bloated. I also am trying to take some time with excersie and we will see how that goes.

Anyways after my long rant some of the stuff that I do to maximize productivity is when I am at work or out around town I put all my 3d tutorial videos and pdf's relating to game art onto my I pod or small laptop. So during the lull between show-sets , lunch break, or even waiting for my turn to get a haircut I will go over what I can. This helps me later as I will be more informed when I try and go through a tutorial's examples.

r_fletch_r · Jul 2011

Get away from the net. I have a little Annex outside my home which has a table and chair but no internet. I tend to take the laptop out there when I'm having problems focusing. Having a quiet non distracting space is really helpfull.

PixelMasher · Jul 2011

another tip I would have is: if you are not feelin it right now, take a break and do something else. constantly forcing yourself to be working on something will burn you out extremely fast. if you dont feel like doing 3d for a couple days or week or whatever, just step away from it and come back when you feel inspired.

renderhjs · Jul 2011

most distractions in my daily life lure inside of the computers around me, so here some tips that help me get productive:

Get rid of any distracting applications, extensions or apps in your browser, computer or mobile. Anything social (fb, twitter, private email,...) just disable the crap and uninstall any messengers or alike- some people might be surprised how much time that can waste during a day.
Get rid of any visual distractions in your browser and alike that might hijack you (bookmarks bar, unneeded tabs,...)
remove any crap from your desktop that might distract (any app links) - clean up that space and make it empty if possible. Same for the quicklaunch menu in the windows bar.

if you work with other people in one room or are connected with other people for work, some other tips:

Use headphones (even if you are not listening) to let other people know that you are not available to chat with - because you need to concentrate.
Same with messanger- either go offline or not available or do not disturb to shut yourself off from any human distractions. People take being online as invitation to disturb you - so just shut it down to be simply not available.

now that we have some distractions eliminated, some productive tools / ideas:

Use sifter or other bug tracker tool to chain up your tasks ideas and work them off. This helps as first of you need to compose thoughts on what to do and how and in which priority order + it makes it easier to focus yet again and again on whats next- in case you get distracted.
Have a scribble or note paper / pad to make quick notes that help you break down bigger tasks or things that are more complex. Breaking thoughts down in a visual way (doodles, notes) helps you understand where you are and where you need to be to finish this specific task.
Take a break every now and then or make some tea- just to break down that constant sitting and repetitive work, sometimes a cup of tea with a 3 min break is all you need to boost work for another 2-3 hours.
Have a producer or some buddy that tracks your progress and that kicks your ass in times when needed or that motivates you.

Moosey_G · Jul 2011

PixelMasher wrote: »

another tip I would have is: if you are not feelin it right now, take a break and do something else. constantly forcing yourself to be working on something will burn you out extremely fast. if you dont feel like doing 3d for a couple days or week or whatever, just step away from it and come back when you feel inspired.

QFT. After making myself work out some epic floor layout from scratch, figuring the least amount of modular pieces required and trying to transfer it into 3D I sometimes just start bashing my head on the monitor after 2 hours and come back much later than if I just paused for a few seconds.

biofrost · Jul 2011

Moosey_G wrote: »

QFT. After making myself work out some epic floor layout from scratch, figuring the least amount of modular pieces required and trying to transfer it into 3D I sometimes just start bashing my head on the monitor after 2 hours and come back much later than if I just paused for a few seconds.

Exactly, this is a hard habit to break. I even broke it today, I worked for around 6 hours on something when I was just not in the mood for it and got nowhere, if I had just stopped and came back later I am sure I would be much farther ahead.

Gooner442 · Jul 2011

something I used to try, http://www.manictime.com/

Keeps a log of everything you do, you can see hoe much time you are dedicating to your art, good also if you need to work out hours spent on a project for pricing.

I do have trouble concentrating so hope to pick up some things here, the single biggest one is the internet, this weekend it's going off. As for waking up before work, man I wish!.. I find waking up enough of a struggle!

Polygoblin · Jul 2011

@SnakeDoctor - Give the morning stuff a shot. It's hard to get used to, but I'm really starting to enjoy my quiet am jam sessions

I'm going to make a habit of setting articles and tutorials up to read during breaks at work. I won't have time to surf around for them, but I can have them keyed up like you said. Did that today, and it was great. Thanks

@r_fletch_r - Yes, I agree. I am looking much harder at how I use my time on the net. Thanks

@PixelMasher, Moosey_G, & biofrost - I usually try to grunt my way through that stuff (with limited success) :poly118: I'll keep that in mind, thanks

@renderhjs - You make many excellent points, thank you

I believe my net usage is adding up, so I'm using the program Gooner442 mentioned. After a few days logging my activity, I'll see where I am.

@Gooner442 - Thanks for the link! I've installed ManicTime and I like how it works. I already use TimeLeft, but this is quite different. The early-am stuff is hard to get used to, but coming from a lifelong night-owl, its starting to become quite cozy

____

Anyone interested in this discussion should check out the mirror thread in at GameArtisans.org! Tons of excellent feedback there too.

Hustle Time - Good Habits for the Aspiring Game Artist

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