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Loss of Motivation

1
Hey all, I am posting this in hopes that somebody will talk some sense into me and get me out of this funk I am in. I recently graduated from college in December, the first few weeks were fine. I sat at my computer and worked on some models. In school, I was known for always working on something, I was always pushing others to do their work and trying to motivate people. Sadly, I feel my motivation has run its course. Over the past month I have done little to no 3d work. I will sit and may work for a few minutes and I will lose complete concentration. I feel terrible because I want to work on something, but I cannot get the motivation to do anything. It's like when you are really hungry, and food sounds great, but you do not know what to make or nothing sounds good. I am having a real hard time figuring out what I want to do. In school I focused my time modeling characters, but I am finding there are no character jobs open, and if there are they are senior level. So I decided to start working on environment's, that lasted a few days and I realized I am lost. My question is that is this something that everybody goes through and that I will eventually come out of? I guess I am just feeling really lost and confused at the moment and need some helpful advise.

Thanks,

Adio

Replies

  • Alberto Rdrgz
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    Alberto Rdrgz polycounter lvl 9
    these threads always pop up, so you're not the only one.

    Just go [do] some work, what are you in this for? If you don't enjoy doing the work then don't do it. I honestly don't understand this 'motivation' bullcrap, just do it and drop the act.

    i'm here wishing i had more hours free in the days to do more art... and you're complaining cause you can't get started??... i don't get it.
  • Blaisoid
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    Blaisoid polycounter lvl 7
    Join some indie or mod project. it'll provide you some direction, tasks, goals, teamwork experience, satisfaction, assets for portfolio, etc.
    as far as I know having mod/indie experience in your resume/CV will also be helpful when trying to get into industry.
  • adio38
    It's not that I am looking for pity cause I am not. I love doing 3D. I am just asking for advice, should I stick with characters or should I jump ship and focus more on environments or cars. That is what I am asking as well. Thanks for the suggestion Blaisoid, a friend of mine said something about a mod project a few weeks ago, I'll look into it.
  • Joseph Silverman
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    Joseph Silverman polycounter lvl 17
    Do what you love, do what's practical, and DO SOMETHING. Art is a very solitary, challenging thing, and anxiety and self doubt are a big part of the journey. You CANNOT let that get you down. Try to rekindle the excitement you used to have about getting stuff done -- if you can't do that, WORK ON ART ANYWAY. Put in enough hours and it will come. When you get stuck with a minimum wage real job and it takes away all of your art time you will regret not kicking ass when you had the chance!

    Remember, you want to be an artist, and artists make art -- you have spent your last month being something other than an artist. Is that really who you want to be?

    For the first time in my life, motivation and drive about art are constantly present for me. I made a couple of threads about it recently -- here and here.

    Lastly: Post some godddamn art! You have two posts on polycount that actually have art in them. They're not bad. Post more. This is a community of artists -- join it.
  • Drav
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    Drav polycounter lvl 9
    Just go and do something else for a bit, its not uncommon to find it hard to get started on something new....Dont worry about it and something will bite soon enough. After I finished my last freelance job I didnt do anything for about a month, now I am pumped for modelling again.

    Just chill out, get away from the computer for a bit, and when you decide you want to do something, instead of jumping on anything, just go look at concept art for a good while till you find something you are itching to model.
  • seth.
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    seth. polycounter lvl 14
    1) look at where you are. (A)
    2) look at where you want to be. (B)
    3).....if they dont match up work on (X)
    4) repeat till A equals B
    5) find a new (B) higher up the foodchain and repeat steps 1-5

    this is how it works for me (X) obviously is game art, but I find all the motivation I need right there......sometimes I see a piece of work thats like wow!! and I am at the same time joyous and angry: joyous cos seeing the amazing things that others can do restores my faith in humanity and angry cos its not me doing the wow!....this works to motivate as well....I'm twisted that way i guess.

    there are so many wonderful things out there to make that it can be overwhelming....pick one thing....suck it up and make it....start to finish and do the best job that you can....just remember the feeling that you had in school when you completed a piece that you were proud of, keep it in your mind, and chase after it..dont start a thread in P+P unless you are mental or a troll, the lack of replies could kill more motivation than it inspires, but find something that pushes you on...ahh fuck it, just do it so that unkle seth here doesn't sound like a condescending arse in this post :D

    good luck man, push through it and the world will be a shiney place for you.
  • MadnessImport
    Join a Team make a Mod/Game from scratch

    If you can chose on what you want to make then Make it all
    Sometimes i feel like making a character But i cant because Im to lazy to get down with the Anatomy or Figure drawing

    Other times i feel like making an environment and or prop and i do it because its easier and a lot more fun but i just scrap the scene because i don't like UV mapping and

    Id LOVE to make a type of vehicle BUUT I sure as hell don't want to push and pull vertz all night or Struggle with Maya's Curves and lofting shit

    Ohh and how i LONG to do a finished Digi Painting with some 3D involved But yet again Im a lazy jackass who sulks and complains about not being good enough as the person(s) work im viewing AND ive only scratched the surface of Painting

    So heres what you do: Make some friends who have a passion for fashion (Game design) All of you decide on and set up a project and finish it then gloat at your achievements thats what i use to do everything better when you have friends with you
  • Artist_in_a_box
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    Artist_in_a_box polycounter lvl 7
    Well, I recently left uni and since have had little to no positive come back from anything related to my chosen career. The funny thing was that for a month since I graduated I was at the job centre signing on once a week for 200 quid a month. I had more free time than ever on my hands and nothing to do. I managed to get some work done but due to lack of motivation and possible (though I know it sounds melodramatic to say it) depression. I was very low on confidence, low on motivation, let down by a lot of things and really very angry.

    The funny thing is that during this time which really was perfect for getting work done I was feeling sorry for myself and just being moody. The whole reason for this is that At that time I had all the time in the world so doing the work didnt seem urgent, why get up early to work when I could stay up later and do it then? But later never came as I was grumbling and comp-laining about how bad my situation was. Whats more I 'knew' this intellectually but I coudlnt get out of the funk.

    It was only once I got a part time job that has nothing to do with my career that took up art time that I realised how much time I had wasted and really regretted not doing more in that free month.

    Your entire problem is procrastination. I say you can have one of these ten delicious sandwiches! and you spend ten mins deciding whereas if i said 'choose between this awesome sandwich and this rank one' you would go for the good one without a thought. Your spending time thinking about work but not actually working and this thinking part has gotten you locked up in fear, only when your time is limited or there is a fire under your ass will you prioritise and then say 'ok we gotta get crap done'.

    My dead end part time job did this for me, it was only when time was limited that I realised I gotta work NOW because I am at work later. This means you have to force youreself to be productive.


    I am still trying to get into industry so take what I have said with a pinch of salt. But you sound like you are going through the same thing as I was a few months ago.

    Regarding motivation. People deal with this in many different ways. My own mentality regarding work now really boils down to saying 'why not?' instead of 'why?'. Dont lock up in fear in case the work you're doing isnt the best thing ever or because you are not sure it will get you a job or something. All you need to do is make sure that each piece of work you do is better than your last one and you can count it as a step in the right direction. It doesnt really matter what you work on as long as you try your hardest and learn from it. My problem is I measure myself up against the people on this forum (which is literally pitting youreself against the best artistic minds in the industry) which is tantamount to shooting youreself in the face. I am getting out of that habit by doing what I suggested above and it has improved my motivation and my work no end.

    Also regarding your choice of character art. On a purely statistical point of view there are more environmental artists out there than character artists. Thus there are more enviro jobs. Also though dont quote me on this, it would seem that the quality bar for an entry level character artist (if indeed there Are entry level character artists) is pretty high, even for games industry standards.

    However saying this it all boils down to what you enjoy. try your hand at everything and see where it takes you. you never know you could be a budding tech artist or visual effect genius and from what I hear those positions are even more sought after and harder to achieve than character or enviro art positions.

    Hope I was of some service, sorry for the long post. You will get out of the funk, just do some work, anything. Try some small projects to get the juices flowing again.
  • rv_el
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    rv_el polycounter lvl 18
    adio38 wrote: »
    It's not that I am looking for pity cause I am not. I love doing 3D. I am just asking for advice, should I stick with characters or should I jump ship and focus more on environments or cars. That is what I am asking as well. Thanks for the suggestion Blaisoid, a friend of mine said something about a mod project a few weeks ago, I'll look into it.


    Yeah I don't know you so it could be a number of things. There is always that "postpartum depression" with many big things in your life, be it school or shipping a game. Hopefully not, but possibly subconcoiusly you have that feeling like you've made it or more likely should have made it. I know people like this from my college. They had a reel and when school was done there was this gap of time and this feeling of completion - but that looming feeling that nothing is complete at all. Some peoples portfolios stayed the same for years after school... they become testers etc..

    What I did was replace everything in my portfolio one piece at a time. I picked the worst char on my site and replaced it with a new one using online competitions to help boost me. They provide constraints! you need this. Your school was constraint. You no longer have that. You need it! In a world where you can do anything you choose nothing. Perhaps things are not so dire for you or something.

    My suggestion is online competiitons > than a Mod. This all depends and is different for everybody but here is why. Mod teams will let you down like nobody else dude. I'm gonna be frank with you. They are full of..... lesssseerrrrr.. yeeaahh. I don't want to be a dick. But i'll just say this. IF you use a Mod to boost your productivity remember to keep your expectations LOW. Work modularly. That means every single thing you do can be spun into a one-off portoflio piece or some sort of tangible piece of work that an employer can see and understand. If you even work decently hard the mod team will suck you dry having you do menial tasks nobody is willing to do - thus why they don't have a job anyways. I can go on and on. Obviously i've had my own experiences here ;).

    My first jobs were Environment. A place that was interested in me didn't like that like most of my portfolio was character, especially the newer stuff. So what I did is unbeknownst to them I spent 2 weeks and busted out an enviro. And I got the job. They were impressed -especially- with the fact that they didn't say anything other than "you don't have a lot of enviro stuff". Some helped make it by going back to school (more focused ones) and/or paid a mentor to teach them. These mentors can provide constraints. Timelines.

    times have changed. I'd have a hard time telling you what to do. It may be best to go the enviro route for now. If you truly love characters and are born to work hard then you'll make it happen like so many other people have while growing in a professional environment.

    I've never really had trouble with motivation (not in a big way, just in small bursts) thanks to how i was raised, but i am close friends with people who fall into your catagory if not worse who are now fucking power houses and at kick ass companies. Some of them even have used books and audio tape type self help stuff!!

    College isn't the end. Its the begining. I know it was hard work but your going to have to turn pain and loss into fuel for the fire. Your going to have to replace all of your portfolio with new and better works. your going to need to surround yourself with people who are better than you and people that do what you want to do. You are going to lose friends. Accept. Accept that college wont get you a job. Accept that most people are in the boat of 4 year college THEN 4 more years of work! just to feel decent at this stuff.

    Do the competitions. Work your ass off only to not place at all like i did :/. Competitions will give you the constraints both artistic, technical, and time that you need so you can quantify "I don't need to go see Greg Lantern on Friday night. I need to finish my Brawl guy!"

    A few more tips.

    1. See yourself doing it. You have to imagine yourself doing all this stuff.
    2. Don't talk big damn it! You only feel a false sense of satisfaction. I know its a conundrum. It sucks. you have to know you can make it -- But the second you brag about anything your f'ing doomed. God damned paradox.
    3. Depending on your situation. Pick what you love and go for it. If you want to do Darksiders then hump that. Seriously. Own it. Don't just get a job on Call of Duty to make your parents happy. (so easier said than done!)


    Here is some motivation for you. And don't tell my boss or anybodys boss.---- Its fucking awesome man. Its so fucking awesome. I used to dig ditches for a god damned living! Minimum wage. I used to flip burgers at the BK Lounge. I had burn scars all through college to remind me of that shit. I garauntee once you get a job doing games you'll never let yourself go back. Infact some people get motivated by checking out a game studio and seeing what its like. If you've worked a shitty job like fast food then you should go to a game studio. It will push you. My first job lasted 1 month and the owner ran with my money. Yeap. I lost ~3000$ or something on my first job. Its a LONG story but it woudl break many people. But I got that fucking taste working for 1 month on an awesome title and when I went back to my old apt near my college with my tail between my legs I did more art than ever before (this was after college). I couldn't wait to get back in. Fuck I hate talking about myself. Ok anyways. you gotta really want it. Your competition is the guy who wants it more than you do. Find out what that guy knows. May be he knows what its like to have a massive bag of grease explode on him trying to lift it into the trash compactor outside of the frickin mall. May be he's seen the inside of a game studio and you havent. I have to ask you. What are you doing right now (for a living) that makes it so easy to -not- excell in art? What is it?

    4. Don't climb the $ ladder in anything but games. I worked at Kinkos and I never took a raise. I held it off. It was my way of keeping away from that shit. Dude. Once you pass ~50k to ~60k a year your gonna be drugged by money. So make it game-dev drugs :). So many people get comfortable and never see themselves going backwards. They cannot go back to minimum wage. Back to 35/year. GTFO out of your stupid job if you have to. Manufacture pressure.

    5. Go to the GDC and every convention you have. Force yourself to talk to pros. They will inspire you and should fuel you to work hard and get in. They will help you make it but really they can help motivation. After GDC if you work hard your good to go. If after GDC you feel defeated because somebody told you that "all I do is sculpt male soldiers. I don't design games or animate..."..... Your in trouble, for AAA dev.

    I'm losing track of what I wanted to say.... Man I guess its easier to just say "Make something!"
  • uncle
    shutupnplay-box.gif

    Erm... I mean make dem models.

    No, seriously, watch a movie, go outside, read a book, go dance on a rave. Whatever can make you stop thinking about it. You will miss threedee in no time.
  • adio38
    All I have to say is wow. Honestly, you all have pretty much nailed it on the head to how I am feeling, and to what I need to do. I am very appreciative that you all have taken the time to reply to me. You all have a great way of saying what needs to be said. Thank you again for the advice, I will take every word and start to try and push myself.
  • Ace-Angel
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    Ace-Angel polycounter lvl 12
    Last I heard, basting meat in a moist environment with tuna was also a good way to go.
  • Blaizer
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    Blaizer interpolator
    If you don't have motivation it's BECAUSE YOU DON'T LIKE WHAT YOU DO. Simple.
  • Snacuum
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    Snacuum polycounter lvl 9
    "If you don't have motivation it's BECAUSE YOU DON'T LIKE WHAT YOU DO. Simple.

    Cool I should be able to get a job as a professional lazy ass slob then, they'll give me unlimited games and movies and I will enjoy going to work everyday.

    Adio38 you are preaching to choir with me. I've been in a slump like this for years and I'm slowly little by little getting it back. You're luckier to find anxiety and trepidation in your lack of motivation now, so soon after it started - you can snip it in the bud if you follow what the people here say.

    I don't know what to really tell you that could improve your motivation. I used to draw my designs in high school almost everyday, and after a while it stopped. I'm trying to find my passions again by rekindling my joy of drawing.

    Also if you're not a cg artist but a game artist the get on some mods or grab one of those free sdk engines and slap your characters/environments/whatever in them: You will get a greater satisfaction out of your artwork seeing it running in a game than just an image on the screen.
  • JacqueChoi
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    JacqueChoi polycounter
    Work on your weaknesses.

    Show your portfolio if you want us to tell you what we think they are.
  • Gav
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    Gav quad damage
    Blaizer wrote: »
    If you don't have motivation it's BECAUSE YOU DON'T LIKE WHAT YOU DO. Simple.

    this.
  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter
    I am always a bit confused by this kind of sentence :
    I feel terrible because I want to work on something, but I cannot get the motivation to do anything.

    I personally don't think that inspiration comes from just "sitting at a computer". It is true that some artists do work that way, just doodling around and letting things happen ; however this way of going at things just doesn't really work out too well in a production environment anyways, because the only thing one ends up doing with that kind of mindset is "automatic art" - it might look cool, but it is always the same thing.

    I think it is waaaaaay more satisfying to only sit down and work once the inspiration is already there - that is to say, when the idea of the final project is quite clear in the mind. There's no point in sitting down at a computer or in front of a white page if there is nothing to express or no purpose in the first place ... An painter doesn't paint just because he or she likes the smell of the paint! There is no such thing as just "doing 3D" - it's just a tool!

    However! When inspiration is not there, there are always other productive things to do : studies. Practice your ellipses, your perspective, figure out the way to model a certain feature of a face, clean up your modeling scripts ... This wont produce anything worth showing, but it provide "art gymnastics".

    And more often than not there will be an idea forming itself in your head while doing these mindless tasks !

    One thing for sure, opening Max or Photoshop and staring at a blank canvas or viewport waiting for something to happen rarely creates anything great...
  • uncle
    Blaizer wrote: »
    If you don't have motivation it's BECAUSE YOU DON'T LIKE WHAT YOU DO. Simple.

    Merciless but good point.

    Nevertehelss, assuming that you are correct, what if it is also thing he hates the least?
  • Joopson
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    Joopson quad damage
    Blaizer wrote: »
    If you don't have motivation it's BECAUSE YOU DON'T LIKE WHAT YOU DO. Simple.

    That's really not true at all.
  • ScottP
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    ScottP polycounter lvl 10
    This is a big issue with school. While you are there it's very structured and you are given goals and deadlines which in turn motivates you to do the work. Once you get out and do not have that structure and pressure to do things your work ethic collapses.

    On top of that alot of people think that because they went to school and graduated the world owes them a job. I can't tell you how wrong this is. Frankly most studios do not care if you have a degree or not, in the end it's going to come down to what you can bring to the table in terms of your skillet and personality.

    It's a very very very competitive industry. People want to hire only the best, so you have to realize this and BECOME the best. More and more art is being outsourced and alot of big company's are going out of business and thus you are competing against those people too. I realized this long ago and for the past few years have been focusing on joining indie teams who's projects have potential to make money when released. Not only does it provide you with structure and motivation to do work, you get to learn from people and get a glimpse into how games are actually made. On top of this if the game does well and you did a good job, you might be brought on for a paid position.

    As for character artist vs environment artist you have to realize the ratio of character artists vs env. Artists is like 10 to 1. So for every 1-2 character artists you will find 5-10 env. Artists. So your odds at getting a job increase alot. However if you have no interest doing environments and only enjoy characters you should not force yourself to do it.

    Finally you should accept the fact that just because school is over you still have alot to learn. I fact from what I've seen school does not do the greatest job getting you were you need to be. It is a business and there job is to make money. They will spit you out whether you are ready or not and only care about you paying them back their money.

    So be humble and accept it might take you years of practice and learning to get where you need to be to get a job. And even when you get that job you might be laid off a year later because you are contract or the game bombs and they can no longer afford to pay you putting you back at square one.
  • Gestalt
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    Gestalt polycounter lvl 11
    Blaizer wrote: »
    If you don't have motivation it's BECAUSE YOU DON'T LIKE WHAT YOU DO. Simple.

    Not really. I hate portfolio work because it's so open ended. For me having the potential to do anything makes it difficult to find the motivation to specifically do anything: everything becomes 'not good enough' and anything I do in my comfort zone (and could easily enjoy) feels like dicking around. Without focus you don't commit, and each attempt becomes a failure, which accumulate as blows to morale until you are reluctant to even open the program.

    Some advice: pick some concept art, ask for permission, and then work from that. Realize it and what it's doing to the best of your ability, and someday go back to it with your newfound wealth of experience and redo it.

    Don't get bogged down researching shit, it's a sly form of procrastination and once you get too far in you end up knowing every workflow for programs you don't even use with nothing to show for it (or fall into a downward spiral until you wake up years later as a technical artist somehow).

    Join a team, specifically one that knows what they're doing and has a relatively strong direction. It's usually harder to let other people down than yourself; a sense of real responsibility helps.

    If you're in a rut traveling can be good (if you have the means). Being in room stuck in a rut for too long will mess you up; it can get to the point where you are no longer able to enjoy anything at all and you just sleep all day without the motivation to even get up to eat. It's a downward spiral: if you feel like shit, like your stuck and need some type of breakthrough/catharsis/fulfillment but can't find it, then you aren't exactly in a productive mood, and the inability to do anything just makes you feel worse which makes being productive even more difficult, making you stuck for longer, making it worse, and so on.

    It's easy to do something you've done so many times it's mechanical and automatic to you, but that probably doesn't (and for high quality work, shouldn't) apply to you. As described in The War of Art, learn to identify Resistance and to overcome it. Identify when you are making excuses for yourself, identify when you are lying to yourself about important things you need to do the moment you sit down to work (suddenly the room needs to be cleaned or something); learn when you are fooling yourself.

    Be proactive. It's difficult to get started, to build momentum, but once you get into the swing of things the pace is set and you have overcome the inertia. Don't make overcoming inertia more difficult than it needs to be; restrict sites that you waste too much time on (I use chromenanny and occasionally unplug from the internet entirely for a 'purge'). The weekly reports from RescueTime can be a great eyeopener and help you set a pace as well.
  • Sean VanGorder
    rv_el wrote: »
    Knowledge bomb

    Just wanted to say that was an awesome post rv_el, very inspiring.
  • JR
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    JR polycounter lvl 15
    Blaizer wrote: »
    If you don't have motivation it's BECAUSE YOU DON'T LIKE WHAT YOU DO. Simple.

    This. And don't forget to read the link on my signature, it's taken from another "loss of motivation" thread, and turned into my mantra for life. Mark Dygert is the one.
  • System
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    System admin
    Blaizer wrote: »
    If you don't have motivation it's BECAUSE YOU DON'T LIKE WHAT YOU DO. Simple.

    Absolute bulshit. Complete rubbish.

    Anyone who thinks like that has a very black/white view of the world and is obviously fortunate enough to have never suffered moments of creative despair.

    There are so many possible contributing factors to a loss of motivation ranging from a lack of self-confidence through to full-blown depression. In fact there a million reasons OTHER than 'not liking what you do'. Striking it down to simply 'Not loving what you do' is a terribly naive way of looking at it, and one that does nothing but discourage the troubled party even more.

    I have little more to add than what has been said already, OP, but good luck with things and I hope you manage to pull through the rut.
  • SimonT
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    SimonT interpolator
    between my last and the new job where 3 months. what i thought: i will do cool stuff for the portfolio in this time. what i did: nothing. no work, no reading even not playing games. it was hell. it need a lot of self-discipline to kick the own ass :,(
  • Snacuum
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    Snacuum polycounter lvl 9
    'Not loving what you do' is a terribly naive way of looking at it, and one that does nothing but discourage the troubled party even more.

    Agree. Guess what I got done wondering if my passions were genuine because I wasn't just automatically getting things done? People's priorities and and identification with their passions can get skewed over time and affected by external factors.

    I'd say that if Adio38 didn't notice this lack of productivity he would have just languished on his his lack of skills or the lack of jobs. Eventually he would realise that he needed to pay the bills and got a non-game job and would come home everyday tired and unmotivated, with time-waster entertainment being the only escape. This negative spiral just continues until it would likely become full-blown depression.

    Another piece of advice I can give is to focus on the positives and not the negatives with a good dose of objectivity. It's easy to feel bad for doing the non-artwork things, leaving you with a sense of guilt and lesser self-worth - which hardly makes the starting phase of any artwork less of an obstacle. But remain objective about the value of your actions:

    "Was that movie a good use of your time?" I dunno lol.
    "Was it as useful as doing more art?" No, probably not.
    "But did you enjoy it?" Hell yes.
    "Did you learn something from it?" Yeah I was really surprised by this scene...
    "So you feel good about your actions?" Yeah.
    "So go and feel good about doing some art!"
  • Saman
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    Saman polycounter lvl 13
    I think taking breaks from what we do can cause a lot of problems for us. You have to really push yourself into doing it and it doesn't take long before your enthusiasm comes back. I think you need the breaks though, if you do whatever it is you love for a long time you will eventually grow tired of it. It's very essential that you take short breaks from it at times like this and focus on the theory(concepts, ideas and more) more than the practicality(sitting and working). Balancing the breaks is important.

    I took a pretty long break from my own personal projects last summer because of a job. I still had the enthusiasm and love for my projects when I wasn't actively working on them but when the job was done I didn't feel like working on them as much as before. I had become pretty lazy at the time and I really had to force myself into working for a couple of weeks before the enthusiasm came back. With this being said I think you should be very careful about forcing yourself, you might end up hating it if you force yourself too much. Balance is the key ;)
    Great post btw, rv_el.
  • STRIKER
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    STRIKER polycounter lvl 13
  • Blaizer
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    Blaizer interpolator
    TeeJay wrote: »
    Absolute bulshit. Complete rubbish.

    Anyone who thinks like that has a very black/white view of the world and is obviously fortunate enough to have never suffered moments of creative despair.

    There are so many possible contributing factors to a loss of motivation ranging from a lack of self-confidence through to full-blown depression. In fact there a million reasons OTHER than 'not liking what you do'. Striking it down to simply 'Not loving what you do' is a terribly naive way of looking at it, and one that does nothing but discourage the troubled party even more.

    I have little more to add than what has been said already, OP, but good luck with things and I hope you manage to pull through the rut.

    Call it as you prefer but it's a reality. give or take.

    It's not the same to love the 3d we see from others than love the process of making 3d. 3D work can be insane and if you really don't love it, you end doing nothing. The majority of people start with something, and a day after... they don't have the enough motivation because they don't like what they started.

    We could discuss about procrastination aswell, but it's irrelevant now, and there are tons of threads about this common problem.

    Another thing, that "creative despair" is avoided disconnecting if you are with fatigue, if not, it's a lack of creativity. I'm constantly suffering it due to 12+ hours working all the days, and like a very good friend of mine say, only a true masochist can get the motivation to continue. We need to love the suffering of doing 3D/drawings/concepts.

    This kind of job is not done for all people. I know too many juniors that started in a company and they left the profession.

    For that reason, if you don't like what you do, you will never have the constancy and patience to continue. The motivation appears when we have a clear goal, a strong desire to reach that goal, and believe me, you can break walls.
  • Mark Dygert
    Fuck not another one of these threads... seriously!?
    I'll just repost what I posted the last time:
    http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1483699#post1483699
    I think I know what you're looking for? The one thing that kicks all the lights on and gets everything flowing again. The one thing that restores that zen feeling and work magically finishes itself. Yea that happens every once in a while but don't relay on it because you'll never get anything done.

    Inspiration doesn't pay the bills. Inspiration doesn't get projects finished. Inspiration is nice when its there but not necessary to see something through. What is necessary is a relentless commitment to finish the project to the quality standards you know are expected.

    What is a good activity to do while waiting for inspiration to strike again?
    Practice or just do work, even small tasks that don't require inspiration.

    Find some small way to succeed at something. If inspiration can't be the gas in your tank let the sense of accomplishment be the fire in your belly.
    "I'm going to unwrap this object by noon" "Done, I win!"
    "I'm going to research old generators and make one by Friday" "Done I win!"
    "I'm going to sculpt all of the boring details first so they aren't hanging over my head killing my inspiration" "Done I win!"

    I think its a bit unrealistic to think that artists can only work when inspired, inspiration might be there in spurts

    Especially if you're going to do this professionally you need to find a way to get work done and not be emotionally wed to whatever it is you're doing. Your boss isn't going to take the excuse "well I'm waiting for inspiration before I start working again". Those guys get let cut loose pretty quick.

    If your car is stalled and you're trying to get it rolling again do you sit on your rear and wait for it to magically restart or do you give it a shove and try to push start it? At some point the engine is going to kick on and make your job a lot easier but until then muscle through it and get stuff done. Often for me the act of just doing something is the most powerful way to spark inspiration. But then I'm a details guy I love looking up odd bits of machinery or giving some physical purpose to an object or "if this character does this, they will need to carry this and how is it they can carry this item". Just digging in gets things flowing. Just turning on the computer and then walking away demoralized just makes the problem worse, at least for me.

    If you can't work with inspiration then at least work on refining your work ethic and start to build that muscle through attitude that really comes in handy. Instead of filling the time between strikes of inspiration with sadness and despair, fill it with something useful and who knows maybe by doing that you can learn to trigger it.

    TLDR: There is a wimpy nerdy turtle neck wearing artist inside you that needs a good ass kicking. He needs to be put to work, preferably some hard labor, go! Kick his ass, make him your bitch and never let him whine again.
  • System
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    System admin
    Blaizer wrote: »
    Call it as you prefer but it's a reality. give or take.

    It's not the same to love the 3d we see from others than love the process of making 3d. 3D work can be insane and if you really don't love it, you end doing nothing.

    To be fair, I think this is a very good point.

    I suppose, despite the fact I initially disagreed with it, you really do need to love what you are doing in order to succeed and sometimes it's easy to 'think' you love what you are doing when you actually dont.

    I wasn't going to post my thoughts since these threads have come up before and there are plenty of great pieces of advice from others. I also don't want to discourage the OP.

    Here's my story, take from it what you will;

    About 3 years ago, I'd been doing architectural visualisation for a job whilst I got a degree in architecture. After being a huge gamer for as long as I could remember, it was inevitable I would come across the world of realtime art and as soon as I discovered places like Polycount and Game Artisans, I started to become more and more interested in it.

    Suddenly, after seeing all the fantastic art being produced, I had this idea that I wanted to work in games. I thought it was exactly what I wanted to do. I spent day after day working on my skills and learning game-based workflows, and building portfolio pieces. I actually made some reasonable stuff, nothing mind-blowing but I was pretty happy with it.

    After a year or so of putting together a portfolio, I thought it was time to apply for some jobs. I sent off my resume and folio to about 25 companies, and waited a response. In the end, I got about 3 or 4 letters declining me straight up, I got a couple of great emails from some smaller studios which were more informal and basically said I was showing some promise but not yet at an employable level.

    This hit my confidence incredibly hard. Now, looking back, I was foolish to apply at that time because I can see quite clearly now that my work was not of an adequate standard to land a job, but at the time, I was pretty down about it all.

    After that, the drive and motivation slowly started to disappear and I felt pretty low about things. I'd fire up the computer thinking I'd get to work on improving, but could never work for more than half an hour or so without feeling incredibly bored and frustrated. This went on for months, and I pretty much finished nothing in the whole time.

    In the end, I had to face the facts that it was actually not what I wanted to do. If it was really what I wanted to do, then the drive to improve and succeed would have been there and those letters that I got from the studios would've only served as a kick in the ass to improve even more, but they were quite the contrary, and I think that is the defining factor in whether something is right or wrong for you.

    Having scrapped my plans to ever work in the games industry, I've been much more productive, and creative, and generally much happier. It's clear now that it just wasn't right for me. But there was a time when it seemed clear as day that it was exactly what I wanted to do.

    It's the same as any industry though really, but with games being an incredibly competitive industry, you really do have to want it to push yourself to a level you need to be at. I have a hell of a lot of respect for anyone who can make the decision they want to work in games, and then push themselves to develop enough skill and a portfolio that gets them a job, but I bet there are people who have made that journey and would say 'it was easy, I love what I do'.

    With that said, though, I don't want to put you off or get you all confused thinking 'hmm maybe this isn't for me'. Because I still stand by my original thoughts too, that there may be other contributing factors. My biggest piece of advice if it is definitely where you want to be, is like what has been said already... there needs to be some pressure there. If you're just given all the time in the world with no deadlines, no clients to impress, and free-reign on project choice, then it can be difficult to do anything at all. Also, try small projects, tiny projects, ones you can finish in a very short time. You need to 'complete' something, so you can see where you succeeded, where you failed, note your points of success and failure and learn from them and move onto the next piece.

    Good luck.
  • Joseph Silverman
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    Joseph Silverman polycounter lvl 17
    I was initially going to argue with Blazier, but in many ways he's right.

    Loving what you do is an active choice. It's not some fairytale thing where you find an activity you want to do and you and it are happily ever after -- Drawing every day, going to the gym, becoming a great athlete, learning to play piano -- all of these things take sacrifice and dedication and devotion.

    If you want to truly love what you do, you need to accept the bad with the good. You need to stare at the canvas and feel that tremendous feeling of impotence and inability and accept it, and work through it, because this is something you are going to be doing for the rest of your life.
  • Alberto Rdrgz
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    Alberto Rdrgz polycounter lvl 9
    Polycount, where artists come to argue over un-agreeable subjects.

    seriously, tho how self-imposed are we that when some one asks for "motivation"(still dont believe in it) advise, people argue among each other? does this tire anyone else? arguing over opinions, i can't say i'm clean, shit, i start some dumb arguments sometimes but geeeez!
  • Pedro Amorim
    Polycount, where artists come to argue over un-agreeable subjects.

    seriously, tho how self-imposed are we that when some one asks for "motivation"(still dont believe in it) advise, people argue among each other? does this tire anyone else? arguing over opinions, i can't say i'm clean, shit, i start some dumb arguments sometimes but geeeez!

    rofl.
    Alberto is right..


    If you don't make art is because you don't really want it that bad..

    And don't try to bullshit a bullshiter lol
  • Snacuum
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    Snacuum polycounter lvl 9
    Polycount, where artists come to argue over un-agreeable subjects.

    seriously, tho how self-imposed are we that when some one asks for "motivation"(still dont believe in it) advise, people argue among each other? does this tire anyone else? arguing over opinions, i can't say i'm clean, shit, i start some dumb arguments sometimes but geeeez!

    Probably because people more often than not present their opinions as facts. This is natural because people's experiences are factual events that did occur, even though it could be different for somebody else.

    I did not want to argue but clearly my compulsions got the better of me after what Blazier said. He presents his argument as fact and if it is then OP should just give up and people like me should just work in a factory for the rest of their lives.

    In a thread about advice for motivation we are all clamouring to chip and a prove that the best advice has been given... Even if as you say, that's indeterminable.
  • Artist_in_a_box
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    Artist_in_a_box polycounter lvl 7
    This is what happend the last time i posted something like this lol. OP take notes lol
  • Joshflighter
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    Joshflighter polycounter lvl 9
    i'm here wishing i had more hours free in the days to do more art... and you're complaining cause you can't get started??... i don't get it.


    This pretty much.
  • rv_el
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    rv_el polycounter lvl 18
    Oh oh! I thought of 2 more motivators.


    Doing dominance war I would get home from work and I would listen to this song right before every time I would dive into the character. It can be rough to come home from a full day of hard work, especially with crunch, and then slog through carpal tunnel and all that crap - knowing youre just gonna unwrap something or optimize your max file cause its getting out of control...

    So I'd throw this on every time....

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idmiPQ1TOF4"]Born From Pain - Relentless - YouTube[/ame]

    Then this.. helps a lot too

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2i2_MABXNA"]Hatebreed - Perseverance - YouTube[/ame]



    OK no.2.. Enemies. You need to turn everything, positive or negative, into productive energy. May be you need an enemy!! I could be it.. or it looks like some people here on this forum may be stepping up to the plate :). You just have to imagine yourself posting here a few years from now showing off your Diablo expansion pack enemies or whatever your into. For instance one time I was laid off and wasn't paid and was totaly fucked over... honestly its a big and shitty story. But I turned it into hard work and got more done than ever before. But someobdy on CGTalk had made this random post about getting fucked over by a company and it was very close to my story - owner running with the money etc... So all I simply did was share my story. Just a little post of what happened. This dude said it wasn't real and that I was desperate!! Basically I was a desperate fool or some shit. Anyways. I should thank that guy...
    Hate = Productivity! Strife is life.. I just made that up.... it sounds horrible. Anyways.
  • m4dcow
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    m4dcow interpolator
    This guy posted the same exact thread over at gameartisans and who knows where else. Maybe he could find something to inspire and motivate him rather than posting a bunch of threads like this.
  • wailingmonkey
    well, whether 'this guy' benefits from it or not, others will. ;)
    (thanks for postin', rv_el)
  • paulconorey
    hello there well at times it happen with people but not worry at all you will come out of it. In fact what you can do is you share your thoughts with some one who is intimate to you
  • Del
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    Del polycounter lvl 9
  • Ace-Angel
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    Ace-Angel polycounter lvl 12
    Blaizer wrote: »
    Call it as you prefer but it's a reality. give or take.

    It's not the same to love the 3d we see from others than love the process of making 3d. 3D work can be insane and if you really don't love it, you end doing nothing. The majority of people start with something, and a day after... they don't have the enough motivation because they don't like what they started.

    We could discuss about procrastination aswell, but it's irrelevant now, and there are tons of threads about this common problem.

    Another thing, that "creative despair" is avoided disconnecting if you are with fatigue, if not, it's a lack of creativity. I'm constantly suffering it due to 12+ hours working all the days, and like a very good friend of mine say, only a true masochist can get the motivation to continue. We need to love the suffering of doing 3D/drawings/concepts.

    This kind of job is not done for all people. I know too many juniors that started in a company and they left the profession.

    For that reason, if you don't like what you do, you will never have the constancy and patience to continue. The motivation appears when we have a clear goal, a strong desire to reach that goal, and believe me, you can break walls.

    If only your understanding of human emotions was as good as your art...
  • [HP]
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    [HP] polycounter lvl 13
    Just get your thumb out of your ass and get started making something. Eventually you'll get in the flow, getting started is always the hardest part.
  • roosterMAP
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    roosterMAP polycounter lvl 12
    find someone on polycount to compete/work with. Someone you can challenge yourself against.
  • Blaizer
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    Blaizer interpolator
    Ace-Angel wrote: »
    If only your understanding of human emotions was as good as your art...

    Sorry man, but i'm human :), and i can't understand all those "human emotions" you talk about, really. BTW, I am not god... and too many people think the same as me about all this. If you don't love a thing, as much as to sacrifice yourself, you won't do anything, give or take.

    I have some friends that say: "i like 3d", but you know... they do 3d only 2 times in a year as much... and 2-4 hours only per day :). The unique reason of why they don't do 3d daily it's because they don't like it. It's so simple that you CAN'T argue that with me, and i don't need to have that "understanding of human emotions" as you said Ace-Angel.

    Later, i see them on forums with their crybaby rants complaining about their poor level, and that others have born with the required talent, having all easier. And that's more pathetic.

    You, being a "psychologist" as i denote, you could help others instead of saying me an acid nonsense phrase :). Illuminate the ones without light, wise man :poly117:.
  • Ruz
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    Ruz polycount lvl 666
    I am losing a 'bit' of motivaton only because I have been doing it since 1995,you should n't really lose interest after a year or two.
    Perhaps it's just not for you. In fact I am hoping that all those people posting how they can't do it or feel sad etc, stop doing 3d so I can have more chance of getting work:)
  • aivanov
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    aivanov polycounter lvl 5
    [HP] wrote: »
    Just get your thumb out of your ass and get started making something. Eventually you'll get in the flow, getting started is always the hardest part.

    QFT. Really this.

    Blaizer's starkly reductionist view seemingly discounts people that *can* work for ridiculous periods of time on 3d (or whatever it is they love), while still having those odd doldrums now and then. But I can imagine that it does apply in many cases.
  • Nysuatro
    Spend some time on failing before you want to succeed. You will find out that there is a reason to make mistakes.

    This is one way to realise that being frustrated and doing no work costs more energy then starting to fail and learn.
  • Skillmister
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    Skillmister polycounter lvl 11
    Blaizer wrote: »
    If you don't have motivation it's BECAUSE YOU DON'T LIKE WHAT YOU DO. Simple.

    That's just so untrue it's unbelievable.
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