Reply To: [ENDED] BC3-1806 – June 2018 Class Homepage – Vehicle Modeling with Blender

[Aaron Rudderham]

@jakeblended First thing’s first: take a break from Blender. Tend to my hobbies and other studies that I’ve neglected for weeks and work out again.

After that? Well I haven’t finished the Mesh Modeling Bootcamp or the Acting for Animators class yet, so I’ll wrap those up and then after that God knows, maybe I’ll try to understand sculpting more? Maybe I’ll tackle animating head on? Hell, maybe even trying to get back into concept art and drawing again so I can be a more well-rounded creator? Not sure which I should do first. Have a couple friends who’ve “employed” me to make some models after this class is done so I’ll at least have something to do in Blender in the coming weeks, but actually learning wise I’m not sure, there’s so many options.

I totally understand how you feel with the confidence too, it was by far the biggest block for me. Hell, the biggest block for getting started with Blender in the first place. Week 1 comes around and I look at all these blueprints thinking “There’s no way I can pick one of these that I’ll be able to make, I should just give up.” but by the end of that week I had that and a bunch more references. Week 2 comes around and as I first start pulling around verts in the vague shape of a bonnet I get flustered, confused and annoyed, thinking “There’s no way I’ll have a car exterior done by the end of this, I don’t understand the topology or how the shapes work and my blueprints are all crooked, I should just give up,” but by the end of that week I had the exterior done, fully jam packed with details and shaded. Week 3 comes around and as I start looking at the details necessary to pull off a convincing interior I get intimidated and doubtful, thinking “There’s no way I’ll be able to make this interior, there’s so many things you need to address, not to mention my idiotic self picked a limo so I have even more stuff to model, I should just give up,” but by the end of that week I had a fully detailed and somewhat shaded interior. Once again, like clockwork, week 4 comes around and as I nervously toy with the sculpting tools I get overwhelmed and perplexed, thinking “I just can’t get on with sculpting, my surfaces are all bumpy and I can’t make a coherent shape to save my life, I should just give up,” and whilst the end of that week isn’t here yet, I will say I’m quite pleased with what I’ve created thus far.

At the end of the day, the biggest barrier to self improvement will always be your self doubt. Not to sound like some sort of armchair philosopher or something, sorry if it comes across like that, but over the past five months I have continually surprised myself with what I am capable of, and I’m sure many of you feel the same.

That got… long, but hey, my message got across at least!