Reply To: How to decide what to focus on?

[Ronald Vermeij]

Hello Daphne,
“When one’s Head is overloaded with information, the Heart is the place to go, when looking for inner guidance”

So to find your own unique answers, let the Head take a break from it all and look inwards, to the Heart spark that got your ignited/fired up going into CGI. Reading in between your lines, it looks like you are experiencing the “7 year itch” in the relation to your once chosen path with the 3D printed jewelry webshop…. which means in my book that you are realy to evolve up, into something higher .. something more expressive from within, something more personal.
The fact that you are already doubting about “… competing with 3D printing armor of automatically fitting dresses” is a sign to me.

Here are some reactions / tips from me:
Getting stuck between:
– Keep modeling and printing……….. while drain your enthousiasm and creativity, since you already know this tricks.
– Create renders and art…………… this could tickle your right-brain more, go for it…
– Draw and model environments………. Why not, give it a go…
– Learn how to make good characters…. This is something HIGHER then your current level-of-expression.
– Go Code. learn how to use python….. This is ALWAYS handy to customize/extend Blender

SOME TIPS:
A – DECIDE / DESIGN WITH THE END IN MIND:
What is your OWN LONG TERM goal that you want to use Blender as a tool for?
Once you got that goal clear, everything falls in line to that original desire and making choices gets easier along the way.

B – CHOOSE SOME PLAY PROJECTS ALONG THE WAY
Allow yourself some playtime while learning Blender. After all it can not all be serious.
Have some fun and discover Blender’s endless possibilities along the way
Who knows you get inspired by them too.

C – BARE IN MIND THAT THE ENTIRE INTERNET IS FILLED WITH GOOD TUTORIALS/ COMMUNITIES:
The CGCOOKIE is a very educative and fun place to start, but its not the only kid in town.
There are lots of other artists and companies offering Blender and art related materials, ebooks and courses. The choice is ours.

So first decide what YOU want and find the best tutor for that job (and not the other way around since there is simply way to much to learn as you already discovered 😉

D – HOW DID I DECIDE TO US E BLENDER?
I wanted to make my own Microsoft FSX flight-simulator aircraft model, stumbled upon Blender as tool to achieve it in a kind of C.A.D.-way (hard surface modeling to be exact).. but along the way I totally fel in love with the entire Blender suite and all its free add-ons and build-in abilities. So now i’m just follow my own gut-feelings, have learned to (character) animatie too
and am slowly digging into Blender Render and Cycles to find the internal Blender Light(ing)..

Long-term goal: Create CAD/ Character like (short=movie) animations and educational videos to “show how stuff works”.

I hope my reactions, tips and story will helps up to get you (Blender)Head clear (again)
and follow your Heart’s trail through the CGI landscape.