Reply To: Your CG routine – how do you keep up the pace ?

[silentheart00]

There are a lot of good suggestions here, and I’ll throw my hat into the ring, too.

I started CGCookie because I wasn’t going anywhere I wanted fast.  My Maya student license expired, I had no money, got student loans breathing down my neck, just kind of floating.  I was floating because my SO made enough money to cover living expenses for both of us and I could pursue freelancing.  Well, it wasn’t going anywhere fast, and I needed to learn something free, like Blender, and a community to keep me going is certainly nice.  Things have changed since then once I realized how much time I was wasting in a day (just in a haze, pissing the day away).  I focused on my goals by writing them out, creating a daily schedule with a grading system to keep me honest, and have really picked up my daily improvement.  My SO and I want to go to grad school for game development (because we’re both not achieving our dreams fast enough), and it is hella expensive.  My SO can pay for one person if we nickeled and dimed the one income as hard as possible, but that wouldn’t be fun or fair to both of us.  So, I’ve got to join the 9-5 workforce, hopefully make enough in the next 3 years to pay for anything leftover for both of us to go (not a huge deal breaker, but grad student loans are way harsher than undergrad; don’t really want them), and I’ll be working at night alongside my SO on our skills that we need for our portfolios.  This is a huge motivating force for us.

I’ve found picking up little contests and challenges have helped to motivate me.  I took part in the Artstation challenge called Beneath the Waves for preproduction, and it was so fun and invigorating.  I’m a shit drawer by comparison, so going into it for my own personal goal was way more fun for me and the deadline helped keep me honest.  I would’ve done game production, but I wasn’t comfortable enough in Blender to continue.  The new Weekly CG Challenge was announced a couple days ago, and I think I’ll draw something for that, too.  Having an end goal really helps, take small steps along the way, grade yourself if you think that’ll help keep you honest, and eventually it’ll become second nature.

When pondering if I should start my day, I’ll start with something small, like 1 CGCookie video.  I like starting with small tasks because it primes my mindset for the rest and helps get me in the zone.  Oh, also important, I use a time tracking app, like Gleeo.  It really opened my eyes to where my time was going and how much time I’ve wasted in a day.  I always tell myself when I’m not feeling up to doing something, “If not now, then when?”  I have the time now, why not just do it?  If I don’t do it now, when will I do it?  Also having friends who can critique your work helps keep the motivation.  I showed my friend the hammered metal shader I made, and it inspired him to get back into Blender!

I guess it also depends on how you’re motivated.  Are you best motivated by outside forces (extrinsically) or are you best motivated from within (intrinsically)?  Take a look at yourself so you know how to motivate yourself.  For me, it’s been mostly intrinsic, but extrinsic forces certainly help propel me farther than just my will alone.  So, understand yourself and find what works for you.