Hey Richard! Welcome to CG Cookie! Here’s my perspective and experience:
My profession is Video Production and VFX with some Music / Audio production on the side. Nearly everything I do was self-taught via resources like CG Cookie and YouTube. I did go to college for Video Production, but I didn’t learn too much more than most YouTubers will just happily teach nowadays.
That being said, the benefit of college will always be the more personalized and hands-on learning from (usually) seasoned professionals. You’ll be getting fairly close to that here minus a degree, though portfolios tend to win jobs more than degrees in our industries. While CG Cookie is mostly Blender focused, a lot of the skills you learn here can translate to a lot of other creative processes and software.
I’m not primarily a 3D artist, though I use it a lot in my day-to-day work. I’ve been coming to CG cookie to further my opportunities and abilities. If anything, I’d look at CG cookie as a means of both starting your career, as well as figuring out if this is what you want to do without sinking so much money into college programs right away.
You’ll often find that the best artists are self-taught with or without formal education. It’ll be an ever-evolving process of learning from here on out, and if you can find comfort in that and stay dedicated, you’ll come out the other end with success.
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