Hey! So I've been working through CG Cookie and with Blender enough to know that I do, as a matter of fact enjoy the heck out of this stuff and would like to eventually work with it, (and in CG in general), professionally.
As of right now I'm fairly confident, barring some surprises, that I want to pursue rigging and animation as an actual career path. Either as a freelancer or with a studio. How would one go about doing that, and what does that actually look like?
Regarding learning, I fully intend on consuming every course I can get my hands on. Are there other resources I should be aware of?
For anyone who has done something similar before, what did your path look like and what were some surprises for you?
Hey Christopher! Exciting stuff!
While I do work being a creative (and can say it feels pretty amazing to do that kind of thing for a living, regardless which discipline you get into), I have not gone into the Rigger-Animator roles. So I can give you my 2-cents in a more generic way.
Learning everything you can get your hands on is a great attitude, but don't forget to DO stuff, not just watch it. It's not very hard to get accidentally in a never-ending-tutorial loop and have nothing to show for it. We learn by experience, not by minutes watched.
On courses: particularly in the beginning I can't recommend enough the learning of fundamentals before diving into more specifics. Say you want to take the monster truck rigging course? Sure thing! But do you know the basics of bones, constraints and all that good stuff? Solid basics turn you into a problem solver, and you definitely need that as a rigger. Following Wayne's curriculum is easy.. he made the whole thing with a smart "build upon the last concept" structure, so follow those in sequence I'd say. Also, it might not be the latest version of Blender but the Animation Bootcamp is PRICELESS. I recommend that one too. Resources wise, it seems you found the best place to start. CG Cookie has a ton of invaluable information on both Rigging and Animation.
Lastly... I think every creative, working with with it or not, can benefit from watching the video below. Ira Glass was spot on, and I come back to rewatch it every so often. Keep pushing, keep learning, make every project better than the last one and you'll get there!
nathitappan Thank you! That's extremely encouraging. I really appreciate the advice! I appreciate the video and encouragement too!
You mentioned you were working as a creative, but not as an animator/rigger - what did you end up doing and what did your path look like? How did you end up finding your way to CgCookie?
Uh, my origin story is very much random. Lol. I started as a Scuba Diving Instructor that worked in a tiny island in the Caribbean, that also loved underwater videography and editing (I used to volunteer for the Coral Restoration Foundation by doing marketing and training videos for them). When my husband and I moved back to the US I still worked with diving but managing the marketing for a Dive Center, and also did all their graphic and web design. Motion Design was the natural next step in how to improve on what I already did.
Turns out I fell in love with Motion Design, animation and storytelling, and that's what I do full time for the last 4 or 5 years now. My favorite inspiration pieces are the ones that blend 2D and 3D, so I decided to add 3D to my toolbox...
I tried sifting through never ending tutorials and free resources to learn it first, and while there are incredible teachers out on youtube (a lot of them actually also here at CG Cookie), the lack of logical progression and structure made the process so slow I gave up. Eventually I tried again and randomly found CG Cookie. It was love at first sight... their basics and fundamentals courses were exactly what I needed, teaching concepts and the why and how to do things, instead of just where to click and what specific numbers to enter. Add to that support team and the community... You won't find a better combo. That's why I said you are in the right place :)
Even if your journey involves other software in the future, what you are learning here is 100% transferrable. We all love Blender here, and that's our incredible tool of choice, but I feel like here they teach us to think 3D, not just the tool.
Have you seen this Rigging Course from Wayne?
https://cgcookie.com/courses/ball-how-to-rig-the-ultimate-ball-in-blender
In my learning path I took too much from the firehose at a point, so I eventually learned that to not burn out on the more complicated topics I needed simpler ones to tackle in between.
This one is on my list, partially because the trailer makes me laugh every time (I'll admit it lol).
I'm not a professional, but I have worked with some talented people in the independent film scene here in Dallas, Texas USA. Rigging, TD, and video editing are my main areas of focus. In addition to CGCookie I'd recommend Humane Rigging:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE211C8C41F1AFBAB&si=g8HjBqFAlK9AqZsP
Even though it's a very old version of Blender the information about rigging still applies. As for a payed course, I like the one Wayne recommended in one of his videos. Don't remember if it was one of the course or on YouTube.
Forum needs a quote feature lol.
nathitappan - That sounds awesome! That's really cool how your journey went, and really cool that you were able to just incorporate it into your life like that! I imagine that working with underwater stuff creates a LOT of inspiration!
As far as the bouncing ball goes, it's actually the next one on my list! I ended up running through RIG after trying to rig a project a few weeks ago and noticing the massive knowledge gap. I actually need a custom ball rig for another project too, so it works out. :Pdillenbata3 noice! Writing allll that down! I think the p2 design course was recommended at the start of RIG. It's been on my radar for a while but hearing so many vouch for it is a big vote of confidence!
Just fair warning: P2 Design's animation course can be difficult to go through at the beginning, but in the long run it's nice that he shows all the little adjustments and tweaking, because when I started animating I realized that it's not going to be perfect in just a few passes. Even pros have to continuously make adjustments. Funny thing is I started learning Blender as a video editor, because that's what my friend was using it for. Later I started learning the other features of Blender.
Great stuff Tillsie.
I can tell learning this sparked something inside.
Here's some rapid fire nuggets...
Don't take on too much at once.
Let things settle into your brain before moving onto the next thing.
Do things more than once, try different ways.
A failure is only a failure if you refuse to learn from it.
You can only be as good as you are right now - future you will be even better but don't beat yourself up because you're not as good as that guy. You will be.
Learning things takes exactly as long as it needs to.
As for learning more.
There's a lot of animation learning on here (Animation Bootcamp)
P2Design. (Rigging and Animation)
Animation School (Future you can ask me about that)
Rigging Dojo (Haven't looked at what they are offering at the moment but Brad is very good)
What do I recommend for you right now?
Skills acquisition. It's probably more important now to actually KNOW how to do things rather than type to a bot and have it f@#$^@$ everything up. I mean humans are much more efficient at f#$^@#^ things up - am I right? (sadly I'm wrong haha)
If you are good at what you do, that is awesome. If you also understand how everything works that is invaluable.
So keep learning, and make stuff. And don't forget the spark.