I see you are ex-military Wes. Might I ask what Branch, where/when you served? Served in the Army myself. Always interested to talk to former military, about why they chose this career path.
Nice! I remember almost applying to Savannah Art College, after high school. Never panned out. I've always had an interest in art, but never really focused on anything in particular (drew a LOT of dragons, back in the day). I remember doing some bare-bones animations back in the 486DX days of computing; but never followed through with that either. Went in the Army in '95; got out of Active Duty in 2002, joined the Guard straight out after that and ended up doing 1 tour in Iraq in '03. Got out after that for a few years, then went back in for 3 more. Left military service totally in '10. Lots of fond memories (even the frustrating moments) from my time in. It really helped shape me into my adult life.
I currently work as a Corrections Officer at a State Prison (going on 12 years now); but the result of working there for so long, has spurned me into getting very serious about making a last effort to become an Indie Game Dev/Game Artist. Both creating an asset library to sell my wares, and possibly freelancing in the future. So any "shortcuts" I can take, such as learning here...rather than scouring YouTube, is what I'm after. I'm giving myself the next 2 years to pay off debt, and to see if I can make a viable home-based business. After 24 years of government service in hostile and soul-sucking environments, I've had enough. Time to return to a more quiet and enjoyable existence.
I get off of work around 2PM; but I'll try to make it to the talk by 2:45, if it's still on. Good talking!
-Keith
Sounds good then. The biggest hurdle (other than finding time with work/family life), is getting focused on what I need to be productive in the short term (to start making for-sale assets). I have to stop drifting off on things; whether it's Unity's Terrain, or Blender's non-game tool-sets. I don't need to learn everything; before becoming productive. I'm constantly checking myself on that.