Hello CG Cookie Community,
My name is Ryan (also Cmdr_Firezone38) and I have not been overly involved in the CG Cookie community since it was something that was separate from the main site before SIX.
I do not have a whole lot of time right now to right this post, but I am making this post since I am having major struggles with focus on learning Blender and moving forward. I have been a CG Cookie member for about 2 years or so and despite being a member for so long, I have not gotten all that much better at Blender. This has nothing to do with CG Cookie, CG Cookie has been an amazing resource and up there with some of the most high quality Blender training sources out there.
But I am lacking discipline, motivation, and accountability when it comes to learning, practicing, and just moving forward in Blender. I know I can get to being like some of these amazing Blender artist, but I am having a hard time moving along the path to get to that point.
I am asking the CG Cookie community if you would help me stay accountable and help me move along this path? Would anyone be willing to help a fellow community member?
Ryan
P.S. I will come back and write more, just don't have the time to do it right now.
I am always willing to help out a fellow community member :)
What exactly do you have in mind? I have been pushing myself to learn Blender for the last couple of years and wow it has been a struggle, but the amazing crew at CGC and the awesome community have made it possible.
Let me know if there is anything we can do , and I would advise that you start a Polybook, so that you can show the community your work, and get critiques and help when you are stuck. Here is the link to my one so you can see what I am on about (although it is very much unfinished as I am in the middle of migrating it across from the old forum)
https://cgcookie.com/t/19-polybook-frikkr
Matt
Thank you Matthew,
I think the hardest part about all of this is that I have been doing this all on my own. What I mean by that is that I do not have much interactions with people, so if I don't do anything, well no one will know. But if I let people know what I am doing, set a deadline, etc, then I have to do it because people are witness and keeping me accountable.
Another thing I have a hard time with is when I finish a course, yeah I made whatever was in it, but there is no end exercise where it is asking you to make a different thing, but using what you learned in the course without any instruction (since you were just taught how to do it with something else). I need that extra help post finishing the course.
How to help and solve those issues, I am not sure yet. But I will definitely make a Polybook plus I want to start uploading some projects on to my CG Cookie Profile as well.
Ryan
Good plan :)
One thing I would reccomend, is to do the courses on CGC , but come up with your own designs and make them your own. If you look at my Piero reuslt , and the result from the SCI-FI helmet course (both are in my gallery) , then you will see that what I did was NOTHING like what the tutors were doing in terms of design. I still learnt exactly what I needed to, but the end result I had was my own unique design , and I found it much more enjoyable to do the course in this way, rather than copying the designs of the tutors. I would reccomend atleast trying this way, to see if it captures your attention more and makes learning more enjoyable.
I'll second what Matt said. The thing about courses at CGC is that they are not meant as 'follow along' where you copy exactly what the instructor is doing. Rather, you're taught techniques, given tips and tricks, which you can then apply to your own designs and models :) I'd recommend watching the course (or sections/chapters), then start working on your own design in relation to the course/chapter, and referring back to the course (or lessons) when you need a refresher on something :D
So pretty much I should learn from them, but not do what they do?
I can understand that. I just have a hard time with that, but maybe that is something that I should try over coming instead of letting it prevent me from getting better at Blender.
Do you have a Discord Account?
Ryan
Thank you for the advice. I am going to try and put that into effect. What do you do when you just can't figure out how to do something on your own? Do you find a tutorial that can help, do you ask for help?
I love your "Headphone Girl" by the way!