2013 3d art goals.

That time has come back around again, Christmas is just about done with for another year and people start thinking up new year's resolutions that they attempt to keep in the coming months.
I'm not sure if it's the same for everyone, but I'm not quite sure where 2012 has gone; it has definitely been the quickest year that I can remember. I have just kept studying 3d art, improving over the last 12 months whilst and working around my part-time job, that's about it really. It's always good looking back to January and seeing how far your artwork has come in that short space of time though. The effort does (and is) paying off, for sure.
So, on the topic of making new year's resolutions, I have typed up a list of 3d study-related goals that I will strive to achieve in this coming year.

• A fairly general one to start with; I want to continue to improve my 3d modelling, texturing and digital sculpting.
• Find a work placement to gain some invaluable industry experience. This is a big goal for me in 2013 and one of the most important on this list.
• Continue to work on personal 3d projects, bulking my portfolio up to 5-7 polished pieces of artwork, showing off a variety of subject and art style of things I love to create.
• Whilst working around personal artwork, try to stick to my schedule and get Train2Game work done too. Since July I hit a brick wall with the coursework, coming to a stage that requires to model, rig and skin a character and study a whole book on animation; two of my biggest dislikes.
• Make time to practice some digital painting. Since starting my studies of 3d two years ago, there hasn't been a whole lot of time to dedicate to traditional 2d work. In the new year I want to improve my 2d, in particular environment and prop concept art.
• Attend some gaming events. In the last couple of years I have been unable to attend events such as Eurogamer, Develop and game jams, this new year will be different.
• Last but not least, an optimistic extra. This one is not something I 100% aim to achieve in 2013, but if I can manage to get my foot into the door of the industry, it would certainly make my year!

There we go, that's a handful of goals I aim to achieve in the next twelve months. What are you targets for 2013?

A big thank you to anyone who has given up some of their valuable time to read any of my blog posts this year.

Eighteen months in...

I have now been learning 3d art for eighteen months (Give or take a few weeks), in which I feel that I've learnt so much; all the way from opening up 3ds Max for the very first time and being terrified by the complicated-looking UI, up to where I am today. I feel I have made great progress so far in my studies, both through the Train2Game course I'm enrolled on and extra-curricular learning, working my ass of each and every day.
Another milestone that the eighteen month point brings, is that I have also paid off half of my course. Working the extra hours at my part-time job in order to pay for my studies is tough, but at the same time allows me to learn the skills I need to break-in and get that job in the games industry!
Looking to the next eighteen months, I should be much more proficient in high poly modelling and the Unreal Engine; both of which are things I have recently started to learn. Add to this continuing to improve at my texture work and as a wannabe environment artist as a whole. Hopefully if I can learn as much in the next eighteen months as I have in this past year and a half, then I will blossom into a fairly good 3d artist, who starts to make some tiny ripples in the proverbial ocean that is the games industry.

"This is what I want to be a part of as a career, this is my passion..."

Finding yourself.

I have been learning 3d art for about one year and three months now, getting to grips with the basics and trying out all different sorts of modelling.
One important part of an artists journey is finding what they are good at, deciding whether to specialise in one area, in which case, what the specific area of art that is. Quite early on in my studies I thought that I was pretty set on wanting to pursue character art (up until quite recently actually), having always drawn characters growing up, but that changed when I was sat thinking about a week ago.
I was thinking what games I really love to play. A real mixture, some first-person (Portal, Battlefield), others third (Super Mario, Uncharted) or not even character controlled at all. Although I do really love a good character, it occurred to me that it is in fact the environments that I actually spent the majority of my time admiring.
As I have matured as a gamer, it is less a case of who the character you play as that draws me in, but being amazed by the wide variety of stunning environments to explore; from the scary confines of Resident Evil games, to the beautiful and colourful open worlds like in The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker.
So, from this day forward I will be continuing my studies of 3d art, with the majority of my focus on becoming a great video game environment artist. This is me putting all my eggs into one specialised basket. So. I will see you in the industry in the future as an environment artist hopefully!