Quite a hectic few week, back on track now more or less and time to get everything sorted.
Skills.
First off I've been putting a lot of thought and and research into it and I've decided I'm going to learn Maya. I've attempted it a few times now but every time I just take my toys back to Max but now I'm completely determined to become and maya user.
In addition to that I'm going to delve into Mudbox and see what it can do, a lot of guys at uni seem to be using it and the final output they produce is pretty impressive! Knocking up a basemesh will be part of my learning process with maya so I'll hopefully be killing 2 birds with one stone in that sense by using the basemesh i create in maya to learn sculpting in mudbox.
The final addition to the skills list is to learn more about animation, I'll just use pre existing rigs and animate them, simple things at first, stuff like bouncing balls and biped idle animations. I feel confident when it comes to the basics already but it never hurts to go over them again to fine tune.
Web Presence & Portfolio
My web presence is lacking so I want to get a stronger footing online. First off one of the things I want to do is update my website, I'm going to try make it easier to access the work straight off, at the moment it is only 1 click away but I'm going to embed my showreel into the home page when its finished, that way my work is being shown as soon as you access the site.
Secondly I'm going to try to become more active on CG forums, CG Society and Polycount mainly. To strengthen my skills I'm going to enter the mini challenges as often as I can, feedback from the community is precious and something I feel I am missing out on at the moment.
My Show Reel! Finally I've had a go at making one, I think I've put it off for so long because I wasn't happy with the work I was creating, but I've decided to just make one with my pre-existing work, once I have the basic structure made It should be easy to change and add different work to it as I wish. Now the hardest bit... picking a song!
CV fellow students Tim and Lucas have made awesome CV's, they really work well and have inspired me to make one myself. When I originally thought of a CV I just imagined a bland piece of paper telling people what you've done, but after seeing how creatively you can make one... I just have to give it a go.
Placements
The big "placement" word. Well I've got one already at Big Talk Productions down in London, it is only for 2 weeks but its something I suppose! As well as that I'm in contact with the Moving Picture Company, its just a matter of them finding something for me to do.
The search is on again and I'm currently listing companies where I would like to do a placements, at the moment they're all in the UK and once I've finished up my show reel, website and CV I'm going to contact them.
In addition to the UK placements I've started to look at placements abroad again, mostly in the US but 1 or 2 are in Singapore, and it wouldn't hurt to try WETA in NZ, the worst they can say is no.. right? I was put off before with the Visa issues, but its too big an opportunity to miss out on, and I would be forever kicking myself for not trying, so what the hell?
Goals and Targets
Daily - To do anything animation/CG related every day. Even if its a few hours spent on CG Society.
Weekly - To model at least one thing per week to a finished level.
To post something on this bloody blog!
To animate something, bouncing balls, lip sync anything.
To watch and break down one animation per week.
Have at least one photograph ready that I want to get printed.
Monthly - At least one modelled, textured, animated and rendered project/scene.
Sounds a lot but I feel I do so much more done if I live and breath what I'm doing. I'll post the weekly update (on top of other updates) once per week on a Sunday/Saturday, basically just proving (mostly to myself) that I've completed what I set out to do.
And that's my wall of text done! I should be back at uni tomorrow (home at the moment) and ready to get into gear. Thanks to my bro for making me a lovely cup of tea whilst writing this, and now to concentrate shaking off the last of this cold.
