Video Game Artist Looking to Level Up!

[Nerdartist]

Hi!

 

My name is Dave, I'm a 3D artist, and I work in the video game industry!

 

I'll jump straight into the fire here; I struggle with social anxiety/shyness, worry, and self esteem issues, which have stunted my potential as an artist and a person for far too many years. However, after reading several of the Nerd Fitness articles I made the decision to start on a quest to level up and to finally try to live a consistently happy life!

 

Since February 2nd of this year I have been living a 'paleo-lite' lifestyle. It all started because I had been trying to figure myself out after a largely reckless year of dealing with the fallout of a long relationship ending. The thing that tipped the scales and got me into Paleo was when I started drinking heavily after years of abstaining, and I began to notice that I was leaning on the drink to make me feel 'happy' or 'normal' throughout the week. I also noticed that I had gained a spare tire 'round my midsection and felt physically awful most of the time. After about 3-4 weeks of eating Paleo and only drinking on weekends, if at all, I quickly started to notice the weight dropping off of me and I began to perk up a bit emotionally as well!

 

The reason that I'm posting on the forums now is because I don't feel as though I have a good enough support group who can help me when things get a bit rough, which they are at the moment. I'm also not much of a fitness guy, having lived the slovenly life of a video gamer and nerd for many years, and I could use some motivation to at least continue doing the basic bodyweight exercises. I did them once or twice in February and had to ease off to allow my legs to recover since I went all out on the first go and was in a fair bit of pain for a few days afterwards. However, I noticed such a difference in simply changing my diet that I didn't end up doing the exercises regularly.

 

Still, I would like to at least maintain a mostly flat stomach (I still have a little bit of pudge round the middle) as well as see to some digestive issues which I've been told could be more mental rather than physical. So, my Obi-Wans, I need your help!

 

Even though I would like some help, a lot of the struggles over the last year have helped me to realize that I am truly the only one who can help me. With that said, I started a blog to try and help me face up to some of my mental and emotional shortcomings. I call it Art+Life. It's mostly inspired by the Nerd Fitness blog, but there are a few artistic folks who also inspired me to start it up. I was taken in by the way that Steve talks so openly about his own issues that I just had to start writing!

 

With all of that said, I hope that with the support of the community I can finally learn how to be comfortable in my own skin, both physically and mentally, and become the great artist and person that I know I can be!

 

If there is anything that I skipped that you feel would be good to know, please don't hesitate to mention it! I'm usually more of a lurker than a poster on web forums, so any interactions are a good step forward

 

Cheers!

 

[sneaky]

Hi, Dave! Welcome to the Rebellion! You seriously have to have one of the coolest jobs ever.

[Nerdartist]

Thanks for the warm welcome Sneaky!

 

And yeah, the job can definitely be lots of fun at times

[terrormortus]

Welcome! Glad we can be the community to support you, awesome guy that you are.

 

Glad Paleo is working out for you, I don't use it personally but I have heard good things about those who use it. If you're sore for days after a workout it might be a good idea to ease into it more gradually to give your body time to get used to it. Also make sure you are stretching! I tell people this a lot, but only because it is so important.

[sneaky]

Welcome! Glad we can be the community to support you, awesome guy that you are.

 

Glad Paleo is working out for you, I don't use it personally but I have heard good things about those who use it. If you're sore for days after a workout it might be a good idea to ease into it more gradually to give your body time to get used to it. Also make sure you are stretching! I tell people this a lot, but only because it is so important.

Agreed. Stretching is so important. Once I was running late to meet someone at the gym, forgot to stretch in my rush, and ended up pulling a muscle. It wasn't fun and my coach wasn't happy when I couldn't compete in the track meet I had that weekend.

[Nerdartist]

Thanks Terrormortus! And you are right about stretching! I need to learn a few more solid ways to stretch and think of it as being more of an important part of working out

 

Sneaky, that's rough! I have managed to slightly pull a muscle in my calve from just walking lol

[sneaky]

The real rough part was when he made me compete hurdles anyway. At least he didn't have my high jump or run any of the relays.

[Leonine]

Welcome! It sounds like you're off to a solid start, but of course, it helps to have people who've got your back! (and pssst, it's cool to see other game artists on here. Rock on, man!)

[Nerdartist]

Oh man! I was so hoping that there would be other game artists on here!

 

I've always found it difficult to explain some of the things that artists deal with to people who don't have to deal with the same things on as regular a basis, so I'm glad there are other artists around here

 

Thanks for the warm welcome!

[Panczo]

dear Dave,

shyness and CGI passion are our common things.

I would happilly support you, but as u said it yourself - you are the only one who has to do all the hard work if YOU want to level up in life.

 

If you decide to join NF for good, let me know!!

peace, bro!

[Nerdartist]

dear Dave,

shyness and CGI passion are our common things.

I would happilly support you, but as u said it yourself - you are the only one who has to do all the hard work if YOU want to level up in life.

 

If you decide to join NF for good, let me know!!

peace, bro!

Thanks Panczo!

 

It's great to find more artists on the boards here! I'm definitely in NF for good too

[Panczo]

So how are u doin these days? Are you plannin to jump on board with your own challenge or are you just wondering around for now?

and I am curious what kind of stuff are you doing in job? Are you more of a generalist or you have more specific work like animating,  modeling, vfx, programist, etc.?

[Nerdartist]

So how are u doin these days? Are you plannin to jump on board with your own challenge or are you just wondering around for now?

and I am curious what kind of stuff are you doing in job? Are you more of a generalist or you have more specific work like animating,  modeling, vfx, programist, etc.?

 

Hey Panczo,

 

Thanks for asking! Still digging into the shyness arena and I believe I'm making some headway, although it's slow going, which is fine.

 

As to participating in a challenge I'm not sure I feel the need to do a physical challenge just now. I did Muay Thai for a bit but after a while I realized that I had ZERO plans to compete in the ring and by rout decided that I didn't really have a goal beyond getting out some aggression I was holding onto at the time. I'll likely do a challenge at some point though, but for now I'm really finding that eating right is enough for the moment

 

In answer to your second question, I'm an environment artist. I've worked most extensively with the Unity engine in the industry, but prior to that I worked with Unreal 2 editor.

 

One of my favorite games to date is the Myst series, because of the sense of wonder in it's environments and the sense of peace that I could achieve while just walking around in them. I'd always enjoyed the sense of place that really good video games could convey to the player and that kinda helped to solidify my desire for world building. I almost became a level designer right after college but that opportunity didn't pan out in the end. lol

 

Most of my gigs have focused on low poly titles or on high poly, pre-rendered, which is what I'm currently doing. I can't tell you much I long to be back in the real-time space of a proper 3D game and engine though! Gah! It's murder fiddling about with renders for half a day, based on tinsy little changes that some director or producer wants to see, haha!

 

So what do you do then? What sort of projects have you worked on or would you like to work on?

 

Cheers!

[Panczo]

Oh man, your job sound so cool !!!

 

but first things first :

- if you got any solid programs or advices about shyness fighting I am would love to hear it. I think I need to find some ways to gradually move forward using tiny little steps from situations just not usual to akward to really weird to freaking scary to immposible ... Maybe I should try and create it smth like that by myself? After all we all have different levels of shyness and for one making a phone call can be immposible while for someone else just not usual.

 

- I see you found your sweet spot for that time being. Good for you I could not live without moving but we all have different needs. You know about challenges so you will jump in if you feel like you want it

 

- how awesome it is to have a job you enjoy and always wanted to do is beoynd my perception for now. I just started working with 3ds max, specifically with character animation. Just like u had these cool memories about Myst series, I have about watching movies with amazing visual effects and fight scenes. But somehow my life didn't turn out into that direction. Now I am trying to restart my career and so I started this learning process. One day I would love to work as character animator would it be in movies or games!! Other than that I am also drawn to visual effects so maybe some nuke or AE lessons would be in order. Just can't do all at once, so I started with 3ds max. Not sure if I would do better to learn Maya, but I will see about that later on I guess...

 

see you around Dave!!! 

[SSquirrel]

You should talk to Kittenmancer.  Has a thread a few below yours.  Working on a AAA video game at the moment.  I'm just a software tester in Louisville KY looking for work heh.  Grats on starting things up.

[Nerdartist]

Oh man, your job sound so cool !!!

 

but first things first :

- if you got any solid programs or advices about shyness fighting I am would love to hear it. I think I need to find some ways to gradually move forward using tiny little steps from situations just not usual to akward to really weird to freaking scary to immposible ... Maybe I should try and create it smth like that by myself? After all we all have different levels of shyness and for one making a phone call can be immposible while for someone else just not usual.

 

- I see you found your sweet spot for that time being. Good for you I could not live without moving but we all have different needs. You know about challenges so you will jump in if you feel like you want it

 

- how awesome it is to have a job you enjoy and always wanted to do is beoynd my perception for now. I just started working with 3ds max, specifically with character animation. Just like u had these cool memories about Myst series, I have about watching movies with amazing visual effects and fight scenes. But somehow my life didn't turn out into that direction. Now I am trying to restart my career and so I started this learning process. One day I would love to work as character animator would it be in movies or games!! Other than that I am also drawn to visual effects so maybe some nuke or AE lessons would be in order. Just can't do all at once, so I started with 3ds max. Not sure if I would do better to learn Maya, but I will see about that later on I guess...

 

see you around Dave!!! 

 

Hey Panczo!

 

Good to hear from you again. I can recommend a couple of books to skim through to help you start to think about shyness in new and different ways. As you mentioned, it really can be quite different from person to person, but luckily us human beings do have quite a few things in common too

 

Most of my 'official' research on the topic of shyness began thanks to a bunch of Steve Kamb's posts on NF! I would suggest reading all of his posts on the subject and trying to do some of the things that he suggests. Similar to the physical challenges, he suggests some social challenges which I found to be kinda fun! My favourite was trying to get at least 5 people to smile on my way to and from work each day, simply by smiling at them. I tend to walk with my head up but don't make eye contact, another challenge that Steve put out. He suggested trying not to be the person who looks away or flinches when holding eye contact. I started to do these two and would set myself new challenges if I hit my previous one. So, Monday I'd try to get 5 people to smile, and if I did that I'd go for 6 on the way home! It was great fun!

 

I picked up a book a little while ago called "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" by Dale Carnegie. There are some pretty good ideas in it and lots of things to help with getting out and about more regularly. Some of the stuff he says didn't really gel with me, but a bunch of it did so I'd say it's worth having a look. You can read some of it here to see if it vibes with you before buying it

 

Another really great read is Epictetus' Enchiridion, or The Handbook. Read up on it here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enchiridion_of_Epictetus. The Handbook is basically a condensed version of his teachings which were compiled into a series of four books (eight originally) called the Discourses.

 

I'm currently reading through a book called Overcoming Social Anxiety and Shyness by Gillian Butler. She attempts to explain why people get socially anxious first, and then goes into ways of overcoming things. It reads a bit drier than Dale Carnegie's book, and even Epictetus' to a point, but it's pretty good so far.

 

What I've found has helped me the most so far is actually talking about the things which make me feel shy or nervous. Part of the way I've been able to ease into that is by telling people about some of the interesting ideas that I've been reading about in my research. Almost every time I mention something I end up in a discussion with someone about how they have shyness issues! It's really wonderful to make that connection and not feel so isolated and afraid. I'm figuring out more and more that a lot of my shyness comes from the thought of being judged by others, and subsequently ridiculed, which makes me feel isolated and hopeless. By putting myself into situations where I am vulnerable but hopefully around people whom I trust, I'm finding that it's easier to make friends and it's getting easier to speak my mind without fear of ridicule. Instead of fearing it, I welcome it as a chance to try a new method I've read in a book, or online! 

 

 

Right then! If you're looking to be a 3D animator for film, you're best bet is Maya as most studios use it for animation. I studied traditional animation for a few years as well, and Maya was the go-to program. I would definitely suggest that you put some time in to learning the program. Check out www.digitaltutors.com for a really great spread of lessons on what all the bells and whistles do

 

Most game studios still use 3DSmax for their 3D pipeline, so if you're looking to get into games, it's a really good idea to learn Max. The most important thing is to really nail down a solid foundation of the fundamentals of animation, since most of the 3D packages out there are all performing the exact same functions and are simply called by different names.

 

Much like you, I didn't start out on this career straight away. After high school I was a labourer, carpenter, and generally demolished stuff for a while. I was very lucky to have family who work in the film industry, so I was able to work on a few really big productions. Being in that collaborative work environment really helped set me up for working in the games industry. As a nerdy kid with aspiration of wanting to be a comic or video game artist, I was always really nervous and, to be honest, frightened of a lot of the dudes that work in various construction industries. Once you're past their gruff demeanour though, they are cool dudes. That was another good education that I didn't even realize I'd received until recently! I'm quite the slow learner at times

 

If you need any further info on 3D stuff, fire me off a direct message and I'll do my best to provide answers.

 

Keep going strong bud! We'll talk soon

 

You should talk to Kittenmancer.  Has a thread a few below yours.  Working on a AAA video game at the moment.  I'm just a software tester in Louisville KY looking for work heh.  Grats on starting things up.

 

Hey SSquirrel!

 

Thanks for the welcome

 

I had a look at Kittenmancer's thread as you suggested, and it sounds like she's really getting her stuff together! Quite the inspiration! Thanks for bringing her post to my attention.

 

I hope you're able to find a gig down there in Louisville soon! Best of luck to ya

 

Cheers!

[Panczo]

hey man, hhuuuuuuuuge thanks for that post

sorry for taking me so long to answer but my live can get really busy and I didn't wanna write just any quick post

 

first of all I will definitely read some of these books. They sounds great for me to start understanding my social fears etc and giving me some ideas how to conquer them. Motives of my shyness are pretty much the same as yours so I think similar solutions might be effective in my case so thanks again for those titles.

 

about animation - I still got hard time with it, I think I am scared of how much time and costs and energy I need to sacrifice, just to think about getting any job in it. Moreover the are others problems coming with it: like moving to another city to get a job, my girl wanting to get married and make babies while I think mostly about self-improvement and making up years of idling.

 

Nonetheless thanks again for info, I would prefer to do animations but there aren't many jobs in it in my country. So I will be looking more towards game industry so just like you said - 3ds max is a good start. besides, I am doing totally basic right now - like reading ANimator Survival's Kit and working with some beginner tutorials from 3ds max.

 

AGAIN huge thanks for your post, it helped a lot... 

I hope all is well with you...

 

See ya.