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Week 2-5 Recap: School/Work Balance

This is suppose to be a DeLorean and much like the DMC-12. My project was a failure. This was week 4′s project. The last week where in my modeling block we focused on Hard Surface Modeling. I haven’t recieved my grade on this project but my week 2 and 3 projects were both C+’s. I knew most of my failures going into them due to me having a checklist and attempting to get everything in at a certain time. Going with my ratio of, if I spend twice as long out of school as in working on a project I am more likely to succeed. I know a lot of factors go into that, the first being the actual available time after school to work on said project. Let’s take my week 3 project for example. Which was a popcorn machine on a cart. I had 18.5 (3 days in class and only taking 30 min lunches instead of the full hour) we got info on the project Wednesday before leaving with only a few reference pictures and making a layout and notes.The project would be due at the beginning of class Tuesday morning at 7:30am. My work schedule that next week, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, Monday night. That means Wed, Fri, and Monday I would be out of the house from 6:30 in the morning until 11:15 at night. So Thursday night, all of saturday day, sunday morning would be the best times to work. And (just like for the Week 2 project) I would stay up as late as possible Monday into Tuesday finishing my project after work. Breaking it down to simple chunks of 8 hour work segments, Thursday night, Saturday day and Sat Night and sunday Morning. Gave me the potential of 24 work hours to put in. Including an insane all nighter Monday night would lead to an additional 6.5 hours of work. 30.5 hours of out of school work. 18.5*2= 39. I feel if I put 18.5 x 3 hours (55.5 hours) into my work that would result in an A. Instead my maximum potential was 49 which 49/55.5 is an 88.2%. The highest score I could get would be a B+ most. Without the all nighter I’m looking at a total of 75.5%.  Now I ended up with a 78. Where did I lose those potential hours? Easy, I’m Human. Thursday I worked on my project after school until about 11-12 at night. Friday I would end up coming home after work and packing my car with food and dirty laundry to do at my Grandma’s house. I hadn’t done my laundry in nearly 3 weeks. It would also give me a different spot to get work done. I go to her house around monday, loaded laundry and slept in an actual bed instead of an Ikea futon for the first time in a month. nice. I slept till about 7:30 am, started making breakfast and watched about an hour of NXT Takeover before getting to work. I tried having it on in the background with the Xbox I brought but I didn’t have the wifi password on hand some the computer it was, also, attempting to have my cake and eat it too wasn’t happening.  Out of this time, I lost about 5 hours from traveling and watching a dumb show. On the other hand, I had no other distractions available. The all nighter I would end up pulling would affect me through the rest of the week. I had an extremely hard time focusing and staying awake in class While working on the DeLorean. I talked to my bosses and decided to drop down to 3 days a week at work. I will make enough money to cover rent and insurance each month and the rest of my expenses will drain from my bank account, over the last 2 months my bank account has remained relatively the same. I hit a point at work of becoming extremely demoralized, especially after receiving a safety write up for not filling out temperatures for soup. That write-up means for the next 6 months I can get a raise, promotion or other benefits it also means if I fuck up again I could be fired. I felt so powerless, especially with no support. Hopefully reducing my time there will reduce my stress both at work and not at work. When it comes to school work I LOVE IT. It’s relaxing, it doesn’t feel like work. I fucking love modeling. I’m not professional grade ready but I’m getting better and faster and catching my mistakes sooner. I have the muscle memory for the tools and am starting to regain my artist’s eye and really catch what needs to be seen. In these moments of stress and being up at 3am finishing a project due in 4 hours I am asking myself if I have IT, that X factor, am I going to make it. Yes I do. I’m already on that journey, do I have experience in this field prior to DAVE, no, so I am behind other students and even with given time I may not receive A’s which is fine. There needs to be breathing room though, there need to be that time to relax, stretch and breath. I can’t do that working 30-40 hours a week. I shouldn’t feel bad for wanting to go to the gym for a 30 min run, or do yoga for an hour to stretch from work and poor desk posture. I should be able to watch an hour of wrestling a week or play 30 minutes of a video game just to deload. Breaks are essential, muscles need rest to grow. I need to take a step away from my computer screen and come back to a new perspective, see where I went wrong. With a new tank of gas, not running of fumes.The last few weeks have been fumes and me filling up my gas tank with 0 calorie energy drinks I’m starting to break down. If I don’t build in the experience of being happy and fulfilled while going to school that negativity will pollute my job search and future. This week we revived a lighter project since were jumping from hard surface modeling to organic modeling. So after school, I ordered Chinese food and went to the nearest park to my house and read my 3D modeling book. It was that rest I’d been looking for. I came home and put in work on this project and will continue to do the same over the weekend. That extra day off will lead to not only more time to focus on school but being able to levee other time off towards rest and recovery, leading to being way more efficient. I hope!

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Week 1 Recap: Intro to Maya

Day One was 1/3 syllabus review, part basic art review then jumping in Maya Autodesk. Looking over the 10 weeks I will be in this class, it hit me how much of a helljump this is going to be. Week One we were only allowed to use the very basic tools in Maya, creating shapes, moving and scaling them and manually transforming vertices. After school I headed to work and immediately felt over my head, there's no way days I work and go to school that I’d be able to get any work in after school. Tuesday I spent a few hours after class really getting down smoothing down angles on objects. I worked on 2 exercises, building a biplane and a little wooden crate with handles. I spent probably 4 hours practically putting 8 cubes together. It was a super primitive project but I knew I had to nail it down. Wednesday Night after work I downloaded Maya on my computer. Thursday we were assigned our first project after lunch. So we had about 1.5 hours or so to work on it in class. It would be due the following Monday before lunch. That gave me 16.5 hours in class to work on the project. I’m not going to post pictures due to it being my teachers property but it was similar to an island dock. Lamps, light posts, signs, boxes, tables...barrels. 2 day prior I was struggling to make one box and now I have to model over 20 different pieces for the project. Each one with it’s own challenge. I feel like to earn an A here I have to spend twice as long outside of school working on my project. So that would put me at 32.5 hours outside of school. I was scheduled to work Friday, Saturday and Sunday night, eliminating 24 hours from my weekend. If you include sleeping, commutes and eating. That’s about another 24 hours. Giving me... 24/32 hours I wanted to work on my project. My teacher asked the following day how many people had jobs outside of going to school. I was the only one to raise my hand. Damn. Thursday through sunday I got hit with a bad allergy attack or sinus infection. I was super dehydrated the whole time and went from being super runny to heavily congested. On the bright side I was taken off the schedule sunday. Giving me 8 extra hours of work time. Which I definitely took advantage of. Friday at school, I put in a ton of cubes and cylinders as place holders for similar shapes to get placement and proportion right for the over all project. We also walked around the class room to view everyone’s progress. I noticed one person started from the ground up and had everything looking pretty good. I spent a lot of time at the begining attempting to get a light post just right but I forgot about breaking up art into smaller pieces in order to get everything just right. This is what would end up being the key to my success. I only worked on the bottom half and my project really picked up speed. I stayed up till about 12:30-1 working on my project friday night. About 9-1:30 the following day I worked on it prior to going to work, progress was definitely coming along. I knew sunday was going to be the big day so I got home after work, played some Apex legends for about an hour then hopped into my project till about 2 am. I remember sweating, I didn’t want to stop working but I knew the next day I’d be a little recovered and ready to plow through it. Surely enough sunday morning I got up around 8 and got to work.  Saturday night and midday sunday were a hgue progression bump. I was putting together simple objects in minutes instead hour hours, some pieces did take about an hour a piece though, such as a radio, table and gas canister. With a few breaks through out the day, showering, eating, meal prep, I even left to the gas station to buy a few energy drinks (2.5 hours in break time) I stayed up till 3am before calling it quits. I put a total of 30 hours outside of school into this project. The following day at school, I was blasting pieces out to finish it up. I spent 50/60 minutes of my lunch break sprinting to the finish line. The work had to be cleaned up and grouped as one object. In the rush I forgot 3 objects and in between saves missed some plank screws. But over all I was really happy with what I accomplished. Monday afternoon through tuesday (today) morning we all received critiques for our pieces. There were 2 students who completely nailed it out of the park. I’d say about 10 of us that had really similar models. I was thrilled about my work being up their with people who have previous Maya experience. At least the next few weeks at work I only work 4 days a week, I hope it stays this way. I have Thursday night and all of Saturday off so I’m hoping we receive our next project Thursday again so I can take advantage of the time. Today in class my teacher went over a whole new tool box that we get to use. It feel like a whole new level up. Definitely with tools similar to what I’ve used in blender before so I already have a little understanding of them. My biggest challenge in week one was getting my artist’s eye back for perspective and focusing too much on small shit. I might hop in tonight and work on some stuff but I need to catch up on sleep for sure.

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Week 0: Orientation

I was able to get the heads up on orientation a few weeks prior to school starting, I was completely in the dark in to how access happened on my start day, 3/18. I was told that there was a mandatory 2 day orientation that involved security clearance, mingling with students and staff as well as fun activities. Without getting into super deep details, DAVE School is located on the back lot of Universal Studios, Orlando, Florida (UO). So security is a big deal, TSA like gates, yagetthepoint. Day One: Meet/Greet. I was informed to bring a “bagged lunch” so I left a banana and protein shake in my car. More importantly, I brought a memo pad to take notes with. Upon arriving, I met up with my student advisor Nancy, she was very excited to see me again, she gave the class swag. We received a schedule for the week, a bag, sports bottle... Definitely nice to have something to hold my notebook and schedule in for the time being. Note: This blog or w/e will not be used as a gossip rag or to talk shit on people most of what I post will stay pretty positive and comes from an observational point of view and not a judgemental POV. The teachers for the most part are introverts but there work is definitely impressive and they have a passion in what they teach. My year is broken down into 5 blocks. Block One: 3D modeling, Block Two: Animation... Each block has one teacher that teaches us 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. My 3D modeling teacher has wit and a dark sense of humor that I strongly appreciate. I think once he warms up to me and sees the work ethic (I hope to have) that we’re going to get along great. Next I mingled with my class, theres about 19 of us 10 going into Game Production and 9 going into Visual Effects for movies. We spend the first 2 blocks together. I’d say 10 are straight out of HS, 7 are between 21-30 years old and 2 are 35+. About 5 of us are career changers/have prior degrees. Day Two: We had a photo hunt around the park and did a little team building exercise. I recognized my maturing and growth as the photo hunt was a group vs group activity with no real stakes. People from both groups strived to make sure they one and really pushed an activity into more of a job. There is some merit in that but I realized while I am here it is not an US vs THEM atmosphere. I am not concerned about being better than others, but making great art and completing good work. I want A’s on my solo projects and if I’m in groups I want them to recieve A’s as well. Matter of fact, I want the whole class to succeed with flying colors. I want us to be a force to be reckoned with and receive accolades and awards like prior classes (who have earned emmys and nice gigs) in the past me wanting to be better than others just lead to mediocrity and concerning myself not with my work but others. I have learned so much from this. We met TAs and security and watched some student shorts from the past. Which gave great examples of what our class can achieve as a unit and it broke down how we can be great cogs in the machine. After orientation I was invited over to a classmates house to practice Super Smash Bros which would take place at a tournament the following day. Day 3 and 4 were optional: I only went to day 3. While the other days were scheduled 8-4. Day 3 was 12 hours. 9:30a-10p. It started of with a screening of First Man, I took lots of notes for this movie. It was visually stunning and told a lot through camera. Next we broke off for lunch, I brought chicken and broccoli from home and ate in in our little cafe area. I met some students there ahead of me and we kicked it off pretty well. They gave me a ton of advice for whats to come. The big part was starting my portfolio ASAP. After lunch, we had a lecture from a studio head that previously worked at Dave School and talked about staying a head on tends and finding a balance in workload, technology and assets. Tons of notes taken during this. This continued into 4 hour profession critique of the graduating class. It was a panel of 5 hiring heads from local studios. I took notes from every critique. This really allowed me to see what I expect to achieve while at the school and what to focus on. I needed a break from the school so I booked it for the nearest taco bell and got an emergency dinner...and nacho fries (no cheese). I knew this would probably be my last fun meal before my birthday in May. I booked it back to the school and participated in the Smash Bros tournament and left pretty exhausted. Day 4 featured a student showcase and premiere wrap around 6-10pm the following night. I intended to go, traffic was completely blocked and I would have shown up late. The risk of showing up late would have been fine if I had a true reason to be there. As this is a quarterly event I know the next two showcases will prove to be benefitial when I have something to show for it when mingling with other studio heads, prior little meet ups made me feel like a fish out of water when talking to people. After making it back home I started working on my portfolio and focusing in on 3 main projects I would like to showcase. I opened a Google Doc/Pintrest board and starting webbing together ideas and inspirations. Not giving a lot a way I will be creating an environmental scene (like a landscape), a character model (animal, alien, pet, humanoid) and a model asset (like a backpack, lamp, car) Class starts in 2 days oh my.

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Week -1: Before Orientation.

At the begining of February, I made the big move from St. Louis to Orlando in my Toyota Corolla. I packed my car with what I could fit in it and left. I was able to transfer my job (Whole Foods) which happens to be a mile away from my school. I am renting a studio apartment alone 15-20 minutes* away from School/Work. I am seeking a Diploma and perhaps BA in Video Game Production upon gradating from DAVE School. Fundamentally I am going to school for 3D modeling and animation. I have no actual experience or expertise in this field. I am treating it as a tool in my box of other skills that I have acquired over the years including 2D Design, Music Production and Leadership/social/team skills from the service industry. I visited the school in October, 2018 and talked with the career advisor about my exceptions upon leaving the school and what I should do to prepare myself. From November to January I moved in to my Dads and starting saving and much money as I could. I stopped consuming fast food, alcohol and going out to expensive activities. I wanted to save about $2,500-$3,500. I saved about about $4,000. They don’t teach Blender at the school, instead Maya. But the Advisor said it would be a good way to get the feel of modeling without building bad habits in the wrong program. I took a Udemy Course by Gamedev.tv and it opened my mind to the bridge between 2D modeling and 3D modeling. The last thing to note about this visit is that if I scrape by and am able to land a entry level job at a VG studio. I would be making less money than I am now at Whole Foods, hence, I must be one step ahead and that had to start before classes. For transparency and what have you, my Grandma is helping me financially. My sister, cousins and I share an education account and she was able to take money out to help with my tuition down payment and to take some the burden off rent and such. For the 5 years, prior to living at my Dad’s I’d been supporting myself and it took a lot to realize I COULDN’T do this alone. We’d ran the numbers plenty of times. Up until November I will be able to run off that money if I stick to my current plan, then money will probably come from a personal level. I have a $10 planet fitness membership and a spotify premium account. Beyond those extra expenses I am keeping my life pretty minimal. As of 12/27/2018 until further notice, I am abstaining from Alcohol, Soda and avoiding Fast Food, Bread and cheese. I mainly shop at Aldi and my diet consists of chicken breast, broccoli, ground turkey meat, protein bars/powder, eggs and oatmeal. I average about $20 a week at the store and my caloric intake is between 1,200 and 1,500. I’ve lost 15 lbs since moving to FL and 30 since Xmas. My workout routine changed from being barbell based to machine/dumbbell to eventually treadmill due to switching gyms. Planet Fitness doesn’t have barbells and to achieve the same progress it would require me to spent nearly 6 hours at the gym a week compared to the 2-3 I use to. Over the next year I am focused on achieving a healthy bodyweight and bf% something I’ve never had in my adult life.

Current schedule: Classes go Monday-Friday, 7a~2p. Work availability: M-F: 2:30-Close. Sat/Sun: Open-Close. Gym (Planet Fitness): 30min treadmill run, MWF.

I am currently working Full-Time, hopefully through out only the first 3 weeks of classes. WFM has a tier, p20, that I would only be scheduled 20-30 hours a week. I am also looking at taking Sundays and Mondays fully off from work in order to have time to focus on classes and have a chance to breathe. There is a DND club that runs on Mondays as well. I’d either be involved in that or start a Sunday group with my current classmates. DND and journaling have proven to be extremely beneficial when it comes to dealing with my daily depression and anxiety. It opens my mind in a positive manner and having weekly/bi-weekly meet ups brings stability into my life that is on my terms.