Do stuff

One of the most important parts of getting better within CGI (or right about anything) is to DO IT! Don't get caught up reading about it, watching tutorials, thinking about it or blogging about it. Just do stuff!!

Unfortunately I'm one of those that have a tendency to just read and research things, and not getting things done. However, I've found a service (hassle.me), that reminds me from time to time to do stuff. One of these things that I'm reminded by is to draw a drawing. This is in an attempt to get better at drawing over time. Not to a profesional level, but to a decent level so that I can make design sketches and perhaps draw the characters I play in various rpgs. My progress is posted on another of my blogs (My path to drawing)

My hope and aim in the coming months is to do the same thing with this blog. Once in a while I'll do a modell, a texture or a rendering to push myself further, and also to post it here.

Houdini Youtube channel

Houdini is one of my favorite 3d-packages out there. Unfortunately, it's a bit tricky to use at times, and to be able to use it fully, you need to get some deeper understanding of the inner workings of it. Up until recently there wasn't that much material on the web for learning Houdini by yourself. However, Sidefx, the guys making Houdini, have started a youtube-channel with loads of tutorials and info to take part of.

Houdini youtube-channel

Writing - My observations so far

One of my current projects is to write a novell. My "rules" are easy:

• The story should be 50 000 words or more
• I have no particular demands on quality
• The story should be FAIRLY coherent
• I don't want to get stuck editing, so my writing is very much "flow" writing. The aim is to produce text
• I write at least twice a week, and try to get at least 1000 words every session.

I havn't gotten that far yet, but I do have some observations so far

• It's easy to forget details, even names and similar. Next time I'll be better at taking notes on all characters so I remember names etc
• Write about characters and events that you enjoy. Otherwise the writing just becomes dull, and your prose will as well.
• When you write, don't be overly critical. It's better to produce heaps of text, and then go back and edit. Being critical while you are writing limits you and stops the flow

So far I havn't gotten that far (not even 20%), but I will keep on writing, and also share my experience with the writing as I come along