Where to begin...

I'm no stranger to poor planning, in the past when a final piece or end result was expected I just flung myself straight into an large complex piece. Normally half way me realising the futility of it and how it was gonna take longer than expected. Now it is evident that this cannot afford to continue. Concept and planning are words that we've heard frequently since first stepping into the Fletcher Building, and for all too good a reason, there are the foundations of ANY successful piece of work produced, be it a 3D scene or a piece of concept art.

From the planning perspective my flaw is time management (still), it's the first thing that comes to mind, as we're told the time we have is ridiculous! There have been days when I get up with good intentions and mentally lay out what I hope to accomplish, and it often results in either spending too long on one certain aspect or just stretching it out throughout the day and having a classic procrastination. For example, the trash project in which we have 3 weeks to complete, it is so basic a task that I had the following planned out: Week 1, model the mesh and gather pictures, Week 2. unwrap and texture, Week 3 maps and any other improvements, In the third week now and I'm still working on my maps and tweaking the diffuse. Not that I view certain modules over others, but there have been times where I need to prioratise which is the most important task at the time and which requires more time for it.

So by deciding what tasks I wish to focus on which days I can tick things off my list,

Next to time management, the other factor which is crucial to me is reference, usually for 3D for textures and so on, there really is no point starting out a piece with nothing to work from, even the most creative of us must have a muse or inspiration. For example, today in Mitch's workshop which involves making a Middle Eastern Market, this was convenient for me as I've lived in Oman for 4 years, also my instant references were Mos Espa from Tattoine and Jeruselam and Damuscuss from AC

I refreshed my memories through Google Images which is my source for referencing for 2D work, and found images to the common traditional architecture. Bottom line: I now have my camera on me at all times :)

Thumbnails are the center point to all our 2D work, the more the better. They are brillaint references that we use to record the atmosphere of a location and helps us decide what we want for our final. Whilst they are a quick and simple way of working, I STILL find myself unhappy with just having blocks in my thumbnail even though that is generally alll that could be needed, having said that, I have somehow managed to restrict the level of detail I used to get into, I only wish the same could be applied for finals.....leaves.......train engines.....

Cannot begin to explain how much I zoomed into places to get all the fine detail



Last week at the train station was profitable because not only did it have a bleak baren surrounding to it, it also helped with my perspective which I have been meaning to improve.

One thing which I havn't done much of in the planning process is record (scan in/upload) scraped ideas or duds, mainly out of fear that they aren't worthy of being displayed to all to see. On the other hand, I feel as if I don't produce enough thumbs ( as a result fo over working into some) so that I can't divide unused ones rom ones I'm pleased with, so from this little self analysis It would seen that I need to..make more mistakes? Or at least keep hold of them and have reasons for it. I guess its just me trying to get everything right first hand, saves me using rubbers and so on!