What do you do when you get demotivated?

[Joeythedolphin]

Still trying to finish my reel after so long... Lately I browse a lot into mudbox and zbrush forums for inspiration. And what I see are starting to demotivate me instead... :( They are just so good I feel like I'll never archive such works... How do you keep yourself motivated in case like this?

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showth ... ge=1&pp=40 (http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=50207&page=1&pp=40)

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showth ... p?t=047101 (http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=047101)

[SpiralFace]

First realize that everyone starts somewhere, and then realize that you can do it too if you learn to dissect what others do.

Learning how to Learn through observation is probably one of the most critical skills you can learn as an artist, and is probably one of the most challenging things to do because pretty much no one can teach you how to do this. Its something you have to do on your own.

When your confronted by great works and feel like your work is inadequate, the first thing you should do is observe their portfolio and ask yourself if the work they are doing is even the kind of work that you would even want to do. Mentally nit pick their portfolio and ask yourself what his strong points and weak points are. This might seem like its just nitpicking, but think of it as an exercise for your eyes, as what you are doing is beginning to open your mind to what is wrong with his work.

The next step is to basically begin to dissect pieces of work that you feel are VERY strong. Try to separate what you are looking at into components. Meaning try to determine what he did to solve problems. What parts of the model is from a color map, whats from a spec map, and what is from the mesh itself. If he shows wires, examine the edge flow.

If you can dissect this stuff, then ALL you need to be able to do after that is learn how to replicate it. This more then anything tends to be the hard part, but with the wonders of the internet and any tutorial or Gnoman video's that can point you in the right direction to learning.

To me, thats pretty much what inspires me. I'll dissect a piece, say to myself "I can do something like that." or say " I wish I can do that." and just make it a project to do that one thing.

I think the trap is to try to replicate the greater piece as a whole, as you will do nothing but frustrate yourself and end up just discouraging yourself from pushing yourself farther.

Start with small steps and move up as you get better at what you do.

Thats how I handle it anyways.

[umbrellaBuddha]

Every Artist has about a thousand bad drawings in them

I don't remember where I heard this quote but the point for me, is that the more often you grind through the initial learning-phase the quicker you will gain knowledge and memory of the processes and inevitably end up with better, more inspired work. You MUST make lousy stuff, and make a lot of it - we all do this before the process becomes second nature and our true inner talent is able to come forth uninhibited. But the awesome thing is, every second your working on your stuff your getting better... constant progression, so just keep at it!!

(By the way, if I went back in time and showed my freshman self my current work I would probably think I would never be able to do that... its all relative to the time, you WILL get better)

[yoshio_wachter]

Everyone's their own worst critic. I'm sure you're better than you think you are. You can't just lose heart because someone may be better than you at something. Instead, you should try to find inspiration in other people's work. Instead of looking at someone's stuff and thinking "I could never be that good", ask yourself "how in the hell did they do that?" Then research, try some new techniques, and see if you can match it. It's all about practice and the acquisition of new knowledge, techniques, and practices. You can do it, man, just hang in there and push yourself to be better, because nobody else is going to push you. If you want to get better, the only way to do it is to bust your ass, dude.