Continuous Learning and Deliberate Practice for VFX Artists
Why should I care about Continuous Learning?
Continuous learning is one of those things we hear a lot while we’re in school or college, usually within the first week of the year and as some magical thing that will help us throughout our lives.
Unfortunately, that’s usually all that’s said on the subject. If you’re lucky you get a bit more about why you should be doing it, or even a couple of pointers for things to practice that will be ‘useful in the industry’.
Continuous learning or Deliberate Practice, however, is one of the most important skills you can cultivate. Not just in this industry (though my research over the past week suggests that its a desirable trait), but in life in general.
It allows you to take skills you’ve learned, multiply them (over time) and if followed through it can make you a true expert in your areas of interest. I could go on, but I learned most of what I know from these folks;
- David Doolin at Website in a Weekend pointed me in the direction of George Leonard’s Book on Mastery last year.
- The Pragmatic Programmer defends Mediocrity against our culture of mindlessly trying to be amazing at everything.
- And Freakonomics talks about How Education Fails at Deliberate Practice.
Let’s Define Deliberate Practice
For the purposes of this post I’m going to define deliberate practice as follows;
“The continual act of regularly taking a skill you have and practicing both the basics and pushing your understanding.”
- Continual = you don’t stop.
- Regular = Daily, Weekly, Fortnightly (I wouldn’t recommend monthly, but it could happen).
- Skill = Measurable activity or set of actions. Think modelling with low polys, texturing to a certain resolution, and so on.
- The basics = The very foundation of your skill. What you’re taught first when approaching the topic – the basic tenants of your craft.
- Pushing your understanding = Going further than you ever have before. Possibly even than anyone has gone (I’m resisting a star trek quote here, but you get the idea).
It’s hard work, on a regular basis, over a long period of time. This isn’t a magical bullet solution (and because of that I fully expect most of you to ignore this!), you won’t become amazing over night and it’ll be more boring than anyone really wants to think too closely about.
Your friends, family and significant other won’t get it. Guaranteed.
It will give you both increased skill in your ‘area of expertise’ (for want of a better phrase) and a framework which you can use to learn just about anything with a little creativity.
In the visual effects industry in particular it’s vital; technology and techniques move far too quickly to approach learning them with anything less than a creatively made, flexible, framework. Our bread and butter as 3D artists changes every year or so (looking at Autodesk here) and we have to get used to software features appearing and disappearing all the time. Going beyond that, technological advances mean new techniques, new pieces of hardware, new software, and new requirements at our heart.
Assuming 2012 doesn’t herald the end of all we know, here’s how I’d recommend approaching these challenges for a visual effects artist. At least to begin with – you’ll come up with your own ideas and tailor it to your own plans eventually.
First, Make Time For It
Finding time is the first major hurdle when you approach anything outside of your normal routine. It’s not like we have time where we’re doing literally nothing – every single one of us can effectively fill our 24 hours a day.
Working on the assumption that no one can alter time or be in more than one place at once, we’re going to have to make sacrifices to fit all this in. I’d recommend an hour a day as being fairly manageable though you’ll know how much time you can spare. I’m not about to guilt you or point fingers at some of the things we fill our time with, but here are some points to keep in mind:
- It’s been mentioned multiple times that it takes 10,000 hours of continuous practice to become an expert.
- Focusing is not easy. After a bunch of practice and really watching where my time goes I’ve discovered that I can pay attention and work hard for approximately 2-3 hours a day. (Note: I work longer than that, but never very effectively)
- Exercise can usually roust you from sleepy inactivity, especially after work. I recommend dancing.
Next Time on ‘Deliberate Practice for VFX Artists’
Yes, it’s a bit of a tease but my ultra long post just wasn’t focused enough to cut the mustard (though why anyone would want to, I’ve no idea).
This will continue tomorrow with specific techniques and traits that my research into job postings has uncovered and how to use Deliberate Practice to improve your own skills. As well as a fascinating example from yours truly. Well, ‘somethin-ating’ anyway.
In the mean time, your next step is to make some room. You know where. Commit to some deliberate practice, mark out a time on your calendar daily (I like google calendar for this), and prepare yourself.
Also, comment and let me know what you’re taking time from to do this instead.
Related Posts:
- Advice | Concept | Effects | Employability | Project | Project Management | Time
The3dStudio.com
I’m getting in 5-6 hours per day of “real work” now. It’s brutal, but it’s getting easier.
I probably shouldn’t have taken as much of a break over the holidays; before that I was managing 3-4 hours.
In effect, I’ve managed to lose about an hour or so. But I’m pulling it back! Agreed though, its so much harder to do real work than ‘work’.