The Importance of Rest
This week’s newsletter will be short and sweet for one simple reason…I took a vacation to the island of Kauai and I didn’t open a computer the whole time I was there.
My initial plan was to skip a newsletter this week but this computer-less freedom led to a few thoughts I needed to share…
1. Taking a Break Makes You a Better Problem Solver
This one often comes off as soft and flakey, but you need time away from your work to be a better artist. Right now, you are in it and you are grinding. You are knee-deep in your project and doing whatever it takes to get out. So how in the hell can taking a couple of weeks off make that better?
It’s because you are so busy grinding that you aren’t thinking about how you are approaching your art or your project. Is the workflow your using the best or is it just what you know? Could taking a week to learn another tool actually save you time in the long run?
You need to step away from your grind to look at your challenges on a larger scale and create better systems for the future.
2. Challenge Yourself Visually
Your daily routine is visually boring for your eyes. You see the same bedroom, bathroom, office, clothes, food, flowers, birds, trees, etc… every single day. So much so, you are probably on autopilot most of the time and don’t even see the details.
Get out. Get to a new place. See new things. Smell new smells. This newness will trigger your eyes to be more alert and you will pick up on so many more nuanced things. In that situation, focus in or get your phone out and snap some pictures of what you see.
And it can be anything and totally irrelevant to your current work but just going through the act of truly seeing it will benefit you in the long run. Some examples.
Or this video of light refracting through the ocean.
Again, none of these things have relevance to what I am working on now but being in a new place sparked my visual curiosity and forced me to see the world more deeply.
3. Get Some Air to Formulate a Plan
When you are hit with meetings and assignments, you don’t have the time and space to formulate a long-term plan. Breaks give you the space to envision where you want to be in 6 months, a year, 5 years, 10 years, etc…
What are you working on? Does that make you happy? Is it helping you build toward your ultimate goal as an artist?
These are not easy solutions that you can consider in a 15-minute window between Zoom meetings. You need a long flight or a meandering stroll just to let this stuff marinate and figure out how you want to move forward.
I did this with this newsletter. I started this about 5 months ago and the response to it has been HUGE (thanks to all of you for that.) I took a long walk along the ocean and listened to some random podcasts. My thought was that this newsletter has opened up so many conversations and connections for me and I want to continue building this community and make things more interactive. Constructing some things right now but expect an announcement coming soon!!
And I will leave you with that cliffhanger. Subscribe now to get on it!
3D News of the Week
A roundup of interesting 3D related news you may have missed this week.
Pixar’s Renderman 25 has Been Released! - 80.lv
The Last of Us Behind the Scenes - YouTube
Unrecord Game Trailer is Insane! - YouTube
Iridescence Abalone #6 - GitHub
3D Tutorial of the Week
3D Job Spreadsheet
Link to Google Doc With A TON of Jobs in Animation (not operated by me)
Michael Tanzillo has been a Senior Artist on animated films at Blue Sky Studios/Disney with credits including three Ice Age movies, two Rios, Peanuts, Ferdinand, Spies in Disguise, and Epic. Currently, Michael is a Head of Technical Artists with the Substance 3D Growth team at Adobe.
In addition to his work as an artist, Michael is the Co-Author of the book Lighting for Animation: The Visual Art of Storytelling and the Co-Founder of The Academy of Animated Art, an online school that has helped hundreds of artists around the world begin careers in Animation, Visual Effects, and Digital Imaging.
www.michaeltanzillo.com
Free 3D Tutorials on the Michael Tanzillo YouTube Channel
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