FMP Evaluations
20/08/2024
Evaluation 1 ā Individual
This project has had many highs and lows, and has been such an intense learning experience for me, both for skills and techniques, and myself as a practitioner. Iāve already discussed my time management issues throughout my blog, but the issues I had were a serious eye opener for what I needed to learn in the final month of my FMP. After learning what worked for me to prioritise my project even when external issues were having such an impact on my mental health and ability to work, I was able to get completely back on track and stay that way for the entire last section of my scheduling. While I would have loved to have been able to keep to those standards throughout the entire project, the fact that I was able to have such a turn around is so important to my learning.
I learned many new techniques to add to my workflow, such as using automatic retopology to help cut down on production times, while still getting a good quality finish. I still have every intention to continue learning manual retopology because I believe itās important to have a good understanding of all the basics of 3D art creation, but this was a great tool to learn. In addition to this, I learned that I love texturing, whereas in the past I havenāt put in quite so much time because I wanted to sculpt in all the details, I can now see how much more effective using texturing techniques to add details to a model can be. Learning more about texturing techniques is now a goal of mine in future practices, and Iām excited to see my skills develop in this area.
From my individual work, as a solo artist, the main thing I will be taking from this project is accountability and discipline when it comes to hitting deadlines. Iāve always been someone who works really well in a team and will hit every deadline because itās important to me to make my team members feel appreciated, but when working on my own that motivation isnāt there. I can say with confidence that discipline is now there, as well as a newfound love for making cinematic work.
This project has also rekindled my love for horror art, which is something I focused on a lot in my Bachelor's degree, but wanted to look at experimenting with different art styles on my Master's. I however, have had so much fun designing and creating this character, and therefore would like to continue on my journey as a horror character artist, and my aim is to one day work for a company that specialises in horror games like Supermassive Games.
Evaluation 2 ā Group Work
I am most proud of my contributions to the group aspect of the project. I put in a lot of extra work to get this project finished to the standard we were looking to uphold. I believe I took a more leading role when I needed to, and made sure the work was kept on top of when it slacked slightly throughout the group. We didnāt have too many issues as a group, but I do think the workload could maybe have been split slightly more equally amongst us, so in the future I will be better at communicating this to my team. We were able to complete everything we set out to make, the only aspect we wanted to look into but were unable to due to the time contraints was professional motion capture animation, but we had accounted for this in our planning and knew from the start that using Mixamo was also a very good option, so we were still able to match our plans.
I learned that when it comes to group work, I naturally gravitate to a leadership role when there isnāt a clear role set, or when issues arise and others donāt seem up to taking charge, but Iām also comfortable in this role. This has surprised me because I tend to feel like Iām happy taking directions from others and donāt usually want to speak up, but I felt happy to step up when needed and encourage the group to continue. Although I donāt know if I will continue taking on leadership roles in future projects, I know that I would love to work in a team again.