Plan of action

so today i spent most of the day doing nothing significant, as i didn+t really know what to do. I had a list of things i knew i needed to do, but i didn´t really know where to start, and having other projects taking most of my time i was there thinking, what should i do?, what should i do? so the day passed and at about 4 in the evening i had only done a 30min environment sketch (done in the morning to prove to myself that i could work fast if concentrating on working from general to specific, and ending up loosing focus after 20mins...mostly cause i didn´t think of working more on it in the first place).
So at 4 i committed to the idea of writing down a plan of all the things i needed to do in orther to get a job at blizzard as an artist. I had already done it 2 times, but i this time i tried to make it more specific using the knowledge gathered from the previous 2. Uhm i found that i tended to have quite vague goals in the plan..a part from the final goal, all the others like: "achieve a superior knowledg of anathomy" were not real goals, as they weren´t really measurable. I tried to make a more specific plan then, don´t know if it´s specific enough but at least i have broken it down to weekly tasks. i found out that if i wake up a morning knowing what i have to do, and being able to plan my day, being in control of my actions, i´ll be more productive, more active, happier and focused. So my intent is to decide the evening before upon what will be my goal for the upcoming day, and so that i can think about it all night and then wake up with lots of energy to pull it off. Some goals are still a bit obscure to me, but i plan on getting more specific when i´ll start taking care of them. I´ve set weekly deadlines as i really have no clue how much time each task would take, and i find that a week is a measurable distance on wich to plan so that i can say: this is the "learn all the muscles week", and then every day say: "this is the learn the head muscles day", and " this is the hand muscles day" and so on...i find that it helps me being focused on my goals during the day, and give me a purpose. I´m still a bit lost in this overwhelming number of suff i have to learn, and being the first time i actually try to make a plan of action i can´t really predict how well it will work. but i´ve already wixed it a couple times in the last 2 weeks, i´m ready to do it again eheh.

Things i´m not sure about and could use help are:
1. Are all the goals measurable? especially the ones with a ø near them. I didn´t really know what to write there. All this requirements i took from the blizzard web-site and some are a bit hard to understand =) like what is a blueprint? is it like an ortho? something you give the modelers to create a 3d model out of a concept?

22. how much time will i need for each assignment, and if i should try to develope atleast 1 concept from start to finish each week. For example do a Chow each week, or redesign a videogame character each week, from the initial idea to the illustration., aalongside with studies of a particular subject.

My original idea was for example: 1st week i study human anathomy, and meanwhile i do a chow, or redesign a character. 2nd week i study environments and meanwhile i do a Eow or redsing a game environment and so on with creatures etc..
This was an example, i would actually follow the plan and do 3 weeks of character and so on.

i think it is a good idea cause afterall visual developement is what i´m trying to accomplish in the first place, so doing it alongside with the studies makes perfect sense. The problem is that between the studies, the chows, and the indie developement i would end up with not too much life eheheh =) but i guess i´ll just try and see how it goes =)

So here is the new plan, comments and critiques welcome =P

ps. note that the deadlines refer to the first part of the subject study (if the goal is divided in sub-goals) as i found out that this gets me focused on the goal i have to do right away. uhm..lets say i have one subgoal planned for the 4th of january and another for the 17th, so that the actual goal based upon completion of both subgoals would be fullfilled the 17th of januari (when the second goal is completed aswell) If i write 17th of july to the whole goal i tend to think that the whole goal is due to the 17th of janury...not only the second part, but even the first...hope this makes sense, it actually made a huge difference to me while typing it =)

Plan to work as a concept artist at blizzard by 2010

0 - I can do it!!
1- Have a portfolio that shows my skills in concept art and illustration by 7 jan 2009
2 -Excellent understanding of human anathomy By 21 dec 2008
- Ablity to realistically render the human body in every pose, still or dynamic, and under different lighting situation. By 21 dec 2008
- Ability to depict different body types and ethnicity, aswell as ages and styles keeping a believable structure By 28 dec 2008
- Ability to alterate the human figure to create believable and unique semi human characters. By 4 jan 2009
3- Superior eye for light, value, composition , staging and detail in environment design. By 11 jan 2009
-Ability to create moody and evocative environments, using lighting, value, color and composition by 11 jan 2009
- realistically portray environments that give a sense of believability and life, with an eye for detail and stage characterization. By 18 jan 2009
4- Excellent understanding of creature anathomy By 25 jan 2009
-Ability to depict different creature types by 25 jan 2009
-Ablity to realistically render the creatures body in every pose, still or dynamic, and under different lighting situation. By 1 feb 2009
-Ability to alterate and blend different types of creatures to create new believable and unique races. By 8 feb 2009
5- Strong understanding of form and function By 9 feb 2009 Ø
6- Excelent industrial design skills By 15 feb 2009
-Understanding of machinery, how and why they work, their structure and functions. By 15 feb 2009
- Ability to 3 dimensionally depict realistically different types of machinery blending function and form by 22 feb 2009
- Ability to create relistic and believable concepts blending machinery together or with other creature or human components by1 march2009
Strong understanding of form, shape structure and silhouette in illustration and design. By 8 march 2009 Ø
- Understanding and excellent use of the elements and principles of design and how they apply to illustrations and design by 9 march 2009
-Use effectively the principles of design in both illustrations and designs. By 15 march 2009
7- Experience creating costumes, weapons and mechanical components and architecture based on different ages. By 22 march 2009
-Study the most important costume styles in history. Until you are able to reproduce them and alterate them realistically by 22 march 2009
-Study the most important architecture styles in history. Until you are able to reproduce them and alterate them realistically by 29 march 2009
-Study the most important weapon types in history. Until you are able to reproduce them and alterate them realistically by 5 april 2009
-Study the most important industrial designs(tanks, planes) in history. Until you are able to reproduce them and alterate them realistically by april 12th 2009
8- Be able to bring an idea from concept stage to final illustration By april 19th 2009
-Generate 2 ideas for a character/env/prop/creature and develope it throgh a visual developement process till you have a final illustration. (from a story or Chow/etc..) by aril 19th 2009
9- Be able to redesgn exsisting characters and environments in a more original and unique way By april 26th 2009
- Choose a character/env from an existing game and redsign it in an original fashion, paying special attention to the function/story it had in the game and the technical requirements. By april 26th 2009
10- Experience with the creationg of design blueprints for sets or environments By may 3rd 2009 Ø
- Choose a character/env design previously created and make a blueprint of it, to be used for modeling. By may 3rd 2009
11- Be able to bring and idea from concept to animated and textured 3d model character or environment By may 10th 2009
- Study the fundamental skills involved in modeling, texturing and animating a character in Maya or 3ds max by mary 10th 2009
-Take a previously designed character/environment and create a 3d modeled, textured and animated asset out of it. By may 17th 2009
12- Experience working in the pre-production of a game or movie by may 2009
-Join 1 indie game/movie developer team as a concept/2d artist. By jan 2009

Shipped a AAA title with a game company by 2010
-- Look up a number of interesting gamin companies and ask what they´d like to see in a portfolio, by 15 dec 2008
- Apply for concept/2d/3d artist job in several interesting companies shipping AAA games, by may 31th 2009
- Get hired by a AAA game shipping company by sept 2009

Work at blizzard:
Experience in the field: get hired as concept/2d/3d artist by a company producing a AAA game by sept 2009

Skills -> do 3 studies every day (life, mind and both) on your weakest subject every day from today

Portfolio showing the skills -> website that shows works related to: envronment design(5), char design(5) ,creature design(5), industrial design(5) and illustration(3), 2 3d chars, 1 3d env. By may 2009

Be engaged -> redesign existing characters, get to know people in the business commenting on their blogs/sketchbooks or chatting with them.

Numbers to focus on: 3 studies each day pubblished in the blog, 2 comments on other artists website/blog/sketchbook every day, 1 sketch pubblished in the sketchbook every day, 3 art-related things learnt every day, 1 character/env redesigned each week, 1work published on the website every week.