Lots of great input. Thanks really.
Then, let's say i decided to become a 3d artist and i want to have it as career, considering i did some modeling and abit of animation in the past, what would be a smarter education option? I can think of a bachelor, an online course (i suppose) or anything else?
43 minutes ago, Hakan Ergin said:Lots of great input. Thanks really.
Then, let's say i decided to become a 3d artist and i want to have it as career, considering i did some modeling and abit of animation in the past, what would be a smarter education option?
Nothing beats practice, you don't need any fancy certificate for it, only thing that will prove to others that you can do this stuff is a solid portfolio with your 3d stuff in it.
Of course if you have the money you can pay for those, there is the Gnomon School 4 year degree program in Digital Production and there are a lot more less expensive I guess, but I know many succesfull professional 3d artist that just went the self thought route and practiced home (which I bet is actually the majority out of all the 3dArtists), it's free of charge and all you need is the software and to be active in a community like polycount.com joining the weekly/monthly 3d challenges, getting feedback by the pros and improving along with the other 3d Artists over there 
For italians there is also Treddi.com community, all italians over there 
A word of advice though, keep in mind that if you compete for a job with a 28 years old, he probably has 10years of this job experience advantadge compared to you.
Thi is not to discourage you, just to say that you kind of need to work really hard (maybe for 2-4 years) to get to a level where you can compete. When you start winning those contest or placing in the first 3, you know you're there 
I would say focus on what you want to do, and don't be afraid to explore.
I didn't go to school to learn 3D art or animation or programming, but I'm really curious about it and I've taught myself over the years. Here I am now making games and 3D art in a 2-person team after working in the game industry for some years.
You can learn plenty from online courses. From what I read, be careful about some game schools that exist out there. The success stories turn out to be students who basically burn the midnight oil, teach themselves and go beyond what the school didn't teach them anyway. And everyone comes out with a huge loan to pay - success story or not.
If you have a game school or a college with a game dev program nearby, you can probably just go hang out or ask the office about events where you can make friends with some other locals who are learning game development ( just tell them that you're interested and want to experience the school's culture before you enroll or something - and then don't enroll). I was in this position once. I wanted to go to a particular school badly, but ended up hanging around campus with the people I know and met other developers there.
If you want to do 3D modeling, pick up some free tutorials online. Also Blender 3D is a great 3D tool to start with.
When you've exhausted your free options - pick up some tutorial packs on paid sites. There are plenty. This will cost you much much less than any private game or art school.
And DO learn a little programming. You will be more valuable to yourself and any company that you're trying to get into. And use what allows you to make what you want right now. I use unity and C# which is a good start (I ultimately started with learning Javascript and AS in Flash). And yes. It's going to be frustrating at first. But that's also why you don't see everyone doing it. It's hard at first.
Sometimes an academic environment helps with programming, so you can pick up a programming course or two at community college.
I'm turning 30 soon, and got serious about game-making at mid 20-ish. Don't let anyone tell you that age is a barrier. And don't be jealous of young people - they have their own limitations and struggles. A minute is a minute to everyone. An hour an hour. A day is a day. Give yourself the time and practice and you'll get there.
If you can, go to in-person game-making events like game jams and hackathons. Even if you aren't confident - just go, find a team and see how you can be useful.
And last, but most important - make things.
No one will know that you do anything if you don't make anything. Work within your skill-set to make something that you like. Challenge yourself by learning something new. Then make something again. Then share these things online somewhere (a Tumblr, a blog, or on Twitter are alright).
Hope this helps
~torri
