Everything I need to start blocking my shots is in a starting scene and ready to go. Hopefully I can finish blocking by Tuesday and use that for my animatic instead of just T-posing through my shots. The biggest problem I've run into is my productive work hours, which are from 8am to about 5pm. After that I tend to get very tired and can only bring myself to do a couple things through sheer force of will. That leaves a lot of hours in the day where my work ethic becomes mediocre at best, so I have a lot of trial and error that I have to do to see what keeps me energized and focused even when I am exhausted and don't want to work anymore. Besides that, I also woke up sick and had to skip my animation lab and my 2D animation and Asset Production TA lab, only furthering my lack of motivation. Since it doesn't feel like a normal cold or flu I'm worried that I'm burning myself out so early in the semester and that's something I cannot afford.
Although I try to avoid it, part of this film is supposed to teach me about my work habits and shortcomings; the last thing I want is introspective growth through actively listening to my body and mind. I would rather just joke about my crippling narcolepsy and the anxiety/depression/poor physical health that comes with it in an attempt to avoid facing those problems. It looks like it's going to need to happen if I'm to survive the rest of the semester. I stubbornly admit that creating a film will help me with my work habits and breaking my "self-deprecation as a motivating factor" complex; something I don't think working on video game art would address enough because of how comfortable I am in that role. My school director, classmates, councilors, and professors were right, and ultimately I learned that I need to trust my superiors more.
With a strong base for my set, I am feeling more confident as I move towards animation. The cat rig will prove a challenge as I work to learn the best ways to animate it, but with my previous work with the Jasmine Rose rig in animation II I'm a lot less stressed about how little time I've actually clocked in 3D animating within my college career.
Lastly, my cat Indy has been a great support so far this semester. He might be annoying when he walks over my keyboard as I'm animating, but stopping to play with him and cuddle lets me regain a little sanity.
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