09-26-2012, 10:02 AM
Hello all! As many of you know, Ive been incredibly busy lately with a lot of contracted work i cant show or talk about. In fact, a lot of the regulars in the group have been incredibly busy with work they cant show or talk about. But i still want to be a part of this community and help people out, and i really miss the regularity of the feedback and conversation we used to have going. This leads me to an idea ive been thinking on for a while, that ive borrowed from the hay day of conceptart.org and would love to try and implement here.
the Idea is a mentoring program through daggers open to anyone and free of charge. like everything we do, this will be user defined and its success or failure will depend entirely on this community. Basically, if you feel you are in a place to mentor, enjoy mentoring, or have been asked to mentor, there is a thread below called WILLING TO MENTOR. post in there and specify you're areas of experience, what you especially would like to teach, how many students youre willing to take, how often youd like to talk to your students, and how long each session will last. the entire experience will be up to the mentor, and we (Dave, Dennis, and myself) wont be interfering. the idea is to have a cool rolling series of original and exciting classes covering topics specific to each mentor and class session. if you're confused, check out the sample post below to get a better idea.
example:
WILLING TO MENTOR
Daniel Warren
-experience in character design, book art, cultural costume, art history, digital painting.
-class name: Portfolio basics- character art
-willing to take on 3 students at a time
-2 month class meeting once a week on sundays (8 sessions total, 3 hours each)
-classes to include homework assignments, in depth paint-over and critique, discussion and analysis of work as it develops.
-classes to begin OCTOBER 20TH 2012
Keep in mind that classes can cover anything related to what we all do. if you love monster design and havent had a reason to get back into it lately, offer a creature intensive class. if youre really good at tools and basics, offer a digital painting 101. if youre really into crit and development, offer a portfolio mentoring class. its entirely up to you how this will run, how many people you will teach, and what will be required of them.
this is a big experiment, and im hoping it all goes well. for those of you who move forward with it- use the streams and forums to your advantage. the class can be closed to a certain amount of people, but keep it live and ongoing so others who didnt get in can watch and work alongside. remember, daggers doesn't exclude people, so even if youre working intensely with a small group, it should be open to everyone else to view regardless.
once you've posted your idea for a class, anyone looking to participate in it as a student can comment on the thread with their portfolio and what they're looking to learn. choose who you take on wisely and with an idea of exactly what you'd like to cover with them.
for all those looking to be mentored, reply on the thread youre interested in with your name and a link to your portfolio so far. if you dont have work online- put it online! people willing to mentor deserve to know who theyre taking on to they know exactly where you stand and how best to work with you.
remember, this isn't an intensive, day in day out mentoring like an apprenticeship you'd pay for. this is a relaxed and intimate sharing of specific sets of skills at a pace thats comfortable for your working schedule.
its my hope that those of us working will realize this is mutually beneficial for the instructor as well as the students, and that a couple hours out of our weeks really isnt a lot of time for something so beneficial and positive. (you can probably even add it to your resume.)
its up to you! make this or break this.
<3
Dan
the Idea is a mentoring program through daggers open to anyone and free of charge. like everything we do, this will be user defined and its success or failure will depend entirely on this community. Basically, if you feel you are in a place to mentor, enjoy mentoring, or have been asked to mentor, there is a thread below called WILLING TO MENTOR. post in there and specify you're areas of experience, what you especially would like to teach, how many students youre willing to take, how often youd like to talk to your students, and how long each session will last. the entire experience will be up to the mentor, and we (Dave, Dennis, and myself) wont be interfering. the idea is to have a cool rolling series of original and exciting classes covering topics specific to each mentor and class session. if you're confused, check out the sample post below to get a better idea.
example:
WILLING TO MENTOR
Daniel Warren
-experience in character design, book art, cultural costume, art history, digital painting.
-class name: Portfolio basics- character art
-willing to take on 3 students at a time
-2 month class meeting once a week on sundays (8 sessions total, 3 hours each)
-classes to include homework assignments, in depth paint-over and critique, discussion and analysis of work as it develops.
-classes to begin OCTOBER 20TH 2012
Keep in mind that classes can cover anything related to what we all do. if you love monster design and havent had a reason to get back into it lately, offer a creature intensive class. if youre really good at tools and basics, offer a digital painting 101. if youre really into crit and development, offer a portfolio mentoring class. its entirely up to you how this will run, how many people you will teach, and what will be required of them.
this is a big experiment, and im hoping it all goes well. for those of you who move forward with it- use the streams and forums to your advantage. the class can be closed to a certain amount of people, but keep it live and ongoing so others who didnt get in can watch and work alongside. remember, daggers doesn't exclude people, so even if youre working intensely with a small group, it should be open to everyone else to view regardless.
once you've posted your idea for a class, anyone looking to participate in it as a student can comment on the thread with their portfolio and what they're looking to learn. choose who you take on wisely and with an idea of exactly what you'd like to cover with them.
for all those looking to be mentored, reply on the thread youre interested in with your name and a link to your portfolio so far. if you dont have work online- put it online! people willing to mentor deserve to know who theyre taking on to they know exactly where you stand and how best to work with you.
remember, this isn't an intensive, day in day out mentoring like an apprenticeship you'd pay for. this is a relaxed and intimate sharing of specific sets of skills at a pace thats comfortable for your working schedule.
its my hope that those of us working will realize this is mutually beneficial for the instructor as well as the students, and that a couple hours out of our weeks really isnt a lot of time for something so beneficial and positive. (you can probably even add it to your resume.)
its up to you! make this or break this.
<3
Dan