For a year and a half I've been a proud teacher of 3D modelling and CFX at ESCENA - Escuela de Animación in Mexico City. I started teaching at the beginning of the pandemic and it's been a whole journey. I'm really thankful for the chance of becoming a professor in my own alma mater, especially during this hard times. I've never had a blog before, but I love teaching and I'm really proud of my student's results, so I decided to share something from time to time about my classes. 

No one is born knowing how to be a great teacher. My first quarter was an enormous challenge, because I knew what I was supposed to teach, but I didn't know exactly how to do that. Fortunately I has very few students on my first classroom, so I was able to dedicate each one a lot of time for answering questions, give feedback, solve IT problems, etc. I had 3 hours, 2 days a week for 12 weeks to teach them however, how to make a 3D model with clean topology, history and transformations, good UVs, how to use most of Maya's modelling tools, and have them shaded and rendered. 

This was the first time most of my students had ever used Maya, and no one knew how to use substance painter. It's really difficult to process after a long time of doing things automatically, how to make and explain every single step of the whole process. I had to go back to my lessons, watch hours of tutorials, ask my colleagues for advice, cause it was really hard to explain things I had developed by "instinct". 

I believe most people when they're starting a new job, or a new hobby, or just acquired a new skill, feel invincible. Like you just started modelling; you literally just learnt how to insert a cube, and how to insert edges or extrude, and you feel like you know everything and you could easily make one of Michelangelo's sculptures in a bit. Well... most of my students thought that about what to expect after only three months of learning 3D. They chose extremely difficult concepts, even I would've had a hard time making, believing after two weeks of practice, it would be a piece of cake. So I asked them to send me at least 3 different concepts, so I could approve the one I thought they could develop in the timeframe we had.

I must admit they weren't the only naïve individuals in that classroom. I believed I could teach them how to make 2 big hard surface models, one that we made "together" (so the same robot or vehicle), and another as homework with a concept of their choice. Apart from that we had one hour each week for a speed modelling of a concept I gave them. All of this was so I could show them step by step how to use Maya's tools and my process for creating a hard surface model with the one we made together. The other one's function was that they could really learn the process and not just to follow a specific tutorial. And the weekly speed modellings so they could learn how to work faster and really know how to use the tools without needing to consult the lesson's video.

With this two big projects in mind, I thought I could teach them how to make box modelling and retopology in Maya, sculpting in ZBrush, texturing fully in 2D with Photoshop and 3D with Substance Painter, shading with Arnold and learning a little bit of XGen for extra details, like procedural geometry placing or moss and grass. Needless to say, they learnt a lot! Well, we all learnt a lot. Because they knew how a lot of tools worked, but they hadn't really developed the artistry behind all of the process and their final results weren't really outstanding. I had filled my 3 hour class with a lot of information, and not a lot of time for them to just assimilate what I just explained and practice.

So next quarter I decided not to teach FX or ZBrush in that class and give them a little more time of Maya and Substance only. They still had to make their 2 final projects, and their speed modelling each week, but with a little bit less of information so they didn't end up extremely overwhelmed. It was definitely better. They had better projects than my former students, but some of the feedback they gave me was a little bit confusing. They wanted to learn even more software and tools, but believed I didn´t gave them enough time to develop their projects. How could I give them more information in the same amount of time, with more time to practice?! It was impossible, but I guess you can't make everyone happy. I've taught that class two more times, and I can say practice does make perfect. I'm not the perfect teacher yet, but my students' results speak for themselves. Here's the model we made together back in September 2020. They all have their own versions of this Gediminas Einikis concept, but this one's the one I made as an example. I'm happy of how this piece turned out. If my students ever open their Artstation accounts I will sure link them here, so you can see their results.