I will be glad to follow up with your VFX mentorship if the price and time fits my budget and work schedule. Also, I wonder if you can create something that starts from scratch - like minimal UI knowledge and through levels of proficiency from intermediate to advanced? Keep me posted (my own email to your mail list zedar.thokme@gmail.com) Thanks.
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Hi @Travis ! First off, I think its so cool we have the same name. 
It was in the Discord Channel “Unreal Slackers” under #visual-fx. My username is cF Tempest there. Partikel was just telling it as it is, but man, it felt harsh. I don’t want to make a big deal out of it though.
Oooh, well there’s a Real Time VFX Discord as well, I thought that’s what you were in. I have very little idea how to Discord, so I hope this link works…
Thanks for the link! I’ll be sure to join. I requested to join the Facebook Group too.
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This is a teicky one. It’s going to be on a first come first serve basis. After it fills, people can PM me to be added to a wait list. I’ll use that list to contact people when seats come available.
I think, in a very subtle way, it has helped. @Fabio_M_Silva is Awesome (Awesome!), and teaches in a very… what you see is what you get manner, I’d say. Unfortunately right as the course started… life happened, and such occurrences drew me away from really letting me give my all in this course. But… I have to say all-in-all it did help. I think I feel a little wiser anyway.
Awesome idea @Keyserito , I think a lot of people have trouble getting into FX and the industry seems to be in high demand of that at the moment (which I suppose can be good to find a job easier than 3D artists), but it does paint a picture that it’s still an area that requires a lot of growth. Specially with the new tools coming out, the possibilities will expand and basically we might be getting really dynamic fx, which will probably require more technical knowledge as well, and if we work as a team(the whole community), we’d really be learning faster.
What I usually can get stuck on is thinking about what the best way to approach an fx tech-wise is. As in, you think of or see something you want to make, but then you start pondering if it should be done via a mesh and a shader or a simulation or and the list goes on (right now I am put on researching how to do certain effects, so that’s why I am saying that 
). If it’s a per student thing, could be interesting to try and figure out how something can be made and do different little tests to learn more about approaching problems. Sometimes you might be able to create everything, sometimes you might need help from programmers (like in Infamous: Second son’s effects for example).
People also seem to be really fascinated with the Chinese FX community tutorials and how awesome those FX looks - so might be interesting to see something as flashy in a Western classroom as well I’ve rambled a lot, I hope some of it makes sense.
I think I remember this. You wanted tutorials showing how the winning entries of the riot competition were done and I pointed you here, specifically to the getting started threads. I do apologize.
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Aww yes, this gonna be great! Can’t wait to see what you cooked up for us.
wait no longer! <3 <3
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Oh man! Such good thoughts. Yes, it’s easy to get lost. I hope to resolve that with this effort. Now that it’s launched, I’d love to hear your thoughts if this feels like it will help you get unstuck with the too-many-approaches hurdle.
Also, I hear you on having a flashy classroom setting. The end goal is to go beyond just me and create a whole VFX school. This is just the first step!
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Nice! I hope I can be able to help out in the future as a side project!
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I totally love the idea of a eventuall dedicated VFX school type of thing.
Something that’s really lacking as of right now.
Best of luck with the classes (I won’t be able to join myself for a while due to budget, did become a 5$ patreon tho 
)
Can’t wait to see what it grows into.
Very cool! Up. I’m excited to grow this thing too. Thanks for joining the Flashy tier :^]
Hey @Keyserito, quick question: how keen are you on teaching more realistic effects? I’m asking because I can see your strength is definitely in stylized work. Cheers
Great step in the right direction. I know we all have to get the $$ to survive but I wonder who can afford anything beyond the student tier?
Its such a double edged sword. Art cost a lot of time, money, and general investment but yields so little financial gain for most of us.
I consider myself beyond student level as I am luckily working on an unannounced project at the moment. I am not making tons of money, but more than someone working at taco bell as they try to get into this field and I cant afford any of these tiers. A game art class at a community college where available would be less than a 100$ a credit for an entire semester. It wouldn’t be tailored to VFX of course but you could learn all the basics between that and youtube for a fraction of the cost. More importantly I assume most of us just dont have any other option financially.
Again I love what your doing, its just tough out there. Just to live…
p.s. I have only just been able to give back small amounts to patreons including you in the vfx industry. (this upcoming month will be my first time as a paying patreon user)
Yup. Most of my work is in more exaggerated styles, for sure. The thing about “realistic” is that it often uses houdini renders or photo textures in its materials, but is often stylized in other ways, such as silhouette or motion. I can only teach houdini basics, but certainly can help with creating the realistic textures, unreal materials and particle systems needed to pull off a realistic style.
Lets be honest, most of the “realistic” stuff we re create for games is pushed waaay over the top. If you’ve ever seen footage of a real grenade exploding, it’s one of the most disappointing reference videos you’ll ever watch. That, and buildings being destroyed by wrecking balls; biggest letdown ever.
First, you bring up an excellent perspective. Certainly, we’re all familiar with the cash-in-cash out involved with making art, and paying for art education, and we have a general sense of standard pricing for all these types of services. Then how did I arrive at my pricing? I’ll try to explain:
The service I offer is fundamentally different from schools in a few ways: first, it’s a commitment to each person I mentor that they will get my focused attention to help them in highly targeted ways, on whatever they’d prefer to focus on. No prescribed blanket method. No wasted time at all. I believe so much in this new way of teaching, it’s got a money-back guarantee, something no school offers that I’m aware of.
As for the tiers above students, I have a very specific audience in mind for those: working VFX professionals who either A: Aren’t satisfied with their current job, and are willing to invest a short burst of time, energy, and funds to launch them over to their dream studio. Or B: Don’t have the resources at their current studio to help level up the art on their project, and the studio is willing to invest in their employees’ growth by paying a consulting fee.
When I look at the current VFX education landscape, all 3 of the above needs are 100% unmet for a lot of VFX artists: There’s no way for students (outside a handful of schools that effectively teach VFX) starting at different points to get help navigating their own unique VFX growth trajectory, some artists express feeling “stuck” in their current position, and VFX departments at some smaller studios don’t have the knowledge resources to put that final polish on their effects.
As you mentioned, there’s a lot of content out there, but it’s scattered and doesn’t really solve any of these problems 100%. So that’s what I’m aiming to do.
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I hear you on the focus of this program there is no denying its value. Its more about basic economics. I am sure you can and will find those that can afford this treatment but I just had a gut reaction and didn’t know how to communicate that best. ( Who is paying for this that isn’t in a position of knowledge and financial stability already? ) I definitely see your point on the value of tailored learning and consulting.
I went through two different predatory art schools that charged a lot and offered little to no direct applicable guidance. I had to find my own way within these programs before I decided to leave and continue my education myself. I have always thought mentor ship is just a better way to learn.
I work a couple jobs as well to make sure I am stable between contracts.
Everyday is a struggle to survive, learn more, and some how get the work in.
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