I’m quitting freelance 3D

Hi yall!!! This is going to be so thorough I damn near should make a YouTube video about it but I’m stuck in LA with little resources please forgive my absence!!

So I know I haven’t been active on here and I wanted to explain also, I got a million asks about what/where for my story posts so I’m going to spill the beans here!

Basically I went to SF/LA with the intention of being out for 9 days exactly but ofc, a 3D job got shifted around and I had to do the work on the trip. Which as you all know, sucks major balls. I didn’t have my PC, my programs, my GPU, so I was pressed when I landed in SF and it dawned on me that I was going to have to finesse this entire project... off my 2015 MacBook. SO. I downloaded blender lmao.

I did surprisingly well! I honestly have had such an ego about learning this software because imagine you spent 3 years learning 10 different programs and you’re pretty high up the mountain.... you don’t want to get down from the mountain you’re climbing even if someone told you “hey this 1 other program does all 10 of those things.... and is free”. It’s like you suddenly can’t hear and uh yeah. That was me. So I’m now convinced blender is fire and has the potential to usurp the 3D world if everyone had the awakening I had. It wasn’t easy navigating a completely new user interface, I actually almost rage-quit several times but since I was backed up into a corner and HAD to deliver a project... I managed alright.

So the project proposal was 4K and I know I’m about to sound ungrateful af but I knew it wasn’t enough. I knew that they were going to work me into the ground and after you calculate the hours it would become below minimum wage. Trust me, I have a lot of experience with this. I requested more, got denied, and said it’s probably going to be okay.

It wasn’t. It still isn’t. And I’m still in LA.

When I was about to leave LA on thanksgiving day, I had a 3rd or 4th or 5th check in (I’ve never worked on a project where the corporate folks want a check in every other day lol Bc they clearly don’t understand rendering time) and basically was delightfully peer pressured by friends to stay (that was actually a good thing) but I really stayed just to not lose 8 hours to getting to NY (including time to the airport etc).

Things worked out pretty well tbh. I met some amazing people who REALLY inspired me to take an indefinite break from working as a corporate freelance hell hound and understood that I, as a freelancer, have virtually 0 boundaries for work. Unlike my fellow 3D 9-5ers, I work weekends, holidays, birthdays, funerals, literally all the damn time. If they’re in asia, I’m working midnight to 8am. If they’re releasing in a week, I’m pulling several all-nighters. If they want 37 revisions with no kill fee, I’m doing 38 revisions. It’s crazy. (By the way.... always propose a kill fee Bc these ppl are ruthless lmao)

Anyway I went to a book store named Arcana: Book of the Arts in Culver City (LA) and found this book called Artwear (pix 1-4). The guy who works there is a literal walking encyclopedia. You could ask him about any subject and he’ll help you find something for it.

Then I went to a toy store in the city of industry called Frank and Sons (pix 5-7) it’s like a giant Costco of toys... or exactly like an anime convention dealers hall if you’ve ever been to one ;)

Finally my favorite, a really cute outdoor/indoor shopping alley that looks like you’re literally in Vietnam that doesn’t have a name but it’s in the Chinatown Saigon Plaza. You walk into this alleyway and it’s literally 50+ k knock off shops w mad cute shit (pix 8-9)

Last pic is me and my new friends Enya and Drew and friends you already know Julian and Dom hehe I’m honored and grateful to be around folks who live so authentically and with such sincerity that it dawned on me that I’m the only one stressed tf out 24/7. Im excited to take a few months to a year off and literally do what I had intended when I started this patreon: work on my own shit!!!

Sending love to y’all, I have 1 more day to finish this final corporate freelance 3D project and I’m posted up in my friends kitchen and currently going tf in 😤🌟