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Some good advice there from everfresh. Not much to add but to tell you that tutorials are streamlined, they iron out all the problems, the problems that always come up that will help the viewer follow the tutorials refined workflow. Just remember that in reality this is not how it works. The better you become at problem solving the more productive your be. When I follow any tutorial I watch it, then watch it back again taking a section of it, then I go off and do it. The way I learn is to teach. This may sound strange but in my mind if I can't teach it I really did'nt get it. I would test myself even if im not teaching it. Id ask myself could I teach it, could I show it, and id simulate that? I would shut down the tutorial, and start what iv been learning from scratch. I did this with Brets rigging tutorials. Watch it, watch i again, do it, and do it several times. Repetition will set it in there because doing it is what helps retain more than using any other senses. Reading is the lowest retention, then seeing, then seeing and hearing is what he get from tutorials. Doing it is the highest way to retain it. If your doing it while simulating teaching it your talking your self through it, try it, it works for me very well. See if you can do it as if your showing someone else, this really helps me retain it. I found this out years ago when I started making videos for myself in case I forgot how to do it later on, but by doing this I never returned to the videos. I Kept doing this as it helps others but I never end up watching my own videos. Im not suggesting you make videos but follow a kind of workflow that makes you repeat a task as if you were projecting your knowledge away from you. You need to have a think what area is of the highest interest. Modelling is always a good place to start, this naturally leads to learning Uv mapping, then texturing, then surfacing, lighting, and before you know it you would have learnt something in many areas. Keep at it ,good luck. Dan

sounds like you are aiming rather for a generalist position or even possibly going freelance? only you can tell if there's an area in 3D you wanna focus on, if you have no idea then that's probably your heart telling you it wants to go generalist... or make up artist, or zoo keeper ;) while watching tutorials is good and essential it's not enough to memorize all the stuff. solving problems on your own is a much more effective way to learn. set yourself small goals, little fun projects you can complete within a week or two. doesn't matter if you have no idea how to do it, figuring it out is the fun part anyways. once you completed it, take a deep breath and move on to the next. prepare for not doing much else the next couple of years, and don't forget to always tip your pizza delivery guy. as for your question about client work: it would be utterly boring if i always knew exactly how to do every task involved in a project. unfortunately this situation happens more often the better you get. so enjoy your lack of knowledge while you can and dive into it. btw, there's nothing "fake" about it, in CG even the people at big studios solve problems while working at a project. no one knows exactly how to solve any task thrown at him right away. and of course, a demo reel can get you jobs. as long as it's good it's actually the very best way to get you jobs. i hope that helps.