I found these guys on YouTube right at the very beginning, when they were breaking down their texturing pipeline. I immediately wanted to sign up for their mentorship program, but it didn’t work out because Maxim was too busy at the time. I finally signed up with them sometime in June, and we finished the project in early August. There are a few points I need to mention. 1) I had some commercial experience in 3D, but since it was mostly working on indie projects or B-tier games, my artistic skills were limited—though I did have a basic understanding, albeit a very mediocre one. 2) I worked with two instructors at once: with Maxim, I learned Plasticity, and with Nikita, I learned how to texture and render properly. I’ll skip over things like UV mapping and so on, since I already had a solid foundation and knew how to use tools like PackMaster, but we simply ironed out some beginner’s mistakes—the kind I’d describe as “not having anyone to ask for advice on how to do it right.” I really liked both of them, but I’d especially like to single out Nikita—we definitely clicked when it came to work. I was really eager to learn, and Nikita was eager to teach. It worked out perfectly that I was free the entire month of July, so I studied 8–12 hours every day, with breaks to sleep. It was worth it—having gained new skills (and putting my own to use, lol), I was able to start working at SCS as early as October, and I received a job offer from Black Banners, where I’m working now. The secret to success is simple: I put together a portfolio, signed up as a volunteer for a gaming expo, and went up to people from the studios myself to introduce myself. Right there on the spot, using my phone, I showed my portfolio directly to managers and leads (bypassing those annoying HR people), and that’s how I got the offer. I’m absolutely certain that without my portfolio, nothing would have worked out, and it’s still funny how attending those courses had a butterfly effect that led to a job offer. But guys, they won’t just hand you a job—you have to be able to learn and make the most of the resources available to you.