So I worked super hard, allocated my time management better than I ever have in my life, and did most everything I could to do well on my first assignment in this class this term... and got a 70%. My teacher does grade on the 'c is literally the average' standard, but still, i'm very low on spoons and behind on work from other classes already from working for that 70%. I need advice on how to not burn out within the next week, and how to like. regain spoons when it's probably literally impossible for me to complete all the work I need to get done. haaaaaalp
How I manage, which may be different than what works for you: list of major papers (I just have one paper and a research project this semester, somehow) make documents for major papers, stick stuff in when I figure out ideas Google Calendar with 1-day and 1-hour alerts for minor assignments: especially great for recurring ones, like the videos I need to do biweekly for one class talk to professors about expectations and making sure I know whether they're going to drop the lowest-scoring assignment or w/e spreadsheet tracking grades and total grades - this lets me calculate how well I need to do on finals, etc., so that I can allocate effort better treat every week as a new start: don't try to go back and make up reading I might have missed apropos of every week being a new start: I try to do as much reading as possible on Monday to get a jump on the week I drop classes that aren't completely necessary. If my Shakespeare class this semester ends up too hard, I'll drop it and take an 8 week once-a-week class for the last half-credit I need Sunday afternoons are for Not School. This lets me recharge and also helps with treating every week as discrete. The semester is only 16 weeks long! As is the period between my morning and afternoon classes on Monday and Wednesday: that is when my knitting group meets and I get social contact and the opportunity to bitch and recharge and think about school in general while not doing school in a specific way. Part of this is that I'm an extravert: being around people like that recharges me. If you're an introvert, chilling and doing something school-tangential like hanging out in the library coloring or watching a documentary vaguely related to a class on your own might work better. Idk, burnout is hard. I tend to end up eating a lot of takeout near the end of the semester. But taking care of physical health helps with everything else, so sleep regular hours (however many works for what you need to do - I average 7), drink a lot of water, and include veggies in the takeout you eat on the go.
Problem is I have an 8 am class so I literally can't get my preferred amount of sleep nightly- my body prefers 9 hours of sleep >< thanks for advice tho!! some of it wont work as well as I'm an animation major, all of my assignments are cumulative long-term projects generally so if I get behind catch-up is literally essential.. To elaborate, right now I have: an Art History class (only readings and two papers the whole term, readings take half an hour or so for me generally) which I'm not at all worried about, my Concept Development class that I'm currently really stressed about because the beginning is story idea generation and sharing that with the class, and I have so much anxiety about presenting my own ideas to people, trying to develop any story idea goes straight to the anxiety thoughts.. i think this'll get easier when we're to refining an idea instead of generating ideas, cause then i'll have the reassurance that some people sorta like my ideas or something?? aaand Action Analysis II. This is an extremely intensive human anatomy class with a focus on learning anatomy to the level of being able to animate it consistently and accurate to life. This is the one where I got a 70% on my first assignment, the model sheets for the animation, which is due this next tuesday. I feel like I've already failed the assignment by doing so bad on my model sheets and not having any animation done for tomorrow, and I know if I don't get a head start on the second assignment I'm going to be struggling to get it done, not to mention I'm supposed to try and find a live nude model to photograph for this assignment which I don't really know where to even start on trying to find that and ugh. I'm just so worried about it. not to mention I'm trying to finish several things for online collabs w/ people, and I am working on two people's senior films. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh sorry for rant. im feeling a biit better noww
re: the nude model thing, no idea if this is at all helpful but does your school have figure drawing classes/sessions/whatever? bc you might be able to ask one of their models, or ask where they find their models, or something. idk. i am not an art major so i have no idea how these things work but that's where i would start looking. you could also like, craigs list for someone? though that might get creepy quick. :/ anyway, witnessed, and good luck with everything! Spoiler: cheerleader crab gif you can do it!
I know there's a YouTube channel that has nude models specifically for people that can't get to live classes, I can see if I can find it for you
Yeah, we have nude model sessions, but only a few of them fit the description our professor requires (~25, average height, athletic build), and because this weekend is weird and has classes on an irregular day, they're not happening this weekend, and if i'd have to wait till next friday it'd be.. getting close on time, as the assignment is due the 9th.. as for online, I have to have evidence to the prof that I've made every attempt to get a live model before I'm allowed to use an online resource, and that online resource has to be individually approved by the professor edit: oh and more specifically, I need mostly a simple pose at a 3/4 angle, with no limbs crossing over each other and no hands on hip/holding something. so if anyone's got a good photo that follows aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall those requirements I'd love to have something like that on backup
update: i have a wonderful wonderful frond who agreed to nude model for me!!!!! :D so that's one stressor down. idk why my brain is weird about these things but now that that and getting a story-idea-sharing presentation out of the way for another class i'm feeling a lot better. still rly crammed for time but i feel like if i manage to get what i want done each day this weekend i'll actually be something close to on track for the term ;-;
spoiler alert: i never get everything i want to get done each day. it's apparently impossible for me. so this is going to turn into my rant about this term thread, but boy i need that. Animation itself actually went fine! I got an 84%, which I'm good with, and what I needed to fix I knew could've used fixing so that's good. Problem is I got like 72% on my X-sheet and when the professor said 'get redos in ASAP' i figured he meant 'before next class' but he actually meant 'within 24 hours' and by the time i discovered the difference in our definitions of what is soon and possible, it was too late. so after a few days of anger and freaking out, including today realizing i really don't have time to do a redo of the hand & foot model sheets any longer since i've put it off so long, I've accepted that I'm going to get a C on my first project and that my professor's opinion of me is going to drop dramatically... Which is really stressful to me because I hate being on a professor's bad side, I'm used to becoming friends with my teachers, but I'll try to do well on this next assignment, and I've sorta decided that I'm going to approach this class as not caring about my grade or my impression on the professor, but about whether I'm improving in the way I want to be. Which I am and will, I wanted to get a confidence that I can draw the human body with enough skill to be aesthetically appealing, which I think I'm starting to approach. I think I'll feel comfortable posting my human art online after this term, which is where I wanted to be. I wish I had time to do literally anything other than this class right now, but oh well, at least I only have 6 1/2 more weeks of this. I am worried that I'm going to suffer a lot in my other studio class, because we've had hardly any homework and I still haven't had time/thought capacity to focus on it enough. I know it's going to ramp up after midterm and I just.. don't know how I'm going to manage all of this. I'm hoping I can get ahead the second week of february so that I can stop feeling behind but like... i've never managed to follow the schedules I set for myself before (case in point, I was going to start working on homework again an hour ago, and here I am), so it's hard to be hopeful that I'll manage to get good enough this term.
