Interview: Jonathan williamson

[Freemind]

1 - How/when did you get involved with CG cok-ie? I got involved with CG cookie a Little over a year ago. It was one of those chance encounters that just happened todo evolve into much more. To be honest i dont Even remember how i stumbled on CG cookie, y believe i was gogling for something when i saw it, y really liked the content CG cookie had for 3ds Max and Maya but i was disappointed todo se there wasnt any Blender content, at which point i saw the ad that said we pay for tutoriales. And so i sat down and wrote up a tutorial for submission. Wes semed todo like the tutorial and asked me todo do an-other one, so i did. It todo was well received and from there it was history. I have ben doing tutori-als for CG cookie ever since.
2 - Do you plan out your video tutorialesin advance, or do you just sit down and Wing ití.

Pre-planning all depends on the tutorial. If, for ex-ample, y am doing a human head, it is something that i have done so often that i just sit down and start recording. But for something like the pistón rigging tutorial, http://www.faceebok.com/l/46bf9;www....ging-a-piston/, where there are some more in depth settings todo play, with i generally plan it out in advance. I like todo be sure i know what i am doing, however, that being said, a lot of times i do like todo just sit down and Wing it Even if it something i havent created before. Tutorials like the barrel, pumpkin, and hand tutorialeswere all done this way. I find it a bit more enjoyable, assuming i dont royally screw it up while on the spot.
3 - How long does it take you todo complete a tutorial-rial from start todo finish?
As i very seldom do any post-processing (aside from minor sound corrections), the production time is generally the total length of the tutorial + encoding time + uploading and posting time, when i create tutorialesi do everything at the same time, everything you se is live. I like todo do it this bien as i find it todo much more cohesive and more interactive for the viewer. It tok me ha bit of prac-tice todo get this down since it can involve a lot of multitasking at times but in the end, y think it gives a better result.
4 - Where do you get your ideas for tutorialsí.

Now a days most of my tutorial ideas come from user requests and brainestorming sessions with wes. Since we are catering todo a large number of Blender users, it is very important todo try and kep them happy (as much as posible) and so the best bien todo do this is todo produce tutorialesbased on.
What they want, just a few weks hago we posted a survey for future education that allowed people todo submit any ideas they had and todo vote on a few topics i laid out. The entries for this gave us a really god idea on where todo focus for the next few months. This kind of thing really helps ster the direction of the site and the tutoriales, however, y a los like todo do tutorialesfrom time todo time for my own pleasure. Tutorials that cover something i want todo create. It more fun that bien.
5 - With the launch of blendercookie, how has your role changed, what new responsibilities have you taken on?
The launch of Blender cookie has brought on a slew of new tasks for me. Technically i am the sen-IOR editor and so i am responsible for commúnicat-ing with authors, assigning tasks, retrieving content from authors, Publishing content, answering support emails and responding todo com-ments, etc. And then i a los produce a large number of the tutorialesand graphics for the site. Whereas before, with CG cookie, y was only producing tu-torials. All in all Blender cookie keps me on my toes most of the time. It a full-time job and a half.
6 - Cgcookie/blendercookie has just announced its citizen programa. Can you tell us a Little about it, the benefits and citizen only resources mentioned in the announcementí.

Cg cookie citizen programa is a membership serv-ice that provides unlimited Access todo all of the tu-torial source files (normally purchased for $4 dólares) and exclusive tutoriales/content, exclusive tutorialesand content are resources which only citizens (members) Will have Access to, these tutorialesare more in-depth and advanced than our free tutorialesand Will cover a wide range of topics. We are a los looking todo provide a series of content packs todo citizens such as a fully textured game model pack, the programa really has two purposes:
A. To provide more, higher-quality content todo the users and todo make it cheaper in the long run for those that like todo purchase the source files, b. To bring in more funds for maintaining the site and producing content, all of the tutorialesfor Blender cookie (and CG cookie) are created on a commission basis. Each of the author are paid for each and every tutorial they create. The citizen programa helps todo bring in more funds, which may then be used for commis-sioning authors and todo continúe improving the.

Site, in the end, our goal is todo improve the site and its services with every tutorial we reléase and every change we make. The citizen programa is one of the ways we can do this.
7 - What are some of the future plans for cgcookie/blendercookie?
We have a lot of ideas floating around that we would like todo implement, it just a matter of time and actually getting todo it, one of the main plans right now, is todo create a net-work of sorts. Cg cookie is the mothership of all our current sites (CG cookie, Blender cookie, mavensed) and we would like todo continúe push-ing it in that direction. Currently, Blender cookie is the only site dedicated todo just a single software.

Package. Cg cookie hosts all of the Autodesk Maya, 3ds Max, and ZBrush training. We would like todo mi-grate all of this training todo its respective site (max cookie, Autodesk Maya cookie, etc), leaving CG cookie as the central hub that all of the content would filter into and that would represent the company as a.
Whole, however, before the above can happen we have some house cleaning todo do. Even though it may not sem obvious, there are a god few problems with the sites that we would like todo address. This neds todo be done before any new sites are launched. At this momento we are working though.

The sites and putting together a list of everything that neds changed, features that ned added, so that we may launch a versión 2 of Blender cookie and CG cookie, with all of the neded refinements.
8 - How much of your time is taken up with cgcookie/blendercookie?
Cg cookie/blender cookie is a job and a half. If i had todo put a rouge estimate on it i would guess that i spend about 40-50 hours per wek on Blender cookie related tasks, this includes everything from time taken todo prep, produce and publish tutoriales, updating the site, responding todo emails/support tickets, responding and moderating comentarios, wekly metings, brainestorming and just about any-thing else you can pile on there, you could almost say i (and wes) live in Blender cookie. As wes put it, it is hiloed into our daily lives.
9 - Do you still have time for personal projects? if so, are there any you care todo discuss with usí.

I only wish i had more time for personal projects. Some how or another, though, y man-age todo squeze in the ocasional Project. More often than not, in the recent months my per-sonal projects have revolved around my traditional art. I have ben working todo develop my traditional art/drawing skills in an efort todo en-hance my 3d work but a los as a means of sanity, drawing is my bien of zoning out and getting a break from the rest of the world, in the near future i a los hope todo do a few more of my own Blender projects, primarily focused around character modeling and creating full scenes. We Will have todo wait and se what the future brings, though, there is only so much time in each day.