Micro Mentors Possibly

Hello,

I know it's odd for me to post outside the gallery section but I had an idea.

The other night I was thinking of how it is getting started, all the things you learn, all the stuff that takes doing wrong a few dozens times to figure out the right way. Well, I was thinking about a mentor program for starting Microers.

Something like a thread to sign up as a mentor or put it in your sig to have new people, or those who want to learn more, to message you.

I think there are a lot of techniques out there, basic and advanced, that if taught or shared with new people would make things more interesting and appealing. Tutorials are great but having someone who is there to help with projects, ideas, and all that would have been something I would have liked when I started out.

Thoughts?

i think real mentoring works better when you are realy side by side with your mentor and he can realy show you stuff instead of telling/writing how its done

and for these in search of help or mentoring i just can say we have a big tutorial section that seems to be not realy used so i think a mentor programm would fail aswell due to lack of mentors and people who want to use it

I do agree with Burningbird on the fact that the CC section is rather dead so i'm not sure how it would work out.

Still it would be very helpful and I bet people would be more open about asking for help knowing there would be people willing to help out rather than just having a thread where you can expect anyone to help out if they do.

I would sign up for that. To beable to help others.

I think the points raised are not necessarily negatives. I mean starting out it is all a bit overwhelming. You just slap together templates and you are not satisfied but you learn through trial and error. That is not a bad its a good way of learning. Not everyone does it that way but I think its common and people have really gotten far.

THAT said I do also agree that the template section and tutorial pages help but they don't really explain it in the same way as a person.

Obviously mentoring works best side by side but thats not really an option and when it comes to doing things on a computer I'm not sure it matters too much.

All in all I think its worthwhile and adds another dimension of help for those trying to find their feet. Not everyone has to sign up but for those who do feeding off someone will really help.

My best micros have been made when another creator has told me I'm not doing my best work and that stuff could be changed. The stuff I'm most pleased with has come from collaboration and also having someone challenge my complacency and telling me not to be happy with what I think I can get away with.

Provided mentor's have some kind of guidance about how to be helpful and not just shamelessly bashing some newcomer's work then i think this could be a smart move.

I agree you want people who will talk to somone with helping tips, not somone going in and saying stuff like how bad it is and how they messed tha micro up and stuff like that. If someone comes in and asks for help the mentor should go in and say try doing some line work and explain the process of line work to the newer creator, then help with shading tips and come in with a posative guidince because someday you might ask them for help.

I think if the Ads & Mods like the idea & go through with it, i think this might be the best way to go about it:



Using websites such as "screen toaster" to get a recording of your monitor combined with a voice over would be as close as you could get to really helping people. Explaining in words doesn't usually work, people need a visual demonstration in order to gain more out of something.

It wouldn't involve expensive equipment to do a tutorial in this style, all you need is a cheap mic (One that would allow people to understand your voice at least), internet connection, basic editing software (e.g. Windows movie maker) & your own home grown skills XD