How do you know?

Malus

I am going through a bit of a not quite crisis but a what even. I have given myself about two years to get better and at the end, I will make a webpage/portfolio and try to be a freelancer. My issue is I put myself in charge of judging when I reach that level that leads to my question. How in the bleeding hades do you know when you reached good enough? My speed has improved greatly to an extent depending... 

I am redoing a project currently, a remake per se, make it better and so on. It only took me one day to model it and before it took me 4 days. That I know is improving. I just have no clue how to judge my quality if I compare it to my humble beginnings it is obvious that I am better, but am I good enough to do freelancing I have no clue how to figure that out at all. Plus I am also learning other pro software that which is wanted by industries hiring. The ones I am currently learning could get me hired at Disney if I wanted but I do not do people, or companies well, plus Disney being Disney means I could never go on facebook ever in my life because I have opinions and a mouth/fingers that won't be quiet. Anyways back on topic how does one judge themselves?
If I go on the advice of friends and what they have said, I reached critical mass already minus fully learning specific software which would be good since I will be using them. They are honest critics well most, one I know is harsh and I passed her test. I feel like I am on the edge of being there but not being there and I am unsure. Especially considering I am going for products and stuff since they are simpler and take less time hence the price tag would sound nicer. The other issue is I have reached my limits on my computer and am concerned with projects in the future doing such a thing as well and making my services unusable. I mean I literally crashed my graphics card for a few seconds pure black screen error message etc, it happened twice. 

Sorry for the mess but I am just a jumbled ball of confused right now and I have no idea where to turn to since I am practically the only 3D artist in my state. 

(even more jumbled since events in my life has lead to less money/maybe worse which leads to me maybe needing to change my plans and just jump on the horse with no preparation. I however still wish to know how to judge myself and so on. I have critical skills but I am overly critical.)

kaotkbliss

One way I suppose, would be to take your best work and put it up for sale somewhere (maybe even try here)

You can then see if the item sells, how well it sells and what other people have to say about it. I would suggest putting it up as a freebie, but I rarely see anyone complain about a freebie.

fastbike1

@the_grimreaper_mors_a76145fb53

How do you think you will sell your work  / products if you "don't do people well"? Who do you think will be hiring you?

You could start by re-reading your original post. It's very "stream of conscious", which is likely to put a hiring agency off riight at the beginning.

Malus

I mean in person I do not do people well. Online it is an entirely different ball game I can play people like puppets. I am making my own website that is how I plan to do it. My art is done via modo, substance, painter, and keyshot, so it would not be applicable here. I have created really crappy models in the past and uploaded them for freebies and as he/she stated no one complained, in fact, it was downloaded like hotcakes but I know it was crap now in hindsight so as stated no one will complain and they will download it with a smile. I mean crappy models are not entirely useless sometimes fixing them is a few key strokes away. A lot of my work are render based mostly so not all are pretty model wise some tris in them. My site will be based around renders for products this is a decently lucrative business I hear. 
Also if forced I can deal with people but if given the option I would rather not in person. I see no reason for people to make you come into a bloody office to be a 3D artist, to be frank. I once actually just for funsies put in a thing online to a business to see if I could qualify for an interview with a game developer place and I did but again office, and 5 states away that is how it is with most things my state is a mechanics state artist do not exist here (figuratively of course). Though with what I am learning I may could get a job at Disney just smile, nod and do whatever I have to right, oh and delete my facebook. That would involve moving and that would be a disaster to try and figure out albeit maybe possible. 

Anyways my skills currently are 4 years in modo, half a year (probably less) in substance painter, a few weeks in keyshot lol. Dunno about that whole fake it til you make it routine with this stuff though. I mean I have fooled people into thinking stuff is real when it isn't which is an honour, to be honest. Still, wouldn't 4 years experience show when compared to a few months or a week. 

(This "car" someone told me congrats on it and I was like say wha? Eventually, it came to light she thought it was real lol. It is called The Bean. )