On learning 3D and hopefully keeping sane

This is my first real 3D animation. I know, it's not more than a test but it shows that I am having some progress. And I have to get this out of my system because I have realised that this is not only my problem but something many have faced. Learning 3D, the hard part for me is that you don't really see your process materialise as in 2D. When you start out doing 2D animation, you make a drawing, then another one and so on and gradually you build up your animation. No matter how advanced and polished your process gets later on, this is basically your work for every animation you'll ever make - one drawing at a time.

In 3D, this process is way more abstract and you just spend your time digging into the fabric of the programm, figuring out what you have to know, where all the buttons are and what you need them for. The process in 3D is much more detached from the actual work that will come out of it. There are hardly any "milestones" (i.e. pretty pictures) that you can show your mom, your friends and yourself to make sure you are on the right road.
As opposed to the progressive step-by-step feeling of 2D, learning 3D is kind of incredible-hulk-leaping from one mountain top the next (optionally smashing battle helicopters mid-air) and hoping that you land somewhere near where you wanted to go.

Learning 3D for the heck of it can prove to be very insightful and inspiring, as long as you get used to this feeling of not really always seeing where you are going.