A little guidance Thread

Hey guys, nice to meet you all. I'm brand new to this forum, and to be honest, forums like this in general. I'm going to give you a quick summary of what it is exactly im looking for advice on.

I've always been in to video games my whole life, since I got my first ever Gameboy back in the 90s when I was only about 4 or 5. I've always known that I want to work in this industry, but now it has come to actually finding my way into it and I need some advice. I am looking to get into the 3D modelling/animating side of things, as I have always been fascinated by things such as gun models and animations, but obviously I want to widen my horizons a bit more than just guns.

I have been practicing digital art for a number of years and am completely self taught. I have experience with Photoshop, Cinema 4D (a bit of modelling), Illustrator and Realflow. I am also currently at uni studying Digital Advertising and Design.

I want to start building up a portfolio and learning how to use softwares such as Maya (which i currently have for free thanks to uni). But the only problem is im not sure where to start. I've been doing a lot of digging and research, and I've read in a number of places that modding is a good way to start to learn how games work and are developed.

Before i start making mods however, I want to learn how to model, and properly with regards to video games. I was hoping this thread could shed some light on how the best way to go about learning how to model is. I was also hoping some of you guys would share your stories of how you came from where you were, to where you are today with regards to your skill, and also what you did in order to get where you are today. Once I have a grasp on the modelling side of things, I will be looking more into getting into making basic mods for games.

I am very enthusiastic towards taking this direction in my life, and career, all I need is a little nudge in the right direction to get started on my journey. I really appreciate any advice/stories that you guys are willing to share, and thoroughly look forward to see what will come from all of this.

Thanks