Well what can i say? Pretty every thing has been negative in the past year. But they have been some good things as well.
The good points are that i managed to get into uni and my firm choice at that. Moving to Leicester was a hard experience by leaving my mum behind but i was prepared for that since i lived in my bedroom at home anyway. Starting Game art was a whole new experience, never knew what i was letting myself into. So far the course has been amazing. I learnt so much in one year it's unbelievable. I made a lot of new friends, I've been to amazing places and I've had a great time. Everyone has been so good to me and putting up with me for a year. I wouldn't want to change anything so far in my life, and i would love to continue next year.
I think i should talk about a couple of bad things this year as well BUT!!! I have learnt from my mistakes and i wish to amend them! Firstly Game production. I have never used 3Ds max before, and it was quite a shock when i first started. Over the past few months i was thrown into using different modifiers which haven't worked well for me, one of which is the unwrap modifier. Everything has gone wrong every time i have used it. They are still a lot of things i need to sort out with models and stuff but i am going to get help with that when i go back home. Visual design, problems with light and shade, positioning and the basic knowledge of the human figure as well as buildings and objects. Critical studies, i have always had mega problems with answering questions, can't answer straight forward ones and can't answer essays, and i failed Psychology in college because i didn't understand what is being asked and what i should include in the answer.
Hopefully that is it. But you have to remember there are more positive than negatives. I love my course and over the summer i am going to be working hard to improve greatly in all areas. Second year is going to be harder and i am willing to take it up on whatever it throws at me!
Wednesday 18 March 2009
Monday 16 March 2009
22. GDC week.
I really don't know much about these conferences. And i certainly never heard of this one. It's rather intriguing to know that there is a Games development conference in the world. Just a little disappointed it's in America, like everything else. The best anime conventions, holidays, theme parks and even a Harry Potter theme park which should be in the making when it should be in England! Every one of these are in America. Too expensive and probably worth it. Don't get me wrong if i had the money i would love to go to America and even go to one of these GDC's because looking at the website it looks really interesting.
Looking at whats lined up, I'd say they are pretty interesting, and the fact that really people from major companies will be there to give a talk about different issues. They are a lot of things i do need help with and i think it would be a great opportunity to go to these lectures and see what the professionals have to say.
In the visual arts section, 'Lighting with purpose' Would be a good one, because i am really bad at where the light source is and how to apply it to a model properly to give it more depth and 3dness to it.
In the Game design section, 'The cruise director of Azeroth: Directed gameplay within World of Warcraft', luckily for Mike i wouldn't be that interested. Looking at the lecture description, it looks confusing to me.
But other than that I'm happy to see what the GDC is all about and get myself there one year. I think it'll be a great experience and the things i could take away from it will be very valuable.
Looking at whats lined up, I'd say they are pretty interesting, and the fact that really people from major companies will be there to give a talk about different issues. They are a lot of things i do need help with and i think it would be a great opportunity to go to these lectures and see what the professionals have to say.
In the visual arts section, 'Lighting with purpose' Would be a good one, because i am really bad at where the light source is and how to apply it to a model properly to give it more depth and 3dness to it.
In the Game design section, 'The cruise director of Azeroth: Directed gameplay within World of Warcraft', luckily for Mike i wouldn't be that interested. Looking at the lecture description, it looks confusing to me.
But other than that I'm happy to see what the GDC is all about and get myself there one year. I think it'll be a great experience and the things i could take away from it will be very valuable.
Friday 6 March 2009
21. Where do you want to go, and how do you get there?
Please don't ask me this, because you won't like the answer.
To be truthful i have been having a lot of problems trying to figure what i wanted to do in life. I have wanted to be an archaeologist, a Paleontologist, artist and then a writer. But i have never thought about being a game artist. Instead of doing what i love best i.e drawing i wanted a job that paid decent money that i can pay bills, food, housing and go on holidays as well as pay for my manga addiction and Japanese stuffs.
At the time, I only chose game art because i read on a website that it paid £35000 a year. I didn't know jack squat about Game art until it came to deciding what we wanted to do after college in year 12. This was a last minute decision. My friend was already in her 1st year of uni doing Game art in Teesside and she said it was really good. So that's what i took. I loved doing art so it was a good opportunity to carry it on through uni. i managed to get offers from all 5 chosen unis, Demontfort was the worst because my folders zip broke after receiving an offer from Mike and i had to take all my books home in a bag he gave me. But in a way i guess the bag was a lucky item since i got into Demontfort.
It wasn't until i started my lessons when i learnt what Game art was about in terms of how the course was set out and what we had to do in lessons (at that time i forgot the presentation at the interview). I started thinking if i had taken the right course because i was struggling like mad with 3Ds max. As the months went on my views started to change. At first i was dreading everything and i wasn't 'feeling' the artistic side to Game art until i settled down and got use to the work that was given and now i am really enjoying it. I'm improving and learning new things all the time. The only thing that's letting me down is the fact I'm not sleeping well, if i don't have a decent nights sleep then i will feel like the living dead and my concentration and eagerness to work goes down the can. I don't know why it's happening but i am out to prove my worth, it's just another barrier that i can't shift.
To where i want to be after my studies... Well that's another story. At the moment i don't know, i still have stuff to learn, things to sort out so ask me again in a years time. I just wanted to go to uni, it was my dream. In all i love uni and i especially love my course. And this is from a girl who despises computers and doesn't like playing games much. Other than that the skies the limit, i have time to think where I'd like to be in 3 years time and what i have to do to get there, in the mean time I'm going to work the best i can for when the time comes.
I wouldn't change my decision for the world.
To be truthful i have been having a lot of problems trying to figure what i wanted to do in life. I have wanted to be an archaeologist, a Paleontologist, artist and then a writer. But i have never thought about being a game artist. Instead of doing what i love best i.e drawing i wanted a job that paid decent money that i can pay bills, food, housing and go on holidays as well as pay for my manga addiction and Japanese stuffs.
At the time, I only chose game art because i read on a website that it paid £35000 a year. I didn't know jack squat about Game art until it came to deciding what we wanted to do after college in year 12. This was a last minute decision. My friend was already in her 1st year of uni doing Game art in Teesside and she said it was really good. So that's what i took. I loved doing art so it was a good opportunity to carry it on through uni. i managed to get offers from all 5 chosen unis, Demontfort was the worst because my folders zip broke after receiving an offer from Mike and i had to take all my books home in a bag he gave me. But in a way i guess the bag was a lucky item since i got into Demontfort.
It wasn't until i started my lessons when i learnt what Game art was about in terms of how the course was set out and what we had to do in lessons (at that time i forgot the presentation at the interview). I started thinking if i had taken the right course because i was struggling like mad with 3Ds max. As the months went on my views started to change. At first i was dreading everything and i wasn't 'feeling' the artistic side to Game art until i settled down and got use to the work that was given and now i am really enjoying it. I'm improving and learning new things all the time. The only thing that's letting me down is the fact I'm not sleeping well, if i don't have a decent nights sleep then i will feel like the living dead and my concentration and eagerness to work goes down the can. I don't know why it's happening but i am out to prove my worth, it's just another barrier that i can't shift.
To where i want to be after my studies... Well that's another story. At the moment i don't know, i still have stuff to learn, things to sort out so ask me again in a years time. I just wanted to go to uni, it was my dream. In all i love uni and i especially love my course. And this is from a girl who despises computers and doesn't like playing games much. Other than that the skies the limit, i have time to think where I'd like to be in 3 years time and what i have to do to get there, in the mean time I'm going to work the best i can for when the time comes.
I wouldn't change my decision for the world.
20. Creativity part 2
Since the last time i did research and wrote about my thoughts on creativity, i find out what it means to be creative.
Creativity is the journey of self discovery. To get there you need many components, something which i lack. You need: motivation, passion, enthusiasm and even inspiration. Some of the great masters had these but it didn't come naturally, not naturally enough anyway.
It's like learning to crawl before you walk, you start off with the basics. Learn to hold a pencil, learn how to make lines, learn how to colour in the lines and hey presto you have a basic picture of a flower. It may not be perfect but its a start. But what does all this mean? Well funnily enough, talent is something you gain from experience, patience and practice. No one is born with natural talent, it's like saying a 5 year old can perform complicated surgery just using a spork and a rubber band. That's just pants. To be the best you need to put the effort in and practice. Drawing everyday will help keep the mind focused and helps improve what you already know. But you also need to clock in the hours as well. 10,000 hours over 3 years. Impossible? I think not. Do the work that is set for you, do it and then do your own stuff, mini projects if you like. All of this are key elements in succeeding to become a great artist and showing everyone that it can be done if you put your mind to it.
So, get creating!!!
This is a continuation since i didn't know we were going back through what it's meant to be creative and learning the shocking truth about education and creativity in schools. So here we go again.
After watching the video in lecture i completely agree, creativity ceases to exist in the school curriculum. Now a days children arn't allowed to be creative because they are high expectations in the 3 top subjects that half of it we don't really need to learn. Maths, English and Science. When are we going to use trigonometry when stacking shelves? Where are we going to use the 3 allotropes of carbon in an office? We don't need these yet there there to catch us out and told it's more important than your own creativity. These are the things that hare holding us back. We only need the basics of what is taught from these subjects, not the complicated stuff that we won't find in our chosen careers.
But the biggest kick in the pants is that education seems to leave out Art and textiles. We need to be creative in order to make things work. Without creativity the same things are going to repeat and they won't be fresh ideas. Children need to be creative and be free to explore the world through their own creative ways, not stuck in a classroom and told to learn their timestables perfectly or they'll never get a job. That's not right. Children are children; they need to have fun, something a lot of us don't have any more since either we have jobs or far too serious. We need a balance between what we should learn and what we need to learn. Make Art more important, it's a great way to express thoughts and feelings. Isn't it true what they say? A picture says a thousand words? In this case a picture means your wasting your time if you don't buckle down and get that degree or apprenticeship and earning mega bucks in order to put food on the table and pay your bills.
As a wise man once said 'Follow your dreams now whilst you still have the chance, because once the time comes, you will never get another chance.'
I'm half way there. Because Game art has a little of everything i want to do. And more importantly it expanded my horizons and taught me a lot of things i never learnt in college and it opens many doors of opportunity.
(Again i have ranted rather than answering the question...)
Creativity is the journey of self discovery. To get there you need many components, something which i lack. You need: motivation, passion, enthusiasm and even inspiration. Some of the great masters had these but it didn't come naturally, not naturally enough anyway.
It's like learning to crawl before you walk, you start off with the basics. Learn to hold a pencil, learn how to make lines, learn how to colour in the lines and hey presto you have a basic picture of a flower. It may not be perfect but its a start. But what does all this mean? Well funnily enough, talent is something you gain from experience, patience and practice. No one is born with natural talent, it's like saying a 5 year old can perform complicated surgery just using a spork and a rubber band. That's just pants. To be the best you need to put the effort in and practice. Drawing everyday will help keep the mind focused and helps improve what you already know. But you also need to clock in the hours as well. 10,000 hours over 3 years. Impossible? I think not. Do the work that is set for you, do it and then do your own stuff, mini projects if you like. All of this are key elements in succeeding to become a great artist and showing everyone that it can be done if you put your mind to it.
So, get creating!!!
This is a continuation since i didn't know we were going back through what it's meant to be creative and learning the shocking truth about education and creativity in schools. So here we go again.
After watching the video in lecture i completely agree, creativity ceases to exist in the school curriculum. Now a days children arn't allowed to be creative because they are high expectations in the 3 top subjects that half of it we don't really need to learn. Maths, English and Science. When are we going to use trigonometry when stacking shelves? Where are we going to use the 3 allotropes of carbon in an office? We don't need these yet there there to catch us out and told it's more important than your own creativity. These are the things that hare holding us back. We only need the basics of what is taught from these subjects, not the complicated stuff that we won't find in our chosen careers.
But the biggest kick in the pants is that education seems to leave out Art and textiles. We need to be creative in order to make things work. Without creativity the same things are going to repeat and they won't be fresh ideas. Children need to be creative and be free to explore the world through their own creative ways, not stuck in a classroom and told to learn their timestables perfectly or they'll never get a job. That's not right. Children are children; they need to have fun, something a lot of us don't have any more since either we have jobs or far too serious. We need a balance between what we should learn and what we need to learn. Make Art more important, it's a great way to express thoughts and feelings. Isn't it true what they say? A picture says a thousand words? In this case a picture means your wasting your time if you don't buckle down and get that degree or apprenticeship and earning mega bucks in order to put food on the table and pay your bills.
As a wise man once said 'Follow your dreams now whilst you still have the chance, because once the time comes, you will never get another chance.'
I'm half way there. Because Game art has a little of everything i want to do. And more importantly it expanded my horizons and taught me a lot of things i never learnt in college and it opens many doors of opportunity.
(Again i have ranted rather than answering the question...)
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