So it’s over, my first year gone in what feels like a
flash of stress, long working hours and panic. But it wasn't all that bad, I feel
as a whole I've dealt with this whole new experience well.
The curriculum was set at a very fast rate, this was a
shock to the system to say the least. Especially finding my way around 3dsMax,
which seemed to be an abyss of technical jargon and an endless list of problems
and hurdles to overcome.
In the early days, I felt completely lost in the 3d side
of the course. I am in no way a technical buff,
nor I think
I ever quite will be. I felt like nobody wanted to teach me and if
they did I would
be a burden to
them, so I guess I suffered in silence. Which I
learnt wasn't the right thing
to do. So I began to
speak up and ask questions
and listen to advice, I watched tutorials and quickly
realised that I would
have
to learn the majority of this stuff myself. Which made me feel cheated out
of
an education.
I knuckled down whilst all the while I felt my visual design work
was being
pushed aside. I didn't want this to happen as the 2D work is the
stuff I prefer, but I feel that my
skills in this area, have begun
to slide.
Critical studies helped me understand, made me realise how the
industry
works and also
how the degree wasn't going to be handed to me on a silver
platter whilst I sit
there. I was inspired
during every lecture and my mind
would open up to new things and to new ways of thinking.
So I pushed on and worked hard, on 3D especially. I felt I
did my best, even surpassed myself, but it turned out to be not quite enough. I
failed 3D after my second formative assessment, it was by a mere 5 marks but it
really shook me. I felt that no matter what I did it wouldn't be good enough.
But I was reassured by many people, my peers, my friends and my loved ones that
I just have to do my best but I needed to push further. I realised not being
the best at 3D isn't the end of the world as this course offers so many
opportunities in a wide range of industries.
I want a roll that allows for creative design, not so
much the making. My technical skills require a lot of improvement, but I’m
fairly confident my art and design skills can be improved with enthusiasm. I
want my creativity to be my selling point. The demand for individuality in
order to be noticed when it comes to employment in this industry, is growing higher
and higher as each year passes. I want to make sure I can keep up and stand
out. I plan to do this by building on my strengths in things I enjoy, as the
main goal is to have a successful but above all enjoyable career.
Each project required responsibility for our own
learning, even for the first year, a lot was expected of all of us. 3D in
particular I felt completely alone which, was the bulk of my stress. I knew
nothing of this technology and was left alone to deal with it. Now I feel I’m
at a level where I can begin being creative and not be held back by a lack of
technical knowledge. I enjoyed the amount of free reign we had on a lot of the
Visual Design projects. I particularly enjoyed the character projects such as
the reef character and the 70’s character. Also using UDK to create a level, I felt
like this would be a good opportunity to be creative and begin to develop my
industry standard of work but this again back fired due to my lack of technical
knowledge on a new piece of software.
However, this has made me more than determined, I plan to
spend my summer practicing my skills in particular 3D and painting using Photoshop, as well as rebuild my own hobbies and interests, because as the
saying goes, all work and no play makes jack a dull boy.
