Now that im back in Leicester and subsequently back into my Game Art course I feel the need to remind myself of the challenges first year brought and how I can utilize what i've learnt to apply to situations in the second year.
The first year was definitely a roller coaster ride of learning and experiences. I started off knowing next to nothing about games design and finished the year feeling like I could easily make a small game. However despite the amount I had learnt there was still more to take on board and think about. When I had time to step back and think over the summer I realised I had only really learnt a fraction of what's needed to be a game artist. I was really looking forward to being involved in the course again, it felt like I had been away from an actual job for 3 months over summer, because on the course you never get a minute spare, my head was always focused on work and what needs to be done next and the suddenly we had gone home and I had nothing to stress about. I like stress, stress is what keeps us motivated to get off your ass.
Learning from the first year I had prepared myself for what was to come. I repeatedly reminded myself that this year is going to be a lot harder and therefore i'm going to need to work a lot harder. Ultimately the main lesson I learnt from the first year is timing myself. If I hadn't of allocated/sacrificed certain days to doing work then I wouldn't have finished anything on time, and even then i'd still be up all night working the night before hand in. there is undeniably a lot of work involved in the course, but then when I take a step back and think about it, I love doing the work we get. When I walk into my flatmates room's and they're moaning about the essay the have to do on marketing and management, I suddenly don't feel like a can validly moan about having to design a homemade weapon for a game, compared to what they're doing mines frickin' awesome, so i'm always reminded why i love what i'm doing, it is the tool to allow creative people such as myself to thrive.
In the second year I hope to improve on the advice I received last year, i've gone over all my feedback sheets and I mainly need to improve on presentation and professionalism of my 3d work, naming assets correctly and to imagine I was to send the 3d environment to my boss, would I be happy with it and more importantly would he be happy with it. In terms of visual design work i'd like to learn how to paint digitally, as it speeds the concept and design process up a lot when creating an asset. In critical studies the outstanding element I need to work on is my ability to physically present work in front of a class. I am not naturally a confident person, being the center of attention has never been something i've wished for, but it's definitely something i should adopt in order to be professional and employable.
From sharing the same computer room as the second years last year, i've had a sneak peak into what I can expect to be doing this year, and i'm excited to get started. The element i'm most looking forward to experiencing in the second year is the introduction of working in groups to create assets and environments. I think i'd like the professional approach to it, I would be forced to work efficiently with other people, sharing ideas and design processes. Also it would allow some element of role play into the way a real game art team functions, creating and sharing assets and concepts between artists would allow me to progress on how I present work both visually and physically.
Bring on year two...
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