Game Art: Round 2!

Hello again!

So begins our second round of university and a refreshing start to the year!

Not being in the year of newbies is a weird feeling. It's a feeling that isn’t bad though; Being able to help the first years learn what I have is a wonderful feeling and is something I want to do as much as I can! During my first year of the course I had many friends that gave me advice and tips on many things (both course related and personal problems) and seeing many of them leave and graduate was both a sad and a happy feeling. I hope to share whatever knowledge I have at the moment and as time goes by, eveything that I'll be learning within the near future.

Made it through first year! ^_^

Throughout the entire first year of university I have learnt many things and proved that I am capable of staying on the course; though I have and always will have much more to learn and to better myself as an artist and as an individual.

There was one thing that had always eaten at me throughout each project, and that was digipainting. With everyone adapting to digipainting throughout the year, it was something that I was never able to get to grips with.

I was a little put off with looking into and practicing it as the lectures were discouraging that kind of work as well as my lack of skill and knowledge, I still always felt that I should start using that medium and not get left behind.

I wasn’t only just put off of it though; I had always been drawn towards digipainting as I am always up for exploring new tools for creating art and seeing all the final pieces of my fellow students only make me want to use it more! I had dabbled a bit towards the end of the first year and during the summer to try and get a feel for the medium but felt that the biggest change was that I wasn’t looking down at what I was painting.

As a beginner to photoshop, I felt very confused how to go about starting and going through to the finish with painting a picture. Not knowing what everything did on the interface was rather mindboggling and the talk of custom brushes confuses me I didn’t know what they meant and many people talk about it and how they download them. I only used the standard brush!

Okay, I'm not THAT n00b..

With the game production side of the course, I am very pleased with the progression I had made throughout last year and hope to improve further.

Though I downloaded other 3D tools such as Zbrush, UDK, etc, I had barely scratched the surface of them as I felt like I didn’t need to learn them at the time.

A part of me wishes that I dug deeper into learning the other 3D tools as I feel a little behind in what I could be producing. I am rather looking forward to the group project (much to the warnings of my graduated friends!) as I’ve always looked forward into group work and that it can be a great opportunity to see how work goes when collaborating, learning a lot from others.

This year is definitely a year to look into colour and digipainting as well as other 3D software. It’s a year to push forward and delve deeper into what I hesitated on giving my attention to. I'm really looking forward to starting life drawing again this year too!

It’s also a year to learn the guitar, my newfound hobby during the summer holidays! Fun times ahead (and very challenging) methinks! ¦3.

Good luck to my wonderful friends that taught me so much and hello to the newcomers of Game Art!