Tuesday, September 30, 2008

University Second Year

I began my second year at university on Monday - this year we begin with the use of Autodesk 3DS Max to design and build a scene from our imaginations, using inspiration from either historical, mythological or modern cities. We can build the cities with traditional shapes, or using more imaginative blocks, such as sweets or household items. I'm a little daunted at learning a brand new software - as I enjoy using 2D work using traditional media, or with Photoshop, but I can use this previous experience to create interesting textures and scenes in the city. Other lectures this term include further illustration practice and an extra module on International Business Cultures and how to best communicate ideas when dealing with other cultures and peoples (although I did get an automated email this morning telling me the course was full - a full month after enrolling online and being told I was registered to the course). In addition to this we have PDP - and so I'm back again blogging about the details of my course and my progress.

This year has gone off to a shaky start, last year my Personal Development Planning was not marked as the sheets with the links to my site and work were lost, and marked as absent. Luckily I had my slips signed by staff to say I had handed it in on time, and it was marked late in the summer, which allowed me to continue into this year. As a result of this, I also lost my scholarship, something I was relying upon to ensure I would not have to work too many hours to pay the bills and could therefore spend much more time on my studies. Fingers crossed I can have this decision overturned, but as you can imagine, what with the first I heard of my failure being on results day and being told I couldn't go back to university without resitting, when I knew I had done all the work (why - it's all here!) was distressing, and has impacted my view of the university somewhat.

In between working as a writer for a fantastic web-content company in the summer, I have also drawn a little for pleasure. I will upload some of my summer works to the site as soon as I can, and the conceptual drawings and ideas for my 3D City for this Animation and Time based Illustration module.