Who, what, when, why?

Setting up a blog. Done!

Know what to do next? ERM, no.

OK, not a problem, let's be proactive and see what we can do.

Check BlackBoard! Right OK we are getting somewhere... and it looks nothing like it does any more! Never mind carry on navigating around... and... ahhh holy crap how the fuck did I do that?!

 

Right! First entry. (This is a little weird!)

Name: Olivia Davy

Where are you from: A small town no one has heard of in Hertfordshire (yay?!)

How and why did you choose this course: Let's start with "How"....

For starters, I don't know. I found out about this course when I started Sixth Form at my school. At GCSE I wanted to do the Sciences. Hence doing Biology, Chemistry and Physics. I wanted to do Biology, "oooooo look forensic and fingerprints and all the dusty stuff you get to put everywhere" and "oooooooo look at all the animals that are ill and you get to cut them open and operate, but look how CUTE they are". In the end I did better at Physics! Go figure! That was not what I wanted, everything that I wanted to do went wrong and everything that I didn't want to do I got right? How?

So why at A-Level decide to change everything? Why look like a mad cow going from Science to Art? To be honest, they are no where near even related. Only similarity the look at body structure, but yet again COMPLETELY different views on it. Ones how do muscles pass oxygen and all that shit and art, look at how the body is shaped and how it moves and the light and the shading and blah blah blah! But I admired my friends GCSE Art. It was somewhat a calling? I looked at it and wanted to draw. I admit, I enjoyed painting and drawing and whatnot but that was painting by numbers and having a colouring in book. Even then there was some satisfaction. But coming from not having done any Art whatsoever for 2 years and jumping straight into the lions den at A-Level. I'll be honest. I shat myself.

I had some knack, only a little but nothing spectacular. I had to work for the skills. Work for the understanding. Some will never understand the amount of principles and rules you have to work by to even start creating an art piece! You can't draw a face if one eye is wonky and the nose is 100x bigger than the lips? It's not going to work?! I needed to understand, I walked in blind and I had to catch up fast. But this motivation, this lack of understand is something that got my butt in gear? I didn't want to feel left behind. I wanted to be in the know. Research artists and taking your own photos having an understanding of everything is only the start. You can't copy the great masters! The great masters made mistakes and made it their own! That's why now, they're so fucking hard to copy (trust I know). But in the end of thinking all of this, that in my final year, year 13 I was doing an A2 Fine Art, A2 Product Design and an AS in Photography (yes I did do AS Biology, I thought there would be some crossover.. no... oh no, I was wrong).

But how did all of the above lead to "Games Art". No one knows what it is. It is such an unknown course to the outside world that whoever asks me what I’m doing at Uni they look like they know what it is.. but inside they're think "what the hell is she talking about? Is that even a course?". Yes! Yes it is. It is even recognized by the industry.. That's when it gets their attention, "It's recognized by the industry!".

In my own mind I liked Games. I played them, I lived inside them, I created special scenes in my head and in my dreams. Or that was just by playing to much of them! I don't know. I enjoyed playing games, I enjoyed Art. Why not put two and two together? I thought about it but thought no. This is ridiculous! But after reading a magazine "Imagine FX" that's when I saw it was true. The concept art, the digital painting, the traditional drawings, the workshops, the workspaces, the games and the art all in one magazine and it was a dream come true. It mentioned Games Art. I finally believed it was out there. But where in gods name is there a Uni that will do a "Games Art" course?! My determination to find this magic was unbounded, limitless until my head was on my desk and I was sleeping in a pool of dribble. I found some Universities that did this course. But were they "THE" course? A lot were just full of bullshit. Just thinking they were doing the right thing? So in the end I rounded it down to 5 Unis. 3 were shit, 2 left.

Hmmmm... Leicester. Lets have a look!? 1 hour 30 mins away from home (including traffic sometimes). Perfect! Skillset? What's that? Basically the industry loves this course. Awesome! Grades? Ahhh.. maybe. I'm going to have to work for it. I was sceptical. Very sceptical about how to get into this course. I was scared, nervous, anxious and I spent many tears and long nights debating on how I can do this. I knew it was hard work, but I want this. I said to myself why the hell am I even debating, just go and fucking do it Olivia! Seriously! GO! I. CAN. DO. IT!

16th August 2012. Check UCAS.

Miss Olivia Davy,

Congratulations....

I didn't read any more, I cried with joy. It's like the saying:

"A journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step"

This is my journey, I’m going to start Uni, at the Uni I want, on the course that I want and get the skills and the job that I want. I'm going to blood, sweat and tears into this and if there isn't then I am not working hard enough. This is my first step.