Since finishing for Easter, I have had a wonderful, yet busy Easter break, and it hasn't been all to do with the Foundation Degree. I have been very busy over Easter, travelling to lots of different places, such as Swansea for a few days with the family which I really enjoyed and it was really nice to get away from normal life for a few days. I have also been to the cinema 3 times, to see The Muppets Most Wanted, Divergent and The Amazing Spider Man 2, all great films!
It was also my birthday over the Easter Holidays, and I really enjoyed celebrating with friends and family. In fact, the cinema trips did count for me as celebration of my birthday too! I also had lots of presents, such as a docking station, DVDs, games, spending money and much more! Celebrating Easter was lovely too, I just spent it with the family eating a delicious Easter dinner, and playing a few Easter games, such as an Easter treasure hunt!
Because my personal life was so busy over Easter, possibly because of my birthday, I wasn't able to finish everything on my to do list for coursework I set myself over the Easter Holidays. However, I still feel confident that I will get all the coursework I need to do done and it was also nice to have a short break from it.
I did, however, manage to record my sixth and possibly final video tutorial. I do feel much more confident with my video tutorials, and feel reasonably happy with this one. I did get a little flustered on the video tutorial when Maya randomly closed for a second whilst trying to show the different types of rendering, and it may have come across as shouting, but I hope I can edit this part out, as I felt happy with the rest of the tutorial.
I also managed to write a five year plan for what I wish to do after the Foundation Degree. I showed it to dad, who was really impressed, and suggested I changed a few words and sentences. I feel that showing work to others can really benefit your work, because then an outside opinion is gained that you can use to improve your work.
I have also evaluated my journal entries much more. I decided, because I feel it would be easier to do it this way, to evaluate the journal entries by either each month, each term or each module, depending on which section of the journal I am evaluating on. This has been going really well and has given me a lot to think and write about. It has also been especially interesting to read again what I had written in each journal, and to think about what I would do differently if I approached similar challenges again. I definitely feel I am much more confident and mature about my work, as well as many other different aspects of my life, especially since the start of this year, and I have definitely noticed this since starting my work placement in September.
The last thing I did was to start to collect my research and practical work in a folder ready to hand in on the 15th May. This can usually cause a lot of stress, especially with writing a Bibliography as well, because in the past I would usually do this the night before submitting my work, but I am trying to avoid this stress with these modules.
Wednesday, 30 April 2014
Exhibition Plan...
For the end of year exhibition at Stafford College I plan to develop the models I created in Maya in my Maya Tutorials, the Pac Man level and characters and the robot and create some nice renders of these. I will do one render for: the level, the Pac Man ghosts Pac Man himself and the robot. These renders will then be printed and mounted onto boards for the end of year show. This is similar to how my work was displayed last year, where I printed trading card designs featuring 3D Models, which were then mounted onto thicker boards.
However, one thing I haven't done for the end of year show this year is the use of Augmented Reality (AR) Technology, which I used last year for the trading cards. This did add something new and unique to my trading cards last year, and I do feel it is really important to add something new and unique to a project that will be shown on public display, to make the work stand out in the exhibition. What I have done this time that is new and unique is the video tutorials of the basics of Maya. Before this project, recording videos is something I have very little experience in, especially making a screen recording of my computer activity, and it is something I've always wondered how to do, so I thought it would be perfect for me to try this for this project.
I could also, if I am allowed to, present ONE of my video tutorials in the exhibition. (perhaps the first one, as it covers the essential basics of Maya.) I can't really display all of my video tutorials for the end of year exhibition, as each tutorial I have recorded is between 20-30 minutes long, and I have recorded 6 tutorials, so watching all the tutorials would take around 2-3 hours long. So I feel that having just one tutorial in the end of year exhibition would be good, as it would show the purpose of what I have modelled and shows more of what I have done as a project. For this, I would need a spare Mac, and maybe some headphones for people to listen to the tutorial, so it doesn't disturb the rest of the exhibition and maybe an opening of Maya, so people can practice the tutorial.
However, one thing I haven't done for the end of year show this year is the use of Augmented Reality (AR) Technology, which I used last year for the trading cards. This did add something new and unique to my trading cards last year, and I do feel it is really important to add something new and unique to a project that will be shown on public display, to make the work stand out in the exhibition. What I have done this time that is new and unique is the video tutorials of the basics of Maya. Before this project, recording videos is something I have very little experience in, especially making a screen recording of my computer activity, and it is something I've always wondered how to do, so I thought it would be perfect for me to try this for this project.
I could also, if I am allowed to, present ONE of my video tutorials in the exhibition. (perhaps the first one, as it covers the essential basics of Maya.) I can't really display all of my video tutorials for the end of year exhibition, as each tutorial I have recorded is between 20-30 minutes long, and I have recorded 6 tutorials, so watching all the tutorials would take around 2-3 hours long. So I feel that having just one tutorial in the end of year exhibition would be good, as it would show the purpose of what I have modelled and shows more of what I have done as a project. For this, I would need a spare Mac, and maybe some headphones for people to listen to the tutorial, so it doesn't disturb the rest of the exhibition and maybe an opening of Maya, so people can practice the tutorial.
Monday, 28 April 2014
RLJ Evaluation - March 2014
I do feel that over this time period I did manage to balance my work very well. Making a timeline each Thursday breaking down the day and writing what tasks I feel I can do during my time at college has really helped towards this, and has made Thursdays much more productive.
I also have mentioned, like, a million times, it seems (including this time), that I get on better with Neil than I did last year. He is much more helpful to myself and other students and provides much more constructive feedback than he used to, rather than just being critical of my work and saying what needs improving. This is noticed by feedback from my video tutorials, and research, as well as offering to print copies of my online campaign sketch, all of which I really appreciate, especially when printing off my sketches wasn't going right.
I also feel that the Online Campaign project I worked on with the Photography Students and Ananda went really well too, and I really enjoyed working with these people, even though Ananda does interrupt not just myself, but others too. Lynda has noticed this too, so I don't feel too bad saying that. The group project was also a good way to get to know the other people in the Photography group a lot better, and meeting outside of college has given me ideas for meeting outside of college in the future. This project definitely also helped with socialising, something I really need to work on, so I really appreciated this chance.
As for the style of writing, because this is really recent, It wouldn't change too much. I do feel it has improved a lot since the start of New Media, as I do reflect much more and think more openly and broadly and am more open to feedback. However, I did eventually find in one of my earlier journals (I think it was in the first year) about image boxing, but at the time I couldn't find it, as I probably checked my past research files, but not my previous journals. So I have learned to look back on previous journal entries, even more so because I have had to reflect on them all!
I also have mentioned, like, a million times, it seems (including this time), that I get on better with Neil than I did last year. He is much more helpful to myself and other students and provides much more constructive feedback than he used to, rather than just being critical of my work and saying what needs improving. This is noticed by feedback from my video tutorials, and research, as well as offering to print copies of my online campaign sketch, all of which I really appreciate, especially when printing off my sketches wasn't going right.
I also feel that the Online Campaign project I worked on with the Photography Students and Ananda went really well too, and I really enjoyed working with these people, even though Ananda does interrupt not just myself, but others too. Lynda has noticed this too, so I don't feel too bad saying that. The group project was also a good way to get to know the other people in the Photography group a lot better, and meeting outside of college has given me ideas for meeting outside of college in the future. This project definitely also helped with socialising, something I really need to work on, so I really appreciated this chance.
As for the style of writing, because this is really recent, It wouldn't change too much. I do feel it has improved a lot since the start of New Media, as I do reflect much more and think more openly and broadly and am more open to feedback. However, I did eventually find in one of my earlier journals (I think it was in the first year) about image boxing, but at the time I couldn't find it, as I probably checked my past research files, but not my previous journals. So I have learned to look back on previous journal entries, even more so because I have had to reflect on them all!
RLJ Evaluation February 2014
As I didn't have many lectures in February, due to Reading Week and Half Term taking place, I did not write many entries regarding lectures. However, I remember handling the Professional and Contextual Studies modules much better than in January, despite me still being fairly unsure of the module during half term. This was later resolved with the group project, which was to set up an online campaign of our work through social media. Although we only had one meeting during February, and even though before half term it seemed that nobody was fully aware of this project, despite it being mentioned in the handbook, I felt the first meeting went rather well, even though I may not have said as much as some of the other people in the group. This was fine, as I still contributed and agreed to ideas, such as for me to design an illustration to promote our online campaign, which we later decided to use Facebook for, because everybody was familiar with Facebook.
As for the quality of my writing for the journal entries, I don't feel much has changed since January, and I don't think I would have changed much about the journal now. I did manage to include an image of some research for my Specialist Pathway module, which was from 3D World Magazine, which shows proof of research, as well as giving the reader ideas of the types of work I am researching to gain inspiration for my project. I feel the quality of my reflective writing has certainly improved since the first year, and even since the start of the second year, where I didn't reflect on as much as I should have done. The writing is much more reflective now than ever, rather than just describing events and lectures. It was also nice that I managed to post about some personal interests outside of the Foundation Degree, such as the Lego Move and Pokemon. I thoroughly enjoyed both, and decided to make a piece of digital art regarding Pokemon, which was part of a Facebook game regarding Pokemon.
As for the quality of my writing for the journal entries, I don't feel much has changed since January, and I don't think I would have changed much about the journal now. I did manage to include an image of some research for my Specialist Pathway module, which was from 3D World Magazine, which shows proof of research, as well as giving the reader ideas of the types of work I am researching to gain inspiration for my project. I feel the quality of my reflective writing has certainly improved since the first year, and even since the start of the second year, where I didn't reflect on as much as I should have done. The writing is much more reflective now than ever, rather than just describing events and lectures. It was also nice that I managed to post about some personal interests outside of the Foundation Degree, such as the Lego Move and Pokemon. I thoroughly enjoyed both, and decided to make a piece of digital art regarding Pokemon, which was part of a Facebook game regarding Pokemon.
Sunday, 27 April 2014
RLJ Evaluation - January 2014
Even though I hadn't written many reflective journal entries in the second year up to this point, I do feel that my journal entries during January 2014 were very well written. Also, because these entries are fairly recent, there may not be much I would change in terms of the style of what was recorded in the journal. I feel I managed to record all the relevant information from lectures in my journal, and reflected on what I have learned from the information and how it made me feel. I also compared my life at college at this point compared to one year ago from then, when things weren't going as well.
Despite me not writing much about the previous term, I wrote a recap of events from that term, the best I could from what I could remember. I feel I managed to write about all the important things about college and the Foundation Degree of the previous term, such as the modules, my dragon/kart projects, being in a class with the photography students and how I felt the whole experience was going, and I think it was going very well. Definitely the best start to any year I have been at college, without getting too upset or stressed.
I also wrote about my work placement, which has been a very important part of my life as it has started me on a potential new career path in Art Therapy and helping others. This placement has gone really well, and perhaps because I was doing something positive that wasn't to do with college, I felt much happier and relaxed at college on my Foundation Degree.
I mentioned that, with the projects, there was "a lot more creative freedom" this year compared to last year, which I am really grateful for, and I feel I enjoy the more creative projects more because to me they feel more "personal." It was also good that I could choose what I did for my final project, and I do feel I came up with some really good ideas, such as the plane animation flying over Rome and Paris, monster designs from my art therapy sessions, and the video tutorials I eventually decided to work on. However, I do feel I would have been happy with working with any of these, as all the projects seemed fun and fulfilling as projects, where I wouldn't have had too much or too little to do at any one time if I planned my work efficiently. Also, it made me realise that it is good to have a number of options for projects that will be equally as enjoyable to work on, so you're not stuck with working on a project you're not happy with working on. I do feel, however, that the work and entries from January were more about the planning of my project, which is still a very important aspect of any project, so you know it is possible to achieve the best results.
I also remember being rather confused about the Professional and Contextual Studies module, especially about writing a grant for money from the Arts Council, and I certainly reflected on this in my journal. I also remember this module was very confusing last year. However, because I have a good working relationship with the lecturers, Lynda and the students, we were all able to figure this out together. Also, writing about some aspects of this module I learned about, such as PESTEL and SWOT, really helped me to remember what was discussed in the lectures. I have learned that it is super useful in the future to record anything new you have learned in the journal.
I also attended several careers advice meetings, both at college and at the Staffordshire County Council. I feel that since the start of my work placement, I have been considering what I would like to do after college a lot more, which I feel has really benefited me well as it will give me some clearer goals for the future. Although I always found these careers advice meetings helpful and informative, my feelings and hopes for my options have changed very often since then. When I saw the careers advisor at college, who told me I needed to pay for an apprenticeship if that's what I wanted, and also that to become an art therapist I would need to attend postgraduate courses, the options seemed quite limited at that point, but when I went to speak to the County Council I was feeling much more optimistic about my options. Currently I am rather unsure of what the future holds, but am remaining calm as I have lots of options and people helping me to achieve my goals. I have felt very grateful for all the people that are helping me to develop my future career, as I am aware that not everybody has as much support as I do, for many different reasons, and without the support of these people, I don't think I would be as prepared and as optimistic about the future as I am right now.
Despite me not writing much about the previous term, I wrote a recap of events from that term, the best I could from what I could remember. I feel I managed to write about all the important things about college and the Foundation Degree of the previous term, such as the modules, my dragon/kart projects, being in a class with the photography students and how I felt the whole experience was going, and I think it was going very well. Definitely the best start to any year I have been at college, without getting too upset or stressed.
I also wrote about my work placement, which has been a very important part of my life as it has started me on a potential new career path in Art Therapy and helping others. This placement has gone really well, and perhaps because I was doing something positive that wasn't to do with college, I felt much happier and relaxed at college on my Foundation Degree.
I mentioned that, with the projects, there was "a lot more creative freedom" this year compared to last year, which I am really grateful for, and I feel I enjoy the more creative projects more because to me they feel more "personal." It was also good that I could choose what I did for my final project, and I do feel I came up with some really good ideas, such as the plane animation flying over Rome and Paris, monster designs from my art therapy sessions, and the video tutorials I eventually decided to work on. However, I do feel I would have been happy with working with any of these, as all the projects seemed fun and fulfilling as projects, where I wouldn't have had too much or too little to do at any one time if I planned my work efficiently. Also, it made me realise that it is good to have a number of options for projects that will be equally as enjoyable to work on, so you're not stuck with working on a project you're not happy with working on. I do feel, however, that the work and entries from January were more about the planning of my project, which is still a very important aspect of any project, so you know it is possible to achieve the best results.
I also remember being rather confused about the Professional and Contextual Studies module, especially about writing a grant for money from the Arts Council, and I certainly reflected on this in my journal. I also remember this module was very confusing last year. However, because I have a good working relationship with the lecturers, Lynda and the students, we were all able to figure this out together. Also, writing about some aspects of this module I learned about, such as PESTEL and SWOT, really helped me to remember what was discussed in the lectures. I have learned that it is super useful in the future to record anything new you have learned in the journal.
I also attended several careers advice meetings, both at college and at the Staffordshire County Council. I feel that since the start of my work placement, I have been considering what I would like to do after college a lot more, which I feel has really benefited me well as it will give me some clearer goals for the future. Although I always found these careers advice meetings helpful and informative, my feelings and hopes for my options have changed very often since then. When I saw the careers advisor at college, who told me I needed to pay for an apprenticeship if that's what I wanted, and also that to become an art therapist I would need to attend postgraduate courses, the options seemed quite limited at that point, but when I went to speak to the County Council I was feeling much more optimistic about my options. Currently I am rather unsure of what the future holds, but am remaining calm as I have lots of options and people helping me to achieve my goals. I have felt very grateful for all the people that are helping me to develop my future career, as I am aware that not everybody has as much support as I do, for many different reasons, and without the support of these people, I don't think I would be as prepared and as optimistic about the future as I am right now.
Thursday, 10 April 2014
09/04/14
Because I haven't been too well this week, I haven't done too much coursework, even though I knew I needed to. I haven't had too much energy, so motivating myself to do work was difficult. If I was well, I would have been more focused on my coursework. However, before today I have completed preparations for my texturing tutorial and recorded it this afternoon. To be honest I was quite surprised at how quickly I finished the textures, even though I have only used basic colours for the robot design. Despite this, with the Blinn texture, the textured robot does look quite impressive and I am fairly pleased with it. I feel if I had more energy I would have added some metallic robot textures to my UV Texture Maps, just to show more effects and effort.
I am feeling a lot better today than I was last week, even though I still have a runny nose and I was quite tired this morning. Although I didn't seem too bored this morning, I didn't feel that I was very productive today. What we need to do is to write a 5 year plan of our future plans in terms of our careers. Even though I have a rough idea of what this could contain, I decided to look back on my reflective learning journal entries and write evaluations on them, which would include how I was writing them compared to now, as well as comparing and contrasting my work and how I was feeling at each point in my reflective learning journal. I've decided to do one evaluation for each whole blog, as each whole blog covers either a module or a term/semester. I have actually found this really interesting, and it's amazing to look back on my thoughts and feelings back then, especially towards the first half of the first year of the Foundation Degree when things were very stressful and I was unhappy at college. I can also see how much I have matured over the past year or so, and I feel that doing well with projects this year and also my work placement has definitely helped me to mature and to also be much more confident. I just really hope I can maintain this confidence and maturity, especially since I will be finishing my Foundation Degree soon.
I am feeling a lot better today than I was last week, even though I still have a runny nose and I was quite tired this morning. Although I didn't seem too bored this morning, I didn't feel that I was very productive today. What we need to do is to write a 5 year plan of our future plans in terms of our careers. Even though I have a rough idea of what this could contain, I decided to look back on my reflective learning journal entries and write evaluations on them, which would include how I was writing them compared to now, as well as comparing and contrasting my work and how I was feeling at each point in my reflective learning journal. I've decided to do one evaluation for each whole blog, as each whole blog covers either a module or a term/semester. I have actually found this really interesting, and it's amazing to look back on my thoughts and feelings back then, especially towards the first half of the first year of the Foundation Degree when things were very stressful and I was unhappy at college. I can also see how much I have matured over the past year or so, and I feel that doing well with projects this year and also my work placement has definitely helped me to mature and to also be much more confident. I just really hope I can maintain this confidence and maturity, especially since I will be finishing my Foundation Degree soon.
Thursday, 3 April 2014
03/04/14
Today I wasn't really feeling too well, so I decided to work from home today. My tiredness from yesterday hasn't really improved and I also have a sore throat, which affected my sleeping last night.
I emailed Neil my latest video tutorial I have recorded this week, which was about UV Texture Mapping. I feel that this has been my most confident tutorial yet, even though I forgot to mention a few things, such as the UV Texture Layout after completing the UV Texture Map. I also found the subject a lot easier to explain, as there aren't as many controls in UV Texture Mapping as there are in modelling. I also quickly showed one of my friends part of my first video tutorial for a few minutes. He seemed impressed by this, and was also impressed about how I managed to screen record these video tutorials, but he did admit that what I do on my Foundation Degree does look complicated, which to be fair, it is!
Today I have unwrapped the wheels and the head of my robot, ready to UV Texture, and also caught up with some work from yesterday.
I emailed Neil my latest video tutorial I have recorded this week, which was about UV Texture Mapping. I feel that this has been my most confident tutorial yet, even though I forgot to mention a few things, such as the UV Texture Layout after completing the UV Texture Map. I also found the subject a lot easier to explain, as there aren't as many controls in UV Texture Mapping as there are in modelling. I also quickly showed one of my friends part of my first video tutorial for a few minutes. He seemed impressed by this, and was also impressed about how I managed to screen record these video tutorials, but he did admit that what I do on my Foundation Degree does look complicated, which to be fair, it is!
Today I have unwrapped the wheels and the head of my robot, ready to UV Texture, and also caught up with some work from yesterday.
02/04/14
Today I was feeling quite tired, so I found today a bit more difficult than usual. Not so much stressful, but difficult. I have also had a lot to think about recently, such as life after my Foundation Degree, what I want to do next, my work placement and of course my birthday, so I feel that all of these affected my energy levels today.
Neil did structure the lesson today much more than usual, but I feel that this could have been because Stafford College has recently had a new principal, and apparently she is giving all the staff a hard time, which I think is making Neil a bit nervous. Also I think what he wanted to cover in his lesson plan was a bit too much for just one morning. Also, I wasn't too sure where to start with his lesson plan, in which he wanted us to start writing a structure for a 5 year plan after the Foundation Degree AND evaluate our journal throughout the Foundation Degree, and to be honest I did find it difficult to get in the zone today, so I did feel a little overwhelmed. I spoke to Neil about this, and he wanted me to prioritise the 5 year plan structure. I feel that having this 5 year plan will be incredibly beneficial to me, and will reassure me about the future, as it is something I have been thinking about a lot lately. It will also give me some set goals for this time period, which will be very useful for my plan and for getting where I want to be. Today I just wrote the structure, which didn't take me too long, but at least it will give me a good starting point and a good idea of what I need to write about and research.
I have also started to evaluate my journal. I started with the first term of my Foundation Degree, and it felt amazing how my confidence has improved since then. It also made me realise that I feel I would have been a lot happier and would have done so much better with my work if I did have more confidence back then. However, I do feel that part of my lack of confidence was caused by some of the people on the course at the time, as well as other people who did sort of bully me at the time, which was really upsetting at the time. I also needed to get used to a brand new course with brand new people and a brand new level of work, which was very daunting. However, right now I am much happier, both with my work and my social life in and out of college, and I also have a rough idea of a set goal for after the Foundation Degree, something else in which I was lacking when I first started the Foundation Degree. This is how far I got today, but I will need to continue with this work in my own time.
I am also pleased that most of the people from the Foundation Degree that I invited to celebrate my birthday with me seem up for it. I have decided to go bowling with them, and I feel great about planning something to do with them outside of college.
Neil did structure the lesson today much more than usual, but I feel that this could have been because Stafford College has recently had a new principal, and apparently she is giving all the staff a hard time, which I think is making Neil a bit nervous. Also I think what he wanted to cover in his lesson plan was a bit too much for just one morning. Also, I wasn't too sure where to start with his lesson plan, in which he wanted us to start writing a structure for a 5 year plan after the Foundation Degree AND evaluate our journal throughout the Foundation Degree, and to be honest I did find it difficult to get in the zone today, so I did feel a little overwhelmed. I spoke to Neil about this, and he wanted me to prioritise the 5 year plan structure. I feel that having this 5 year plan will be incredibly beneficial to me, and will reassure me about the future, as it is something I have been thinking about a lot lately. It will also give me some set goals for this time period, which will be very useful for my plan and for getting where I want to be. Today I just wrote the structure, which didn't take me too long, but at least it will give me a good starting point and a good idea of what I need to write about and research.
I have also started to evaluate my journal. I started with the first term of my Foundation Degree, and it felt amazing how my confidence has improved since then. It also made me realise that I feel I would have been a lot happier and would have done so much better with my work if I did have more confidence back then. However, I do feel that part of my lack of confidence was caused by some of the people on the course at the time, as well as other people who did sort of bully me at the time, which was really upsetting at the time. I also needed to get used to a brand new course with brand new people and a brand new level of work, which was very daunting. However, right now I am much happier, both with my work and my social life in and out of college, and I also have a rough idea of a set goal for after the Foundation Degree, something else in which I was lacking when I first started the Foundation Degree. This is how far I got today, but I will need to continue with this work in my own time.
I am also pleased that most of the people from the Foundation Degree that I invited to celebrate my birthday with me seem up for it. I have decided to go bowling with them, and I feel great about planning something to do with them outside of college.
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