Writing these things down seems to make it official in some sense. Legal sense, probably. But whatever the reasoning behind it, it is official what I’ve set out to do.
I’m getting a second degree. My obsessive creation efforts with Spore: Galactic Adventures and my over-active imagination when it comes to constructing stories and fantasies are the major signs that I should be doing something else rather than making art. Which, I have to admit, I haven’t done since I graduated. Go figure I would become a statistic.
My second degree with be in Interactive Media and Game Development. I will attempt to get this degree from Savannah College of Art and Design. I went there on a family trip to the romantic south and had a spontaneous campus visit. We ended up getting rained out before I could inquire on department specific visits. I have registered for an official tour and will confirm if I can get an appointment with a department representative, preferable from the faculty, to get further information on my particular situation.
However, upon settling on this goal, I was sharply reminded how special and unique my education at Watkins College of Art and Design really is. One year of tuition as a Full-Time student, not including dorm cost, will cost me as much as my degree. The cheapest route for me at this point is to take one class at a time, which will cost me as much as one semester did during my undergrad studies.
Scholarships and grants are based on portfolio reviews. Being a graduate, the level of expectation is high. After doing several sketches today, it’s clear my skills have dropped considerably due to lack of practice. Furthermore, the hard drive I was storing my portfolio on was damaged recently and caused a massive data wipe. In other words, I don’t have any of my past works’ documentation. The exception goes towards the three pieces from my thesis show since they were not on my hard drive at the time. But my drawings from my Junior year that everyone in the school loved, the one that got me a cash prize at the student show it was exhibited in, are all gone. To make matters worse, I can’t seem to find them among the stacks of papers and drawing pads I’ve amassed to document them now.
My immediate goal is a duel challenge in a single act of play. First, I must bring my skill level and craft back to where it was a year ago in what time I have outside of work. Second, I must rebuild my portfolio using the only pieces documented as my launching point. Projects must be conceived on my own and properly documented this time.
Upon talking to a few SCAD alumni that I was fortunate enough to meet on a social networking site, I found out that the Game Design department will want to see how well I can draw from life as well as if I can provide engaging character design. Learning this has caused me to focus specifically on anatomy. My proportions are on the button as far as creating height, but limbs are another problem I need to focus on as well. Foreshortening has always been my weakest area, so working on that is something I plan on focusing on as well. Finally, I need to find a way to safely bring my sketchbook to work so I can practice gesture drawings while I’m waiting for my ride. Management has been getting rather bitchy about bringing personal items, stating either leave them in your car or don’t bring them at all. If all else fails, there’s always the anatomy book from Figure Study. (Though I probably need to buy myself one of those martial arts pose posters.)
I hope something good comes out of this. I’ve become complacent in my routine, and as a result, my life has been set adrift down a river with no real guidance. It feels like I’m on the beach of depression again, and I don’t want that. What I want is to be doing what it is that I enjoy doing. Ironically, I don’t even know what it is that I’m doing that I enjoy so much.
I just like to create. It’s one of the first signs of a god complex.
