Sunday 6 October 2013

Summer's Over, and My Third and Final Year Begins!

Glad to be back for one last run, the final hurdle, the last hurrah, the final sprint and so on and so forth. But before I kick it into gear for my third and final year, (which rhymes), I'd like to briefly discuss my thoughts at the end of year two and my summer holiday which included the release of my second year results.

The sense of relief when I walked into the office to hand in my documentation for the group project, a document which totalled 80 pages mind, was, somewhat inappropriately, better than that of a sexual nature, as they say. The whole of the second year, in particularly the final group project had left me unbelievably drained, I can honestly say that I'd given it my all, and considering I'd just driven 2 hours from Warrington to hand my design document in for 10am after a Whitesnake concert the night before, I was certainly ready for the summer break!

I'm fairly sure I took some time to relax over the summer, but I cant seem to remember as I was also very busy. Very busy enjoying myself though so I suppose its swings and roundabouts. I did start the summer with some work though, call me crazy, but it seems I cant get enough of it! During the year I'd had a message from some friends of the family who had been admiring my work on Facebook, I'd been best of friends with their son throughout school and sadly his dad had developed cancer and was not very well. They had asked for a piece of work from my second year but as a surprise I wanted to do an original drawing for them, something purposeful and meaningful as a gift so I began to scour their facebook pages for a photograph. I came across an image of Steve (my friends dad) with one of his sons who just so happens to be a helicopter pilot in the RAF, even flown with Prince William, of the both of them in a helicopter with all of the gear on! I had second thoughts about choosing this piece initially as it was an extremely technical drawing and I wouldn't of been able to finish it to the standard I achieved without full dedication.

It seemed mad beginning such a task only one day into the summer break, but I hadn't done a pencil drawing for what seemed like an eternity and perhaps it was a chance for me to warm down after such hard work. I completed the drawing, which was A4 size, in roughly 40 hours and I am extremely proud of it. I bordered it and framed it for Steve and his wife and was able to take it to them during my first week home with the parents. I can only hope they were happy with it, which I have a slight hunch they were, and that they are able to cherish it. I am also proud to have the drawing displayed on my online portfolio currently which is simply entitled Steve. Steve sadly passed away towards the end of the summer which was extremely sad, he was a much loved person and will be sorely missed by all of those around him, his wonderful family and his many friends.  

As mentioned the bulk of the summer break was filled with plenty of activities, Sophia turned 22 in July and we spent the weekend in London, having the opportunity to visit the new skyscraper The Shard which was an incredible experience, and the Harry Potter studios the following day which was extremely enjoyable. If you enjoy the Harry Potter films then I'd certainly recommend going, the sets and props contained within the studios were just breath taking and whether I end up with a career within the games industry or the films industry, Harry Potter is certainly one of those phenomenal once in a life time productions that any artist would dream to be a part of.

Download festival shortly followed which was once again a unbelievable weekend. Rammstein were the highlight of the weekend, despite admittedly not being a huge fan their set was breathtaking. Unbelievable pyrotechnics, guitars with flame throwers on the end and fireworks which fired across the audience.

Did I mention that at this point 2nd year results had been posted on MyDMU?, and despite not really being able to make head nor tale of the numbers I was being presented with, they were at least higher than last year, which seems reasonable to assume that I'd done well.

Mid way through the summer me and Sophia attended the Manchester comic-con which was a great day. As per usual lots of money was spent, (I managed to obtain some great horror comic series!) and we even had the opportunity to meet the actor Warwick Davis who signed our copy of Life's Too Short in which he stars (which I highly recommend watching as it is incredibly funny!).  
I spent most of my free weekends fishing as a way of trying to relax. After months of sitting in front of a computer screen for 15 hours a day it felt good to be outdoors, especially considering the good weather we were graced with. Yet, fishing can have a funny way of being ever so slightly stressful, especially when you're getting into all kinds of impossible knots!

At the beginning of August me and Sophia spent another night in London to attend the Iron Maiden concert at the O2 arena! The 20,000 seater arena sold out in 12 minutes and I know why. They were awesome!

The end of the summer seemed to be fast approaching. Time flies when you're having fun! And I hadn't really done much more work. I'd attempted a few digi paints here and there just to keep my hand in and I decided to begin working on a 3D model. I had the thought that if I at least begin something and spend a few hours a week on it, then I'd at least be familiarising myself with the pipeline ready to get back into the full swing of things. I decided to try and model an old motorcycle which my dad had owned when he was 19, a Honda 400 four. It's an extremely interesting subject, particularly for myself but very technical, and I'd go as far as to say its one of the hardest things I've ever tried to model. I've only gotten so far with it but I hope to try and finish it in my spare time during the year;

In September we attended the MotoGP at Silverstone for the whole weekend which was awesome. I've only ever been for the race day in previous years but to be able to enjoy 200bhp motorcycle's for a whole weekend with the likes of Cal Cruthlow and Valentino Rossi was a fantastic weekend.

And so came final preparations for my final return to DMU. I told you I'd been busy during the summer!, and that was being brief! In my next post I'll talk about how it feels to have reached my final year, my aims for the year and how my aspirations for the future continue to develop and change in light of my current situation.

To be continued.......  

No comments:

Post a Comment