Last weeks grades and next term's classes

Well, last week's grades are in and here is how I did:

Art History: 285/285 for a total of 1037/1072 (96.74%)

Image Editing for Games: 100/130 for a total of 540/570 (94.74%)

Introduction to Animation: 30/40 for a total of 970/1030 (94.17%)

Introduction to Game Development: 260/280 for a total of 679/780 (87.05%)

So ... I am still fighting to get back to an "A" in Game Development. I got a note back from the professor saying he won't grade any "late" work until the end of the term, so I won't know anything about that until next week.

I missed out on 30 points for my rough draft in my Photoshop class because I didn't list my text in it. Oh well .. no one is perfect. Speaking of Photoshop, Meredith (my wife) has signed me up to in the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. I now have access to their site and all of their tutorials, as well as getting the monthly magazine "Photoshop Users." It is a very informative magazine. I really do enjoy it and ahve learna lot from it already.

I am happy to say that with Meredith's help I got a perfect score on my Art History paper. I had to write a thesis on a famous Artist and some of their works, so I picked Norman Rockwell and his "Four Freedoms" poster. My thesis was that he was more of a propagandist than an artist. The profess made a note on my paper thiking that it was an interesting spin on him.

Of my four classes this term, three of them have final projects that are being critiqued by the other students:

Image Editing for Games: My picture that I uploaded as my final is what is showing, and it is getting mediocer reviews. Too much fog and that the text looks like it was added as an after-thought. Of well. Lets see what kind of grade I get from teh professor.

Introduction to Animation: My animated short is the only one so far to get 4 reviews while everyone else has one or two (one person has three). Everyone loves it and says that they laugh and cry over the story. One person asked if I was planning of doing a whole series of them as there are way too many possibilities to do with it all. Now, I will see if I can get these files over to my brother and see if he can find a way to show them on his site (18mb to get over to him).

Introduction to Game Development: We had to do a PowerPoint presentation on what we want to do in our careers, how we will get there kinf of skills we will need and such. I ahven't gotten any critiques on that yet, and the choice I picked was a texture artist. That is pretty much considered ground floor starting position, but it was more realistic to pick then Head Game Designer and Art Lead as many people picked. Sure, I hope to one day be in a leadership role such as that, but I went to do my presentation on something different. Let's see where that will take me.

So ... today I found out what classes I will be taking starting in January. They will be:

Digital Illustration: In this class students develop electronic illustration skills. Emphasis is placed on conceptual thinking, composition, creative type effects, and design campaigns. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to create effective layouts and illustrations through the use of digital illustration tools and menu items.

Color Theory: This course covers the principles of color as it applies to print and electronic media. Emphasis is placed on color relationships, composition and color mixture. Students will study the effects of color on the development of design as well as the psychology of color and its power to deliver effective marketing messages.

Both of these courses are 7 credit hours, so they should have some big projects in them. I am very excited about both of these. I eventually want to get into painting some digital pictures and would like to get a decent digital pen tablet to make it all easier. Photoshop and Vista have some great features for tablets, and am eager to play with them all.

Anyhoo ... that is all for now. I am very eager to know how I did on my final projects and will post the grades once I have them. I love you all and wish you all happy holidays!

YAHOO!!!

Art History: 49/57 for a total of 613/634 (96.69%)
Image Editing for Games: 80/80 for a total of 410/410 (100%)
Intro to Animation: 138/140 for a total of 679/710 (95.63%)
Intro to Game Design: 80/80 for a total of 379/420 (90.24%)

I GOT MY GRADE BACK UP TO AN "A"!!! W00T!!! Now if I can jsut keep it there, I will be happy. With all of the studing I have been doing for my licensing, it has been very stressful. I have that test on Tuesday. Added to that I have an assignment with the Game Designer's Club to work with two other people to get a game summary written up to be submitted to the designers. If they accept it, then they will work out a game from that and if that gets published, I may get a credit for it and I can put it on a resume. Maybe.

Oh, and what did my instructer think of my picture of Pickles smoking?

Hi, Jah rastafari Cat. Nice work, David. Creative ad. (work on the point of junction between the cigar and cat's mouth, but that's not a big concern for this assignment). Nice work. I see where you are going but it needs more work to be complete, and convincing. Try working with some opacity variation in your smoke, mix it up a little in how you create the texture, to add to the realism.

It is so nice to have a teacher that gives such good feedback. I feel like working on the picture some more now to see if I can make ti better.

Anyway ... off to bed and maybe some more studying in bed.

Wish me luck all ... I am sure I will need it!

A new picture and my grades for last week

This week our assignment was to create a picture and add some smoke. So ... here is what I came up with.

My grades for last week are:

Art History: 331/33 for a total of 564/577 (97.75%)

Image Editting for Games: 80/80 for a total of 330/330 (100%)

Introduction to Animation: 127/140 for a total of 541/570 (94.91%)

Introduction to Game Development: 80/80 for a total of 299/340 (87.94%)

So I am on my way towards an "A" in my game development class, I just need to stay focused on it. I do enjoy me image editting clas, and not just because I am acing it. It is a lot of fun to be creative, and I am excited about where I can go doing this kind of thing.

Anyway ... I'll keep you all posted on how things turn out. Take care all!

More Grades

Art History: 57/58 for a total of 233/244 (95.49%)
Image Editting for Games: 80/80 for a total of 250/250 (100%)
Introduction to Aninmation: 134/140 for a total of 414/430 (96.28%)
Introduction to Game Development: 80/80 for a total of 219/260 (84.23%)

So, I aced my Game Development class this week and brought my score up 7 percentage points. I am glad that a bad week was not enough to pull me completely down. I just need to keep it up to get back to an "A". I know I can do it.

My Image editting teacher gave me great feedback on my picture:

Hi, David, outstanding composition here. This is one of the strongest I've seen today. great work, technically, creatively, and with the requirements of the project. Keep it up. Point Structure: For this project you needed to included the following requirements: 1. Format size: 8.5 x11 = 10/10 points 2. Minimum of 3 images = 15/15 points 3. Use at least one MASK = 10/10 points 4. It must be original = 15/15 points Total points = 50/50

I am happy that I got this kind of response. I am really happy with this picture, the way it turned out. I look at it and see places I could make it better, but knowing that this was a first attempt for me is what makes it feel important.

For my Game Development class, I had to submit three original game ideas for the professor to look at and to OK at least one for our class final project. I'll post the actual rubric for the paper at the end of the post. I submitted these ideas:

1 -- Invasion Oz: a real time strategy game (changed from being massively multiplayer online)
2 -- Frankenstein 13: an action adventure game
3 -- Feudal Days, Ronin Knights: a sandbox adventure game in feudal Japan

This is what my instructor had to say:

I'm a fan of everything oz even the play Wicked, very good game ideas David choose the one you like the most they all will work.

I was kind of hoping to work on Frankenstein, some. So do I cow tow to my instructor and possibly hedge my bets a little? Or do I do Frankenstein? Oh, decisions, decisions, decisions. Anyway, here is what the assignment will be:

SG110 Introduction to Game Development
Game Concept Document
This assignment supports the following outcomes:
Discuss game career goals and strategies.
Apply market analysis, competitive analysis, genres, platforms, and applications to game ideas.
Express opinions related to the game industry and game concepts using accurate terminology.

Assignment Overview
The purpose of a concept document is to sell the idea for a game to your team, company or funding source. Submit a 5-7 page concept document containing headers and 1 paragraph (on average) discussions of each of the following with regard to your own original game idea:
Title: Make sure your title is brief, descriptive, and “snappy.” Try to come up with something that will attract players to your game.
Theme: What is the theme (usually philosophical) of your game? Are you trying to make a statement, promote an agenda, make a value judgment about good vs evil? Common themes include survival, redemption, transcendence, and temptation. Come up with a theme and discuss it in one paragraph.
Genre: Use an accepted genre, a hybrid – or make up your own!
Platform: What platform will you primarily target, and why? Will there be a secondary platform?
Application: Why are you planning on developing this game? Is it purely for entertainment purposes – or will it have other applications and goals (e.g., education, marketing, fitness)?
Summary: Provide a short summary of your game idea. What is the main storyline and player goal?
Target rating: Indicate what the expected ESRB rating for your game will be, and why.
Target market: What is the portion of the game-playing audience that will be most likely to play your game? What is the market’s geographics, demographics and psychographics?
Competitive analysis: Choose 3 game titles currently on the market that could be considered competitors of your game. Describe each of these titles and discuss why your game can attract the same audience and establish a competitive edge over each title. This section should be a total of 3 paragraphs (1 paragraph per title).
Goals & player motivation: What are your expectations for this game as an experience? What mood are you attempting to achieve? Make sure you go beyond the idea of "fun." Are you trying to provide excitement, tension, suspense, challenge, humor, nostalgia, sadness, fear, or a "warm fuzzy" feeling? Do you want players to create their own stories and characters? What will drive the player to actually play the game to the end? Discuss how the game will achieve these goals.

Finally! My grades for the first week!

It was very annoying and frustrating waiting for my grades to get returned. My teachers have until Sunday night to give them to us, but why do they have to wait that long? Especially if it is just the first week and the assignments were small and simple?

Anyway ... my grades are as follows:

Art History: 98/100 points for a total of 98/100 (98%)

Image Editing for Games: 90/90 points for a total of 90/90 (100%)

Introduction to Animation: 95/100 points for a total of 95/100 (95%)

Introduction to Game Development: 70/70 gor a total of 70/70 (100%)

The Introduction to Animation was the course that I botched my quiz. This week around I took a lot of notes on the lecture, but I feel like I missed some of the information that was on this week's quiz. So once again I am fretting on what kind of grade I got. My instructor had this to say about my idea for the animated short:

David, a very funny story to start out the description, and it really helped to set the tone of the project. I don't know that the cat's line in number seven is going to be a hit with audiences, as it really is an inside joke between you and your niece. However, I think you could replace that with just awkward silence or some kind of internal thoughts that everyone would associate with cats. Regardless this will make a great animation and I'm looking forward to seeing the character design.

With that being said, this week I had to create a character sheet of one of the characters in my short. Well, I could do Pauline who is tide to the train tracks, but I would need to do a front, side, behind and action pose. How fun would that be to draw? So I made a character sheet of the other character, PICKLES! And so that is the picture that is up on the blog. Yes, the action pose is of Pickles laying down ... I was going to do the butt licking pose, but I want to save that for my short!

And my final grades are ....

Computer Applications: 160/160 for a total of 1408/1450 (97.10%)
Success Strategies: 202/230 for a total of 1649/1705 (96.72%)
Introduction to Drawing and Perspective: 1020/1040 for a total of 3352/3500 (95.77%)

For a grand total of: 6409/6655 (96.30 -- an "A")

!!!

My art project got divided between my character sheet final and my story board final. This is what he had to say about each:

Character sheet final
Daivd, This looks good. Progress! The shading turned out really nice. Great touch. Good details. Nice contrast. The write up helps sell the design and shows critical thinking skills. That extra effort along with the attention to detail on shading took the grade from a B to an A. As you move forward I am pretty sure you know what you need to work on. Details. Draw with you see. Proportion. You made great progress in these areas so I am confident that with more practice you will get there! It has been a pleasure working with you! Thanks for the hard work!

Storyboards final
David, This is great! It made me laugh. It kept my attention. Your illustrations were consistent and solid. Suggestion on that end is to try and add more contrast to your shading so there are even darker lines. That will help add emphasis and style. That will come with practice. This solution shows great effort. Excellent progress. And a great ability to tell a unique, funny and engaging story! Well done. Your hard work paid off. You earned this A!! I wish you continued success.

I am feeling very good for myself for doing this well. I was so very afraid of falling flat on my face. And what is even better is what he said about telling a unique, funny and engaging story. I am already reading my books for my next term classes (which start on Tuesday) and my Introduction to Animation book is really stressing the story and the characters (duh, right?). Anyhoo, I will start jotting down my ideas for characters and stories and keep them in a file so that when the time comes, I have plenty of information to draw upon.

Anyhow ...

I need to go and read some more of my books. I love you all and wish you all the joy and happiness in the world!

Frankie and Grades, and ...

Well, it has been a very long week for me.

It started on Tuesday morning when I got up and discovered that my home/school computer had the Blue Screen of Death. Here it is, week 8 of 9 for my very first term of school, and I find that my computer had crashed. I went to work and was planning on taking half a day off so that I could work on my computer, only to have my team lead send me home after half an hour because I was a nervous wreck. I worked on my computer from 7:30 a.m. until 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday. A friend had loaned me his Windows Vista recovery CD should I need it, but that was not the problem. A few times I was able to get into Windows and I was told that I needed Service Pack 1, so I downloaded that and rebooted only to crash again. On Wednesday I stayed home to work on it (got no sleep the night before), and I discovered a few things. I first of all had installed 4 gigs of RAM nto the computer on Saturday, and Vista 32 bit can only handle 3.5 gig. If you put more in, it becomes flakey. So I am now at 3 gig of RAM. Also, my motherboard needed a new driver, so I downloaded that and installed it, and now it is working great (or so I hope).

*WHEW*

Anyhoo ... I finally got feedback from my Art Teacher on Frankenstein 13, and this is what he had to say:

David, Good work. Thanks for the play by play in the sketchs. Helps sell the idea. Your sketches are fun. I want you to try and darken up the outer line. Add darker lines in the body as well to help show the weight and balance of the character. Adding that kind of shading will take this to the next level. The proportions on the profile are a bit off in the neck area. Getting that will come with time. As a whole I am very happy with the creativity and the progress. Keep up the good work!

That's a good feeling, knowing that someone likes my ideas and all I need to do is keep on working at it. Honestly, I have not submitted much art to the Game Designer's club yet as I am not yet creating anything that is "portfolio" worthy. Once I start getting into the programs that willallow me to modify my pictures, to "paint" them on the computer (hopefully next term or the term after), then I will start doing so.

So ...

My grades for last week are in, and:

Computer Applications: 158/160 for a total of 1120/1130 (99.12%)
Success Stratagies: 550/570 for a total of 1077/1105 (97.47%)
Introduction to Drawing and Perspective: 250/260 for a total of 2272/2400 (94.67%)

Overall: 4469/4635 or 96.42%

*WHEW*

Granted the first two courses are pretty easy courses and it helped to have them first. But I am still happy to be getting an "A" for my first term of school after being away from it all for 20 years.

I would liek to thank my brother Skip, to Mom and Mike, and to Meredith for being extremely supportive and encouraging to me. I love you all!

Grades for last weeks, and ...

Because of Ike, my Intro to Drawing and Perspective teacher (who lives in Texas) did not get the grades up for last week until today. So ...

Computer Applicatons: 160/160 for a total of 746/750 (99.47%)

Success Stratagies: 237/245 for a total of 467/475 (98.32%)

Introduction to Drawing and Perspective: 260/280 for a total of 1742/1810 (96.24%)

YAY!!!

Still going strong ...

Anyhoo ... this week for Art we had to comeup with some rough drafts for a commercial representing a video game we came up with. If you ahve been following my blog, you saw the outline I did for it eaerlier. So, here are the drafts I submitted:

Week 4 grades

Computer applicatons: 160/160 for a total of 646/650 (99.38%)
Success Strategies: 60/60 for a total of 230/230 (100%)
Intro to Drawing and Perspective: 414/430 for a total of 1482/1530 (96.86%)

!!!

Still going strong. I am feeling really good and happy with my scores to date. The first two courses are ones that I take seriously, but also lightly. I think because because these courses will have little bearing on my career choice. I fret and worry each week until my grades come out for my art class because it is a more accurate guide for me as to how I am doing.

On another note, I took my first real test today. It was my mid-term for Success Strategies. 50 questions, at 4 points each, I scored 192 points (missed two questions). That makes me feel great! First real test in 20 years, and I didn't panic or anything. So, I am pretty certain that the next three years will be well spent.

Last night was a very good night for me in the game design club. We have round table meetings every week for each section of the game design. There are meetings for the programmers, the artists, the writers, and for everyone in general. I attend the general meeting as well as the artist and the writers. Last night was the writer's meeting, and I was the only one who submitted an outline for the project. We are trying to come up with a unique story for a knight. After two hours and going over the outline that I provided (which got some really great feedback on), the story will revolved around a knight that is suffering from some form of dementia. He had been the proverbial knight in shining armor and then went on the crusades. The shock and horrors he endured during the crusades breaks his mind, hence his dementia. We are trying to decide if his squire is real or just a figment of his broken mind. It was really a great feeling working on this story with the group, and they were working with the outline that I submitted, which was also a great feeling. So ... I have to now listen to the meeting again (it was recorded) and refine all that was said and resubmit so we all ahve something to go off of at the next writer's meeting. Once we get everything all hammered out, I will post it here for everyone to see. What is a lot more exciting is that all of the round table meetings connect together, and what one table comes up with, the other tables might pick up to work on. So this might even make it to a published game!

One final note ... I really want to take a moment to thank Meredith (my wife). She has been very encouraging to me and is always there for me. She heard part of the meeting where people were really excited about my outline and she got just as excited. She was extremely happy for me when I finished my mid-term and had a great grade. She is utterly fantastic. She has even offered to listen to the recording of the meeting and scribe it for me. Isn't she awesome? These next three years will be all the more easier because she is by my side.

I love you, Babe!

I hate waiting ...

I hate waiting for my grades to come back each week. My instructors ahve until Sunday night to post my grades for the last week's work, and I swear I check every night 4 or 5 times until they are posted. To make it worse, my grades for my Computer Application class always seem to get posted by Tuesday, and then my Success Strategies on Wednesday, and then I have to wait for the one class I want to see the grades most. So, here are my scores for last week:

Computer Applications: 160/160 for a total of 486/490 (a high A)
Success Strategies: 60/60 for a total of 170/170 (a VERY high A)
Intro to Drawing and Perspective: 410/430 for a total of 1076/1100 (a high A)

*whew*

I was worried about that last week for art. We had to do 4 sets of 15 quick sketches each (each set worth 100 points). A quick sketch is no more than a 10-20 second sketch to capture the flow of movement or action. It is like a shorthand version to sketching. After I was done, it lookedlike a lot of scribbles, but as i did them and knew what my shorthand looks like, I understand the sketches. I got scores of 95s on all 4 sets because I needed just a tad more detail. I can do that. I can work with that.

Meredith asked me how I felt about my Art scores. I said I was happy because I am still doing good, but just a tad disappointed that I didn't do better. I am not "unahppy" or sad or anything else ... I just realize that I can do better and should continue to try and do so. So ... I will!

As for my final project ... unless I come up with a better idea ... I seem to be leaning towards the werewolf idea. Not only might a better idea come up, but we are still kind of in the air as to what exactly the project will entail. It is 15 storyboards, that much I know ... but is it to cover 15 consecutive seconds, or is it just a general base idea that I am pitching? The final project is worth 900 points out of a total 3900, so I want to make it a good choice.

Anyhoo ... I am going to call it an early night tonight. Take care all, and if I don't see you before hand, have a great LONG weekend!

Last Weeks Grades

So my teachers ahve one week from Sunday to get all my grades up from last week, and I now have all my grades ...

Success Strategies: I received 55 out of 55 points, and I am at 110/110 for a perfect score. My teacher's comments are more on the nugget of wisdom kind of comments. They are not very encouraging, just more like fortune cookie kind of stuff.

Computer Applications: 158/160 for a total of 326/330. Doing good here as well. His comments so far are that I show good energy in the discussions. Meh.

Art: 330/330 for 666/670!!! YAY FOR ME!!! My instructor is great. His comments are strong and instructive. He likes my drawings and appreciates teh leadership I show in our discussions. This is going very well for me, and I get more excited as I get deeper into the semester. I cannot help but to wonder what the next semester will be like?

Grades for the first week

Most of my grades for my first week ahve come back, and they are looking good!

In my Computer Appplicaton class, I am at 168/170 (having 168 points out of a possible 170)
In my Success Stratagies, she has only graded my introduction so far, and I have 10/10
In my Drawing class, I have ...

336/340!!!

YAY for me!!!

I was so nervous about getting back into the drawing side of things, but my instructor has given me some real good feedback so far. For my blind drawing (drawing without looking), he had this to say:

XXXXX
Well done David. The blind contour shows you did not look...the lines are off and bumpy...so you focused in and drew what you saw. That said I am going to throw out a challenge at you I think if you tried this again, but this time you really focused in on your hand and every bump and devit that is on the outline of the hand..we have all kinds of wrinkles on the hand that are begging to be drawn, then you will get more out of the assignment. If you slow way down you will train your eye to really see the line and details of the hand and your eye will learn to transfer that to the hand. But it takes practice. The half-blind contour is good. Great line work. Shows some very strong talent! Thanks for the hard work.
XXXXX

I feel really good about this. I am getting more and more excited about this each day. Another interesting thing was his comment about how I come up with ideas. We had to post on where we get our ideas and how we develop them, and I said:

XXXXX
Cats don't have pockets!That is what me niece said when I asked her if her cat had gotten her anything for her birthday. She said it was a silly questions because cat's don't have pockets. If you stop to think about it, it's hard NOT to come up with ideas for a short story or picture book.Ideas are everywhere, and you don't even need to look for them. It could be overhearing something someone has said that strikes a cord in you, or it could come to you as you are taking a shower. My own creative process is nothing set, and I go to wherever my imagination takes me.A few examples: I was at work and I heard a snippet of a conversation between two ladies. One lady said "And we took him to the emergency room, and I had to explain everything to the doctor." The other lady responded with "And did the doctor believe you?" Just hearing those comments made my imagination run wild. What could have happened? Was it funny or sad? What kind of story could I make up with that?Another time I was just out and about, and I saw a child's balloon flying away. My sister had a little girl who was three at the time, and I could just picture her asking me where balloons go when the fly away. Sounds like another possible picture book in the making.So, basically, my style is just to let my imagination run wild and the ideas just abound.
XXXXX

I had already gotten a bunch of responses back from my classmates when my instructor responded with:

XXXXX
If the drawing thing does not work out for you David you can fall back on your writing and storytelling skills because you have them in spades. Thanks for this excellent response! A very fun read!
XXXXX

So all in all ... I think I am doing great!!!

I will keep you all posted!