I feel that my classmates are better than me.

I don't mean to sound like an emo, but I have a bad feeling that all of my classmates are artistically better than me. There are a lot of factors that make me think so. For my psychology project, we were required to make an essay and a piece of artwork about three emotions. I decided to do some abstract work about the emotions. I got my project back last week and when I got it back, my teacher spoke to me about how I did. All what I can say is, "At least I did well on the essay." I looked at my classmate's art and my jaw dropped after noticing how much better their's seemed to be more than mine.

And even today when I handed in my projects, I felt that everyone else was better than me. My skateboard design was a basic snake design with a gradient effect in the background. I thought it was really cool and I still do. And for my Moku toy, I knew I was handing in the right thing and I handed in something which I felt was a replica of my toy that I drew. It looked almost exactly like Moku when I drew him. When I looked at everyone else's toy and skateboard, I felt overwhelmed. The skateboard had wilder designs and the toys were bigger and more complex than mine. I am afraid that if I actually get into the industry of digital media arts, people won't hire me simply because "I'm not as good as everyone else." Which is one of the reasons why I considered switching back to my computer courses or transfer to a different course where I don't need to really worry about competition.

Fortunately, I am good in essays. I remember last year in Seneca, I took a course in Canadian Music and my professor sometimes told the class how important it is to have good essay writing skills, because a number of the classmates didn't really have the best skills. But I knew that I have good skills, because I got very good marks in my essays. I got B's and A's in my essays. What I can learn from this is that we all have our own strengths and weaknesses. I can understand this, but if I am not good at Digital Media Arts as everyone else, then finding employment may be very difficult.

My skateboard and toy projects.

I have to say I am quite satisfied with my skateboard and toy projects. My toy looked exactly (or almost exactly) like Moku! It had the whole body and details just like in the picture. Although it was small, I feel it was a very good replica of my drawing.

As for my skateboard project, I am really impressed with how well it turned out! First, I scanned my image and I traced it with Adobe Illustrator. It gave it a more professional look. Next, I used Photoshop to add in some colour and a background. All what I had left to do was print it and mount it. I was on a budget so I used left over foam board and I printed my skateboard out on three separate sheets and not on a single sheet. It was MUCH cheaper that way. When I put it all together, it looked like a professional model for a skateboard design.

Introducing...Moku!

Who is Moku? Moku is a video game character who I am developing. He is a small, red, furry guy who has fire, ice, and lightning powers. He can attack his enemies with his powers or by stomping on them similar to Mario. His design may be simple, but Kirby has a simple design and Kirby is still a hit.

After working on Moku in my sketching class, it inspired me to continue working on Moku outside of class. Even if my character does not appear in a professional game, I can always put him in some indie gaming projects.

Wow. What a semester.

I had one heck of a semester this year. I think I did ok for my first semester in this course; I hope I will do better next semester. I think the course was great, but I did not like how I had to stay in school, after school to do the work. I affects my after school activities if I can't be able to do them later on in the night at home.

I also realized that there is quite a difference between DMA and CPA (Computer Programming and Analysist), my previous course. In CPA, I can do the work at home with freeware software. In DMA, a lot of the work has to be done in school, after school which as I mentioned earlier, will mess up my schedule. In CPA, if I hand in an assignment late, according to the professors, it's not the end of the world. In DMA, if I hand in an assignment late, according to the professors, it IS the end of the world. I think they should lighten up a bit and realize that the CPA professors can understand that numerous students can't really hand an assignment in on time. In CPA, it's more about skill than talent. In DMA, it seems like the opposite. It makes me in fear to wonder how I will do in the real world if I am not too great of a drawer.