The BART strike was rather disruptive. I didn't want to write a whole post about it, but it warrants a few sentences. The night before it started, with no other ideas about how to get to school, I slept in San Francisco in the home of some generous friends, and was prepared to ride the gnarly couch waves until the strike was over. Fortunately, thanks to the emergency transport protocols of AAU (Thank you!), I was able to go home the first night. Several of my classes were cancelled because the instructor could not make into the city. Craziness! It could all happen again in August.
Last week, midterm grades came in. Before I disclose mine, to instill in you the proper sense of awe at the Academy's expectation of excellence, I will repeat for you here some excerpts from the grading rubric in my drawing class:
C: The student demonstrates an understanding, if not mastery, of the concepts being taught, and is ready to move on.
Okay, so that's basically a B+ or an A somewhere else...
B: Top student whose work is consistently excellent.
...and that gets a B!?!?
A: ...demonstrates mastery of concepts and techniques and produces industry standard work.
So, basically, an "A" is the teachers way of telling you you're almost too good at the subject matter to take the class.
It is glorious to be in a place where expectations are so high. In hindsight, it has never been satisfying to me to get an easy A. It has been a relief in times of stress, but has never been something to brag about. Here, if I earn an A, I fucking earned that A. It means something. Because of those high expectations for achievement, this is a meaningful experience. So, with all that in mind, here is the big reveal: my midterm homework assignment, in its completed state, and the grade I earned.
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| I got a B. |
The next big assignment in drawing class is a still life. I'm really looking forward to it, but I'm also anticipating some challenge, so I decided to do a study of one of the still life subjects in this week's drawing workshop. Before I show you that, let's talk about these workshops.
They are great.
I have been attending the drawing workshops every single week, and it has made a huge difference. It is run by Adam Caldwell, who brings a complimentary perspective to that of Mitch Gibson, my drawing teacher. His approach for simplifying a form, breaking it down into planes and simple shapes, has really helped my observation skills. I can't emphasize enough how helpful Mitch has been, but Adam is what we refer to in the gaming world as a "force multiplier." He provides that little bit that takes things exponentially further, which would be far less effective without the foundation I get from Mitch. This week he helped Adam draw a skull. Here's some process:
That was about three hours of work. This is the farthest I've ever gotten on this kind of piece in that amount of time. Here's to progress!
I've been writing a lot about my drawing class, but haven't really mentioned my History of Games class. We just finished our first big assignment, which was to design a primitive game with limited materials. I am quite proud of the work that my group did. It was great to see what each person had to offer, and the end result was a really fun game. Here are a few images from the presentation that we made of the game on Monday (click an image to view as a slideshow):
That's the fundamental mechanic of the game. You race your "snakes" to gather chips strewn strategically about the playing field, and then get as many as you can into the goal area before your opponent gets their entire snake in there. The chips you pick up make you go faster, and you can use some different tactics and bonuses to speed yourself up or block your opponent. Fun times!
We put a lot of work into that. The next big assignment, about which I am totally jazzed, is to write a research paper on a game-related topic of our choice. I'm going to write about the history and importance of leveling up in all kinds of games. I'll publish the paper here for your reading pleasure.
It has been a busy, challenging and satisfying couple of weeks. I registered for fall classes, and am eagerly anticipating what they hold in store. With four classes, the amount of interesting content I will have to share with you, my cherished readers, stands to be immense.
More to come. Robin out.
