Week 25, Year 2: End of Term Review.

At long last, we are making visible progress. The Flaming Dodo's, Off the Map entry is coming together. In contrast to last week, everything is currently working (for now, touch wood) and I'm happy with what we've accomplished so far.

Currently, I'm working on placing assets in the level. It's extremely time consuming, as it's quite a large space, and I'm a more than a little fussy, but seeing it coming together is keeping me going. Carla also managed to get the rabbit working in engine this week which looks awesome!

It's getting there.

I also had my first assessment of the year this week and I was really pleased to get a picture of how I'm doing. It went really well. At least—there were no nasty surprises. The key points were:

• As I expected, my 'Dichotomy Characters' project was very poor. The concept is solid, but it was totally let down by its execution. The anatomy is terrible, the marmoset scene is empty and the textures are seriously dodgy—it was textured in a day and it shows! These errors are entirely my fault, but I was also quite ill during the project and it was extremely rushed. Fortunately, I have the opportunity to re-submit it.
• Container City, on the other hand, was excellent! I achieved 69%, which rounds up to 70 and scores me a first for the project. I certainly felt this had been one of my best so far and it was great to get confirmation that I really did do well on it.
• In order to get a first, a project needs to be flawless. If I'm to achieve firsts in my third year, I need to work faster so that I have time to iterate and pay attention to details.

So in the short term, outside of working on OTM, my first priority is improving and re-submitting the character project. I will also write an extended piece on how I intend to graduate with a first and gain employment.

In the long term, I will use the summer to cull any weaknesses in my process, in preparation for my final year. With the exception of a week in the Loire Valley, (although you can bet I'll be taking a sketchbook) it’ll be a summer of hard-core arting to catapult me in to my final year.

Chenonceau by David Tamargo.

A lot to do then, so I best get cracking. Have a great Easter everyone!