My university experience reflection: 1st Year

Curious about studying at University? Is an art and design degree worth it? Have I plunged myself in 60k debt for nothing! Or is the free printing a deal breaker.... Your welcome to listen to my own experiences as I take a look back on the last three years and how beneficial/meh they have been to me...

University is it a yah or a na?

University is a conflicting issue that soon hits every young adult in their life of deciding whether or not to fly the nest for a taste of independent life. Not only will you be moving away, but experiencing a new environment, people and education path sounds very daunting that it makes that decision even harder on whether to stay or go...

Of course, there's no denying the fact that a degree is essentially the next step up and is figured to have an impact on the gateway to a good life , with lollipops of better wages and greater job opportunities being waved in young peoples faces whats not to love?

In August 2017, I was incredibly torn on whether to take the university route or stay at home. I've loved the idea of utilising my art skills and contributing that towards a fulfilling career, however it soon became clear that I would need a relevant career to advance further into the creative sector. My local university wasn't the greatest in terms of education or rapport so I knew this was going to be no commute job, and faced the possibility of moving out completely to better myself for a job outcome for the future.

I decided in the end to apply via clearance and hightail it up to Coventry University to mark the start of my new life chapter of studying a BA Hons Illustration and Animation. I was scared at first, mainly being as I had no animation skills to my name, no tablet training and a very basic hand on Adobe packages (if that!) I was annoyingly traditional back then, and was notoriously head strong in sticking to traditional completely with no aim or desire to change that or be open to the prospect of digital art. I mean take a look at my first year work below...

It did frustrate me how I had no digital skills to my name. The problem I had with my first year at university was not only adjusting to the change, but how independently driven the whole course was. It suddenly didn't have that classroom feel to it like school maintained. Suddenly we were all expected to work crazy adult hours to prove to lectures we are professional practitioners worthy of the title of 'artist'.

I did feel alone, even a bit lost with how to train myself upon a digital level. They provided us with classes but they were incredibly basic and were taught on the basis that you had some form of background training of Adobe packages, to which I had not. So it left me further withdrawn on being tied to my traditional skills and not being able to get anywhere over that barrier. Lectures emphasised how we must learn the relevant skills that we intend to use for our practise 'in our own time' which is fair enough, however with the amplified work being thrown at us throughout term time it was rather tricky to do so.

That's not to say I did not enjoy my first year at Coventry! It was just frustrating how I was being penalised throughout my grades for not utilising enough digital skills within my art submissions.

The last straw was a project where I had to create a silent book (as pictured on the left). I poured all my energy, time and art love into, and could not wait for the grade outcome! Eventually it did, however the grade was incredibly abysmal that I still feel disappointed with to this day. When asking for feedback, yet again it was due to the fact I had not used enough digital aids to create my book, and to further improve I should really start thinking about making that progressive move to better myself for not only the sake of my University studies, but for a career too.

Again, I express that I did not loathe my time during my first year, it just wasn't the nicest for myself. I felt like I learnt nothing, and was only aware of the fact that I needed to learn some digital skills-something I'd assume the course would nurture and teach through either one on one classes or sign up tutorials. During that Summer, I was quite reflective on whether I wanted to return or not, however reality soon kicked in and I realised I had to see this through to the end...

To heighten my chances of improved success and feeling more involved with everyone else and their digital skills, I decided to give myself a kick up the backside and start learning the basics of Photoshop myself. Never anticipated how self teaching myself throughout the summer would be hard but by the time second year rolled up, I felt like I had a very basic (and defiantly slow) way of using Photoshop for my artwork. But hey! everyone has to start somewhere, and it was the only way up from there.

So to say the least that my first year at Coventry University had been an interesting one. I met many people, some lovely, some horrible! Adjusting to this new life was hard, especially for a person who gets homesick quite often so I felt that clashed with my studies as well, which made it harder to work the extortionate load that the lecturers piled you with at the start of the time. However, I felt it's been a nice wake-up call with pushing me further into an art career and the expectations that come from that.

Bring on second year...

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