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Progression website evaluation

For this project, I felt my final outcome was quite good. I felt that exploring the universities firsthand and looking at the surrounding area was especially beneficial. It let me gain a good understanding of what life there would be like and I was able to ask students already there about their experiences and views.

I found that putting together the actual layout of my Tumblr website was quite difficult. It’d take me a good few hours just to find a suitable style and layout. After that, I had to go into the HTML manually to adjust things that weren’t to my liking. To overcome this, I researched and looked into a range of pre-made layouts that other people had rated and used to help aid my decisions. Apart from that, simple perseverance was what was needed for me to overcome this.

Using a website for my outcome was an effective decision as not only does it help to save paper, but it means that I gained some knowledge on website layouts and other computer based business techniques. The final website is quite easy to navigate, looks attractive, and is suitable for both employers and art lovers alike. Because of this, I feel my final progression website was a satisfactory outcome.

However, I do feel that I needed a lot more research to be recorded. While I did a lot of secondary research in my spare time, I failed to write it down for future reference. For projects in the future, I will have to learn to record everything possible as evidence that I’ve definitely done research and so that I can look back on it for reference.

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Gloucestershire University

I recently went for an interview at Gloucestershire University for their Illustration course. I have been given a conditional place as long as I accumulate 112 UCAS points. 

I am familiar with Gloucestershire University and have been there on a number of occasions. I have even stayed in the student accommodation overnight before. I have also met Fumio, one of the lecturers on the course. I have never had any bad experiences with them and the university is only about half an hour away from home. 

Despite this distance, I would still wish to stay within student accommodation so that I can have some independence. 

The campus is in Cheltenham, which is a fairly nice area. The night life isn’t too much to ride home about, but I’m not the kind of person to go clubbing anyway. 

A friend of mine from college is also attending the same course also. I feel it’d be nice to know someone already just in case I get anxious or nervous. 

I feel that Gloucestershire and Falmouth are my two top choices for universities.  

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Falmouth University

Recently, I visited Falmouth for an interview and to have a look around the university. Students and staff alike were very kind, the surrounding area was quiet and home to a lot of wildlife which is perfect for observations. I also found out that there is not student accommodation onsite. However, there are plenty of student accommodation about 10 minutes away. 

If I were to go here, I’d be very far away from my family for a while. This is a huge thing to consider. 

As for the universities reputation, there seem to be tens all around. 

As far as I know, about 140 students are accepted each year. 

I am yet to hear from them. 

[tonton-journal]

Kingston School of Art Update

After much consideration, I have decided not to go ahead with pursuing a place at Kingston School of art in London. This is because of expenses. I feel that, in my current situation, I wouldn’t be able to afford to stay in London. I also feel that I’d prefer a city that is more laid-back and not as busy. 

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Birmingham visit

Recently, I travelled to the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery to view some pieces, especially those within the Coming Out: Sexuality, Gender and Identity Exhibition that is being held until April 2018. The exhibition was to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of Male homosexual acts in England and Wales. While I felt some of the art was quite off the wall and had morals that didn’t sit right with me, I still found that seeing how people feel about themselves and others through their art was extremely interesting. There was a very common theme of genitals as well as an exploration of what it means to be male or female. In fact, it has inspired my next project of mine to be an exploration into gender and sexuality. My idea is to create a range of observational portraits of genitals belonging to willing members of the public. Their identity will not be revealed, but their sexuality and gender will be. This will show that everyone comes in different shapes and sizes and that we are all human depending on whether we’re gay, bisexual, straight, cis, transgender, male or female.

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Observations from the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

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Kingston School Of Art, London - University talk

Thanks to college, I was able to attend a short presentation put on by a representative from the Kingston School Of Art in London. 

Some notable things I picked up on were the 22:1 student to staff ratio and the 1/8 of students who apply getting a place there. 22 is quite a large number, though that doesn’t bother me too much since a lot of university work is very much independent. Also, 1/8 doesn’t seem like the best of odds but I feel that if I were to work hard enough and let my creativity shine through then I very much have a chance of success. 

The course in question is their Illustration Animation course. This is right up my alley since concept art and story-boarding is a passion of mine and is my dream job. The course entails mostly drawing, printmaking, moving image, and digital art.

The first two years of the course entail a large amount of life drawing, workshops, creative writing, guest talks, and experimentation. There is also a chance to attend study research trips abroad, which interests me greatly. At the end of the two years, students choose to specialise more in illustration or animation.

For an extra 15% of the fee to attend, students can spent a third year abroad in areas such as the US, France, Spain, China, or South Korea. This appeals to me very much as I can not only put more time into studying, but I can experience a new culture. The idea of going to South Korea interests me the most as it’s a place I’ve always wanted to visit and I’ve been hoping to learn Korean at some point. 

The final year is mostly self-negotiated work. This is when students are able to perfect their work and work ethic. Students also put on several shows to showcase their work around London.

This university sounds extremely appealing to me and it would be an honour to study there. However, fees and time away from family are definitely things I’ll have to consider.