So here we are... We are at the beginning of a journey, the beginning of a new life, the beginning of possibly
the most important time I will ever spend during my life. My name is Dominic Mathuse and I am a Game Art Design student at DeMontfort University.
History.
(Or "How It Began..")
To start off, I would like to give a bit of information about my history. I was born in Germany and spent most of my life there. While I always seemed attracted to video games and quickly grew up to be interested in not just playing them but also creating them, I have never been the person to consider myself an artist; in fact I still not
completely do so.
I was born with a strong logical mind and therefore never spent too much time being creative, even though I always enjoyed it the most. My first bit of creative interest started developing when I began to play piano at the age of 10. I only had lessons for a year but since then always spent time playing piano whenever I felt like it and quickly I discovered that I was also interested in coming up with my own songs, even if I was missing the required knowledge to achieve this.
So over the years it became more and more clear to me that even though I was born with a strong logical mind and it would probably be the easiest for me to end up becoming a mathematician or physicist, I was actually way more interested in the
process of creation. Being able to put all the mess that is going through my head into a form of creative piece was what I enjoyed doing all throughout my life and I decided that this is definitely something I would love to do for the rest of it, too.
However, my journey of becoming a games artist doesn't start there...
Choices?
(From School To College)
After moving to the UK I was, for the first time in my life, being presented with a choice of optional courses I could do at school. One of the courses I chose to do was art and design and while I still wasn't particularly good at it, I definitely still enjoyed it as much as I always did and so I went through and actually managed to pass my GCSE. Still not being quite sure as what I wanted to become I then applied to college to study maths as well as computing as those were the only subjects I felt most comfortable in studying. However due to complications in my family I ended up moving away and not being able to attend the college I applied to.
A few gap years later, still not having done my college education, I eventually decided that in order to succeed in life I would need to specialize myself in a particular area. Having taught myself very basic programming skills and due to my love for games I quickly decided that the games industry would be the way to go. I didn't enjoy programming too much though and I didn't think of myself as being good enough to be an artist so I wasn't quite sure what I actually wanted to do. I went researching and eventually found a college course which seemed not too specialized, offering me an insight into different jobs within the games industry (or at least so I thought.)
Having successfully applied for the course I then went back into studying and finally had the chance to start setting goals for my future. However, I quickly realized that the course was a lot more
art based than I first had imagined and I became a bit anxious as to whether I was good enough or not, but this lifted within the first few weeks when I noticed that many people on the course were equally skilled in art and because I always enjoyed being creative I took this as an opportunity to maybe learn a bit more about art.
Going through the years I had learnt a lot about the games industry and the different roles within that I could become part of. While I wasn't very good at drawing I first got taught how to create 3D models and immediately discovered that I had a lot less problems with that than I had with drawing. So being a "natural talent" in 3D I quickly worked my way to be the best 3D artist of the class, which then resulted in me being entered into the 2011 first ever
World Skills Speed Modelling competition, which was hosted at my college, and winning the gold medal. (A bit more about this little competition can be found
here and
here). This had not only given me more
confidence, but it also finally set my goal clear: I wanted to become a 3D artist (or did I?)
Uncertainty!
("Realizing Your Ambition")
Progressing through to my second year at college I then discovered that 3D might not be as simple as it looks. While I could create models easily, I struggled with getting textures right. On several projects we were allowed to use photographic textures, but on others we either weren't or there just wasn't any available so I needed to paint my own. Since I wasn't very good at drawing this caused problems and again my goal became a bit unclear. If I would want to be a 3D artist I would need to improve
my drawing skills!
So the end of the second year came closer and closer and it was time to apply to university and again there was many different choices. While quite a few courses seemed more 3D or programming based there were a few art based courses as well. One of the ones that stood out the most was the Game Art Design course at DMU. Knowing that it would straight on require me to be able to draw though I wasn't sure whether I was good enough to even bother applying, but I decided to do it anyway (got nothing to lose, right?).
Surprisingly enough I then received an invitation to an interview (the other universities gave me an offer straight away). This was the time that I had to show them that I was
ready for the course. I knew that they expected high standard work, mostly for drawings. Looking through what I had created during my time at college, I quickly realized that my portfolio was not only lacking on quality but also on quantity. So I decided to spent as much free time as I had during the upcoming weeks to my interview trying to improve my portfolio to as high of a standard as I could.
The interview day came by and I went through it quicker than I had hoped. Not only was it shorter than my friends interviews but I also still felt like I wasn't good enough to get an offer, but not giving up hope I went back home and eagerly awaited the results of my interview. The first batch of offers were sent out and while a friend of mine already got offered a course, my application was held for further consideration. A few more long and sleepless weeks I then finally received the e-mail that made my heart jump high into the sky. I managed to get a
conditional offer!
Now it was time to get through my college course and achieve the grade I needed to actually get onto the course. So even if I was struggling with time management towards the end of the year I managed to get everything done and left college with quite pleasing results. I then got offered an unconditional offer and immediately decided that DMU was going to be my firm choice.
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So here we are... While I still don't consider myself an artist I am pleased that I have been offered this opportunity to study this course and I am confident that it will give me the skills that I am missing to finally be able to call myself and artist. This blog will follow me throughout my journey of development and the 3 exciting years that I have in front of me.
Thanks for reading.
