First post - Going back to study.

So this is my blog for school! I'll do my best to keep it updated and interesting as this could eventually be developed into a portfolio.

To explain very briefly who I am and what this is about... my name is Mark and I've made a decision to go back to studying a college course at age 30.

I don't want to be a salesman my whole life. It's time to get back in touch with things I had previously left unfinished. Once you graduate and are handed that "piece of paper" so to speak, it can't be taken from you. There is no excuse for anyone to ever stop learning, it's a fundamental part of living really.

The course I am studying is called "Diploma of Games" which is quite a broad topic at a glance and usually takes some explaining to people. Most people don't think video games are a job.

The development, programming, artistry, management, marketing, etc. all takes a lot of work, discipline and is a massive grind. So it's not going to be all fun but it should be rewarding as hell. I'm focusing mainly on the art side.

This is my pipe dream, to be a digital artist working in an industry that I am passionate about, to make work fulfilling and not a drudge.

Back when I was 16 I used to tool around in programs like Photoshop for hours, create levels for video games (worldcraft!), build websites, animate stupid things in Flash etc. Once I discovered the music scene at age 18 or so, after I had started collecting vinyl records and DJ'ing/producing, all of my game modding and editing was soon forgotten about as I was focusing on other things... although I never stopped playing video games or stepped outside of the gamer community.

Since I have been studying again it has opened my eyes to how far things have come and how much I have to learn, there are so many options for software to use and areas of game development to focus on. What is outlined in this course is quite broad and touches a bit on everything.

That's all! Here's a poster I did for an assignment where we had to incorporate our likeness into a circus poster. Plenty of time sacrificed in Adobe Illustrator getting the vector drawings done and then the rest in Photoshop. Yeah it's kind of grotesque.

- Mark.

Apologies if you are French, I don't think the text even translates properly.

p.s Come and say hi if you are on Steam, my username is "Markodoom" (I'm from Australia, there's a dude who comes up in the list from the UK.)