Studying the World

I am sorry that it has been so long that I have written about my trip! I have had a very busy few weeks, working, school, and in life in general. Many stresses and many successes. This quarter I have three classes again which means plenty of time to work and get some homework done which is very nice. I have two classes on a Tuesday and one on Wednesday. My classes are Cultural Theory, Portfolio 1, and Computer Animation for Multimedia. Cultural Theory is a theory class studying culture and I have the same instructor as my last quarter Ethics class. It is interesting, but you won't be seeing any of the work for that one because it’s all papers and exams which is not interesting. Computer Animation for Multimedia is a web development class about Javascript and Jquery which you may see some of later as I create something, or you may not. Portfolio 1 is the most interesting class in terms of creating pieces of work. 

For my Portfolio 1 class we have a single project which runs the entire 11 weeks of the quarter. The project can be as big or as small as we would like to make it. We were asked to make up or find a business with a storefront, and from there, we need to create branding, product packaging, stationary, brand extensions, and a menu/webpage. I have chosen to create a business which sells preserves, preserving supplies, and teaches people to preserve. My company is called Ron’s Preserving Company, and is based out of Vancouver. I have learned many tips about branding so far in this class and I am excited to see the final outcome. 

My final project is going to have a Canadian Caesar Kit, which will include hot sauce, pickling spices, a jar to make your own dill pickles, a wooden spoon, an apron, recipe cards, and celery salt. I will be creating some business cards, some recipe cards, a letterhead, an envelope, and maybe also a bag. I wanted to challenge myself to become a better illustrator so I have been doing most of the graphics and logos by hand. Part of our final deliverables is a 100+ page sketchbook, which is a collection of inspiration, ideas, and designs, and is a huge amount of work. I have been steadily working on that to make sure that I get it complete by the final due date. It is a very interesting class and I will show more progression as it happens, but for now I will show you what I have shown my class for critique in each of the rounds. Excuse the poor quality photos, I haven't taken any proper photos of the outcomes yet. 

Thanks for following along.

I had to show it separately! Sorry! 

Well, it’s coming up on two weeks that I have had away from school for the mid quarter break. This means that I only have one quarter left here in Vancouver. I wanted to write all this sooner but I was pretty tired from the last quarter and wanted to have some actual time off! Don't worry I have spent the last two weeks working a lot to try to get my funds up and ready for the next quarter. 

I thought I should tell you all how the last one ended. I have all my final grades and it turns out that, so far, I am a straight A student! Pretty proud of myself at the moment. My two best assignments are for my Foundations of Electronic Production class and one of them is now on display at La Salle College in the Renfrew campus! The assignment on display is a set of 3 book jackets that we had to make for a series of books which could be real books or made up ones. I chose to do the first three books of a series called The Expanse. Some of you may be familiar with it because it has been made into a T.V show now. The book jackets all work as posters and, when placed next to each other, make up the pathways and travels of different ships from the story through the solar system. The concept behind it is based on propaganda posters in the future and from the story of the books. You may have to read the books to understand the underlaying concept. 

The other assignment for this class was the magazine which we have been working on for much longer than the book jackets. It had to have a number of spreads and no ads. We also had to have a contents page and 3 covers total for it. The concept had to come from either design or travel and is made with found images and text. I decided to create a magazine based on local recommendations. So in theory, a website would be created for anyone to contribute to, about their local area, and the best stories would be put into the magazine each quarter. 

For each of the assignments I got 100%!! I was super happy with my mark because I had a couple of mistakes in them which I could see and some feedback which I didn’t see but overall I am so pleased with how they turned out!! These are the first pieces that I have created that I am incredibly proud of and really excited to show them off! I will see how many images I can attach to this and if necessary I may add a second image post! 

Thanks again for reading!

Sorry for the long break in writing folks! Last weekend, not the one just gone, I attended Shambhala Music Festival in the beautiful Kootenays. I spent the week before working hard to prepare for the week I would have away both at my job and for my schoolwork. I had a major due date which was while I was away and I also had some small pieces to show in class for critique. I scrambled and got all my schoolwork done so that while I was away I wouldn't fall too far behind. 

Wednesday evening after work I handed in all the work I had completed and did my final running around to get supplies before leaving Vancouver at 7:30pm. It is quite a long drive to Salmo River Ranch and many mountain passes which have no cell phone service. For those tuning in from Australia, they call mobile phones cell phones here. I planned to arrive at the Venue at about 4am. For most people, this description of the drive would be scary enough, but I have made many drives like this within Canada so I wasn't super worried. It was only after starting the drive that the real terror began. 

I haven't been talking too much about my life outside of school here, but when I first arrived, I set out to buy a cheap car. I had a budget of $500 to work with and was put onto a 1985 Toyota Tercel (Tercedes). I purchased this car knowing there would be problems with it but as a cheap way for me to get from A to B. Now having only purchased this car a short amount of time ago, I knew of a few of its problems. The little frog, as she is now affectionately known as, has a pretty decent oil leak, a front left wheel bearing which needs replacing, and had been running rich for a while. 

I started the drive and noticed that the Tercedes has a pretty decent death wobble at around 60kph-115kph. I had checked all the fluids before leaving so knew that it would be good to go for at least a little while on the road and I had played with the carburetor to slow the flow of fuel. I stopped in Hope for some food and felt like everything was going ok and sleep would be my only problem.  When I got back into the car, it struggled to start, which was fairly normal but still a little jarring before the rest of the drive. Hope is where the mountain passes start on the way inland from the coast. It was on this first pass where the Little Frog started to overhead and I started to panic! 

I discovered that it was all because I was pushing it too hard to get up the really steep hills and after that was no more problems with overheating. 60kph was a fast speed for the uphills. Embarrassing! The whole drive felt like the wheels and undercarriage would fall off at any moment, but I made it to Shambhala in the end. Driving into the property at 3:45am actually worked out very well because I was through the line up, security, and parked by 4:30 and that was with me waiting in the wrong lines twice. Its pretty unheard of getting in that quickly! 

Shambhala was fantastic as usual, but an emotional rollercoaster because of the fire danger close by. I got to see and catch up with many of my close friends who live in Nelson which was amazing. A fire was burning about 16km away when we started the party and continued to get closer as the weekend progressed. Many people were fighting it but it kept coming our way with the heat and the wind. Saturday night it was announced that Sunday would be cancelled and we would have to evacuate by 9pm the next night. So many people went wild and partied hard on the Saturday because it would now be the last night. Some of the DJ’s stopped the music and asked us to do a rain dance so we could keep partying. I went to bed around 4:30am knowing I would have to pack up the next day. 

I slept pretty late on the Sunday and then leapt out of my tent planning to start packing when I was told the small amount of rain that we got was enough to un-cancel the party! Sunday night it poured rain for a while so it was great that we got to stay. I had a night staying with a friend in Nelson and catching up with other friends, and my dog, before I drove all the way home to Vancouver again for my class that evening. 

Straight back into school, and then work, has made the recovery from the festival nice and fast. I arrived back to find that I haven't missed too much and I will be able to catch up, but it may take me a couple of weeks. I came straight back into my Art Direction class where it was awesome to see that my group had done so much work in my absence. After that, my Ethics teacher informed me that I would be able to catch up on the assignment, which was completed in class so I am currently working on that. I also went into my Foundations of Electronic Production class completely unprepared but with a few magazine covers. I have since been working almost solely on the magazine! We rolled out a new project for that class which is to create some book jackets for a series of 3 books which will be due at the same time as the magazine so I have my work cut out for me. 

Tomorrow is a shooting day for my Art Direction magazine. We will go to Stanley  Park in our groups to get the photographs for the outdoor magazine. It’s going to be a long and tiring day, but I am hoping very rewarding. I thought I would attach my final branding guidelines for the city of Nelson BC for you to look at. It hasn't been graded yet but I was mildly happy with the outcome. I will only attach the first few very large pages because it is pretty boring to read and the page sizes are huge!

Thank you for reading!

Well I am currently in go time! I have my branding guideline due this week on Friday and two large assignments which are starting this week. Not to mention that I am trying to get extra work done so that I won't get too far behind when I miss two classes this week to attend a music festival. I don't expect pity or sympathy from anyone because I have put the extra pressure on myself. 

I have spent the last couple of days at school, completing mid-terms and getting briefed on the new project, and now I am feeling the pinch of working on too many things at once. I had to ask two of my instructors if I would end up really far behind if I missed a couple of classes and both were very understanding and helpful to let me know that it would be beneficial for me to be there but I could make it all up easily. 

I have discovered why the instructors tell you that you can hand in late but will lose 30% or so of the marks. When this was mentioned the first time I was shocked and couldn't imagine losing 30% of a mark but since I have seen that the smaller parts of a brief are worth 1-2% of my total grade, which does make me calm a bit. This week is a major hand-in though! 

We ran out of time in class to discuss the work which would be put into the final, which is a branding guideline for a place, so I emailed my work to my instructor for that class. She was amazing and has given me very detailed feedback and some times which I can meet up with her to discuss the work in person. If my work schedule allows it, I will take advantage of her offer and get further feedback. 

So far, this exchange feels like it is complementing my education with a more hands on approach. I just have to remember to apply the theory which I have already learned at my school in Australia. The challenge for me is drawing on the knowledge while keeping up with the fast deadlines. I’m up for it!

Tonights post is going to be short and sweet and more of a rant than an educational insight! As you may know from my last blog post, I have my Art Direction class on a Tuesday night. This class was the handing in of assignment number 1, which was the magazine covers which I also posted previously, followed by the application for jobs for our next assignment. 

The next assignment that we have to complete is a group assignment, the outcome of which will be a 20 page magazine. We are creating an outdoor magazine of some kind and four to a group means four jobs. We have a Photographer, to take and edit the photos. A Layout Designer, to create and polish up the layout. An Illustrator to create the graphics and help with the layout, and finally an Art Director, to decide on the concept, manage the team and decide on the final designs. 

This is where the biting off comes in! I should have just applied for the job as a photographer. It would have been an easy task with all my gear and my editing abilities in Adobe Camera Raw. Instead I decided to apply for the position of Art Director so that “I could push myself”. At least that is what I have been telling myself since I applied. I am now under pressure to come up with the final concept and to communicate that with my team so that they can get creating the pieces and concepts that they have to make for my revision by next week. 

This doesn't sound so bad right? Except that I have a midterm on Thursday and a whole lot of final art to create by Friday plus I would like to have started my final write up for that class by then. Also I have just started at my new job, which makes for even less time to get all the work done! Ah uni life where it never rains but pours deadlines!

So I have been asked to start a blog to record how my exchange goes by the Dean of my homeschool. To give you all some background, I am studying a Bachelor of Design in Graphics through the Academy of Design Australia. I have  come to Vancouver, Canada to spend two quarters studying at La Salle college, which used to be the Art Institute. This is my first time blogging so I hope it doesn't become too boring. 

My exchange here was necessary for me because my Permanent Residency card was about to run out and I need to renew it. The exchange all came together really quickly and I didn't have a full two weeks to get everything together. I finished my exams on the 21st of June and then left Australia on the 1st of July to Arrive in Canada the same day (time travel!). 

I am lucky to have lots of friends in this country because I used to live here for many years. My friend Katie picked me up from the airport, late as usual for her, and brought me back to her place where she had a free room while she was waiting to find a new room mate. I wasn't planning to live with Kate, because the rent was a little higher than I thought I could make work, but when I got here and remembered how beautiful the view is, I couldn't say no to living here. So finding a place to live short notice became the easy task! 

Since I arrived on Canada day, my first night was celebrating and fireworks all over the city which we could watch from the deck outside my room! Canada was celebrating me getting back home. Not really but it sounds good! After my first night I had a day or two to settle in because the semester started on July 3rd, but my first class was the Tuesday the day after. 

Coming from the Academy where all classes are between 9am and 6pm (for the longer ones), I have class Tuesday which is scheduled from 6:30pm to 10:30pm. My instructor is super nice and let us decide to have the class from 6-10 instead so that we can leave a little earlier. My other two classes are 1:30-5:30pm on Thursday and Friday. I like having classes so spread but it does make it harder to find a job which will work around that. 

My classes are Art Direction, Ethics, and Foundations of Electronic Production. I only have three this quarter which is nice for workload but I don't know what my next quarter will look like. Before I get into describing my classes, I will tell you about the other struggles. Finding a job was tougher because of my schedule. It took me about three weeks, which has eaten away all of my measly savings, but I am working at a company which I worked for previously. My first day is today! It could have been a week ago but I had a big project which I wanted the day to prepare for. 

Ok, so the classes! After my first class in each of them I was panicking! I thought that the workload seemed massive and the amount of work that we would be producing would be very crazy, but the stages are more manageable than my first impression. I also thought that I was very far behind the rest of my classmates when I started because of the discussions and the way they seemed to shrug off the pressure. My first submission was the very next week and I was embarrassed to show my work, but I soon discovered that I was not at all behind and I shouldn’t have worried at all! 

My school in Australia is very theory based and we generally have one main assignment brief each class, each semester. We learn a lot and then at the end of the semester we have exams to test what we have learned. Here, only one of my classes has an exam and its a mid-term! We create a lot more work here and its all to create portfolio pieces! Another comparison I have is that my instructors in Australia talk a lot about how competitive the industry is over there because of the large number of Designers. Over here, the industry is huge and designers are in demand which is amazing for me because I plan to move here at the completion of my degree! 

OK! Art Direction! This is the first class of my week each week. This class we learn about being an Art Director. My first assignment was to direct a photographer to create three magazine covers to match a current food magazine. I chose the magazine Prosto, which is a Russian food magazine, and has a wonderful messy cover style. I encourage you to look it up and I will add my covers as soon as I can figure out how! We had to create our covers as mockups using found images from the internet to show to our Photographer, which was another member of our class who we chose by picking names from a hat. We had a few in class exercises about photographing food and consistency. The photoshoot was to take up a whole class and we had to bring in the food we were to photograph along with all our backgrounds, props, and of course our camera and any gear we needed to be the photographer for someone else. My photoshoot went amazingly well and I got the exact shots I wanted because I prepared really well and I had a fantastic photographer! That all gets handed in today for class. 

Ethics is a theory class. We talk about ethics, morals, and how they should influence decisions. It is the most boring of my classes on paper but its actually a really interesting class and the discussions are really engaging. This week is my mid-term and then it’s all small written papers and one final large written essay. I should mention now that in all classes we are graded on participation as well as our work, which means that we have to participate in discussions and show up on time to every class. 

My final class each week is Foundations of Electronic production. This is the class which I was warned about because it has the highest workload but so far I am finding it comfortable. My first assignment here is to rebrand a destination or town. I have chosen Nelson, BC where I used to live. We have a lot that we have to create, but the largest part of the assignment is to create the branding guidelines. We have to make this professional and well written which will be the hardest part. The other assignments for this class will also be big. This class has a lot of in class work which needs to be created within the small amount of time we have in class. This adds a lot of pressure but helps to generate ideas quickly which we can refine later at home for the homework. 

All of the instructors that I have here are amazing! They are very helpful and understanding. The campus is so much nicer than the temporary campus that the Academy has. There is also a lots of interesting courses offered on the campus, which is neat to look around. Music production, Culinary, Video game production just to name some of them. 

All in all, I’m having a good time and learning a lot. Living with Kate is super awesome! We have been floating on a small lake a couple of weekends, we watch baseball, have poker nights, and nights in watching TV. There is a lot of good options for food and many which are really cheap! Living in the city, means I can find just about anything I want and usually pretty cheap. I’m getting lots of sun, which is fixing my vitamin D deficiency, and I’m getting my Canadian life back on track. I will try to keep this blog updated as much as possible with impressions and work! 

Thanks for reading