OCA – Page 3 – Visual Skills 2

What are your motivations for study?

This question was in the handbook and I thought it was a salutary reminder for me to look at, perhaps, when I am struggling or not feeling motivated.

The day I enrolled on this unit was because I wanted to progress with the degree and challenge my creative process. Since being a child, I have wanted to be an illustrator. However, it is only now I am pushing myself to succeed in my dream. At the end of the course, I wish to start my own freelance business as an illustrator, creating illustrations for children’s books.

Your Creative Space

As stated in a previous research point, my creative space is currently under my stairs. I could work in my utility which is much larger but it isn’t insulated, so is freezing during the winter months. By working under the stairs, I can monitor my two children as I am in the centre of the house. However, during the pandemic, it was difficult to concentrate on my work with everyone at home, so I moved into my utility for a short time.

I felt at times like Harry Potter, but I have got through to the second year of the degree using this space so it can’t be too bad. When I need to paint, print or illustrate large pages, I will use the kitchen table to work from.

I am excited to say in the next couple of months my husband and I are transforming our children’s playroom into a studio as the children have outgrown the playroom now.

Below is my current working space.

What do you need to succeed?

Reading the handbook, I considered areas that I have found difficult in the past and what I can do to prevent any struggles with my studies.

Areas I have struggled with in the past that have affected my studies are:

Children being off school because they are unwell.

My ill health.

Bereavements.

These events did unfortunately take time out of my studies and made working difficult. However, at the moment life is okay, and it has made me determined to work extra hard and I think it is important to make sure I keep in touch with my tutor about how I am doing and to make sure I plan my studies around school term times.

Getting Started

Research task : Study tips

For this research task, I visited OCA’s WeAreOCA blog and read through the study tips. Next, I reflected on my working practice and looked to see if there was anything new that could help me study better during this unit.

Reflection

Workspace

Currently, my workspace, which is quite cramped, is under the stairs. I find it hard sometimes to be creative as it is too small. Often, I have to set up another workspace which is on the kitchen table but then have to make sure I clear it up in time for breakfast, lucnch, dinner depending what time I start creative work. However, in the next couple of months, my husband and I are converting the children’s playroom into a studio as they are much older now, so this will help.

Social Media

One tip on the OCA site I thought is useful is to download a free website blocker on my laptop or phone to stop me from logging into social media while I am studying. It’s so easy to get distracted when my phone goes ping or even if it’s on silent, I still see the little green light to say there is a notification or a message.

Isolation

Studying from home can be isolating perhaps this is why looking at my phone and being distracted is a problem compared to if I was studying on an actual campus. However, I do know there are opportunities to take part in group discussions which I need to do more of. There is also OCA Discuss page which you can talk to other student but I prefer to use the Discord chat system. With Discord, I can have a live chat rather than waiting for a reply that could take a few days .

Library

After recently speaking to my tutor via google meets, she made me aware that if needed I can get photocopies of chapters from books containing information relevant to my course. This is very helpful as until now I have been purchasing most books and it is expensive. I will make sure I check with the librarian or my tutor to see if relevant information is available before purchasing books.

Procrastenation

This is something that can take hold of me quite often and it is usally at the poing of a new assignment or exercise. I think it comes down to a fear of being inadaquote and failing. Yet, I am realising that by busying myself with random stuff and avoiding the problem I am actually setting my self up to fail. Planning and ticking tasks off my to-do list will help me recognise I have achieved something and enable me to maintain a sense of momentum.

Tutor

Until now, my tutors have given written feedback and although I always found ito be useful critique, I guess I felt alone. My new tutor has said she will give feedback verbally via google meets. At first I thought this was a little scary as I get anxious about what my tutor thinks of the work I have done and at least when it was written, I didn’t have to face someone saying it’s rubbish. However, after thinking about it some more, I thought it was a good idea as we can have a two-way conversation about what works and what does not and it is also good practice to have face-to-face conversations about my work as this is what would happen in the ‘real world’.

Another tip I read is:

‘Asking for help is a strength, not a weakness.’

I always try my hardest to figure things out, but sometimes in the past I have been stuck for a long time and felt like I would be annoying the tutors to ask for help. Yet, my new tutor is very approachable and has said she is available on live chat should I ever need help. This made me feel part of a University for the first time and not just studying alone.