It's been about a month since I came to came to Gothenburg. Time has moved incredibly fast.
So far we've had 2 assignments, and they really haven't been fun, since they've been both difficult and stressful. I'm sure the upcoming assignments will be even worse.
Even so, I've had lots of fun in the Software Engineering and Management program so far. Apart from the assignments, things have gone really well so far, and I've met some really nice people to hang out with.
Right now we are going through one math course and one programming course, and I found out a few days ago that people have been contacting teachers about the math course, saying how sucky it is. People seem to think that it is too difficult, too fast paced, and that mostly because we don't have enough math help sessions. So if you don't know what you're supposed to do in math, and can't find help on the web or from a classmate, you are probably gonna be stressed.
While I do believe we need more math helpsessions, and that a few other things about the course could be improved, I think this it's been fine. It's not bad enough for me to feel the need to complain. Well, at least not yet.
I have enjoyed most of the topics we've covered in math so far, and feel like they will help in the future with programming. I only hope that the next 2 assignments wont be as difficult as the first one...
Anyway, like I said, so far so good at this program, atleast for me.
On to other matters. I ordered a second hand macbook air and it works just fine and I really love it. It's great not to have to bring my 17.3 inch monster laptop to school anymore. At the same time the 12 inch screen of the Air is not too small.
All in all a good buy, even though I am not a mac person!
I wanted to write a blog post to write an update on what I am doing, but really I haven't been doing much. Most days I've been studying from morning til night, and I am not complaining, apart from the assignments it's been fun and I don't mind studying. I actually thought it feel more tedious than it does, so that's good.
Recently I've had atleast a few days where I've felt relaxed enough to do something other than studying. So I've been watching some TV and drawing again. It's been a while. Now I just gotta make time for writing every day, which I haven't really been doing since I got here.
As of now I feel optimistic about passing the first 2 courses, and I hope that I will keep working hard and stay on track!
Sep 17, 2017
Sep 3, 2017
First week at the "Software engineering and management" program in Gothenburg
The first week has gone by and I was kinda surprised to realize that it had only been one week, not longer. Maybe because we've done so many things already, it feels like it should've been longer than a week. So let me tell you a few things about the week.
New program:
This program has existed for several years, but we are the first students that will take this years program, since it has been remade. We wont have all the same courses as students in previous years, and hopefully this remade program will be structured even better than how it was before.
The math:
When I first came here I was a bit worried about how well I was going to do in the math course, and of course since we've so far only covered the very first topic of the math course (which was "Automata"), it's still to early to say if I will fail or succeed in it. But, atleast it started out well.
The school gave us a video to watch about automata (dfa's to be specific), and I didn't understand anything. I tried looking in the book, but still didn't get it. So instead I went to youtube and found a bunch of videos on the topic that explained stuff in a way that I could understand.
So the next day when I came to school I was actually the one helping a fellow student understand some of the concepts, which felt good for someone with such low selfconfidence in their math-skills such as me.
So atleast this week, math has been fine, and it has even been fun! Automata is really interesting.
The programming (Java):
The programming course has also gone fine for me. I am really happy that I at least have some experience with programming in Java. Since I am not sure how well or fast I would be able to grasp some of the concepts if they were explained to me here.
I feel like I am not a very fast learner when it comes to some things, so it has been really good for me to come prepared.
This week in programming we used things like String, int, char, Scanner etc. Basically just very easy programs where the user enters some input and we give back an output.
Next week we will start doing loops and stuff like that.
About the computers:
It's only been a week, but so far I like the school and the campus. The only downside is that we have to bring our own laptops to the lectures and study-sessions. We need them mostly for programming, but also for math since they post exercises online.
So for the past few days I've been breaking my back carrying my 17.3 inch 3+kg asus laptop around, along with other things that we need to bring to school. It's okay, I can manage it of course. But since it is not ideal, and not something I wanna do for the next 3 years, I decided to buy a smaller laptop.
I hope in a few says my second-hand macbook air will be at my door, so I can leave my asus at home. Macbook is new to me, and I don't like the OS that much since I don't really know how to use it. But I think it is quite impossible finding anything slimmer than a macbook air, so it was my number 1 choice!
About the name of the program "Software Engineering and Management":
I chose this program because I want to learn programming, also, the international setting of it really interested me. Meeting people from all over the world, speaking English and all that, is really fun!
But even though I felt like I did a TON of research about the program before choosing it, turns out I did not understand everything about it after all.
Its's called "Software engineering and management", which I thought meant "The engineering and management of software". But no. The "management" part does not stand for the management of software, but for the management of people. They will in this course teach you how to be a manager (basically the person in charge of the team) as well as software developer.
Therefore we will also have many courses that aren't necessarily related to programming. Which is fine by me though, since those courses also sound interesting!
Anyway I am going to wrap it up here since this post is long! Let's hope next week is as good as this one was, and that my second-hand macbook wont be a piece of crap (cuz I can't afford a new laptop)!
New program:
This program has existed for several years, but we are the first students that will take this years program, since it has been remade. We wont have all the same courses as students in previous years, and hopefully this remade program will be structured even better than how it was before.
The math:
When I first came here I was a bit worried about how well I was going to do in the math course, and of course since we've so far only covered the very first topic of the math course (which was "Automata"), it's still to early to say if I will fail or succeed in it. But, atleast it started out well.
The school gave us a video to watch about automata (dfa's to be specific), and I didn't understand anything. I tried looking in the book, but still didn't get it. So instead I went to youtube and found a bunch of videos on the topic that explained stuff in a way that I could understand.
So the next day when I came to school I was actually the one helping a fellow student understand some of the concepts, which felt good for someone with such low selfconfidence in their math-skills such as me.
So atleast this week, math has been fine, and it has even been fun! Automata is really interesting.
The programming (Java):
The programming course has also gone fine for me. I am really happy that I at least have some experience with programming in Java. Since I am not sure how well or fast I would be able to grasp some of the concepts if they were explained to me here.
I feel like I am not a very fast learner when it comes to some things, so it has been really good for me to come prepared.
This week in programming we used things like String, int, char, Scanner etc. Basically just very easy programs where the user enters some input and we give back an output.
Next week we will start doing loops and stuff like that.
About the computers:
It's only been a week, but so far I like the school and the campus. The only downside is that we have to bring our own laptops to the lectures and study-sessions. We need them mostly for programming, but also for math since they post exercises online.
So for the past few days I've been breaking my back carrying my 17.3 inch 3+kg asus laptop around, along with other things that we need to bring to school. It's okay, I can manage it of course. But since it is not ideal, and not something I wanna do for the next 3 years, I decided to buy a smaller laptop.
I hope in a few says my second-hand macbook air will be at my door, so I can leave my asus at home. Macbook is new to me, and I don't like the OS that much since I don't really know how to use it. But I think it is quite impossible finding anything slimmer than a macbook air, so it was my number 1 choice!
About the name of the program "Software Engineering and Management":
I chose this program because I want to learn programming, also, the international setting of it really interested me. Meeting people from all over the world, speaking English and all that, is really fun!
But even though I felt like I did a TON of research about the program before choosing it, turns out I did not understand everything about it after all.
Its's called "Software engineering and management", which I thought meant "The engineering and management of software". But no. The "management" part does not stand for the management of software, but for the management of people. They will in this course teach you how to be a manager (basically the person in charge of the team) as well as software developer.
Therefore we will also have many courses that aren't necessarily related to programming. Which is fine by me though, since those courses also sound interesting!
Anyway I am going to wrap it up here since this post is long! Let's hope next week is as good as this one was, and that my second-hand macbook wont be a piece of crap (cuz I can't afford a new laptop)!
Aug 25, 2017
"First day" of university in Gothenburg, Sweden
Today was the introduction day for everyone at my program. We got to register ourselves to the program, which is something you have to do in order to keep your spot. That was a lot easier than I thought, it was literally just stating your name and showing some form of ID and then they checked your name on a list.
I think in total we were about 60-70 people there, from many different countries. And for this program they usually allow 80 people in to begin with, knowing that a lot of people are going to drop off.
We actually got a reminder from our future math teacher that there were around 600 people who applied for this program and around 200 of them placed it as their first choice. Which means there are now around 150 people waiting as "reserves", to enter this program in case someone decides to drop out. So if you start the program and soon start thinking that it wasn't really that interesting, you should quit as soon as possible and let someone else take your place, since there are people waiting to do it.
That same teacher, who seems to be a very good lecturer, also talked about how difficult the program is going to be. More so than previous years, since it's been revised. And said that we probably wont be prepared for it, and that it would probably be a living hell at least for a while.
It's a known fact (at least in Sweden) that people drop out of university programs all the time, because they thought it wasn't for them or because they just couldn't handle the pressure. So many popular universities take in more student than there are places really, since many of them drop out.
I expect that before the end of this year our "class" will be a lot smaller than it is now.
I am just hoping that I am not one of the people who drop out because they couldn't handle the pressure. This is something I am worrying about already and our courses haven't even started yet!
Anyway, I shouldn't dwell on that too much, I know. It's difficult not to though, since I want to succeed so bad but lack confidence in my ability to do so.
Change of topic (before I get too depressed).
That teacher ALSO said that if you aren't a native English speaker you shouldn't think that you are good at English. Probably because the textbooks might include a lot of difficult words. Even so I can't shake the feel that my English abilities are up to the task, and that I will be fine.
There were on the other hand some other students, I just overheard them speaking to someone and it seemed like they didn't even understand the questions asked them. How will people like that make this program with such poor English skills?
This is, after all, an international program where everything is in English.
If I do well and pass all exams and get to stay in this program, I guess I will see how well (or not) these people do. I wish everyone the best of luck, especially myself since I might need it the most! (Insert sad laughter).
---
To do list for university for myself:
Go to all lectures
Do all assignments
Ask lots of questions if you need help (to teachers as well as other students)
Make a study schedule and study during set periods of time (ex 8 - 16 daily)
Stick to the study schedule!
Pass ALL exams on the FIRST try, you don't want to ruin your life with re-exams!
Be THE BEST! Don't just pass (which means study your ass off and don't be a lazy s--t)!
Look back on this list and see how well you followed it. Failure is not accepted!
"Your own worst enemy is yourself."
I think in total we were about 60-70 people there, from many different countries. And for this program they usually allow 80 people in to begin with, knowing that a lot of people are going to drop off.
We actually got a reminder from our future math teacher that there were around 600 people who applied for this program and around 200 of them placed it as their first choice. Which means there are now around 150 people waiting as "reserves", to enter this program in case someone decides to drop out. So if you start the program and soon start thinking that it wasn't really that interesting, you should quit as soon as possible and let someone else take your place, since there are people waiting to do it.
That same teacher, who seems to be a very good lecturer, also talked about how difficult the program is going to be. More so than previous years, since it's been revised. And said that we probably wont be prepared for it, and that it would probably be a living hell at least for a while.
It's a known fact (at least in Sweden) that people drop out of university programs all the time, because they thought it wasn't for them or because they just couldn't handle the pressure. So many popular universities take in more student than there are places really, since many of them drop out.
I expect that before the end of this year our "class" will be a lot smaller than it is now.
I am just hoping that I am not one of the people who drop out because they couldn't handle the pressure. This is something I am worrying about already and our courses haven't even started yet!
Anyway, I shouldn't dwell on that too much, I know. It's difficult not to though, since I want to succeed so bad but lack confidence in my ability to do so.
Change of topic (before I get too depressed).
That teacher ALSO said that if you aren't a native English speaker you shouldn't think that you are good at English. Probably because the textbooks might include a lot of difficult words. Even so I can't shake the feel that my English abilities are up to the task, and that I will be fine.
There were on the other hand some other students, I just overheard them speaking to someone and it seemed like they didn't even understand the questions asked them. How will people like that make this program with such poor English skills?
This is, after all, an international program where everything is in English.
If I do well and pass all exams and get to stay in this program, I guess I will see how well (or not) these people do. I wish everyone the best of luck, especially myself since I might need it the most! (Insert sad laughter).
---
To do list for university for myself:
Go to all lectures
Do all assignments
Ask lots of questions if you need help (to teachers as well as other students)
Make a study schedule and study during set periods of time (ex 8 - 16 daily)
Stick to the study schedule!
Pass ALL exams on the FIRST try, you don't want to ruin your life with re-exams!
Be THE BEST! Don't just pass (which means study your ass off and don't be a lazy s--t)!
Look back on this list and see how well you followed it. Failure is not accepted!
"Your own worst enemy is yourself."
Aug 11, 2017
Going to visit my student room
I found a student room pretty quickly, which was a big relief, but I was still worried of course. I am just the kind of person who worries a lot even in situations others probably wouldn't worry!
The plan was for me to take the car there with my dad to bring all my stuff on they same day as I would move it, but that didn't really work out.
Instead my mum gave me a ride a few days ago to leave all my stuff, even though I wont be moving in for another 2 weeks. We packed the whole car full of stuff and made the 7 hour ride down to her sisters house where we spent the night.
The next day we took the car out for another 2 hour trip to the student house, and during this trip I was super worried things would just turn to shit. What if we had been played and there was no room for me? What if the house/room was super run down and gross? What if the area sucked? What if the other people living there would seem rude?
But of course, none of those things happened! The house and the room exists and I have keys to both now. The house is in a really nice area, and close to the bus station, food store (and a candy store, oh yea), nice park etc etc. The people I met seem super nice and I like the house and the room and the garden, the area, and everything.
This is a real house in a suburbian area, so it doesn't feel like it's that close to a big city, which I kinda like. It feels a lot like home with the nice green surroundings and the small city center.
The inside of the house and my room is a bit old, and my room needs some new paint. But that's okay, as a student I don't expect 5-star living conditions. It still looks a lot better than my corridor room in Japan, and I still really enjoyed that place.
So all went well, we left the stuff, bought a really nice office chair at a nearby second hand store, ate a good meal at a restaurant and returned to mums sisters house to eat dinner.
I didn't get a chance to visit Gothenburg this time, so that will be my mission next time. And next time I will be moving in once and for all into my student room, and start my studies. And now, since I am not constantly worried any longer, I look forward to the move.
The plan was for me to take the car there with my dad to bring all my stuff on they same day as I would move it, but that didn't really work out.
Instead my mum gave me a ride a few days ago to leave all my stuff, even though I wont be moving in for another 2 weeks. We packed the whole car full of stuff and made the 7 hour ride down to her sisters house where we spent the night.
The next day we took the car out for another 2 hour trip to the student house, and during this trip I was super worried things would just turn to shit. What if we had been played and there was no room for me? What if the house/room was super run down and gross? What if the area sucked? What if the other people living there would seem rude?
But of course, none of those things happened! The house and the room exists and I have keys to both now. The house is in a really nice area, and close to the bus station, food store (and a candy store, oh yea), nice park etc etc. The people I met seem super nice and I like the house and the room and the garden, the area, and everything.
This is a real house in a suburbian area, so it doesn't feel like it's that close to a big city, which I kinda like. It feels a lot like home with the nice green surroundings and the small city center.
The inside of the house and my room is a bit old, and my room needs some new paint. But that's okay, as a student I don't expect 5-star living conditions. It still looks a lot better than my corridor room in Japan, and I still really enjoyed that place.
So all went well, we left the stuff, bought a really nice office chair at a nearby second hand store, ate a good meal at a restaurant and returned to mums sisters house to eat dinner.
I didn't get a chance to visit Gothenburg this time, so that will be my mission next time. And next time I will be moving in once and for all into my student room, and start my studies. And now, since I am not constantly worried any longer, I look forward to the move.
 |
| Random inspirational quote found on google! |
Jul 21, 2017
What it takes to learn a language
I recently ordered some korean manhua (7 volumes) straight from South Korea, in korean. I bought them mainly because I loved the artwork. But now that I got them and saw that there were 4 books I have yet to read, I realized that I can't just look at these books, I have to read them! And they aren't available online in english yet, who knows when they will be since this isn't a very well known series.
So I started trying read this manga by using google translate and other korean dicitinaries and such. I could already read hangul (it's super easy, which is awesome) so reading it wasn't a problem really. The problem was understanding it, which turned out to be a lot harder than I thought.
I thought I could put some words into google translate and understand a sentence, but NO! 90% of the time that does not work at all.
There is probably only one sentence so far that I have been able to translate into a flawless and fully understandable English sentence. Most other times I can pick out the words in a sentence if I am lucky, but still not be able to make any sense of the sentence.
This makes me realize how much Japanese I actually know. The fact that I can read Japanese manga and understand everything now seems quite awesome.
One thing I realized pretty quickly when translating sentences from korean to english was that it was hard to know where a word ended. For example "Pirul" translated as "blood", but I later learned that blood is just "Pi", and rul is a particle (like the Japanese particle GA if I remember correctly). Still it got translated as only "blood". This happened all the time, so to actually know where words end and particles etc start, I had to go on to learn grammar instead of just words.
It would seem like grammar is king, if you don't know the grammar you wont understand the sentence even if you might know the nouns or verbs etc in it.
So I started looking up grammar when I had the feeling I had encountered it. For example, i, ka, rul, nun, e ke, etc would pop up all the time and I began to get suspicious. Turns out they are all particles!
Like I said it has been a lot harder to try to read this korean manhua than I thought, and it will take forever for me to make sense of it. BUT! Atleast I know Japanese and that has truly been very helpful.
Korean sentences are pretty much structured like Japanese ones (Subject, Object, Verb-style) and they use particles in pretty much the same way. I just have to remember that "un/nun" is "HA(or wa if you please)" in Japanese and then I know how to use it.
It's easier to translate from Korean to Japanese and vice versa than from/to English.
Also the two languages share many common words, and those are always nice to come by.
So, how many years will pass before I understand what's written in this korean manhua? Not sure, but one day I hope to get there!
So I started trying read this manga by using google translate and other korean dicitinaries and such. I could already read hangul (it's super easy, which is awesome) so reading it wasn't a problem really. The problem was understanding it, which turned out to be a lot harder than I thought.
I thought I could put some words into google translate and understand a sentence, but NO! 90% of the time that does not work at all.
There is probably only one sentence so far that I have been able to translate into a flawless and fully understandable English sentence. Most other times I can pick out the words in a sentence if I am lucky, but still not be able to make any sense of the sentence.
This makes me realize how much Japanese I actually know. The fact that I can read Japanese manga and understand everything now seems quite awesome.
One thing I realized pretty quickly when translating sentences from korean to english was that it was hard to know where a word ended. For example "Pirul" translated as "blood", but I later learned that blood is just "Pi", and rul is a particle (like the Japanese particle GA if I remember correctly). Still it got translated as only "blood". This happened all the time, so to actually know where words end and particles etc start, I had to go on to learn grammar instead of just words.
It would seem like grammar is king, if you don't know the grammar you wont understand the sentence even if you might know the nouns or verbs etc in it.
So I started looking up grammar when I had the feeling I had encountered it. For example, i, ka, rul, nun, e ke, etc would pop up all the time and I began to get suspicious. Turns out they are all particles!
Like I said it has been a lot harder to try to read this korean manhua than I thought, and it will take forever for me to make sense of it. BUT! Atleast I know Japanese and that has truly been very helpful.
Korean sentences are pretty much structured like Japanese ones (Subject, Object, Verb-style) and they use particles in pretty much the same way. I just have to remember that "un/nun" is "HA(or wa if you please)" in Japanese and then I know how to use it.
It's easier to translate from Korean to Japanese and vice versa than from/to English.
Also the two languages share many common words, and those are always nice to come by.
So, how many years will pass before I understand what's written in this korean manhua? Not sure, but one day I hope to get there!
Going to university
Hello again!
Turns out I got into my first choice of university and program. So in about a month I will be moving to Swedens second largest (?) city - Gothenburg, to attend the university of Gothenburg. It's been something I have been looking forward to for so long now and now that it's almost time to start I am starting to feel nervous.
When I came to Japan was the time I did a lot of things for the first time, and I was probably nervous. But at that time atleast I was in a secure position. Everything was taken care of for me, I didn't have to worry! Thanks to the scholarship the plane ticket was taken care of and I had already been guaranteed a dorm room. Also we didn't even have to make our own bank accounts. The school really did everything for us and it was very chill!
But now I am on my own, no one is gonna help me out, give me money, or guarantee that I find an apartment.
The apartment thing I was actually very worried about. In big cities and in cities with popular universities it's very hard to find a place to live. Even where I live, in this shitty little town, the house prices have skyrocketed in the recent years, and if you wanna rent an apartment you most likely have to wait for years before you can find one.
So unlike in Japan where free apartments exist everywhere in abundance, Sweden has a severe lack of them. Even though I had signed up for a waiting list for student apartments almost a year ago, I quickly realised that I should have done it a lot sooner.
I had to give up on finding a student apartment to rent and started looking at private apartments. Most people I found didn't let out the whole apartment, but just a room, and often these rooms were quite pricy. Many were around 4000 sek (54000 yen) for a room in someone elses apartment.
I actually saw "the worst one" today: Someone letting out a part of their livingroom - separated from the livingroom by curtains! Meaning you don't even get your own private space. The monthly rent for this was set to 5000 sek (67.500 yen)! And people were still interested in it... wow.
After sending messages to around 5 people saying I was interested in their rooms I got a bit worried since none of them got back to me. Not until a few days later did one of them call me, and said that he thought I would fit in perfectly in his "student house". It's kinda like a guest house for students, and a total of around 9 students live there. You get your own room and share the rest of the house. The rent is about as cheap as you can get it.
The best part about it is that it is not an apartment but a real house. It has a garden and is close to the beach. It's a bit separated from the city life and a bit far from my school, but other than that it seems perfect and I have high hopes!
So in the end it seems like I did find an "apartment" pretty easily. Though if this person hadn't read my profile and liked it I would probably still be looking for a place, since the other people I sent messages to have yet to respond.
Now I have gotten into uni, and I have a place to live. The only thing left to worry about seems to be the actual studying. And I am worried. We are going to be starting with math and I haven't studied math for like 4 years now!
I am also worried that I wont have time for anything else but school work. When will I get to write, draw, learn languages, play music, if I got all this school work? It's a bit sad to think I might not have time to do all of these things, but I can't let that get me down. I like learning new things and that's why I applied for uni.
This program I applied for seems really interesting, and I want to do a good job. I don't want to fail.
So right now all my browser history is about "how to study effectively in university", haha.
Wish me luck, eh?
Turns out I got into my first choice of university and program. So in about a month I will be moving to Swedens second largest (?) city - Gothenburg, to attend the university of Gothenburg. It's been something I have been looking forward to for so long now and now that it's almost time to start I am starting to feel nervous.
When I came to Japan was the time I did a lot of things for the first time, and I was probably nervous. But at that time atleast I was in a secure position. Everything was taken care of for me, I didn't have to worry! Thanks to the scholarship the plane ticket was taken care of and I had already been guaranteed a dorm room. Also we didn't even have to make our own bank accounts. The school really did everything for us and it was very chill!
But now I am on my own, no one is gonna help me out, give me money, or guarantee that I find an apartment.
The apartment thing I was actually very worried about. In big cities and in cities with popular universities it's very hard to find a place to live. Even where I live, in this shitty little town, the house prices have skyrocketed in the recent years, and if you wanna rent an apartment you most likely have to wait for years before you can find one.
So unlike in Japan where free apartments exist everywhere in abundance, Sweden has a severe lack of them. Even though I had signed up for a waiting list for student apartments almost a year ago, I quickly realised that I should have done it a lot sooner.
I had to give up on finding a student apartment to rent and started looking at private apartments. Most people I found didn't let out the whole apartment, but just a room, and often these rooms were quite pricy. Many were around 4000 sek (54000 yen) for a room in someone elses apartment.
I actually saw "the worst one" today: Someone letting out a part of their livingroom - separated from the livingroom by curtains! Meaning you don't even get your own private space. The monthly rent for this was set to 5000 sek (67.500 yen)! And people were still interested in it... wow.
After sending messages to around 5 people saying I was interested in their rooms I got a bit worried since none of them got back to me. Not until a few days later did one of them call me, and said that he thought I would fit in perfectly in his "student house". It's kinda like a guest house for students, and a total of around 9 students live there. You get your own room and share the rest of the house. The rent is about as cheap as you can get it.
The best part about it is that it is not an apartment but a real house. It has a garden and is close to the beach. It's a bit separated from the city life and a bit far from my school, but other than that it seems perfect and I have high hopes!
So in the end it seems like I did find an "apartment" pretty easily. Though if this person hadn't read my profile and liked it I would probably still be looking for a place, since the other people I sent messages to have yet to respond.
Now I have gotten into uni, and I have a place to live. The only thing left to worry about seems to be the actual studying. And I am worried. We are going to be starting with math and I haven't studied math for like 4 years now!
I am also worried that I wont have time for anything else but school work. When will I get to write, draw, learn languages, play music, if I got all this school work? It's a bit sad to think I might not have time to do all of these things, but I can't let that get me down. I like learning new things and that's why I applied for uni.
This program I applied for seems really interesting, and I want to do a good job. I don't want to fail.
So right now all my browser history is about "how to study effectively in university", haha.
Wish me luck, eh?
Jul 7, 2017
Getting better at drawing by not drawing
I always feel like I get better at drawing after a long break from it.
When I finished manga-school in Japan I didn't draw for probably 2 months and that's not the first time I've gone for months without drawing.
The feeling that "I wanna draw!" isn't always present for me. It comes and goes and sometimes it goes away for a looong time.
But eventually after coming back to Sweden I found myself bored again and started drawing, first just random scribbles as usual but then I picked up some coloring pencils and realized I could actually use them to make since colored drawings.
I used to color with color pencils a lot in upper secondary high school, but I sucked at using them (but back then I sucked at all kinds of drawing) and I thought that since I basically hadn't practiced using them for over 4 years I'd still suck.
But lo and behold I had improved a lot since then! Without any training what so ever!
This was quite a suprise to me and got me thinking that maybe I had improved in other areas too without knowing it. So I started coloring some with water colors (toumeisuisai), which I have only worked with once or twice in Japan and then totally discarded for acrylic colors and "color-inks" which I like better.
I have never liked coloring with water colors and thought my drawings would turn out shitty like they often do when I use water colors, but instead they turned out very nicely. After coloring these drawings I no longer hate water colors!
Like I said, I have barely used these coloring methods recently and to have improved this much by doing what feels like nothing feels great! I think it's not just me, but it's like this for everyone. Sometimes the mind just needs a break to be able to rewire itself and let you see things differently. It's like how maybe you're trying to solve a difficult task and you just don't know what to do, and then after you sleep on it the answer suddenly comes to you.
And it's not just coloring, my lineart and the way I draw my characters has also improved. It's like during those 2 years at manga-school I never drew stuff as well as I can. I never drew characters with very intricate details in the hair, for example. This one teacher always used to tell my that the hairstyles I drew looked bad and stiff, well, now they don't anymore! I wish I could show that teacher my new drawings, cause I know she'd be suprised.
I still have A LOT more to learn about drawing, but atleast I am happy for now with the improvements I've made. I finally feel like I have a handfull of drawings that are of "portfolio-worthy-quality" and I've never felt that before about any of my drawings.
So, I guess the lesson is, even if you like drawing don't be afraid to take breaks some times ^o^
Water Color drawings:
Color pencils drawings:
Digital:
When I finished manga-school in Japan I didn't draw for probably 2 months and that's not the first time I've gone for months without drawing.
The feeling that "I wanna draw!" isn't always present for me. It comes and goes and sometimes it goes away for a looong time.
But eventually after coming back to Sweden I found myself bored again and started drawing, first just random scribbles as usual but then I picked up some coloring pencils and realized I could actually use them to make since colored drawings.
I used to color with color pencils a lot in upper secondary high school, but I sucked at using them (but back then I sucked at all kinds of drawing) and I thought that since I basically hadn't practiced using them for over 4 years I'd still suck.
But lo and behold I had improved a lot since then! Without any training what so ever!
This was quite a suprise to me and got me thinking that maybe I had improved in other areas too without knowing it. So I started coloring some with water colors (toumeisuisai), which I have only worked with once or twice in Japan and then totally discarded for acrylic colors and "color-inks" which I like better.
I have never liked coloring with water colors and thought my drawings would turn out shitty like they often do when I use water colors, but instead they turned out very nicely. After coloring these drawings I no longer hate water colors!
Like I said, I have barely used these coloring methods recently and to have improved this much by doing what feels like nothing feels great! I think it's not just me, but it's like this for everyone. Sometimes the mind just needs a break to be able to rewire itself and let you see things differently. It's like how maybe you're trying to solve a difficult task and you just don't know what to do, and then after you sleep on it the answer suddenly comes to you.
And it's not just coloring, my lineart and the way I draw my characters has also improved. It's like during those 2 years at manga-school I never drew stuff as well as I can. I never drew characters with very intricate details in the hair, for example. This one teacher always used to tell my that the hairstyles I drew looked bad and stiff, well, now they don't anymore! I wish I could show that teacher my new drawings, cause I know she'd be suprised.
I still have A LOT more to learn about drawing, but atleast I am happy for now with the improvements I've made. I finally feel like I have a handfull of drawings that are of "portfolio-worthy-quality" and I've never felt that before about any of my drawings.
So, I guess the lesson is, even if you like drawing don't be afraid to take breaks some times ^o^
Water Color drawings:
Color pencils drawings:
Digital:
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