The “Me-Degree” Project

In the summer of 2018, I ambitiously decided to use my GI Bill before it expired, and get my degree. I poked around in English, and Literature degrees, before stumbling across Full Sail University.

I initially contacted them, with the intention of getting a graphic design degree. While talking with the degree counselor, I mentioned that my ultimate goal was to be an artist, and she asked an unexpected question “how do you feel about video games?”

I got super nerdy about having grown up with my parents Atari, and early Nintendo systems… talked about my love of Sims games, and Carmen Sandiego… gushed about the time my brother was play FFX for the first time, and he called me in to see Yuna dancing across the waters – how far the graphics had come!

When I stopped, she asked if I’d ever thought about creating art for video game… actually, this had never even occurred to me. I thought about it, talked it over with my family, and before I knew it I was a game art student.

I graduated amidst chaos – my final year of the program was 2020, with a graduation of Jan 2021. A lot of my classes for that year didn’t really sink in… I passed, but with minimal rentention. I’ve thought numerous times about getting back into it, but I’d have to realearn/learn so much.

Then I thought about just generally getting my Masters in Art. Turns out, those suckers are really dang expensive. But there’s a lot of information on the internet nowadays, you just have to be willing to dig in and hunt it down.

And thus the “me-degree” was birthed. At first I was calling it the DIY degree, then I devolved to calling it a “fake degree” or a “faux degree”… my kids vehemently despised both of those names, and said it was demeaning to the amount of work I’m about to put into this. So I threw out the name “Me-Degree” and it stuck.

This section will be quick, because I basically answered this in the last segment. Getting a traditional MA/MFA just isn’t in our budget at this time. And hopefully, by the time that’s changed, it’ll be because I’ve already accomplished my dream of being a bonafide artist. At that point, I’d be less likely to feel like I “need” the assurances of that degree.

I went back and forth on the easiest way to share the game plan, and I think the best thing will be to set this up in Notion. Once I’ve got it set up, I’ll come back over here and link up. Stay tuned!