Cheryl is at the beginning of her OCA learning journey studying stage 1 Painting.
"I am in my late 30s unable to work for medical reasons, I'm a mum, I live in surrey England."
Find out more about her experience as a student of OCA below.
What is your previous educational experiences and what drew you to OCA?
I used to go to a college in Surrey where I had gained a Btech in art, a GCSE in ICT and two NVQ levels in catering but I've always wanted to pursue my art and OCA is helping me in achieving this. With this knowledge I'm also able to help my children to complete and render artwork, this gives me the most satisfaction in the world and allows me to become the comic book artist I want to be.
Can you describe your OCA journey?
I only started doing the course in July 2024 it's now November 2024 and I have found the course that I am on incredible. I love the fact that the majority of the course is painting creating using my mind to put my emotions and feelings into images that I create, the only downside I personally have is the research and essay part of things I'm not good with words.
What was the Tutor and/or Peer Support like on your course?
I have a really good tutor and he really does take his time to listen and help. I have had some amazing support from the OCA discord server and I've had great communication with the learning support people. I have no complaints.
What does studying with OCA mean to you?
Studying with the OCA allows me to learn at my own pace and it allows me to have the freedom to choose when I decide to do part of the course.
What's next?
My future plans are to complete the painting course then go on to illustration so that I can become a better comic book artist.
Any advice?
The only advice I would suggest giving is go at your own pace, it's easy to go everybody else's pace but go at your own because then you will find stuff that you wouldn't have expected to find before and you can delve deeper that way.
Good luck with your OCA journey Cheryl, thanks for sharing!
Hi Cheryl,
Thanks for sharing your story. I am currently on Foundations: Creative Writing and thinking about studying Painting, so reading about your experience was very interesting for me! Best of wishes for your studies!
It sounds like an amazing and inspiring journey ahead of you, Cheryl. This provided some wonderful inspiration for thinking about my own creative journey this morning. After the pandemic, and the current wars raging, doesn’t it seem that life is so incredibly precious. As education is, not everyone in the world is fortunate enough to have the same access to it. How lucky we are! Best of luck and enjoy every moment.