Oyku Erdenlig, a recent BA (Hons) Illustration graduate from Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) is celebrating the launch of the latest Minecraft Official Blocks Guide. Not just as a fan, but because it includes 14 of her own illustrations.
Originally from Turkey, Oyku (which means ‘story’ in Turkish) moved to the UK and started school in Bournemouth - without knowing any English – when she was just 13.
“I always, always wanted to work in the games industry. I also liked doing art as a kid and then, when I was a teenager, I realised that I could do art for games.
“When I was choosing where to go for uni, I initially thought of going on a specialised games course but my Sixth Form teacher – who had also worked as a lecturer at AUB years and years ago – said to go and study something broader, and that’s why I decided on the Illustration degree at AUB.
“In my second year and third year, I started doing a lot more 3D stuff. While a lot of people do children's books and publishing, me and my friends had this small group within the course where we were a lot more interested in games. That's how I got into Blender, which is the program I used to create my final project and most of the 3D projects on my course.”
Towards the end of Oyku’s final year, she exhibited her final project at New Designers, the UK's most established graduate design showcase. After the event, Oyku had an email from Billy Budgen, a fellow AUB graduate who now works at HarperCollins Publishers.
Having been impressed with Oyku’s final project, an animated game trailer she’d created and exhibited, Billy got in touch.
“I didn't even know he had been there,” Oyku says. “I just got an e-mail from him saying who he was, that he’d also studied at AUB and that he’d seen my work at New Designers.
“He said he worked for HarperCollins, he’d liked my final project, and would I like to do an art test. I obviously jumped at the chance! A day after I sent the art test back, he emailed me asking if I wanted a job contributing to the Minecraft Official Blocks Guide!"
The Minecraft Official Blocks Guide is a book that serves as a comprehensive reference for all of the game's blocks, covering their properties, crafting recipes, and uses.
It details more than 650 blocks, including natural and crafted ones, and provides practical advice on topics like how to obtain specific materials and how to use blocks for building or machinery.
“Similar to most people, Minecraft was also one of the first games that I loved playing as a kid and it felt unreal at times to do work for the book. It was great to work with Billy and I’m so grateful to him for making this happen!”
As well as working as an illustrator on the latest edition of the Minecraft Official Blocks Guide, Oyku has also been working hard forging her freelance career securing work as a junior animator with Panda Cat Games, as well as working with Blue Tango Games on a project due to be announced later in the year.
“It’s tough in the beginning. You have to put all this effort in and just hope it goes somewhere. One of the things you really have to do, as someone who's trying to break into the industry, is just close your eyes, do your best, and hope for the best.
“As a kid, there were a lot of times I forgot the keys and I had to crawl in through small windows to get back in, like the downstairs toilet. I feel like you’ve got to do that to get into the industry – find any gaps, try all the doors and windows, and never give up. You will break in!”
