Marcus Levers-George

I’m Marcus, and this is my story.

I actually grew up next door to NTU. My parent’s house is a two-minute walk away, but I’d never considered studying there, even though it was always part of the background when I was younger.

Star Wars was my first love. When I was eight-years-old, my auntie bought me a book: Star Wars – The Art of Episode One, and I just couldn’t believe that was someone’s job: to create spaceships and alien lifeforms and far-off fantasy worlds. But it always seemed impossible as a career, it was just something that happened in Hollywood. Still, I used to draw obsessively all over my school books, and get told off for doodling by my teachers. They used to tell me that art would never be a job I could do when I grew up.

NTU opened my eyes to what was possible.

Thankfully my dad was more supportive. When I was a teenager he took me to an Art and Design Degree Show at NTU. I still remember it so clearly, seeing all these amazing models and designs, and finding out that they were all made right here by their students.

That was a huge moment for me, suddenly it seemed like this thing that I’d loved and dreamed of since I was little was actually possible.

I found a home at University.

I came to NTU as a mature student, and I found my people. I had such a great time here, they were some of the best days of my life. I found a new love for my home city too – Nottingham is such an amazing and exciting place. And I met my wife at NTU as well.

At the start of my second year I did a two-week work placement on Disney’s Alice Through The Looking Glass and that experience was pivotal for me.  To be in the middle of a huge studio, surrounded by incredible fantasy sets, and working alongside teams of art directors, I realised then that that was what I wanted. It changed everything, and when I got back to university after that, I was fully committed to doing my absolute best on the course.

The support I received was incredible.

That was the great thing about the tutors at NTU: if they saw that you were really passionate about what you were doing, there was nothing they wouldn’t do to help you. They all had amazing experience and connections, and that meant that the course just focused on all the right things, and kept up with everything that was happening in the industry.

When I graduated and got my first job, it was still really common for the majority of an art department to be drawing by hand. But I’d come from a university where not only had I developed those skills, but I’d also already learned how to use software that is now standard across film and TV studios ten years later.

My course helped me to achieve my wildest dream.

Now I work as an art director on large budget international features like Tomb Raider, Napoleon, and Mission Impossible. The highlight would have to be working on Star Wars – The Acolyte, and I even got to be a Jedi in it.

Back when I was a kid playing with my friends, I always imagined I’d be a Jedi. But never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d actually be one. Even today, I have to pinch myself to check it really happened. That day when I got to put on the robe and lightsabre will stay with me for the rest of my life. I mean who gets to be a Jedi?

I’ve had a really incredible career so far, but I’m not unique. This is just what can happen if you work hard and take your opportunities.