It's my first post for 2014! but I guess I'll start off by talking about a major thing of 2013...
(this is a post i kept in draft for a long time, but i think i ought to share it)
It's been at least 3 years since I enrolled into
DigiPen, and I would say I've come a long way from where I've started.
And I've learn a lot along the way.
At
the beginning, I loved school, especially since i just finished serving
my 2 years in National Service. Everything seemed great, and although I
was a bit disappointed that I had to study a sem more than my other
ex-classmates back in poly, I felt it was super refreshing going back to
study. I was proud that I managed to get enrolled in DigiPen, and felt I
was doing better in the traditional aspect compared to my other
classmates. But after the first semester, I began to realize a couple of
things; One was that I wasn't doing so well as I thought I should. I've
been living under the impression that if I'm one of the better few in
my class, I can find a job after graduation. Well, I was proved wrong
after realizing I knew so little about anatomy, or even anything! So I started to work
hard (or harder).
During the second semester, I had actually lost
my clique of friends who I used to hang out with during the first
semester. They have decided not to pursue this course. I guess that is
another thing, you have to know what you want to do when you graduate;
Be an animator? an illustrator? a modeller? You have to be sure you want
to pursue this line of industry, and lock it in. I told myself I wanted
to do animation or illustration, but at this point I wasn't so firm on my
decision.
I've got the taste of working with a team
during the 3rd semester. You can say that I found out everyone has their
own work ethics, and it is not easy to 'clique' with them. Sometimes I
want it a certain way, but I just can't seem to even compromise for it,
and so just have to 'suck it up' and move on. I also felt that it was a
very tough semester compared to the 1st two, partly due to the fact that
I had a project class and another time-consuming
film class(requires scouting of places etc). I never felt this difficulty thus far, and seeing everyone
also feeling the same, it made me wonder, is this course even humane?
I
somewhat liked the 4th semester, partly coz there wasn't a major
module, and it was relatively easier compared to the 3rd. At that point I
learn that I wasn't great with environment, and maybe I lacked the
enthusiasm for it, so I was slowly convinced that I should be a
character artist/animator. It pushed me to find things to do, and work
on other side projects. I guess that's another thing to keep in mind, to
do stuff outside of school. I've been trying to work on that, but it
just doesn't last long.
The junior year felt like a great
accomplishment to me, I felt great, and managed to apply what I learn
into a solo project. Of course, I do have help along the way, and I was
it was a nice experience that my friends and I worked hard together, and
even overnight-ed at my place once, to finish our individual project.
These two semesters were where I was convinced that animation is really
what I want to do and work on. This passion kept me moving I would say.
I
was the producer of a 5-man team during my senior year, and have a
semester study in the US campus. I would say it has been a life-learning
(and even a life-changing) experience. I admit I learn the most here
throughout the course of study. There were so many things I didn't know
how to do; I didn't know how to cook, I didn't know how to do the
laundry and I got to know my friends a LOT better. Being in a new place,
I was over-cautious about things, so I tend to be hesitant most of the
times. I'm glad that my friends are quite supportive on how I do some of
the planning, although I felt some things could have gone much better.
During
the final weeks of my study, I found out that my work was... okay. You
can say I'm really depressed at one point in time, and it ain't easy to
suppress this feeling, when many of your friends are also concerned in
finding a job after graduation. But after taking a step back, I realized
that why did I choose this in the first place...
Because I wanna do what I like to do.
So I just have to take life easy, and slowly work on build up my
portfolio. Overall, I really am glad that I came to DigiPen Singapore,
because the friends here are really awesome, and it definitely matures
you as a better artist AND person.
