Question

[Hexal]

Hey, i dont normaly do this but my friend seems to be in a pickle right now and would like some input, no this is not me saying this, i am completely happy in my course.

Friends Pickle:
I took first year illustration at Sheridan out of highschool. I enjoyed my time in the program and love illustration but I dont feel I improved as much as I should have. In the program they stress conceptual process and mixed media and conceptual process is one of my strengths and felt I was ahead of the game in that department and weaker in drawing skill itself. I decided to apply to Sheridan animation because I felt/feel that the program forces you to draw more and focus on structure and I will come out a better illustrator with the added option to animate. Also, if i become an illustrator my plan was to be a comic artist and animation stresses capturing action and story telling which is good for comic art. But at the same time then I loose the practice illustration gives you with conceptual ideas and media. I am very torn on whether or not I made the right decision and would hate to spend a year in animation only to dislike it and have to switch back into illustration a year behind all my friends. I feel like i will enjoy animation,but not as much as illustration. However, in the long run it will be the superior choice and prepare me better for my career. But I keep having this worry in the back of my head that I made the wrong choice so it is making me second guess my decision. WHAT SHOULD I DO!!!


I believe you take what you give to a course. But he would like other input.

Thanks for reading

[amarryth]

heyyy... well, i'm just about to go into my first year of illy.. but if pickle dude is having issues with his drawing not improving... he should be drawing more. taking another course isn't going to make him want to draw any more in his free time than he did with illustration. i wonder how many people going to sheridan for one of the ba's has had the inner battle of animation or illustration.. haha.. but seriously, i can't believe he switched programs over DRAWING! if he thinks he's going to learn more anatomy taking animation, check out some anatomy books, bring them to life drawing.. take a night course to learn a bit about it... if he wants to do illustration in the long run, why would you take another course and miss out on some potentially crucial info and teaching.. ah, but that's just my two cents.. has he not seen how much progress there is from first year to second year and second to third and so on? i believe that being in a slump usually means you're close to a big leap.. but yeah... i just wrote way too much, it's too late and i worked way too much tonight.. i hope that helped a little :D

[Storyboard Dave]

AGH! Sometimes this drives me nuts a little bit with people thinking that while in school once they choose one course/ department that they're locked into it for life. I understand completely that each individual department has a slightly different focus than another but I don't think any school states that once you choose a particular department you can't take classes in another. Youd' think that they'd encourage students to take classes OUTSIDE of the department to make them better, more rounded artists.

And for example, let's just say theoretically someone makes a choice to go into a department. They take a year or semester's worth of the classes and ends up hating some of the things in that particular department. I don't see the harm in that other than a little more time & money spent. It's not like the stuff they learned in that time frame was wasted- the person did find out something about themselves and the program. The only way they were going to know that is by literally going though it themselves. Art is such a personal choice that no matter how much advice we give or how much advice is given with good intentions, it's still a personal journey. It has to be fueled by a person's inner passion- NOT an societal mandate. Because if that was the case we'd all become lawyers, doctors and all of these professions that society deems as being more worthy or higher up on the socio-economic ladder than artists.

Remember why we became artists!

Learn to trust one's self motivation. That little voice inside of you that said to keep making pictures is still there. Don't let it get obscured by college curriculums. Don't be afraid to make a choice though. Worst case scenario is you actully find out what you're more passionate about and you end up pursuing that much more fervently and with greater desire.

One never loses anything in the pursuit of art; it's all a cumulative journey.