Hello men and women gathered in the name of arts. I've been browsing through threads about graphics and designing course and most have recommended The One Academy College is well-rounded which trains you to hone your drawing techniques. I also heard the standard there is higher which can be struggling for some, but the rewards certainly fruitful.

I'm only 17 which i'm taking SPM this year , and well yes i have a passion and liking for beautiful colors and art. I'm very much interested in Interior Designing and Architecture, or even Multimedia Designing. Most probably enrolling in TOA, so i'm wondering if i can enquire a few questions from you seniors first .

Firstly,
How much is the fees for Diploma, Degree, Foundation? Seriously i have no idea =x. It would be nice to have someone list it down for me because i'm not financially well-equiped!

Secondly,
What do they TEACH there? The syllabus/subjects?

Thirdly,
Can anyone tell me more about Interior Designing and Multimedia Designing? (yes i'm noob!)

Fourthly,
Do i need to train up my drawing skills and photoshopping skills before entering?

It would be nice if you guys could share a bit her and there!

I'm sorry for this long and draggy post, but venturing into arts has always been my dream and the effort and hardwork to create something original really is something beautiful!

Thank you very much, will continue checking back!

This post has been edited by booblegum: May 17 2008, 03:39 PM

erm diploma cost 100k++
my fren studying ther"
u wont have time for anyting else when semester starts"
keep on doing work till late at night 4am to pass up work" no dota..
but like u say it's fruitful"
just my 2 cents'

100K for Diploma? Wow.. can you divide it into year basis? Then i can calculate much more easily!

Hahha don't worry about games, i QUIT! SPM IS COMING! Oh well, what's needed more than commitment when it comes to assignments?

If you are taking interior design, you will use Autocad and other 3D applications more often. Illustrator & Photoshop not much. But different colleges have different syllabus, so it's hard to tell.

TOA Diploma course cost RM100K+? Lu sot ah? RM50K lare.

All courses have different fees. Digital Animation is the most expensive if I'm not mistaken(I know cause I'm taking it now). For more info you can try toa.edu.my .

They guide you, share their experience with you here in TOA. Most of the time you'll have to learn stuff yourself / do your own research, afterthat look for the lecturer/tutor and let them guide you, so that you'll be on the right track. Most of the subjects are practical, only few are theory. For example the LAN subjects.

Again, for more info you can try toa.edu.my . Interior design is pretty obvious, you design houses / buildings and etc. Multimedia is mostly vid editting, flash, website designing, creating vids, and etc, you'll be learning some html/java in this course too, I think.

No, you don't have to train your drawing skills or whatever skills, but its better if you did / or at least know some of the basics. Most of the time you'll learn loads when going through an assignment.

Of course, like what rickrick said, no games, no nothing. Most of your social life will probably be spent with your TOA classmates. It is work work work when you step in this college. Sleepless night is not really guaranteed, it depends on how much you slack / procrastinate. If you can work all day without any interference, you'll prolly be able to sleep at night.

=)

haha~,degree is 86k(3+1)
if go overseas....72k only 1 year,include all,hostel or wat...except,daily cost~^^

fees
well it's been posted up there
for the 1st year
what they teach you is the basic
from designing to fine arts(foundation year in TOA is very hard)
not meant to scare you
but seriously you need to spend more time on your work more than play
basically,you have no time to play at all

it would be good if you train up now
so that you can do work faster when they teaches you

I've heard so much about working hard and having sleepless nights, but i guess it's a good form of practice for the real world and the pressure out there !

Well i'm not one who loves to play, okay maybe i am but i guess it's about prioritising right!

Thank you everyone for the replies! For the fees list too .

And Xiven's wonderful thoughts that helped me a lot!

Keep em coming!

nothing in life is easy dude. i think it might suprise you that multimedia student learn stuffs on their own most of the time. the technology and styles evolves way to fast for lecturers to teach them to you. sleepless night is the norm but when you are having fun doing artwork it ain't so bad.

and they say art subject is easy. yeah right? as most of the above posters will confess its ain't that easy chump!

I agree on the multimedia part, I myself picked up a few stuff regarding multimedia. Sleepless nights isn't normal if you're driving to college, its pretty dangerous. =x

And yes, I confess, art isn't easy, you need alot of critical thinking/ideas, most of the time you'll be spending on is actually on the idea than executing it. But that depends on the subject too.





Our assignments are very time consuming, especially when you're still in the "basics-zone" and "I-am-stuck-zone". For example, when you start your foundation course, there'll be this subject called Figure Studies, you'll have to do 4 portraits and deadline is in 1 week. If you're hardworking, you'd probably spend 4~6 hours on 1 piece.

Though, I think they changed the format to 1 piece per week for my juniors, lucky people. >.>

Well, this is my point of view from my experience. Some ppl might think otherwise.

yep
they changed it into one pcs per week
according to my coursemate
(i left TOA btw)

Do TOA's lecturer teach coding for webpage? eg html, css, action script etc. Is that in the syllabus?

that will be the major year for multimedia design

Figure drawing is definitely not a 1 hour work. Need a few hours to get it done.

Pro = 2 - 3 hours

Beginner = 5 hours or even more



Last time I need to do 2 pcs weekly. Everyweek 2 different figure drawings. If the one that has been rejected, have to redo and bring it along next week, so 3 pcs.

Hahahahaha, I must say drawing is the hardest, lulz! Driving me nuts the entire semester. But until the last 2 weeks I did see some improvement in drawing.

The rest are kacang putih, like color fundamentals and etc.

Btw, not only TOA workload is heavy, some other colleges too.

When you kena pressure you will learn something from there.

interior? well you better hope you are lucky. cause at my batch, not many people choose that subject, therefor no class open for interior and those few who wanted to study interior went some place else.

---

Added on May 19, 2008, 5:29 pmyes. and very basic. you need to learn yourself for more advance coding.
For actionscript i think they still teaching AS2?
can someone there confirm on this?

This post has been edited by [+]: May 19 2008, 05:30 PM

For my batch, I heard most, if not all of the chinese ed[no offence] went for interior. (-5,6,7?)

I'm not really sure though.

I'm from TOA, basically you do need to brush up your photoshop skills and drawings skills because the lecturer there will teach you. but its an extra point for you if you have the strong basic for these. You need to work hard by the way. because when u see someone artwork is better than u. u will hide yours. haha. that happens to me bro. you need alot of practice. cannot be lazy. if not u will end up retake resit or the border line student. =) good luck

2 piece per week bro. I'm doing foundation right now

I had been in the CG line for 12 years now. When-ever there are some kid ask me if its good to go into this line. I will ask them "What do u want in your life?

1) Money?
2) Job satisfaction?
3) Flexible working Life

If your answer is number 1, sorry, art in Malaysia wont make you rich (May be 1 in a 1000 will get rich) after 5 years you may be able to get 3-4K, but to break the 5K barrier is difficult, then to break the 10k barrier is almost impossible. Unless:

1) U start your own studio (U dont need a lot of money to start, but u need a lot of money to survive)
2) U are good and lucky to get a good boss and u are the head of department or supervisor or something (Only 1 or 2 in a company, and has to be a big company)
3) Freelance (None-stable income + PITA to collect money)

And if your answer is number 2, sorry also. Becasue 80% of the time, what u do is not what u like. Changes after changes, u will end-up with the version that u dont like, perhaps u will start to hate it.

If your answer is number 3, LOL. Almost all studios now require u to work late, and guest what? U still have to go into the office the next morning. U work till 3 last night? may be u can be late for 1 or 2 hours. But what is 1 or 2 hours compare to working till 3 AM.


So if for those who like art and CG, just remain it as a hobby. When ppl told u that making your hobby as your career is fun. he is bullshitting u. U want money? Go study business, economy, Oil & Gas/ Aerospace Engineering, doctor, lawyer or even a start your own business nor matter how small it is.


U want job satisfaction? Well depends what u like most. U like Flexible working hour, become a sales-man, insurance/property/direct-sales agent. u will have plenty of time.

Trust me... youngman, before its too late. Dont waste your 3 years and 60K fees in this line. its not worth it. Trust me...

Can earn a lot of money only when you run your own design company.