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...

do i talk like lecturer? lolz.... i just wish to let you all know the point aren't what career can only make rich, but what attitude you have.

how much I earn? this is quite private but i can tell you i can survive with only my salary and yet i still can give my parents money. saving? of caz...

i juz 2 years sumthing working experience. i think for current is important to get more working experience. Then i will only start to think how 2 build up my business? or brand.... icon_rolleyes.gif

Wow, After the second page I just started to breeze thru and pick up keywords to get the gist of the topic. So here are my two cents about the topic.

It's been a while since I stepped into the front door of The One but I must say I did learn so much from my time there. Yes, there are periods of cursing and swearing behind the backs of various lecturers. Yes, there were the late nights with group projects and getting up to all sorts of hijinx with classmates. Yes, I had my allot share of resit subjects, mainly figure studies during 7th and 8th sem as the course load was getting too much.

Hey! KFC was also my lecturer for half a sem! Yes! I remember you very well and playing Ragnarok with you too XD

What I can honestly say is that The One was a good starting point but it doesn't mean that you are fully prepared to take on the industry after you leave it. When I graduated I was very adamant not to step into production right away with the rest of my classmates for 2 reasons. 1, I felt that they were all being taken for a ride by Silver Ant (almost the whole class was employed by them) who offered them a below the industry level salary. 2, I knew there was something missing from my education from The One but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

I was very blessed at that point in my life to have been given the oppurtunity to study some more( God Bless my Great Grandfather and the inheritance) . Long Story short, I now specialise in Scriptwriting for Animation. I also go short 2d Experiemental Animations and have the amazing privilege to teach what I have learnt at a local Animation college in KL. My paper qualifications are such that I could have entered the faculty of MMU or any government uni without problems had it not been that I didn't wish to stuck in the middle of Cyberjaya away from known civilisation XD no offence to the MMU-ians)

Do I regret not going into production immediately? No. I would not have survived as an 'operator' like everyone. The competition was too great. When abroad I discovered what it was like to be a true artist. Yes, Animation is a celebrated artform. Visual expression at it's finest! I learnt the most valuable lesson. Decide what you are doing this for. Art for your living, or living for your Art. I chose the latter. I tell that to my students everyday. I don't want to help mass-train a bunch of computer monkeys for the coporate good. The college has those programs as well for shortcourse applicants and government tie-ins. I educate the diploma students to know that they are better than that. That they are meant for greater things because they can! Why be an animator for a project like Saladin when you can be the team leader? It's not difficult. In this day and age it's not so much about rank when you come in but your portfolio and creative skills.

Wah... went into lecturer mode back there... Anyways, always remember that you are an Artist. Keep this one Goal in mind whenever you are going thru rough patches with coursework and lecturers. The One has a system where they are required to fail a percentage of students every semester(for reason I would not devulge here) Keep your chin up and your marks above average and you will be find. How to keep your marks above average? Just make sure you hand everything up on time and you will be find. Even if you are not that good at drawing as long as the work is in you will be marked for  effort at the very least.

Last note: going for digital animation is good because it's the course where you learn about all of the other majors. yes... you do some interior too in that.

Last Last note: WHAT??? 1 A3 figure a week??? THAT'S NOT ENOUGH! I HAD TO DO 4-6!!!! AND IT PROGRESSIVELY GOT MORE AS THE SEMESTERS ROLLED BY!!! 

I have been reading the post a while back and was reluctant to post anything here since it is purely diverted towards 3d animation industry and makes it look like the whole malaysia is going towards doomsday and no return. Of course from the outside it may look like this, but may not be the case.

Of course I’m definitely not those big-shot that is earning 10k per month and can brag on how successful I am, but I am here to say it is not as bad as what you think if you willing to give it all out in what you believe to study. I am still growing, and of course, inspired to be successful in terms of fame and money in the future. But what comes first is effort and beliefs.

I will share from my bits of experience as well, yes I’m a graduate from this place as well, I wouldn’t mind to say myself I’m proud from where I am and now. I’m from the multimedia design course which I felt, and also from my experience, observation, what matters most wouldn’t be how ”keng” you are during your study, but at the same time

1. how passionate you are in this industry, regardless or 3d, illustrtion, advertising or mulimedia
2. did I say being passionate contributes to a better work that you love and trust ?

and from the two main point, i didn’t mention about talent, because it’s something extra that will keep you in front for a while, because what holds people back and turn to square one, oreven quit because they know the fact that this lien wouldn’t be a straight line to go. I understand that from the start because i fuken hate direct sales, some money can come fast, but there’s no kick in it, where I still prefer hard-earned cash from my own hand, just like in MMO crafting weapon in blacksmith shop.

and most of the replies here worried that their bad results will turn themselves into hell upon graduation, that may not be the case, as I have seen successful cases of students that is ignored most of the time or not in the spotlight of lecturers, end up being way further from those they ”predicted”, it is because that they take chances and risk. One of the perfect example would be between Guy A and Guy B

1. A is a super talented programmer that is loved by everyone in the class from day 1
2. B is just another slacker, but still loves what he does, just slack
3. A always on the top spotlight, high good grades...so what?
4. B is on the average, but sometimes Wows the classmates and lecturer from his work
5. final semester, A felt pressure and most of the time didn’t perform as predicted, even pressured, even dropout at the last minute
6. B is the underdog, working behind, and at the finish line, became an unfounded talent.

Well, the story top there might be ambigious to some or irrelevant, but what I wnt to say, it doesn’t fuken matter if you’re not born to be artist or talent, what really matters most IN MY OPINION wold be both effort and beliefs. Yes, the good ones may start up fast, but I’d still prefer being the underdog and learn from the best. This even apply after you have graduated, if you believe in what you do, and what you do is good, people will come for you eventually. On the same side, your work will reflect on how people think of you, and how good you will be in the end.

hmm...a bit long winded.

Being a TOA student that has never failed any subject nor semester, I can vouch that it's not that lifeless in TOA after your first two horrible semesters in your foundation year.

The worst part is the Figure Studies class - you have to hand up 2 portraits of people per week, spending roughly 4-6 hours per piece to get the optimum results. After a few classes the quality deteriorates because you ultimately sacrifice this subject for other major presentations you have to finish up at the end of the semester.

I won't deny that several young women are often seen acting flirtatiously with and showing boobage and ass-cracks to every breathing male organism in college - the lecturers/tutors to gain favour and to ultimately get higher marks despite the low quality of their work, or to get them to help them with their work, and the young male students to get them to finish their assignments for them.

[ Seriously! You come into class and the first thing you hear is some hiao girl saying "Omg sirrrr, you look so handsome today!" ... Wtf? ]

Work hard, play hard, get your results. If you know how to juggle your time effectively instead of stoning away without getting anything done, you'll be fine. I've classmates who club on a regular basis every week or so but still pass up their assignments and get relatively high marks because of their quality work. A lot of us also work part-time AND have fun outside of college while getting good marks.

There will be those who seem to retake countless semesters... but then again, that's because they don't even bother giving any form of work that's up to par, nor do they even bother putting in any proper effort in the first place. For TOA, you can't complete a final project that you were given 5 weeks to plan, design and execute within an hour and expect decent results if you don't have the skills to back it up.

In short, those who fail usually deserve it. They fail, blame the lecturers and say that the lecturers are picky and overly detail-oriented, choosing to favour everyone else but seem to have some sort of vendetta against them, and then whine continuously until the end of the semester they retook, and... fail again. See a pattern?

At the end of the day, a lot of these ARE the rich b-stards who are really spoilt and can afford to waste their parents' money. But not all of us are like that, and we do have a lot of fun while completing our assignments on the side.

Don't stereotype TOA students into a) Rich/spoiled kids and b) Zombies simply because that seems to be the majority that make their obnoxious views known. There're all kinds.

That aside, you're better off choosing another college for Interior Design. Just sayin'.