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!!!

Silver Ant like most other production studios out there (Dont' count MFX, Uncle Moon only hires the best, or at least that's what he says XD) I won't say that it discrupts the graduates getting a better future plan but from the experience of many of my friends working in there, they have said had they known better it the would be in a much higher position now in the new company that they are working in. With that said however, Silver Ant pulls in tons of japanese jobs that keep most of their staff happy because they think that they get to create all the in-game movies and opening trailers of square unix games. The one thing i disagree about with this situation is that they don't get the recognition for the job. SilverAnt has is stated in some contracts that the works are all incognito. Basically you can work there and after two-three years have no portfolio to show for it except for a recommendation letter from the boss.

I won't divulge more industry secrets to you. It's best to keep your image of the industry rosy for the time being

Scriptwriting for Animation. Writing Scripts/ Screenplays for animation is very different from what you do for TV or the movies. It's all about your story telling skills and making full use of what the medium has to offer. Animation is only limited by the storyteller's imagination. In film you have to consider real life and then stretch the bounderies for your story. A story written specifically in Animation is taking a dream/vision and making it real. Believable. Animation is the 'Illusion of Life'. In film screenwriting you take all that you have and mold it into a story. For Animation it's like being God you have to create everything from visual to sound to the things that happen off-screen as well. A big topic that usually stretches thru 15 weeks of class XD Haha! Yes, I'm a lecturer but I prefer to think of it as being part of the group. I learn alot too from the way the students react to the assignments and the ideas that they can create .

You can say now that you are living for your art. That's because you haven't been paid for your first job yet There will be times you'll find yourself going " Yes, Dato!" "That's the perfect colour, Puan!" "Anything for Dato and Puan!" As long as you catch yourself there is nothing that can be fixed. Just remember that you are the artist first and foremost. No matter what anyone tells you, Bright fushia shiny purple does not go with shocking lime green on a billboard

Artists are not lazy! We are just laying back in style

Business is not a bad thing. You will have to study business at one point sooner or later. It will help alot as an artist to understand what the way the client is thinking. Or your PhD in Marketing Management boss for that matter

Maybe instead of interior design you might want to go for being an Architect instead. Toss the two about. I do know that in it is okay for an Architect to reconstruct the layout of the house but not for an ID to change or remove any existing walls. Not everyone consults an ID before the house is built so you might end up working with some of the weirdest sized rooms and angles. I've seen houses in puchong that are just odd. Oh! and the condo near cheras where the master bedroom looked like a tetris match If ID is your calling then shop around a bit more. There are better schools than the one for ID Don't bother about multimedia too much. If you are diligent you can pick it up yourself. The market is over saturated at the moment. Almost every 16 year old can build a decent website these days.

This post has been edited by saintangelius: Jun 13 2008, 10:32 AM

Pushing Daisies means to have died and be buried.
Concept and visual have too loose a relationship.
The PS skills is reasonable but might need bigger res to see the extent of the details. Colour...getting a bit bright. Not sure of where to focus.
Good effort there! Can be better. Considering that you have not been to digital design class this is a good start o.o-b