Weekly Update #4: First & Second Year
Here's a general overview of my first two years, in case any of you were wondering what it's like to study at an art-oriented school instead of a regular university. One class in particular (Introduction to Anatomy) will get it's own entry because I have a lot to say about my experiences in it. Like I mentioned in my first update, I'm currently taking two of my courses in the summer, and so far it's going a lot better! Not going to talk about that one until I've finished covering everything else I skimmed over.
First Year:
Not going to post my schedule from first year, since I put it up when I got it two years ago (shit, what happened? where did that time go?). It wasn't particularly interesting anyway, since you don't actually get to choose any of your courses in first year, other than the time you want to take them at. The classes you take are dependent on your stream (art or design), and your major. The design students have 2 or 3 courses that they take together: communication design, colour in context, and maybe life drawing; but the only classes they share with the art stream are the basic art history course, and english. As a result of this, 98% of my friends are from the design stream, with the exception being students who transferred to art after first year. Not too bad, but it's a shame there isn't more interaction between the two streams. I'd love to befriend someone who can sneak me into the wood/metal/plastic shop.
We also had to take one core course per semester (illustrative concepts 1 & 2 for me), and in the winter semester one of the general design courses is replaced by an analog (traditional) media class. My favourite class in first year was colour in context, since it was a lot more relaxed than my core course, but wasn't too far out of my skill set like communication design (which was easier for advertising.graphic design students). Most of the class time was spent playing with gouache paint and talking with the students who usually sat at my table. Occasionally we'd spent a bit of time doing a crit, or discussing roughs with the professor, but most of the time it was a nice break after the illustration class I had in the morning.
The life drawing classes were (and still are, since you don't stop taking those if you're in illustration) an interesting experience. Staring at a naked person was weird for maybe 5 seconds, and after that it's just really boring, especially when you have to do it for about 2 and a half hours. They're definitely helpful, but boring as fuck. Drawing isn't so bad, but painting? No. Half the time my person ends up with blue shadows because I run out of paint but I don't want to mix more. I have gotten much better at mixing colours, but still not that great at just painting something without a linear and pen/ink over top. Also, being a life model is much harder than expected. I did a ten minute pose once because our model just didn't show up to the last class (clothed, because the professor didn't feel like getting fired), and it was fucking excruciating. I only volunteered to sit for the class because the professor was doing a drawing for each student, and I really wanted him to do a drawing of me. I still have it, and it's amazing.
Illustrative concepts 1 & 2 were pretty intense. The grading is a lot more strict than high school, and 60 is the average for studio classes. I have been able to achieve a few 70s, and it's a fantastic feeling when that happens. I might cry if I ever manage get an 80. The crits are really nerve-racking at first, but by the end of the first semester they're a lot easier. The only time I'm nervous is if I know my piece isn't very well executed, or has a really poor concept. Still, I've gotten a lot better at receiving criticism and talking to groups of people.
Second Year:
Second year we had a lot of pre-chosen courses again, but we were allowed to choose ~one~ liberal studies course. I chose game studies, because all of the english courses I wanted were full. This turned out to be a fantastic decision since the class was really fun, and I got a great mark that helped boost my overall average. Once again we had life drawing and the core illustration course, and one history course. Illustration students were also required to take an introductory course to human anatomy (which warrants its own post!), a digital media class, a introductory course to graphic design, and a think tank class (WHICH WAS A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY.)
I learned the most in the figure drawing, anatomy, and digital media classes. The digital media class also encouraged me to get my own drawing tablet, which I am still practicing with. I've stuck with traditional media for my current classes, simply because I'd like to get a better grasp on traditional media before I start trying to switch to digital stuff.
I have one additional story about the figure drawing/painting class. We had a tutorial class for the figure drawing, which was where we did the actual drawing stuff. The normal studio course was strictly painting. Having a tutorial to cover the drawing bits at the same time was super helpful. At one point in the course our TA took us down to the AGO (art gallery) that's right next to the school to do a study or a painting or statue. We were given three weeks to work on this. Upon arriving at the gallery on the last class session there, I discovered the painting my group was studying had been fucking removed from the gallery. The staff suggested I draw one of the artist's other painting, but at that point it was much too late. Luckily the TA agreed to only mark the process work we had been able to complete. I was actually kind of happy that I never had to complete the full assignment, just not until the TA got everything sorted out. He also threw us a pizza party for the last class and it was great.
I'm sure I have more about the other classes, but I can't remember them at the moment, and this post is long enough as is. I'll be sure to post them if/when I think of them later. Until next week!
First Year:
Not going to post my schedule from first year, since I put it up when I got it two years ago (shit, what happened? where did that time go?). It wasn't particularly interesting anyway, since you don't actually get to choose any of your courses in first year, other than the time you want to take them at. The classes you take are dependent on your stream (art or design), and your major. The design students have 2 or 3 courses that they take together: communication design, colour in context, and maybe life drawing; but the only classes they share with the art stream are the basic art history course, and english. As a result of this, 98% of my friends are from the design stream, with the exception being students who transferred to art after first year. Not too bad, but it's a shame there isn't more interaction between the two streams. I'd love to befriend someone who can sneak me into the wood/metal/plastic shop.
We also had to take one core course per semester (illustrative concepts 1 & 2 for me), and in the winter semester one of the general design courses is replaced by an analog (traditional) media class. My favourite class in first year was colour in context, since it was a lot more relaxed than my core course, but wasn't too far out of my skill set like communication design (which was easier for advertising.graphic design students). Most of the class time was spent playing with gouache paint and talking with the students who usually sat at my table. Occasionally we'd spent a bit of time doing a crit, or discussing roughs with the professor, but most of the time it was a nice break after the illustration class I had in the morning.
The life drawing classes were (and still are, since you don't stop taking those if you're in illustration) an interesting experience. Staring at a naked person was weird for maybe 5 seconds, and after that it's just really boring, especially when you have to do it for about 2 and a half hours. They're definitely helpful, but boring as fuck. Drawing isn't so bad, but painting? No. Half the time my person ends up with blue shadows because I run out of paint but I don't want to mix more. I have gotten much better at mixing colours, but still not that great at just painting something without a linear and pen/ink over top. Also, being a life model is much harder than expected. I did a ten minute pose once because our model just didn't show up to the last class (clothed, because the professor didn't feel like getting fired), and it was fucking excruciating. I only volunteered to sit for the class because the professor was doing a drawing for each student, and I really wanted him to do a drawing of me. I still have it, and it's amazing.
Illustrative concepts 1 & 2 were pretty intense. The grading is a lot more strict than high school, and 60 is the average for studio classes. I have been able to achieve a few 70s, and it's a fantastic feeling when that happens. I might cry if I ever manage get an 80. The crits are really nerve-racking at first, but by the end of the first semester they're a lot easier. The only time I'm nervous is if I know my piece isn't very well executed, or has a really poor concept. Still, I've gotten a lot better at receiving criticism and talking to groups of people.
Second Year:
Second year we had a lot of pre-chosen courses again, but we were allowed to choose ~one~ liberal studies course. I chose game studies, because all of the english courses I wanted were full. This turned out to be a fantastic decision since the class was really fun, and I got a great mark that helped boost my overall average. Once again we had life drawing and the core illustration course, and one history course. Illustration students were also required to take an introductory course to human anatomy (which warrants its own post!), a digital media class, a introductory course to graphic design, and a think tank class (WHICH WAS A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY.)
I learned the most in the figure drawing, anatomy, and digital media classes. The digital media class also encouraged me to get my own drawing tablet, which I am still practicing with. I've stuck with traditional media for my current classes, simply because I'd like to get a better grasp on traditional media before I start trying to switch to digital stuff.
I have one additional story about the figure drawing/painting class. We had a tutorial class for the figure drawing, which was where we did the actual drawing stuff. The normal studio course was strictly painting. Having a tutorial to cover the drawing bits at the same time was super helpful. At one point in the course our TA took us down to the AGO (art gallery) that's right next to the school to do a study or a painting or statue. We were given three weeks to work on this. Upon arriving at the gallery on the last class session there, I discovered the painting my group was studying had been fucking removed from the gallery. The staff suggested I draw one of the artist's other painting, but at that point it was much too late. Luckily the TA agreed to only mark the process work we had been able to complete. I was actually kind of happy that I never had to complete the full assignment, just not until the TA got everything sorted out. He also threw us a pizza party for the last class and it was great.
I'm sure I have more about the other classes, but I can't remember them at the moment, and this post is long enough as is. I'll be sure to post them if/when I think of them later. Until next week!