The CG Student Survival Tooltips
If you’re a student or planning to be a student hoping one day to step into the wild woolly world of CG in singapore, don’t worry, the world is not ending. Its not the end of the line. At the risk of discrediting myself, sometimes you don’t have to take everything you read too seriously.
Is CG education in the polys in need of reform? Hell yes. Is it going to happen? Hell no.
So as long as you can understand this principle, you will be good to go. Not everyone lecturer that teaches CG at the polys is a doofus. I myself had once taught part time at a poly and I am not a doofus. At least, I don’t think I am. But then again I might be wrong.
So once you can come to the conclusion that not every lecturer you meet is a doofus, the trick is to separate the wheat from the chaff, the dedicated from the doofus. I’d like to believe there are still dedicated teachers out there trying to make a difference. Most times, its the school system that does not allow you to do that.
So.Fuck.The.School.System.
First everyone have to realise that your school assignments are mostly annoyances disguised as school work. Most of the assignments given to you can completed by any professional CG artist worth his salt in less time than it takes for Lee Hsien Loong to count his monthly salary. If you are complaining about school assignments now, just wait till you work for a real boss in the industry. So having said that, if you plan to be a pro CG dude someday, you better be able to handle your school work and then some. And don’t give me the no time shit, spend less time on MSN, WoW and Youtube and you will have more than enough time to do whatever you want.
So getting back to point 1, once you have identified from your group of lecturers who’s a real artist and who’s a faker, latch on to the artist like a leech and pick his brain. The faker can kiss your ass. The problem with a lot of students is, they don’t spend enough time asking smart questions. Where is the sense of discovery and exploration. Where is the inquisitiveness? The world of CG is a weird and wonderful place just waiting to be explored and no one seems bothered enough to ask a goddamn question. Most student I’ve teach have to be poked and prodded into asking questions.
If you don’t ask questions, it means you are not thinking enough.
How do I model this? How do I animate that? How do I light a scene? How do I frame a shot? What do I have to do to make myself a better artist? What is the difference between a hi-poly modeller and a low-poly modeller? Does modelling mean I have to stand in front of a fashion photographer in my undies?
Ask something. Ask anything. Just don’t ask me when I plan to get married. But if you have a chio sister or cousin, yes I am interested, but I digress.
So once you have identified a potential mentor, start asking questions and get off your butt and do something. And by doing something, I don’t mean just ask questions only. Now is the time to get started on something worth doing other than your school assignments. Most school assignments I’ve come across don’t challenge you beyond your ability to stay awake and interested. So work that brain and imagination and think of something imaginative and fun to do. Could be a character, an animation or an enivronment. Could even be a short film if you’re really ambitious and semi-suicidal.
If you like to try animation, but have no ability to model or rig, now is the time to start asking questions.
And no, I will not answer that. Think of it as the first question to ask your mentor.
7 Comments so far
Good lecturers need conducive environment to develop themselves to impart skills. Do we have it yet?
what you’ve highlighted about education in new/digital media design (fine, CG, if you must use that term) in singapore of late has made for an interesting read. i guess in a way it’s deterred me even more from considering pursuing further studies in the field.
spyer- As of this moment, the environment could be better. But then again things can always be better no matter where you are. Sometimes you just have to make the best of what you’ve got. Is the desert a conducive environment for plant life? No, but nonetheless there are plants that have adapted to the desert environment and has thrived despite the harsh conditions. Same thing goes for any artist working in the local industry. Just see the previous post and look what a group of dedicated artists has achieved despite all odds against them.
godwin- depends on how far you’re willing to go to pursue your dreams. You have to ask yourself if you’re willing to let shitty schools and bureacrats stand in yor way or are you going to find a way to make it work despite every obstacle that can be thrown in your way.
It’s always very funny how, despite being in different fields, what you end up writing is so similar to what I’m experiencing. Especially when it comes to the educational system. In fact, as I move around, I’m begining to wonder if it’s a common plight in tech-based areas of education.
In my line, especially evident in(but not limited to) the polytechnic level, there has been a whole lot of lacking awareness that would be required (and to a great extent, necessary) to equip students with if they wanted to go in the direction I’m in. While I won’t go so far as to say every lecturer’s doofus level in my field, I must say the existing system is such that the teachers either don’t or can’t keep up with the progress that’s happening outside. And neither do the people above them who should be acting as the gatekeepers.
As such, students end up getting taught, in many situations I’ve seen personally, the incorrect or inapplicable skills although they have the correct tools but are made to think they’re ready to take on the world. Then they get slapped thoroughly by reality. Painfully.
It is my opinion there are many areas in the local tech-driven education – animation, CAD, EE, etc., even Biomed – which requires reform. I’m not going to presume I know the answers to all of them or even know what the problems are in some cases. However, based on my narrow view of the big picture (somthing that I’m constant reminded of whenver any hint of possible suggestion for change is raised), one thing that should be changed is the way technology is adopted for teaching.
Right now, not entirely the fault of the teacher/lecturer as I feel many of them are indeed incapable of keeping in touch of the outside world, much of it has been, firstly, vendor-driven. With minimal outside-world knowledge, I’ve seen counteless lecturers depend on the splashy brochures and demos for their “knowledge” and since their superiors know little more, solutions get pushed through. Second – the desperate need to differentiate, as if in the private sector, to the extent where solutions are chosen just to show that “we’re different from them” message. Whether or not the teachers can handle them. And we end up with a tech-for-tech’s sake situation.
I know this is not the case in every situation and what I’m saying here is probably limited what I’ve seen when moving around the educational circles within my line. But it does happen and will continue to, so long as the motivation behind the education remains, so will, I feel, the direction.
I guess you’re right, but there’re always the obstacles you can fight, and then those which you can’t. I don’t know, I’m leaning ever more towards getting a formal fine arts education despite knowing that it alone will not lead me into any lucrative industry (not that I’m even interested in or driven by such prospects, which does seem almost like a reaction against the fact that all courses of study to do with a path towards industry work expects this) because of my – perhaps misguided, I don’t know – mindset that it will provide me a strong foundation with which other things could be built upon more easily. Afterall as it goes in my mind – I did teach myself Photoshop, Painter, win a couple of awards, have a good deal of amateur game production experience and all that, plus paper qualification isn’t all that sought after anymore et cetera. I’m not sure what you think, I mean, given your experience, if I’m painting any logic or plain silly to think like that?
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well written marc.
Really the “no-time” shed is crap.
It’s no a matter of can or cannot. It’s a matter of want or don’t want.
gw