Hey everyone, just wanted to share with all of you that I’m starting college now. I’m going to Henry Cogswell College in Everett, Washington, and I will be studying computer animation and a bit of dv “film” making.
I am very excited, obviously, and I suspect you can all look forward to seeing some nifty stuff from me a year or so down the road (I need to–and want to–go through the basics first, of course).
And for those of you who are curious, this is the same college that Soren (who also posts on these boards) is going to. In fact, we are roommates, sharing an apartment.
I have no intention of ceasing to use Blender. I will be using Softimage XSI for college (because that’s the program they have there), but for some personal projects, and especially for proof-of-concept work and animatics, I will still be using Blender quite a lot simply because of how fast it is to use. And once I get linux up and running on my computer, I may even start doing more development work on Blender (though don’t count on it, because I will be extremely busy with the rigorous schedule of this college).
Glad to hear you’re getting into college but don’t assume that college will make you a good artist. College is really just a way to unleash any potential you might have. Looking back at the 4 years I wasted in college, I realise I could have gotten the same knowledge/experience in half the time if not less.
Hectic schedule? In college? Most colleges you have half the year off. I got 3 months vacation every Summer, 1.5 months over Christmas and another month or so at various holidays. Not to mention you only have to work half the day.
My last year was a bit hectic because of my disortation but the rest was a dawdle. The most important thing is to mingle with the people around you. Contacts are very important in the industry so butt-kissing professors (a pre-requisite skill) might help. Anyway, good luck and I hope you enjoy college more than I did.
Heh heh. Yeah, I’m very aware of that. College is a resource. I’m more or less thinking of this as time to practice a whole lot while having access to the expertise, advice, and feedback of the professors.
Not here, buddy. This is a year-round college. What that means, of course, is that we get through it faster (in three years instead of four), but also that we have very few breaks. I think we get two weeks off for christmas, and we get spring break off, and then two or three weeks off during the summer and that’s it.
I said something to one of the current students here about doing something or other in their free time, and their response was, “Free time? Excuse me, did you say free time? What the hell is that?”
Obviously, he was exagerating, but the point was that this is quite a rigorous school, and that if you take things seriously and really try to learn and get better, you’re not going to have too much free time to throw around.
The bottom line is that though they may be few and far between, there are still difficult and serious colleges out there. And Henry Cogswell seems to be one of them (though I can get back to you on that, since all I have so far is hearsay).
Although I do appreciate that you’re trying to help, I’m not the butt-kissing type. I prefer being honest and honorable. Perhaps that will screw me in life, but at least I can feel good about myself. And as far as contacts go, I already have quite a few. In fact, I had quite a few a couple years ago, too. But this was not from me trying to “make contacts” or “network”, this was simply from my genuine desire to know more and to have interesting discussions with people, not from a desire to merely use those people for my own benefit.
Again, this may screw me in the future, but I’m okay with that so long as I feel good about myself.
I hope you will make a great carreer choosing this area, I myself I wished I knew earlier in my life what I should do, but being 35 is not easy when you going to choose a new profession when it is hard to get a job…
Hectic schedule? In college? Most colleges you have half the year off. I got 3 months vacation every Summer, 1.5 months over Christmas and another month or so at various holidays. Not to mention you only have to work half the day.
