all aboard the open {win}dow

Ever started a module, heard a cool idea from someone, not seen her in a week or so, and afterwards seen how the project had developed, and done a double-take? "Holy freaking crap! That's awesome! How the hell did you do that!?" - this being someone who's enrolled in the same course as you, and should, in theory, know roughly the equivalent of what you know. Yeah, I've been on both sides of that. Read on for the "secret" (TM)...


When it comes down to your education, there's something important that successful (in terms of their school work, anyway) people learn early on: it's your education, and your being educated is pretty much your responsibility.

There will always be lecturers who don't have the experience needed to teach you, or those who don't know what's going on, or those who just don't give a damn. It sucks, and you can complain (and, sometimes, you really should, because you should get your money's worth). But ultimately, your education is in your hands, and if you're not being challenged enough in your classes, then it's up to you to learn something new. There's a library with thousands of books, and the Internet with its nigh-infinite wealth of information (including great forums like CGTalk/CGSociety, ConceptArt.org, polycount and many, many others).

When it comes to art, few people really care whether you've got a degree or not. It's about your portfolio - what you can actually DO - and you're competing with loads of other designers and artists out there. And not just those at TOW - there are great schools throughout the world that are teaching top-class courses. Is your portfolio worthy of competing with theirs? And in terms of TOW, the very students who're sitting next to you in your lectures could be your competition one day, for the same job. What are you doing to get an edge?

Your portfolio's not something that you build after college/university/TOW. When you're working, a lot of the work you do (the good stuff, anyway) will probably be covered by non-disclosure agreements, meaning that you're not allowed to show anyone outside of the company any of the work you're doing... which means you can't use it in your portfolio. The time to work on your portfolio is NOW. While you're studying. Create work that not only surpasses expectations, but is of a high enough standard to show to a potential uber-client. If "student work" is all that you've ever made, then what chance is there of making professional work when you need to?

Therefore, I urge you to do these things during your studies at TOW:

Firstly, share your ideas and information with students who'll really make use of them and who'll do you the same favour. Okay, it may seem counter-intuitive to share your "advantage" with people with whom you'll be competing for that awesome job one day. But if I show Joe Bloggs this amazingly simple way of modelling beautiful edge loops, and he comes back with a stunning piece of work, I'll be more inspired to create work that can compete with what he's just created. The result is that MY work has improved too, and while I may be a relatively weaker candidate compared to Joe, I'll be a much stronger candidate compared to the Rest Of The World. And that's awesome.

Secondly, don't be afraid to do extra work and work ahead. I know some lecturers aren't a big fan of this; it makes their lectures less valuable if you already know what they're talking about, and you run the risk of "wasting your time" and having to redo a project if you've gone ahead and done it in a way that doesn't conform to standard practices or something. Fact is, ANY work that you do, benefits you. It's practice. It's experience. It's one of the *BIGGEST* factors toward your being Awesome. Some animator (I wish I could remember who it was, but I can't, so this is just a paraphrase) said that "There is one Great drawing in each of us. We just need to get the 6,000 crappy ones out of our systems before we can get to it."

You may do just enough work to pass. And if just passing is all you care about, and getting an average job, with artwork that is mediocre is good enough for you, then hey, it's your choice. There are loads of other awesome things you can do in your life outside of work.

But I'm gunning to be the best damn artist ever to walk the planet. Screw Loerie Awards, Golden Globes and Academy Awards: my artwork's going to touch peoples' hearts, bring them Truth and Beauty, and change the world. And you know what?

You can too. (...be the second best damn artist to ever walk the planet, anyway ;p).