Henry Yan
oh my GOD this artist teaches at my school!! i can’t believe one of his pieces showed up on my dashboard. that’s awesome.
i really hope to get a class with him someday!
Dorm life BEGINS AGAIN!!!!!!
That’s all, folks! Here’s my finished analysis of form midterm assignment.
| hi :) i was creeping through the aau tag and i see that you go there and you seem to like it, it's one of the places i'm considering to go and i'm just worried about the mixed reviews so i was just wondering what you think about it and whether the horrible reviews about it (horrible teachers, bad administration department, real estate thingy majigy, etc etc) is true or not | ||
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shinyrocketship |
Hello! I’ve gotten a few asks similar to this, so I hope you don’t mind me answering publicly.
I’ve been at AAU for about 6 weeks, and I gotta say, coming here was the best decision I could have made. I have already massively improved in my knowledge of anatomy, I am much more confident drawing bodies, and I can render with charcoal extremely well. (I came here never using charcoal at all before.) Also I’ve made my own board game. From scratch. Yeah, that’s the kind of assignments you get in the illustration department.
Speaking of which, everything that I’m saying only applies to those going into the illustration major. I can’t say the same thing about photography or advertising or even animation. And CERTAINLY not fashion. Fashion has a 90% dropout rate. (enter at your own risk)
Personally, I absolutely LOVE every single one of my teachers. All of them are skilled artists and most of them are already successful in the art world! My figure drawing teacher? He animated for TMNT, The Secret of Nimh, and a bunch of other stuff. His father was a character designer and a visual development artist for Iron Giant. All of my teachers are funny and likeable, and they’ve taught me a ton already! Sure, I’ve cried a few times in Analysis of Form. Yeah, the stress is ridiculous and the workton leaves you with barely any free time. But it’s all worth it.
As for the administration or the real estate, I don’t know much about that. Yeah, AAU tries to get as much money as possible, but with all the benefits and knowledge and opportunities you get to come here? I say they can go right ahead do that.
All of the departments have been pretty reliable and understanding from what I’ve been through. The only thing that really frustrates me is the shuttle system. The buses aren’t always on time. But the good thing about that is you can always tell the teachers “it was the bus” when you’re late to class with a group of people.
I could go on all day about how amazing the Academy is. But just know that there is a TON of homework. Like it’s hard to overstate how much homework there is. And the grading system is harsh. A “C” is a good grade here.
Here, study this: http://faculty.academyart.edu/resource/FoundationsVisRubricTorsoDrawing.html
It is the actual grading rubric that’s up on the wall of my Analysis of Form class.
This school is amazing. You just need to prepare to put in as much as you want to get out of it. (Which is a lot.) I say, go for it. To anybody who is truly passionate about what they do and would kill for a career they love, the Academy is for you. :)
I used a Cintiq for the first time today.
All I can say is, fucking incredible.
I am so glad my school has actual Cintiq labs where you can use them in workshops for free.
I think I’ll ask for one for my 21st birthday. :3c
(I would say 18th birthday, but literally 1 week might be too late notice. Also I don’t need it, I have my own Intuos tablet. uwu)
I made a gif out of one of my instructors’ illustrations, for fun.
http://scotlandbarnes.blogspot.com/2012/08/catwoman-dark-knight-rises-wip_12.html
man i am jammin on my homework. feels good.
i was super worried i wasn’t gonna be able to finish it all but i just finished everything due for figure drawing and analysis of form. 3 figures on tracing paper finding the shapes withing the forms, 2 done freehand, 12 thumbnail sketches of simple shapes in different compositions, two of those fully rendered, and 6 drawings of a cartoon character printed out that i had to fully shade and render. wow i got all that done in two days feels great man.
the big thing im still worried about though…. is that i have to have a prototype of a whole board game done by wednesday. my own creation. i just realized i haven’t named it yet. but i got a board game for 99 cents at good will, it’ll be perfect for it! anyway wish me luck. :) i love art school phew.
1 minute gesture sketches from Figure Drawing The professor came by and said these were beautiful! :D I was so happy because he had never commented on my art before. Yay!
LOL shouldn’t you be paying attention?
Status Update: teacher let us in. Every computer has an intuos tablet. Score.
AM I GETTING BETTER
who knows
My first figure drawing class was today!!
this one came out the best yaaaay i can’t wait to improve :’)
Ready for my second day in San Francisco!! I slept really well last night, once I got past all the street noises. :)
dorm lyfe ✌
BIG MOVE IN DAY!!!!! Wow I’m gonna live in a dorm wow ahh
The sky is blue that is the first time I’ve seen that in The City!
I’ll be moving to San Francisco and into my dorms at the Academy of Art University. B) A new life begins.
Jean-Denis Haas recently made an appearance at the AAU Animation Club, and the club has since posted a summary of some of the things he talked about while in attendance.
While Working:
Drink water, and drink lots of it. This is good for a few reasons! First of all, water is better for you than Sodi-Pop or Redbull or Coffee — Duhh. I know it’s easy to run to the store so you can have a bottle of pop or something by your desk, but it’s even easier to get an H2Go or other reusable bottle and just go to the water fountain! Plus, then you’re saving money, and for students, that’s generally a big deal.
Additionally, drinking a lot of water will make you have to pee a lot! This is not only good for your body, but it forces you to take a break from work for a while. It’s easy to get caught up in your work and it’s hard to drag yourself away once you’re in that proverbial ‘zone’, but neither your body nor mind can accept that much at once. Physically, it’s super unnatural for us, as humans, to sit behind a desk and type/click/use a tablet/draw for hours on end every day. Carpal Tunnel, Tendonitis and other Repetitive Stress Injuries (RSI’s) are a serious threat to your livelihood as an animator. Don’t worry, there are preventative measures you can take - proper posture, stretching and hey, go figure, taking breaks! So drink water.
Mentally — and we’ve all been there — it’s too easy to get too close to your work. Taking that potty break from time to time, or just taking the initiative to get up and walk around for a few minutes will allow you to clear your head, think about other things for a bit, then come back to your animation with a fresher pair of eyes. Thus, drinking water can also help your animation look better in the end! What a wonderful beverage.
Make sure you stay healthy. It’s funny, but as an animator, one of the hardest things to do isn’t even work related! We spend too much time on the computer a day to be lazy, so make sure you’re active. Go to the gym, go for a jog, join a team for whatever sport you think you might like, just don’t sit around. We may not be professional athletes, but if our bodies stop working, we’re just as out of a job as they would be, and don’t forget it!
That’s good stuff. I gotta make sure I drink more water…
