[Pablobob]

Hey there folks, this is my first time posting, but I've been lurking here for about 3 or 4 months now.
I just have to say that you guys have been such an inspiration to me and I want to thank you for that.

But, I do have a question.
I've applied to schools in Ontario for Animation, so I applied to Sheridan (traditional as I'm just coming out of highschool), Seneca (for their digital media arts program... 3d stuff) and a couple others.
My true direction wants to go into 3d animation, and I'm afraid of going into Sheridan or any other school for traditional animation as I've heard some horror stories. Can anyone lend me some advice? Is it worth going for Sheridan? Or should I just go to Seneca for their DMA program and learn my 3d art skills there?

Hmm, I'm just looking for some supporting words as I'm freaked out about college as it is now.
Thanks,
- PhilG

[sliver fish]

dont listen to any of those 'stories' people are idiots... experience it for yourself.. then make a judgement. You could be losing out on a good college experience by listening to some people. Sheridan (and i suppose most colleges) is what you make of it.

i am curious though to hear these stories..

[sensoryoverload]

Pablobob - Well, I gotta tell ya. Sheridan is a good school, and if you could make it out of there you're already ahead of the game. I applied to both Sheridan in Oakville and Algonquin in Ottawa. I chose to go to Algonquin at the end because I'm from Ottawa and the tuition is way cheaper, the course is a 2 year program and the teachers are from Sheridan too. At the end I think I made the right decision for me to go to Algonquin because I saved a lot of money and I wasn't in debt, plus the fact that I was 1 year ahead. BUT!!!, traditional animation skill, life drawings, perspective drawings, design, layouts........ and (TIMING) all of these are still priceless. And if you go and take the 3D course at Seneca right now, you'll be missing valuable lessons that would help you out along the way in your 3D career.
This is all just my personal opinion, I'm sure you can make it either way if you try hard enough. But let me just give you an example. I worked at 2 different game studios before. We get a lot of demo tapes every week, and during lunch time we would sit and watch and sometimes laugh at the bad ones. Sometimes, we'll get some really shity stuff that are so bad we would pop the tape out after 10 seconds and throw it out. And other times we'll see a hardcore piece of work that would makes the room silent and we would rewind and rewind again. The funny thing is, the person with the shity tape had way more school than the person with the good tape, you figure it out....
Some of the horror stories are true, I've experienced my own dose of it when I was in school. I guess what I'm trying to ask is... how bad do you want it?

Good luck my friend!

[Liser Studios]

although i'm still in high school, i've heard a lot of things about doing 3d animation...
don't go to a school to learn 3d animation. you need to learn to be an artist, learn traditional art. you have to understand anatomy well, perspective, color usage, composition, and many various mediums.
from what i've heard on here, you can learn 3d (i think it was Maya?) in a matter of 6 months on your own time, all while learning your important stuff at school.
I've heard that when you come out of college, they don't look at your school, but look at your portfolio. Don't you think they'd be more impressed by someone with great 2d skills, 2d animation, and 3d animation; instead of just good 3d animation?
i think the saying i heard was... you can teach an artist how to you software, but you can't teach a software user to be an artist.
something like that

btw.. there's always these questions on here about what school to go to for animation. how about illustration?!??!??!! I want to be an illustrator, and I've asked what schools are good for that, but never get answers. Is it less important what school you go to? Cuz right now i'm thinking of SVA, but that's so far away. If it doesn't matter, i'd go to Edinboro, they have one of the oldest art programs in the nation, it's all mainly traditional stuff, and they had some good alumni (but they were all animators!).

[sensoryoverload]

Liser - I agree with you to a certain level on your view in taking 3D animation course. After all I have never taken a computer course in my life. I've learn all my not classical stuff on my own and at work. Not that I think I'd be able to do just as well if I had taken school, but sometime I think they're kinna a rip off. With the amount that I would have to pay for tuition and all the other expenses for a digital course, I could buy a really high end computer and have a ton of money to spare. But there's a down side to learning at home. You could put in just as much time as students in the course. In fact you could probably put in more time if you count the time you'll save from traveling. But a 3D course at Sheridan also has it's perks, some of the teachers there are from big Studios in L.A and San Fran, the people you'll meet there could help you with problems or help you find a job in the future. and the chicks.... (you'd probably won't have time for that though... ) but there are some things money can buy... these are some of them.

About your question on illustration schools. I think you should call the coordinators at the two school and ask them what the differences are between the two schools and why one school is better then the other. When I was at Algonquin, the teacher got a lot of questions about the difference between the two school also. so I think they're used to that by now.

hope that helps!