FIVE HOURS LATER... Scholastic Portfolio Day

Hello alls in wonderland!
Hello my friends of all animals!
Hello my fellow flash dancers!
Ready to hear of the tale full of words such as SUNDAY, 5 HOURS, CRITIQUE, and EGOS!?

Here we go!

National Portfolio day... I had never been there... but I had a plan. It was simple on paper. I would first stand in line @ MCAD and have my portfolio critiqued. Then I would go to RMCAD and have them look at my portfolio. Then I'd go to a toss up school that offered animation and leave.
3 schools
2 hours and then gone!
...
More like 5 hours later...

So I was standing in line at MCAD. It was a bit of a long line but at least I had a team with me! There was moral support from my boyfriend, Terrence, who was so nice to tag along and stand for hours on end. Then there was my aunt, who was also kind enough to stand in line for me. (however she was at RMCAD) Anyway, after waiting 1 hour in line, my aunt called me over to the RMCAD one because I would be next.

I was excited. I thought I had this in the bag. I mean, a lot of people ahead of me had small pieces or anime. I had big pieces. I had observational things. I thought I was superior. My ego was in inflate mode.

So I made small chat with this younger lady who informed me of RMCAD. It was a private school with mild weather and classes with around 12 people. Dorms were close to the campus and jobs for animators were easy as long as you moved to California after attending.

Sooner or later I found myself in front of this older woman. She had grey hair and it was cut somewhere between her chin and her shoulders. She had wrinkles. She seemed old. I already had a stereotype for her: old fashioned. So me, not knowing how this portfolio thing worked, made sure to be friendly and laid out all my stuff... all of it... like... too much of it. She first when through my sketchbooks and said i should only have my BEST THINGS marked in there. ... to my dismay my BEST THINGS were ripped out and apart of my portfolio. Guess I didn't really need my sketchbooks... ... ... After making her look through a ton of anime and shizz I eventually geared her towards my observational and more traditional pieces. She wasn't thrilled. She then proceeded to tell me what was wrong with my pieces and why she didn't like them. She didn't really help me. My ego deflated. I could hear the air escaping from the side of my ego balloon. I think I figured out why RMCAD has such a small student body. If a lady like her is a representative, who doesn't seem too open to design-y styles and is too preoccupied with traditional art, I can only assume that the rest of the people there are kinda snooty and snobbish. I don't want to go to such a place.

SO WHAT DID WE LEARN ABOUT RMCAD & MY PORTFOLIO KIDS!?

• The woman there only showed some interest in about 4 of my pieces. (2 of which she still had a bone to pick with) [and therefore didn't give me any pointers or confidence as to what pieces I should send into the school]
• She didn't give me very good feedback. I didn't really walk away any smarter other then having a good composition means the picture is balanced any way you turn it.
• Scratch that. She told me I might better as an illustrator because I'm funny (according to my sketchbook). [That was the only positive thing to come from her mouth]
• I don't want to apply to that college anymore.

After dragging myself back to the MCAD line I joined my bf only to look super depressed. My ego was limp, as limp as a limp noodle or a deflated balloon or... iunno... tuna. A tuna fish. Although Kermit was a nice guy and open to all styles and art, such as the two girls who only seemed to have anime drawings before me, I didn't have the enthusiasm and excitement I had before. So when it was my time I forced a smile, because image is everything, and made sure not to dump everything on him. I pulled out my two latest sketchbooks and pointed out a few pages. I made sure to keep the summer one and junior year one hidden. Then I pulled out select works. The works I thought he'd want to see. My observational things and some of my more design-y pictures. We talked. It was awkward, but only because my confidence was destroyed. He had things to point out and some praise.

SO WHAT DID WE LEARN ABOUT MCAD & MY PORTFOLIO KIDS?

• People have different opinions. What the RMCAD lady had some interest in Kermit did not. While what she destroyed me with he pointed out some positive aspects of it.
• I need to finish my January pieces to use in my portfolio. Why? Because my portfolio should consist of two sections.
  1) Observational pieces (I don't have to send in an interior space or landscape YAY)
  2) Personal voice/ concentration (They want to see a body of work that relates with one another. That's because, as an animator, I'm going to make a story and pieces will have to be consistent. But that's probably something they tell to all different students going into a variety of majors.)
• They seem more open to all mediums and styles.

I felt a bit better, my balloon ego was half full and I had but one more place to look. Was I to go to Cornish College of the Arts? Or, perhaps, Laguna which seemed to have no line. I ended up standing in line for Laguna. There ended up being two girls ahead of me. All they had was anime. I couldn't help but laugh at them and yet relate with them. If I had come to portfolio day as a junior most of my pieces would have probably been anime. I can also understand why teachers and admissions people are getting sick of anime. After all was said and done with them I approached the man. He had quite the beard, despite his young age, and his eyes sometimes geared off in different directions. Is that an artist thing? Will I go cross eyed in a way? Meh? Anyway, he seemed like a nice fellow and offered up his critique as well constructive feedback. Sure, he had pointed out the problems in some pieces. But he backed up his punch to my ego with enough patching up constructive feedback that I left feeling as jolly as Santa.

SO WHAT DID WE LEARN ABOUT LAGUNA & MY PORTFOLIO KIDS?

• Some of my pictures had technical, compositional, color, value, etc. etc. issues. However, they were problems only to be expected by someone who had not attended college yet. So, in other words, I was good for my age but not as good as the college students.
• The representative was a good listener and engauged. He made you feel appreciated and valued. He could also make you feel as if there was a connection rather then a barrier in which they were elevated above you.
• Their animation program is inspiried by Chuck Jones approach to animation, and since Laguna is in California I'd already be close and immersed in the animation industry. The only problem is there are no dorms and they're only taking 100 new students. If that's students in the state of Oregon or out of the country I don't know.
• I was quite impressed. I need to look more into this college.

And so, my day came to an end. I ran out of time to visit any other colleges and made a book run. I grabbed as many as there were left for the schools who had animation offered as a BFA or MFA.

THE END!