The first academic year for me, was one of the most enjoyable school experiences that I have ever had, despite the fact that a lot of it was online. I never expected college to be so chill and at the same time, push me past boundaries I didn’t know I had. The work is enjoyable and also challenging, and at times, stressful. All of that, however, is part of the process of completing a project and producing a final result, which I have found that I enjoy very much. I think part of it is my choice in which course I would be doing since VFX and animation is something I want to do and find interesting, however, a lot of it is thanks to the teachers, students and assignments, which have all been a perfect balance of work and fun. Each lesson had an objective, and if I didn’t achieve it by the end, which was very rare, I found the timetable to be incredibly generous and allow me to complete my work at home and achieve it, which meant that after every lesson, I had definitely learned something new, that would help me better my work and progress. Some major examples include learning how to operate some of the most popular Adobe Programs, animate, edit footage and work to a brief, which are all essential skills in the industry and for which I am massively grateful to know. Thanks to Confetti’s unique creative courses, I can learn the necessary skills needed for my dream job; namely, artistic ability, working to a deadline and following a brief, and of course, being able to animate, all essential to becoming an animator, and all incredibly difficult to find in other colleges and sixth forms, in my area. I remember how insurmountable it all felt on the first day when we were shown what we would eventually be able to do and began to work in After Effects. I never imagined that I would be able to animate a landscape, or design characters and environments from scratch that would eventually become a Netflix series intro, yet before I knew it, we were using all the basic skills we had gone through to add up to something incredible. It felt so gratifying to see the final results and be able to share them, either on my blog or with teachers or peers.
This year, I hope to follow my schedule better. I am quite organised and use my planner for every single piece of work we have, but my main problem was not being able to follow through with my plans, or not following through on time. This year, I am absolutely determined to be strict on myself, and not push work to a later date. I have even more responsibilities this year, such as work experience, and extra days in college, as well as other extracurricular activities I have started, and it is crucial for my mental health that I handle everything and make time for myself as well. Like the reflection I made last year, I still believe balance is one of the most important things in school and life. I may have been able to complete all of my work last year, and to a decent standard, but I felt that at times, it was all a little out of control, and this is what I want to avoid this year. I want to be able to meet and exceed the standards I have created, without having to sacrifice time in other aspects of my life, such as sociability and health, which may be the hardest thing of all. Personally, I am most looking forward to venturing into 3D alongside my personal goals to improve in traditional animation. We have already begun looking at Maya, the 3D digital package that we will be using most this year, and I have enjoyed it a lot so far, but I can’t wait to learn some fluid simulations and animating, because those aspects allow creators to build entire worlds if they wanted to. Even if we don’t go into such advanced skills, it’ll still be super enjoyable to learn how professionals work and at least know the basics of that part of the industry. As for my personal goals, I feel that we didn’t have enough time on hand-drawn animation last year, and it was a little rushed when we did finally look into it, so this year, I want to really hone down on the skills I already know, and improve enough to be able to create a short animation by myself with characters and environments.
Overall, I am excited for this year and I think that our new timetables are much better than the old ones, because we’re on campus much more and can ask for support whenever we feel is necessary. I think that no matter what, it will be another successful year! 🙂