Dunno if this belongs here or in the lounge sub-forum butoh well. I read something here(or maybe somewhere else) some time and I wrote something based on what I read and my own personal experiences. Now I know that reading is something you may or may not be fond but I'd love to get your views on it.
Note: It may be a bit crude and biased, since it's written from my perspective.
''This was just a general observation, not a rant.''
Having said that, I feel like this note is conveying the wrong message. By this note I am not stating that I am a victim and there's nothing I can do about it. I have acknowledged in the opening lines of the piece that I was at fault for thinking along those lines and now have a different outlook to the whole thing (and am now working hard to get the level I want myself to be at).
Facebook Link : https://www.facebook.com/notes/baron.../4224244692076 (It's public, so everyone should be able to read it)
For those who aren't on facebook :-
*As perceived by the Author
'It’s been clear to me for some time but up until now I was sure that if I write about it, I would sound like I was blaming the system, blaming someone else and not admitting that I too was at fault. But the more I think about it now, the less I seem to care.
As I listen to ‘Clint Eastwood’ by the ‘Gorillaz’, I find it easy to drift in the river of memories as it takes me back by a decade or more. I see flashes of Arkanoid, Packman, Alley Cat and Dangerous Dave on the screen of an old Monochrome monitor. What happened thereafter seems more or less like a blur. I became addicted or so my parents put it at that time. I am sure my many of you can relate to it. Most, if not all, parents were of the opinion that games ‘fry’ a student’s brain, makes them more prone to violence and so forth. My parents were no exception. My mother would do any and everything she could do to drag me away from my Nintendo and later on the game parlors (fancy word for what they were). My father was of the opinion that if I didn’t excel at Mathematics, Physics, Biology and chemistry, I wouldn’t amount to anything. But this isn’t the time or the place to rant about my past.
My point is that most of us did face this scenario at home where anything not strictly academic was shunned. Games were considered nothing more than recreational activities which a child may be allowed to indulge in once or twice so that he/she may return to their studies ‘refreshed’. ‘Art’ classes were given a bit more importance since they were included in the school curriculum but nevertheless faced a similar level of indifference. Of course this wasn’t the case everywhere, exceptions were there but the general attitude was the same everywhere.
My rants aside, my parents did have a slight change of heart later on when they saw my interest in the ‘I.T Field’ (as they used to put it) and later (when it seemed that I’d have it my way or the highway) did allow me to pursue (albeit reluctantly at first, I think) my interest in the gaming industry. But I am afraid that I’ve let my personal feelings on the subject to waver from the subject at hand. My point being that most of Indian students didn’t have the same level of parental or institutional support when it came to Art, as enjoyed by those in the American or European countries.
Now why was I stating the obvious? The answer is simple enough: Because it is obvious. Furthermore it becomes painfully obvious when an Indian student, such as me, goes abroad with the intention of ‘eventually’ (this being essential in my case) seeking admission in an art university. I am by no means implying that Indian students are as clueless as I am, some of them are brilliant but that’s mostly because of that fact that they did whatever they could and overcame the odds. I personally know a few students and artists back in India who are brilliant, bloody brilliant, but like I said, they are who they are because they overcame the odds.
Coming back to the core topic, what I’ve seen is that there is a considerable difference in the skill level of students. I’m not talking about the level of the students after their studies, but of the applicants. I was looking through the various portfolios of students who’re currently ‘studying’ illustration in the institutions of their choice (Sheridan/OCAD/etc.) and it seems to me that, skill wise, the applicants (many if not most) are more or less par with the graduates back home in India. Again, this may be a very biased and very crude comparison but this is based on what I’ve seen so far (which may be far from the whole picture).
While most of us were told to ‘draw’ the apple or some other subject from an art book without being properly guided on what and how to do stuff, students here would be taught about perspectives, value, etc. Now that I am trying to hone my skills (as little as they maybe), these things are becoming painfully obvious to me leaving me in a metaphorical limbo, doubting whether or not I’ll be able to follow this path.
I guess this is it, for now.
Baron Out.'
Originally Posted by QueenGwenevere
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