Sheridan Information Please!

[House Gaijin Hokage]

Yo, kennygeeze You were in AF18 too? I was the class rep the guy with long hair and a trucker hat. Congrats to getting in. Me on the other hand funny shit happened. Fucked up animation portfolio even though it was better than most kids, Illustration my prtfolio made the cut and I scored better than most of the kids but some ladies in admissions office wont let me into the program cause of my high school marks and they didnt consider that I did general arts and science to get a higher average so now theyre redoing my grades and the head is trying to get me in so now they might make some standard where I have to get B's in every class or they might let me in. Pretty pissed if they say no, but makes you think how sheridan is going down hill when they prefer academics over the quality of art.

Well I just checked my grades today so one A four B+'s and a C+ ,the minimal amount of coarses is 6 to qualify as full time and theyre above 65% in gpa so now I can fuck the school over if they refuse.

[Hexal]

House Gaijin Hokage that sucks, My marks in Highschool are the worst, I do good in art and computers and anything other then an acedemic intesive(as you can see by my spelling and grahamer(thats wrong for sure)) course, The one reason im going for the fundamentals first is because i got screwed for the illustration from the guidance people at my school

:bash:

And ive heard(from sheridan) that if i take the fundamentals the year after they wont look at the Highschool marks anymore.

[House Gaijin Hokage]

Yhea thats true but you goitta have 65% in all your courses and you cant drop them. The problem with fundies is that its too diverse in what they teach you and some courses are more leniant towards design. Having the mark prior to getting in this program I droped some coarses so I could life draw as much as I can. Hopefully though they change their mind tomorow and I might be let in cause I talked to the head of admisions and she saw that they might have fucked up the grades.

[kennygeeze]

House Gaijin Hokage, yeah... I was in AF18 as well. That sucks about your problem. I'm not sure if I like the whole idea about the 'degree' program.
Because now that it's applied degree the administration has to make use of all those university politics, which always screw people over.
Let us know if it works out.

Red Mimic, that would be option B, I think... if I remember correctly. And yeah... hopefully they count that other course like the one I took at sheridan is. If you want to play it safe contact admissions and make sure they know about it... they might not recognize it as anything important... so you might have to point it out for them.
Was there life-drawing in your portfolio?

Hexal, I feel your pain. I can't tell you how many times I was screwed over by my highschool guidance who didn't exactly know what they were talking about.
The only thing I think they're good at is taking a student who doesn't know what they heck they want to do and point them in a direction... other than that they don't know what the heck is going on outside their respective highschool.

[Hexal]

Originally posted by House Gaijin Hokage
Yhea thats true but you goitta have 65% in all your courses and you cant drop them

Thats not good, im doing extremely bad in english now,but for my "conditianl offer" thing I had a 53 on there. Are you saying in the required courses you need 65+ ?
I think it says 60 in their book.

[Red Mimic]

That's a good idea, I think I'll contact them tomorrow.

Anyways, my portfolio had drawings all done from life except 3 of them which were done from photos that were either sent to me or I took.

[Michael_H]

I got into the Art fundamentals program. I'm quite happy... now I need to worry about getting residence...

[endregan]

53?!

you should have put more effort man!

english is about the only course you need for art O_o!

oh i got into art fundies at sheridan also!

just have to decide... ocad or sheridan... i dunno im leaning towards ocad.

[kennygeeze]

Just curious, but why are you leaning towards OCAD?

[House Gaijin Hokage]

Well now I have to write a formal letter, which I did. Gues now the dean, the illustration program coordinator and the evil admissions lady prepare for a meeting and review my stuff. Not really concerned seeing as the program coordinator will lean more towards my opinion and I got help from a second year U of T English major so its a pretty solid argument in the letter now I just hope for the best and if worst comes to worst I might have to do a semester of general arts and science to get the marks I already have.

Oh one more thing OCAD is bad. As much as fundies sucks and theres alot of whack artists its probably one of the best foundation coarses that can teach you a thing or too. Ocad might be nice cause its in downtown toronto but mostly gay people go there, not gay as in they suck but actually gay people and verry artsy people too. You wont get much of a education if you want your art to get better.

[endregan]

i dont know ocad seems pretty solid.

I could care less if 'gay' people are there. It all has to do with what place I really want, and why.

I need to make a list of positives and negatives for each... i think i shall start it up

help me out

advantages
sheridan - tons of life drawing, good teachers?
ocad- many great artists have come from here eg dan milligan, moderate life drawing and great location

disadvantages

sheridan- far away in the middle of nowhere?, i dont know many others , though that is not too bad, btw what is the cost of living down there?, residence is a lottery... i found that exciting lol

ocad- "artsy"

Please add more. I think it has to do with opinion a bit too, slander, but we shall see! I mean those who go to sheridan will know what is good about sheridan, and bash ocad, and vice versa. but it is good to hear the good and the bad

[kennygeeze]

I'm not necessarily bashing OCAD, but I have heard alot of complaints about it. The only good things I've heard about the school are the fact that it's design programs are really good.
A teacher, a couple students I've met, and a former life-model at the school had nothing, but bad things to say.

But anyways...

I'd look into future programs that you want. Art fudamentals is only one year so you should probably have a good idea now what you want to take afterward and what program you'll be making a portfolio for. If that program happens to be at sheridan, then take AF at sheridan, and if it hapens to be at OCAD then take it at OCAD.
And OCAD's more of a fine-arts school aside from their design programs.

If you took sheridan's illustration program it's likely you'd become a pro illustrator, where-as the illustration program at OCAD will gear you more towards being a gallery artist or an art teaching job simply because it's more fine-arts oriented.

OCADs art fundamentals sounds like very much a clone program of the AF at sheridan... except OCAD has less of an emphasis on life-drawing.... which to me life-drawing is one of the most important things about an art program.

You ask any student at sheridan who's improved alot in art and ask how they got that level and they all will say something to do with life-drawing.

The illustration and animation courses here practically revolve around the practice.


And just for reference.... sheridan isn't out in the middle of no-where. It's in Oakville, surrounded by quite a huge residential area. There's a large mall about a twenty minute walk .... some people who are real into the clubs and bars though usually have to go to some other city, because apparently our pubs aren't as good.

And downtown Toronto is probably not more than a half an hour drive from the sheridan parking lot... because I've made the drive a couple times.... so I don't know where you live, but you'd be just as far from home in either location... give or take about a half an hour car ride.

And what I think what gaijin was getting it as far as saying gay 'artsies' or whatever... is he was describing those really artsy people who have really under-developed drawing abilities...

[endregan]

Thanks for the info..

geez it is tough. sheridan sounds so good eh i dont know what to do.

i dont think i could teach, but i dont know....

man hmmm. it is complex decision

my twin brother is looking at ocad as his first choice, so i dont know yet.

Is there any extra life drawing at ocad?

how formal as in essays etc are there anyways?

how are you marked at sheridan for fundies, do you have assignments and some free ones or what?

Man tough times haha

I need to start looking for places. so i should figure out what school first!!!

whats a good place to live if u go to sheridan

[kennygeeze]

sheridan art fundamentals works like this...

Your classes...

Drawing 1 - you learn drawing mostly from the figure in this class. During first semester there's weekly excersises and assignments you either have to complete within the studio or take home to do. Anywhere from learning a specific technique like gesture drawing to.... drawing your kitchen at your house.
You are marked on your ability to follow instructions... basically how my class worked.. the assignment would be given and due the following week, as long as you had it done you were cool, then the teacher would critique it, tell you what was wrong with it, and at that point you'd either fix it up, hand it in if nothing was wrong, or re-do it if you totally messed up. The drawings themselves only take around 3 hours to do so it's no biggie if you have to re-do sometimes.
Second semester there are far less projects, but you have to do life-drawing portfolios... which was far less stressful for me than weekly assignments.


Painting 1- every week there is a model... and you assignments include drawing - painting that model every week. You learn measured drawings, and a bunch of different painting styles (depending on your teacher)... the paintings are multi-week assignments... lasting anywhere from 2 classes long to over a month.
You also have small take-home projects... I think the first was still-life you had to make yourself and then paint it, then you had to draw/paint your hands feet... second semester is doing a painting of the same room you had to draw in drawing class and very last assignment which I'm working on now is the self portrait.


Imaging systems - first semester it's like a technical draft-menship course. You learn technical perspective and schematical grid/wireframe drawings. Second semester you design logos and things... learn how to use art markers to render various things and how to combine the art markers with various other mediums to get cool effects.

2D Design - each project is really long lasting... you learn guache in this class. Basically how our projects would work is the criteria of the assignment would be given and we'd work up roughs for our designs by the following week. The teacher would critique and we would conintue working on them... the next week we'd either continue with the roughs stage or if the project was almost over a final design would be approved and we'd get to do the final in guache.
This is the course you learn good presentation in...


3D Design - you work with alot of different materials... first semester I had to use alot of strange awkward crap to make things... second semester was more about designing your own projects and using conventiional materials like sculpey, clay, paper, etc.

Ideas and images- this is the only course you'd ever have to write an essay in. It's labled "art history", but essentially it's like an informal history/socialogy/psychology/analytical lecture class.
First semester the teacher would lecture on about a subject for an hour, we would then be asked to draw something that was somehow related to that, we would post our sketches and then specific examples would be critiqued/analyzed. Then at the end of the semester we had to take one of those sketches... make it into a final work of art... anything we wanted... painting, sculpture, drawing, computer CG, whatever... and write up to 500 words about it. Either the topic that inspired us to draw it, what steps we took to convey a certain topic, etc. Second semester was a little more complex... but pretty much the same.

But yeah... there's no real essay english courses to waste your time. 500 words isn't alot... in fact I don't think I've written more than 2000 words in all my courses all year.
There's no required reading... some suggested reading though.
Sometimes you're given a small package to read over before a class, but you don't have to buy textbooks or anything.

There's life-drawing practically every night and most afternoons as well.

[kennygeeze]

Is there any extra life drawing at ocad?

Not as much as sheridan. I don't even know if there is for the foundations year. Not sure though.

[endregan]

Whoa that is a solid curriculum!!!

I wonder how it compares to Ocads?

i hear they have 7 hours of life drawing a week at ocad, but even though it sounds like a lot, i was thinking more like 40 hahaha

I would love that!

Where do you live when you are going to sheridan ?

[bigmonkeynuts]

yup, life drawing is important... just don't forget the other stuff too! One thing you may notice in animation here at sheridan, there's some poeple that don't spend any extra time with life drawing, some who realize its importance and do it (like myself), and then there are some who are obsessed and act like nothing else matters! It's too bad really... they get very good at life drawing but in any other areas they fall behind. Some guys I know forget about doing homework to go to extra life drawing. The projects they hand in are rushed and you can tell they put very little effort/thought into it. I fear for these guys... if they never take the time to create their own work, what shape will they be in when they leave school? You don't get hired with a portfolio full of life drawings!

When I was in art fundamentals, this is how I was, to a certain degree. I spent very little time working from my imagination and all my time studying from life. While my life drawing skills improved by leaps and bounds, my imagination was not exercised enough and really didn't improve throughout the year. This year it's a different story. I hit up maybe one or two extra sessions a week and spend time in my sketchbooks and painting and doing other things I enjoy.

Because honestly, you wont develop that imagination unless you practice. Ideas and concepts are just as (if not more) important than the technical skills used to represent them.

But yeah, just some stuff to think about. Sorry if it sounds like i'm lecturing you guys here (really not my intention). I've just seen to many others forget about everything else once they're on a roll with their lifedrawings. Kenny, maybe you've seen it in your classes, there are people like that. it's like a damn obsession!

Gotta take it all in... i remember hearing once about a triangle of study growing artists could follow. Each of the three points represent drawing from life, drawing from imagination, and drawing from other artists work, respectively...

- draw and paint from life - important!
- draw and paint from imagination (test those things you've learned in life study), develop your conceptual skills - important!
- study (and copy) from artists you admire and artists with talent (masters copies) - important!

All of this refers to personal study (since you wouldn't want to copy other artists when making something and calling it your own). I'm trying to stay in the middle of the triangle now and it's working great. I was out of balance last year. lol

[kennygeeze]

Where do you live when you are going to sheridan ?

I think when you confirm your acceptance to sheridan... around that time they send you a package and in that package are some papers that you can register for the 'residence' that's connected directly to sheridan.
The only problem is that they don't have very many spots and you'll probably end up on a waiting list... I was 298 on the list myself.
If you don't get into residence... they have student housing services as a link on their site and basically people put up adds that they're looking for a room-mate, renting out a basement, etc, etc.

Note: people who live in residence sometimes have a alot of complaints about it. It's probably the most expensive place you could live while going to sheridan and it's often quoted as "alot of money, for alot of rules"

I live in a condo/townhouse about a 25 minute walk from campus... there are places alot closer.

Some of the other places I had to choose from were a furnished basement in a old lady's house or living with an art student in a family's rec-room with attached bedrooms, etc.

I know it might seem a little daunting... the first year you move away from home you living in a place that isn't even a school 'residence' (i was quite scared coming out of highschool), but you get used to it pretty quickly... and my room-mates turned out to be quite alot of fun so it was a great experience.

I'd just suggest trying to contact places you're interested in (come the time if you don't get accepted into residence) and then trying to visit those places to actually see what would be the best.
Don't get anything site-unseen... there's alot of strange horror stories I've heard where people do that and they find out they're moving into some guy's kitchen in an apartment and they have a shower curtain for privacy

The place I have is pretty awesome. The landlord lives about a city away and she basically bought it with the intent of 'renting' to art students... so the house has it's own art table, there's this glade right outside the window (which worked out because of the amount of trees and plants I had to draw in first semester drawing 1) and essentially 2 common rooms (one above the other)

I have friends who also live in houses specifically rented for students, a couple people I know live in shared apartments, people's basements, res, people who commute from Toronto/scarborough (don't reccomend that), and a bunch of other situations.

One of the reasons why my place is good vs. living in res (and why I'm actually glad I didn't get accepted into res) is because I don't have to pay to have guests ovvernight or 'sign them in' when they come during the day.

Heh, sorry for rambling... just trying to capture my experience so you don't decide 'not' to go to sheridan just because living arrangments seem too daunting.

Basically the way I worked it was.... during the day the very last week in may my parents chose a day while I was in school to come down and look at about 20 places. Then the following week I came down with them in the evening to check out about 3 of those places that apparently were 'best' and I chose the one I liked the most.

Errr, yeah. Hope that helped.

PS. so far everyone I know pretty much is very happy where they're living EXCEPT the people who have to cummute or live in res. They complain alot. Heh.

[endregan]

Awesome you are such a great help!

I know what you mean with balance! I have been focussing on life lately but getting into imagination to apply the life. masters copy is really good too like the bargues!

I would like to know further information about Ocad, anyone here currently going that could help out? I just want to know what it is like there, and compare the two.

It is hard to compare since I havent been a student at either place. I have checked out both places but have never learnt or see the curriculums.

The residence info is great. I would definitly look for a place, though it would get expensive wouldnt it? I mean does osap cover that ? If I chose to go to Sheridan I would love to live in a close by place, i will have to check it out. Sounds like you have a nice place to live

How do you get to sheridan, you walk everyday?

Ill have to research some more


Any OCAD students?

[carpal]

if you really want to hammer out a solid year and take it upon yourself to learn a lot, sheridan is a great place to be. you WILL have the opportunity to improve. there are good and bad teachers in fundies but it is a cheap program and if you are motivated you WILL get good. You will need to prioritize though, decide what it REALLY is you want to get better at and DO it. (plus put effort in 2d class, it's important I promise) and screw 3d. errrr

yeah, plus OCAD will usually accept art fundamentals as transfer in to second year, and if not totally second year, you just have a couple classes to make up.

[Red Mimic]

Well what an interesting day, I woke up before my shift at work and found they finally updated, the words "REFUSED ADMIT" were sittin there laughin back at me and the checklist said program requirments : outstanding. I was kickin myself and figured my portfolio was not up to snuff, but it also said my portfolio was complete. So i guess the other thing was something to do with my academic record. (If i'm wrong about that please let me know because I really have no idea if that includes the portfolio or not).

Anyways throughout the day I remembered I actually forgot to forward my high school transcript to the application service. I was so concerened with my portfolio and college transcript that It slipped my mind.

Anyways I came back after work and now it says WAITING LIST, which is good because maybe i have a chance to fix my mistake. Too bad this happened on the long weekend and i won't be able to call them until tuesday I believe.

Anyone who has any tips for this situation would be really really helpful.

[endregan]

ahh mimic that is strange. it didnt get your transcripts?

i am lucky, my guidance sent out my transcripts

we went through OCAS not OASIS. I dont know what oasis is, I guess that is why I cant login to the sheridan portal!

[kennygeeze]

The residence info is great. I would definitly look for a place, though it would get expensive wouldnt it? I mean does osap cover that ? If I chose to go to Sheridan I would love to live in a close by place, i will have to check it out. Sounds like you have a nice place to live

How do you get to sheridan, you walk everyday

I know people who pay anywhere from $300 a month to.... over $500. It all depends. And some leases are 12 month, while some you can rent for the duration of the school year.
And I'm pretty sure sheridan residence is more than 500.

I know some scholarships/financial aid and whatnot can be put toward your rent... if you work it so you are paying your own rent then I think you can claim part of it on your income tax.
I don't really know many who use their financial aid for rent though.... I don't even think OSAP covers your entire tuition most of the time *shrug*

And yeah, I walk to sheridan everyday. Takes me about 25 minutes to get to the campus from my driveway. THere are probably bus routes which would get me there quicker... but I took the city bus constantly all last year and I don't like being limited by the bus times or 'running for the bus' if I didn't quite make it in time.

Although I think out of all the people I know who walk *I* have the greatest distance. All my other friends drive to school or have about an 8-10 minute walk. Not too bad.

Oh, one note about your time-table when you start. You usually get one day a week off. I helps with getting homework done... although alot of people go into school anyways to work on things to go to life-drawng. First semester I had thursdays off, however this semester I have mondays. It's good when I have productive weekends... not so good when I don't.

[kennygeeze]

Anyone who has any tips for this situation would be really really helpful.

E-mail and admissions now and tell them what's going on... and then try to phone them when it's no longer Easter.

[kennygeeze]

But yeah, just some stuff to think about. Sorry if it sounds like i'm lecturing you guys here (really not my intention). I've just seen to many others forget about everything else once they're on a roll with their lifedrawings. Kenny, maybe you've seen it in your classes, there are people like that. it's like a damn obsession!

Yeah, I've noticed that. More than a few people in my former class dropped out of ideas and images, 2D design, 3D design, and/or imaging systems because they thought what they were doing was wasting their time.
Either that or they dropped one or all of those to spend more time on life-drawing.

[Red Mimic]

Hey Kenny, Do you know if the illustration course has one day off a week? I had one day off everyweek at georgian as well. I ended up having a permanent long weekend for an entire semester. The day off is also nice for those people who like to drink and club it up, I wouldnt know though myself, since I wasn't legal until the end of the school year.

Lots of nice stories after those days though

[kennygeeze]

All the people I currently know in illustration have one day off a week.
Two of them have fridays (I think) and the other... she has thursday off.

[endregan]

day off.. thats sweetttt

man sheridan is sounding so good.. but i still am not sure. i mean i will have to have a second opinion from students at ocad to really understand.

not to say sheridan wasnt my first choice anways though...

it is hard !!! i will have to find someone from ocad to see what they say

you guys have helped out a lot though!

[kennygeeze]

Endregan, where are you hoping on going after art fundamentals?

If I was in your shoes that's what I'd be considering. one of the main reasons why I took art fundamentals at sheridan was because I wanted to get into illustration at sheridan.

So, do you have any program in mind after AF?

[::EPIC::]

grr, still no word yet from access sheridan...did anyone else get word on their acceptance?