I’m going to DigiPen, right? Yeah, I can’t really forget that anymore. I’ll be entering their Bacehlor of Fine Arts in Production Animation degree (hereafter referred to as “BFA” when needed).
The summer assignment before one enters the BFA program is to fill up a 100 page sketchbook. I won’t bore you with the exact details of the instructions, but it involves drawing no less than 800 sketches. So there I was, at last Friday, and I had approximately half the assignment done. Ok… maybe closer to a third. I sat down and did the math — because, after all, I almost entered the Bacehlor of Science in Real Time Interactive Simulation degree (hereafter referred to as “RTIS” when needed) and sitting down and doing the math is second nature to me.
The math was not very happy. It said it would take me about 45 and one half hours to do all the work involved. As many of you know, I happen to be a Mormon (aka LDS), and one of our creeds is to observe the Sabbath, which means no school work on Sunday. Also, each day has 24 hours in it. Exclude Sunday, and you have what’s left of Friday, Saturday, and Monday. School starts on Tuesday, so there’s not too much hope of getting stuff done on that day.
The math is simple. Saturday + Monday = 48. Add the six hours left of Friday and that’s 54. Subtract the 45.5 it takes to get the work done, and you have 8 hours and 30 minutes I can sleep for those three days.
Here I am, on Sunday, and my eyes hurt if I look in a direction too fast, and my hand aches. BUT! I am on schedule for getting the homework done on Monday. I had no idea drawing could be this fun.
So what’s school going to be like when I actually get in? Well, the BFA has only existed for two years so far, so one’s actually graduated yet. But a couple students entering their third year were kind enough to talk about it to us newbies a little. They said 80 hours a week is an “easy” week. And the worst is finals and midterms, where we’ll be working around 160 hours a week. Just so you know, there are 168 hours in a week.
School starts in two days, I’ve got over 200 sketches left, plus color exercises. I’m going to enjoy today, resting my eyes and hand, and prepare to work my hide off tomorrow.
Oh, did I mention there’s also a 50 page sketchbook due every week at DigiPen? For the first couple weeks, at least. It goes up from there.
