Everything I draw ends up wearing a bow-tie

Anonymous asked: Hi shy anon here, I'm currently in year 10 of school and taking Media, Graphics and History for GCSE (I know History is unrelated XD) and my parents say I should stay on for A Level. Do you know of any universities that specialise in animation?

Okay well firstly history is never unrelated keep reading that stuff always, taking A levels is a good idea so yup yup do that if you want, but for animation univeristies within the UK I’m afraid I’m not an expert; I had a pretty lousy experience at the place I studied in the UK, not going to lie, but maybe I was just unlucky. There are probably good places here but you’ll have to ask around, and don’t just trust information on university websites- find people who studied at them to get a better perspective. There are a lot of super great places to study in Europe, however, and obviously I recommend places like VFS after you’ve got some more experience, but it all depends on how willing you are to travel and live away from home- it can be rough, and very expensive!

You have a long time to decide, so don’t rush into it or think you must set yourself a path right now and follow it absolutely. People change! You are allowed to change your mind! What I would super recommend is that before you decide on studying animation and/or where, take a foundation art year. I did one at Manchester Metropolitan University and it was very helpful in letting me decide where I wanted my specialties to lie, and dabbling in a lot of different types of art gives you a better, broader perspective on what you can do with animation and your life in general.

Having said that, you still have another year to go before completing GCSE’s and then it’s up to you as to whether you spend another two years doing A levels. Don’t feel pressured! Teachers can make it sound like you’re meant to have the plan for the rest of your life all sorted out before you’re seventeen or else you’ll fail at everything but hell, it isn’t true! Please don’t trap yourself into that system. Give yourself enough time to decide, be patient with your development of interests, and learn as many different things as you can- remember that nothing is irrelevant to art! Certainly not history!