Dearest class,

Hi guys...a note from me.
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I'm saying this cos it has been on my heart for a while. I hope you will forgive me if there's anything insulting. I'm talking to the class as a whole, including me.
I hope you'll read to the end.
(Jon i hope you don't mind translating this to anyone can't understand, yea. If they ask. Thanks.)

I just feel like our class, we lack semangat.
I'm not sure whether it's that we think we're not good, or we lack the exposure, or not enough encouragement.
Is it that our time management is really bad?
Or maybe we don't know how to find the inspiration?
link
Once in a while, please visit our college's website, read about the student in the student limelight. Read what they say. I hope we can get some motivation there.

One thing is, we have to push our limits. We have to go beyond what our class can do. But eventhough as illustrators we'll be working individually, we have to work as a team. We're classmates, not just competitors. We have to critic each other and stop saying oh so good so good. We cannot compare among ourselves only. It's not enough. That's why we don't improve, if we just compare among each other, we're going to be satisfied by just being the best in the class, which, in actual reality, is not enough.

Look at Drew Struzan. He didn't go by being the best by just fooling around and slacking.
I'm not scolding or nagging, but honestly, only hard work and sacrifice can bring us to where we want to go. It's a tough world out there.

Listen to this interview with Drew.
link
(For more interviews, visit this site, link)
We're already at the end of our second year. How are we going to graduate? I'm not trying to make anyone more stressed, but we have to think of our future.

DON'T think there's no hope for us. We do. We just have to realize what we have to do in order to get there.

Hard work + perseverance = success.

Anyway, Tat Sun said that only 5% are successful. Do we want to be that 5%? Then we have to aim for it. Decide, and work our asses off.

What do each of us like to do? Some of us like CG, some like fashion, some like concept, and others. Some of us maybe don't even know. It's okay you know. We can always start with liking many things.

Each of us have certain strong and weak points. For instance, look at our portfolio. What is it mostly built up of?
Which brings me to this,
we HAVE to start to collect our own portfolio. Just start by collecting your best works right now. Even if in comparison with the artists it's not that great, but we can start by beating our best. Everytime we do something, we do it better than our best work.

And when lecturers tell us something, it's cos they have been through it, so they know. And we should listen. We don't have enough years to repeat all the mistakes in the world. So we should learn from others, make our own mistakes, learn from them, and in that way, aren't we learning so much more?

I care about each one of us in class. I see your good points, and i know, we can do it. If only we try. What we are doing now is not enough.

1. We have to change our attitude towards our assignments. Think back of why you joined TOA. What inspired you to come here? Perhaps we have different reasons, but i bet most of them would be because we love art. And wanted to do it. Then, ask yourself, why?
Who inspire you to love art?
Look back at their work. Get inspired.

You know, passion is so important. Without passion, then i think, we really cannot go on, with the amount of stress and pressure we have. Find back your passion. Find back what you like.

Don't slack. Start work early. Focus, finish fast and THEN enjoy(without worries). Trust me, it works. In fact, if you start early, good points are:
a. More time to plan work,
b. Less stress,
c. More room for improvement, because you spend more time on your work, you can find answers for things you dunno how to do.

We have to come early for classes.
On time.
It shows respect for the lecturers and tutors. And we don't miss anything. It doesn't spoil the mood of the lecturers when they're saying something.
Change perspective, you are the lecturer, you're sharing something you really wanna say to a class, then when you're almost done, a student comes in. How would you feel? A bit annoyed right? Cos you really wanted to share, but that person came late, then didn't get to hear it. Then already your mood a bit spoilt. Then throughout the class you share less. But if the whole class always semangat, then you, as the lecturer, wanna share more. In fact aso get inspired by the class and wanna do more. You know why we always say the juniors so geng? The difference is semangat. Skill will be acquired after the semangat. Yes, some of them already start geng, but if you're talking about some seniors, who start with nothing, like khai khoon. How did he become so geng? Passion(semangat) and also hard work.

Our lecturers have been too kind. Wayyyyy too kind. We hope for mercy, but in the first place, do we deserve it? If we, especially me, don't finish our work, then, do we deserve it? In the end we only hope for mercy, and get grades, which is nothing because we didn't learn anything.

Find lecturers to critic your work. Do more work than required, do extra figures, practise gestures, look( not only look and go wahhhh wahhh, but study. Study how they do. Don't think i cannot. Think i will try that, and see how it goes.) at moreeeee artwork.

And don't think assignments is assignments, call it marker, or digital, or painting, don't call it work. It might help a bit.

2. Stop giving yourself excuses. No excuses to not finish. No excuses to start work late.
No excuses to not give our work 100%. Do work FIRST, play and rest later. Then we won't beat ourselves up, why i can only do this? Why can't i do better than this? Sure can.

3. Set a timetable. When do which class's work, what time wake up, what time sleep. Then drink a lot of water also. If we're not healthy, then no point doing anything. Try the timetable for a week. Try to do work first and play later. Just for a week. Try and see how it goes.

4. Set a goal. For the current future. Means, for instance, this month, i want to improve my figure. So other than work, do figure. Look at how other people do figure. Observe. And for assignments, focus on the figure. See at the end of the month how your figure has improved.

5. Ask and give opinions. We should not keep opinions to ourselves also. If we think something can be better, tell him/her. If you think it's good, also say so. Some encouragement to each of us. We have to stop being so asian. Meaning, scared to insult. It's not insulting, but it helps us grow, and we can appreciate the person who helped give comments. This is how we grow as a class.

6. Share. That's why we started the blog. So we can share opinions, and things we found out. Even if we don't like to blog, we can always share in class. Sharing is not limited to a blog.

7. Work environment. If you're a messy person, like me, wah this is really really hard. But in a cleaner tidier environment, we can produce better results. And, stick some inspiration on the wall, or the table, or put them around you. Look at them before you work. It might inspire you to do something new or extra or different for that assignment.

8. Don't be lazy. Like sometimes, we will feel like lazy to do something more right? For example, lazy to go get a book we know that there's something related inside to our work we can refer to. Lazy to look for more reference. Lazy to find answers on how to do something. If something we did is not nice, redo. If you're not satisfied, redo. If you start work early, (unless it's like acrylic) sure can redo wan. And progress find lecturers to comment.

I hope this helps a bit in anyway.
You know, i see so much potential in us, but i see defeat too. We will no doubt get depressed, and stressed, and feel inferior, but, please don't let that stop us. Keep fighting, fighting til the end. Fight til we can see that light.

To make a difference, is never easy. We can do it alone, or together. I hope we do it together, and be proud of each other and thankful too when we become successful.

Gambate IL078-1!!! We can do it!!!

❤,
lala.