Today I’m feeling pretty rough, a bad cold has hit me and left me bed ridden. But my spirits were lifted a little when I got my acceptance letter from CalArts this morning. It’s a good day, and a proud day. All the stuff I went through to get this letter has been worth it. I’ll update this post later when I’m not feeling so rotten. I plan to outline what I did to prepare my portfolio, and everything that was involved with it, good and bad. But I just had to post today, to mark the occassion. What a day to get the good news. Sheesh!

Well…back to bed.

*UPDATE*

Okay so what did I have to do to get accepted? If you read this blog over the past year, it’s all pretty much here. But here’s a quick overview. Keep in mind I live in Vancouver, Canada.

  • Life drawing 4-5 days a week (minimum!) for 9 months. I went to Basic Inquiry for this.
  • The Zoo once a week with pens and a moleskin (Our zoo really sucks!)
  • I studied anatomy books by Hogarth and Bridgman
  • I filled a few moleskins at the Aquarium (Our aquarium rocks!)
  • I joined AnimatedBuzz Forums. This community’s sole purpose is to help you get in. Last year about 15 members got in. When class sizes are 35-40, that’s a pretty good average. This year’s count is up to 8 so far, myself included.
  • I made friends with current students. They helped me with my portfolio, and now I’ll already have friends going in.

It’s not always easy getting out to that many life drawing classes a week. I also worked full time, and I re-arranged my work/social life around my life drawing classes.

How bad do you want it? I can now say that after all the bad models, and the ones that didn’t show up. After the parking tickets, and speeding tickets. After all the rainy days trying to get into class without ruining all my stuff. After being towed and having to drag all my art supplies across the city to the impound lot. After consequently being late to work that day. After the hundreds I spent on supplies and gas…IT WAS ALL WORTH IT!

How bad do you want it?

If you want to check out my final portfolio click here. To see the portfolios of other accepted students, check out this thread over at Animated Buzz Forums.

*UPDATE*

I’ve embedded my portfolio below for convenience.