So this is a bit last minute since the deadline is December 1st...but any help/commentary would be absolutely wonderful!
This is only my first draft, and I feel like it is a little disorganized. Maybe I cover to much?
I also wonder, because the prompt says that the essay should be a page and a half but doesn't give spacing requirements...should I double space or single space? (It's currently 1.5 spaced in my word document and is a page and a half)
Here is the prompt:
The Cinematic Arts personal statement should reflect the applicant's individuality and explain why he or she would like to study
animation and digital arts at USC. The Animation Admission Committee will review this statement as a measure of the applicant's
creativity, intelligence, self-awareness, determination and vision. The statement should be a page and a half, and it should give the
committee a sense of the applicant's long-term goals and artistic ambitions.
And my essay:
I have been drawing since I could hold a crayon, and though those first drawings were not masterpieces, they were a start. I grew up drawing, coloring, then painting, sketching. I had my eyes set on becoming an artist. Then one day my parents decided to explain to me what they thought would be "better" in the real world: an engineer, or a professor, a doctor, a computer programmer-anything but an artist.
I couldn't understand why I wasn't allowed to become an artist, it was what I enjoyed doing. I wanted to be able to enjoy my job, not treat it as an uninteresting task or a terrifying endeavor. I tried to explain that I couldn't be a professor, tried to explain my fear of becoming a doctor but to no avail. Eventually I stopped trying to see myself as an artist. My parents supported my drawing, but only as a hobby-they never meant for me to go professional.
Some time later I began to consider going into a science field. To that, my parents approved, and I walked around thinking "I'm going to be a pharmacist when I grow up". I gave up drawing almost altogether.
One day, feeling frustrated with myself, I questioned myself about my future. Did I actually want to be a pharmacist, and did I truly feel no more connection to an activity that I had once felt was my life? I was surprised to discover the answer "no" floating in my mind. I took up a colored pencil and started sketching, trying to draw from a photo the subject I used to enjoy drawing the most-a horse. I scribbled and erased, marking up the paper, but no matter how I looked at it the shape did not look like a horse, or so I thought at the time. I became fed up with the picture, and told myself I would never become an artist-it was never meant to be.
I could feel it slipping away. My best friend since childhood. It felt like the art in me was dead, and could never be revived. A few days later, I decided to try again, because there were so many ideas in my head. I let the image in my mind guide my hand, rather than my eyes. It was only a sketch in my notes from school, but it was there, visible proof to myself that I could still draw, and that I did still enjoy art.
I started considering the possibility of having art in my future again. I managed to convince myself that there was a chance, and I knew I would be overjoyed if it were to become reality. I began sketching again, drawing frequently when I had time, designing and making things with my hands. There was such a happy feeling when I finished some project. I began wanting to try new things: sewing, sculpting, jewelry-making, animating, maybe even watercolor (a medium that I have never been able to say I am decent at).
In all of my years of art, I was never very interested in creating big paintings or drawings. Instead, I enjoyed making small pieces-little cartoony characters, sketches of animals, the occasional small portrait of a person. The cartoons. I have done a little bit of animating before, digitally drawing frame-by-frame and playing the images in a sequence. I was inspired by seeing small animations made by other people on an online virtual pet game/forum site that I was a member of for a short time.
Student artists like me would trade their artwork with other members for the virtual pets they wanted. In an effort to market my art better, I jumped into the popular bunch of artists trading small animations for user icons and message signatures. By reading through a few tutorials online, I started experimenting with the digital drawing program I had. My first animation, though choppy, was my pride and joy for the next week or so, as I tried figuring out ways to make my animating smoother, and add color.
Those little animations I did were fun to do, and I even used what I had figured out to create a small public service announcement for a short internship at Asian Media Access in the summertime. However, I didn't seriously consider animation as a possibility in college until I came across a cartoon that brought back memories of my childhood-My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
Watching the first episode, I couldn't help thinking about how wonderful it would be if I were to be able to be a part of creating such a show. Sketching out adorable characters, making them move, being a part of a team that would bring each individual to life, and ultimately bringing smiles to other peoples' faces became my dream. I may not be the one to find a cure for a disease, but I will be trying my best to bring out happiness.
USC will give me the chance to develop my digital art and animating skills, with some of the newest technology and the philosophy that theory and practice go together. I will become well-rounded (something I believe is quite important) because USC makes sure that students at the School of Cinema understand how things work beyond their own area of study. At USC, I will be able to immerse myself in becoming the best I can be in my field, but also have knowledge in related fields, preparing myself for the real world.
Thank you!!!
