College of Fine Arts -University of the Philippines

I just learned and visited today the website of my alma mater, College of Fine Arts, University of the Philippines. The site brought back lots of memories during my 5 year tenure in those colorful walls...I really can't express the feeling in words much. More than the art lessons, photography lessons and advertising lessons...it is the experience and
the culture that is very loose and the creative environment that guided you after college.

The professors are way cool and you get to experience to paint / draw outdoors, the countless hours of constructing huge floats for the Christmas parade, Really cool concerts with
the leading bands of the country at that time, such as Wolfgang, Eraserheads, POT and Parokya ni Edgar. You also get to experience shooting videos with crappy equipment, Cramming to produce a painting overnight and Defending your lousy works to your professors. Heck, vandalism is even encouraged during my time...as long as your vandal looks nice, you could draw along the corridors and inside the classrooms. If you could do a colored vandal...much better.
Fine Arts is also where you see a few professors painting military kits...I think it was sir Mel, sir Tats and sir Joey Tanedo who were the ones doing military kits at that time.

Another great thing is that you can wear anything you want and you have control with what schedule you want for the semester. I was skinny at that time and there was a time I even wore soccer shorts almost everyday. I also had 10 piercings at that time...2 in the left eyebrow, 1 in the lip, 5 in the left ear and 2 in the right ear. I even had long hair back then during my third year ( after the rotc years ) and listened to noisy hardcore music, such as Korn, limpbizkit and slipknot.

All if not most of the people I got to  know that were a product of the College of Fine Arts have become really good in there choice of creative fields now...A handful are now legit commercial directors, film directors, creative art directors and art directors in advertising agencies, supervisors in post production and production companies, well known book illustrators, and established photographers. It is the " culture "  that stuck with you as you go out in the outside world after college, and that same UP Fine Arts culture will guide you to be good or even one of the best in any creative field that you intend to venture in eventually.

Hmmm, lots of great happy memories in those walls...my only regret is that I enjoyed it too much in the early years of college and had passing but mediocre grades. However I took my studies seriously during the last year of my tenure which was the thesis year...I even got a " Most Outstanding Thesis " award after finishing that year ( 2001 ). I think the only lesson that I could impart here is that...

Enjoy your college environment BUT take your studies seriously. Good day everyone! ;)

HIGH GRADES = HIGH SALARY = TONS OF GUNPLA!!!