#ILM
Of course it's easier to teach a computer person art than a nothing
person both things. But from what you've told me, you're fairly
artistic. Just because you haven't taken formal courses doesn't mean
the ideas aren't there.
Both your scenarios exist. Where I work, an art person who applies
for a job doing animation obviously wants to get "into computers". We
don't train people. Someone can come in and sit down and use the
equipment and figure it out for themselves. Sure, people are
available for questions, but the bulk of the work is on the student.
That's the only way they're going to learn.
For the second scenario, if the computer engineer has no art
knowledge, he'll turn out bad stuff. But if he wants to learn, he
can take a course.
>> When has anyone ever tried to teach us?
Why would people go around looking for people to teach art to? Art
teachers have enough to do with students who come to them. If you
want to learn art, you can go to an art class. No one will turn you
away. I made the decision that I needed art to do animation, so, I
started taking art. I wouldn't have continued in computers and just
expected someone to teach me art one day.
That all said, I still think that computer animation is a discipline
which requires a fair bit of talent in both areas. I can argue the
other side also: I know a guy who is a creative powerhouse. He can
paint and draw and has all kinds of ideas for films and stuff like
that. But, he failed grade 10 math twice, and just barely passed it
the third time so that he could gradute and go to art college. He
asked me once about getting into animation and when I started talking
about "simple" concepts like 3D space, XYZ axes, vertices, faces and
the like, he was completely lost. There's no way, I think, that he
could ever be taught to use a computer. So, the computer animator is
a special blend of computer and art person. One needs both to get
by. Traditionally, these two areas have had nothing to do with each
other because they never needed to. Now, there's a new field forming
and only a certain kind of people can fall into that category.