First year student, Natasha Lee (IDEA Grad 2024), was drawn to IDEA Bachelor of Design due to its straightforward and employment-based mindset
Meet first-year student, Natasha Lee (IDEA Grad 2024)! Her self-portrait for IDES 133 - Visual Studio taught by Jay Bassan is shown above.
“If you are only interested in producing conceptual and abstract forms of art, IDEA School of Design may not be the best fit, but for those who would like to build up their skillset and portfolio to be competent as a commercial artist, the IDEA Bachelor of Design program is very promising.”
Read Natasha’s story and check out some of her other work for a glimpse into first-year student life at IDEA School of Design at Capilano University.
Self Portrait by Natasha Lee (IDEA Grad 2024)
For our second last project with Jay Bassan, we were asked to shoot a self-portrait paired with a mood board that reflects our brand. To make up for my non-intimidating short stature in real life, I have always enjoyed dressing up in a smart and confident manner. For the mood board, I drew inspiration from the clean and high contrast quality of the 1950s Vogue photography and powerful-looking women in suits.
“Natasha nailed the vision she had developed with her mood board and final portrait. The result is a strong image revealing a unique side of her personality.”
Self portrait moodboard by Natasha Lee (IDEA Grad 2024)
“The Assignment” by Jay Bassan, Instructor
Create a mood board visualizing your Passion, Super Power, Values, Purpose and differentiation (students can use any medium for this).
“The Goal” by Jay Bassan, Instructor
To have students think clearly about how to imagine themselves as a brand and use their final self-portrait as an expression of that. This becomes one of the more interesting projects since it happens near the end of class and students are now comfortable enough with the camera.
I remind students that similar to sketching, where you decide where to put the pencil, pen, or mouse to compose your drawing, where do you put the camera to capture a moment or tell a story?
I get some interesting work.
Experience so far in first term at IDEA School of Design
My first semester in the IDEA Bachelor of Design program surpassed all my expectations. Coming from a fine art-focused program in high school, I was curious to experience a design and illustration program, and it has not disappointed me. Despite my limited design knowledge, I found all the projects interesting and definitely helped expand my skill set. In addition, all the teachers and staff have been engaging, knowledgeable, and constructive, even during these times of online classes.
Featured Work
“Like a Kid in a Candy Store”
This ink drawing, for my second term Survey and Principles of Illustration II class with Pascal Milelli, is my favourite piece to date. For this project, we were asked to create a simple black and white drawing of a scene, but I wanted to push it further and incorporate a societal message in the picture. I touch upon the current popularity of innocent-looking cannabis edibles and their deceiving packaging that have led to numerous cases of cannabis poisoning in children.
“Hong Kong Night Lights - View from Victoria Peak”
This gouache painting was created for a landscape project in Jeff Burgess’ Survey and Principles of Illustration I class in the first semester. Gouache is a favourite medium of mine, so for this piece, I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone and paint a nighttime cityscape. This landscape is important to me as my family’s roots stem from Hong Kong, but being Canadian-born, I chose to depict the bustling city as seen from afar. The hardest part about this painting was capturing the effect of the countless light sources in the landscape.
“Life Drawing of a Flapper Girl”
Lastly, this is a gouache painting I created during our Life Drawing class with Andrew McDermott. For this particular project, the teacher provided us with pictures of live models from previous pre-Covid-19 classes for us to reference. This assignment was all about the texture of clothing and how to paint it. Despite all of our classes being online, we were still able to draw from live models over Zoom for the majority of our lessons and received helpful feedback from the teacher. I learned a lot about drawing better body proportions through this class and wish it was also offered in the second semester!
Why did you choose IDEA School of Design over other schools?
I have always adored creating fine art and illustrations but was uncertain if it was the most viable path to follow as a career. I was drawn to the IDEA Bachelor of Design program due to its straightforward and employment-based mindset that seemed reassuring in the competitive landscape of the art world. While many other fine arts schools push for the creative and conceptual aspects of art, this program allows me to continue studying illustration, in addition to learning relevant design skills.
“The Bachelor of Design program at IDEA School of Design is a 4-year degree program with an enduring reputation for industry-prepared graduates. We are a career-oriented program for the next generation of creative professionals, with concentrations in branding, illustration and interactive design.”
What advice would you give to those considering applying?
For students who are considering applying to the IDEA Bachelor of Design program, I would suggest honestly thinking about what you want to achieve from your post-secondary education! If you are only interested in producing conceptual and abstract forms of art, this program may not be the best fit, but for those who would like to build up their skillset and portfolio to be competent as a commercial artist, this program is very promising.
“The purpose of your portfolio is to demonstrate your creative potential. We assess portfolios on drawing skill, design and creativity.”
"Breakthrough Moments" at IDEA School of Design
My breakthrough moment in this program was when I realized that good design does not need to be completely new…it’s actually better to reference what has been successful in the past! There is a lot of emphasis on creativity and novel ideas in fine arts, but through my design classes, I learned that we do not need to reinvent the wheel every time. This knowledge was especially helpful to me as someone with very little experience in design before starting this program.
What’s one of your favourite music videos?
Hampton the Hamster “The Hamsterdance Song”.
For more on Natasha follow her on Instagram @spring_day6.
