Meet one of our new Multimedia Arts student artists here in CIIT — Alleia Gabrielle Mercado!
This 19-year-old student artist started her college journey last year as a freshman taking up Bachelor of Multimedia Arts at CIIT College of Arts and Technology. Before coming to CIIT, Alleia took a Music, Arts, and Design Track in Senior High School from another notable institution.
Her love for the Arts and Design was already discovered at the age of 3 when her family would often see her drawing a lot on paper. However, choosing the Arts as a career path received a bit of resistance from her parents who aspire her to follow their path as Civil Engineers. Fortunately, her persistence succeeded later and she moved forward in pursuing the Arts and Design for her studies.
Initially, Alleia was drawn to the traditional arts but as she discovers more about the many facets of the field, her focus eventually shifted to digital arts. She sees the latter as a world of many opportunities and a career where she can make a beautiful contribution to the world.
Last year, Alleia began her journey into college. Needless to say, she pursued Digital Arts with high hopes of becoming a Character or Concept Designer in the future. Unfortunately, with the ongoing pandemic, she began her college journey in an online class environment.
Get to know more about Alleia’s student life and experience in Modern Virtual Education in the interview below:
What inspired you to pursue Digital Arts?
I have this video game that inspired me. The character design (actually) inspired me. And then, naisip ko na to be part of a collective group of people making one thing kahit hindi ka recognized by most people in the world basta you’re a part of those people na gumawa ng isang bagay that inspires other like it did sa akin. I choose Multimedia Arts since inisip ko na I want to do character design. I want to inspire other people like how it actually inspired me.
There are many schools out there that offer Multimedia Arts but what convinced you to pursue Digital Arts in CIIT?
I chose CIIT because I saw the institution as less intimidating and more welcoming than my other choices of schools. When I was weighing my options, I saw that the community is very interesting. It has a (good) blend of students and instructors. I also wanted to try the program since it is primarily focused on digital arts.
As a CIIT freshman in an online class setting, what are remarkable experiences so far?
Well, I am fairly new to the school so my remarkable experience so far is how open the environment is to all kinds of ideas.
We know that the shift to online learning was not easy. What are the challenges as a student artist and how did you overcome them?
My most unforgettable challenge is having very little to zero confidence in my accomplishments. I don’t think I have fully overcome it yet but I do believe that these kinds of struggles are opportunities for us to learn to slowly conquer (the challenges) by not giving up on ourselves, allow ourselves to breathe, and be satisfied with our current progress. It all gets better little by little (in time).
It must be challenging to start off your college journey in an online environment, how was it?
My experience with CIIT’s MOVE (Modern Virtual Education) set up this year is very comfortable and effective. I may not be able to say the same as the other students for I am privileged enough to have a good setup at home. But I can say that managing time is easier because of how the institution divided the time for lectures and tasks for the students.
I am very thankful for the respect, care, and consideration the staff and faculty give their students in order for them to be comfortable with their learning experience. This includes being considerate and not requiring the students to attend synchronous classes. I am also very thankful that CIIT trains its future practitioners with good soft skills and core values. I appreciate CIIT’s concerns for their students by giving them a very welcoming and informative environment even with the pandemic and the unfortunate situation going on today.
What are your aspirations once you graduate?
Moving forward, I would want to be, not really to be recognized to the point na world-renowned, but recognized for what I’m doing. Like for example, character design if I get to character design or maybe concept art, I want art to be recognized as really important and for them to see farther or clearly ‘yung horizons na kayang abutin ng art. My aspiration is to be recognized na Art is not just something pretty to look at, it’s something much deeper than that. I just want the people to know that we are not doing Art just for the pretty things but we’re doing it for ourselves, for everyone else.
What can you advise to artists who also aspire to study Arts?
Don’t rush your passion if sa tingin mo hindi mo kaya ngayon, you can try again another day, you can do what you have to do for now. It’s not going anywhere, your passion isn’t going anywhere especially if mahal mo talaga siya. So, don’t give up on yourself especially if it’s what you want.
Are you interested to experience the CIIT student life as a Multimedia Arts student? Get to know more about our Bachelor of Multimedia Arts program by visiting www.ciit.edu.ph/bachelors-degree/. You can also email us at info@ciit.edu.ph or PM us at m.me/ciitphilippines for more information.
