Meet second-year student, Ananya Eriyat (IDEA Grad 2025)! Her self-portrait for IDES 133 - Visual Studio taught by Jay Bassan is shown above.

Read Ananya’s story and check out some of her other work for a glimpse into student life at IDEA School of Design at Capilano University.

Self-portrait

This was one of the assignments that I was most excited about. When I have a pen in my hand, I enjoy drawing portraits and creating different character sketches. This assignment gave me an opportunity to create that character out of myself and everything I enjoy. I also adore traditional Japanese swords (Katanas) and appreciate Japanese culture even more now. I grew up watching Japanese animated films and spent some time in Japan studying the language. As evident from my mood board, I enjoy neon lighting and dynamic poses. I attempted to replicate an amalgamation of both here. Even though taking the photograph was a challenge, I enjoyed this process which gave my artistic vision its ultimate manifestation.

“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 at IDEA School of Design

My first year at IDEA until now has been one crazy ride! I was initially extremely nervous but reaching Vancouver and meeting everybody in person really helped me settle into the program.

I found every class interesting with a good amount of work. I really love interacting with my teachers and learning so much from them through the course of the assignments we must do. The serious workspace environment really facilitates my ability to put 100% into my work.

After my first year, I was so driven to improve my skills that I spent the summer working on digital painting at my father's studio every day back home in Mumbai!

I hope to do an internship in Mumbai next summer but don't have a specific internship confirmed yet!

The second year so far has equipped me with skill sets that I never thought I could learn so fast and I am super excited to see what is to come!

Featured Work

Self-portrait Assignment

This was another pastel self-portrait assignment for my IDES 133 class with Andrew McDermott. I was using pastels for the first time with a lot of doubt. But I thoroughly enjoyed using them as I was quite happy with the eventual output. I rarely draw my face accurately so to be able to do that with dusty pastels which I am not familiar with at all, was a true challenge.

“Red Riding Hood” Children’s Illustration

This was the children's illustration assignment that we had for Pascals IDES 132 illustration course. I used watercolor and ink on paper to bring this idea out. The challenge with working on paper, especially with ink is that there is no UNDO option. I was most excited to be able to crack the visual language where the wolf became the forest and the Rocky Mountains and Red Riding hood are in the threat of the wolf’s cunning trap represented by the terrain she has to pass through.

“Rembrandt” Masters Copy Assignment

This illustration project with Jeff was one of my first assignments at IDEA, and it was one of the largest portraits I've ever made. 22 inches by 18 inches. I enjoyed working with charcoal replicating a master's work; attempting to mimic the style was difficult, but it helped me understand my own limitations and motivated me by seeing so many details in the masterly strokes of Rembrandt. I was pleased with the result, especially considering the number of mistakes I made. This was done sitting in India, 12.5 hours ahead of Vancouver time, so a lot of midnight oil burnt on this.

100 Project

This 100 project was my final assignment for my DSGN 122 course with Dominique Walker. I chose to do one portrait in a hundred different illustrator styles. For this one, I went with my father's face! This project helped me greatly improve my illustration skills, particularly portraiture. Even though I had to stare at my father's face all the time haha, the end result was extremely satisfying and well worth the time spent on it. I learned a lot about various art styles as well as the fundamentals of discipline.

Why did you choose IDEA School of Design over other schools?

I chose IDEA School of Design after a lot of thinking and researching, especially when I was equally keen on joining OCADU where I got admission for illustration. I also spoke to Pascal Milelli, the program coordinator before accepting my offer since I wanted to understand the program a little better. The deciding factor was the foundation Year offered at CapU, which for a student like me with no prior orientation to art/design as a subject would give me the much-needed introduction to this side of studies. Also, I discovered alumni work and liked the way students’ work and thinking progressed through the years. I feel like I resonated with the art and people at IDEA a lot, so I chose to come here.

Advice for those considering applying to IDEA School of Design

The only advice I could think of is to be mentally prepared for the immense amount of work and assignments that would spill beyond your curriculum hours. It is a stimulating experience, but it requires to apply oneself and really prioritize work over other distractions that campus life usually comes with. Keep the passion going and remember even though there’s a lot of help, nothing is spoon fed!

“Breakthrough Moments” at IDEA School of Design

One of my breakthrough moments at IDEA was when I sat in an in-person class with my classmates and observed the amazing level of skill and talent that my peers had. Everyone was serious about what they did in the class and when I sat with them for one of my first life drawing lessons, I realized the amount of focus and dedication required to excel in this program.

In Mumbai, India, students are expected to confer to the course norms and not break out. Here at IDEA, the priority is to reinterpret the scope of a course and expand the possibilities within. This has been a big change for me.

What’s your favorite music video?

SIAMÉS "The Wolf" [Official Animated Music Video]

I love the simplicity with which such a powerful animated music video is made. Black and white, simple, and minimal forms beautifully interchanging grounds of reality, foreground becoming background at times and vice versa. The power of space and form is so well established through this video. It’s cool, and young yet so brilliantly designed and of course, animated beautifully.

For more on Ananya

Insta: @eriyat.ananya