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hello_mannequin posted:I've applied to some art schools and universities with good art programs for Fall 2008 as a first-year undergraduate. I'd like to know anything people have to say about the following schools (specifically their art programs). Rumors are okay, but first-hand experience is better. Just graduated from there last fall as illustration when I started as transportation design, so here's the info I have for the school (broken into sections, sorry for the length): GENERAL - Overall, it's a great school if you're willing to let it shape you. If you have your own ideas about how things should be, prepare for a long and painful fight. - It's currently at 15k a term (minimum of eight terms to graduate) and rising. School runs all year round with three terms of year (three to four weeks of break in between each term), so if you can go all the way through without taking any terms off you can technically graduate with a full BS (transportation/product) or BFA (all others) in 2yrs 8months. If you don't qualify for cal grant or other government funding you will be paying out the rear end with private loans and/or your parents' retirement funds. Remember, you are paying more for the connections and the network than you are the actual education - most of what they will teach you is refined versions of what you can find at most art schools. The primary difference is the student population as your peers' skill levels is what will drive nearly all of your improvement. - 14 weeks per term, studio classes typically run 5 hours on weekdays, 6-7 on weekends. There's free figure drawing workshops every day from Mon-Thurs 2-7pm, Fri has 2-7 and 4-10 sessions, Sat has 10-3 or something. They post the room numbers and times outside the prop room (ground floor of the building with the cafeteria, just walk around in a circle until you see an orange envelope taped to the wall) and they do not check ID. Highly, highly recommend taking advantage of this if you're local to socal and can go; this can save you a bundle of cash if you're just looking to practice your figure drawing. Please note that this is only at the hillside campus up on Lida. - Some computer labs are open 24/7 and there's public wireless all over the school that doesn't require login; this is valid for both campuses. - Student life is barely there; there's some sort of student government but maybe a handful of people actually attend their socials and such. Most of us were too busy trying to finish our homework and projects to actually participate. End of the term/graduation parties are out of control though, and you should try to hit a couple up if you know people involved. - There is no parking during peak hours. The school is intentionally inflating the student population by allowing people who should not be there into the school and this is reflected in the parking situation. - The school has two campuses: the hillside campus which is the primary one, and the south campus which was supposed to be for night classes and such but it happens to contain the printmaking lab and the archetype press lab. Both of which are awesome and highly recommended if you can fit the classes into your schedule. - Student population is made up of a lot of koreans, taiwanese and whites. They are letting in a lot more high school grads than before, so the overall age range is getting younger. Get a real education elsewhere first if you haven't been to a proper college because a lot of these kids are socially gimped as a result of going to this school first. In fact, most people at this school are socially backward. - Academics are a joke here. They allow a max of 45 credits to be transferred in so do it beforehand; once you're in they don't allow you to transfer credits in. It used to be allowable until they figured out we were all doing it at CCs to save money. - Teachers range from top notch professionals with great connections to downright mediocre because they were hired by friends in administration. Ask around about classes and teachers if you meet anyone who's really good or really jaded. - It's very standard to first go to Pasadena City College to prep your entry port so you can actually get a scholarship going in; ideally, you'll try for this because it gets a lot harder to get a scholarship while you're already attending. Easiest term to get scholarship is summer, then spring. Fall you'll be competing with a lot more people. - Do not go to this school if you are only interested in doing comics/cartooning or 3D. I unfortunately do not know how much graphic design gets into website design, but they have a motion graphics concentration for that major. - We typically have graduating portfolios that are 11x17, either portrait or landscape; 13x19 if we're feeling ambitious. 8x11 is only acceptable if you've made it into a blurb printed book and you're planning on doing children's book illustration. Nothing bigger though, it has to be portable enough to haul everywhere and printable on your home printer. If all of your work is fine art paintings and such you have digital versions for your book. - When you graduate they offer a type of "speed dating" interview process. You meet with 10-15 companies in the span of a couple of hours, usually talking with them for about 5 minutes at the most. It's a very, very good way of getting feedback on your work and getting business cards for future contacts. - The job boards are top notch. You can consistently pick up freelance work or a fulltime gig if you keep up with the postings. TRANSPORTATION DESIGN - Transportation design and product design get nearly 80% of the attention and corporate/private funding that goes to that school - I heard photography has their own separate 1 million set aside for scholarships and the rest of the available majors have to cope with what's left. - As for the trans program itself, it's still very solid and you'll get your money's worth; just realize that the field's seriously overpopulated and you'll be drawing headlights for five years if you get a job. A car takes roughly five years to go from concept to production if it ever gets there, and no one artist ever works on the entire design of the vehicle unless you're insanely talented - and they never let fresh grads do that anyway. - Be prepared to pull one all-nighter every week, if not more just to keep up with the work. Even if you have the world's best time management they literally pile on the work to make or break you within the first three semesters there. Also, modeling is required so chemical inhalation is standard. Outsourcing is becoming more and more encouraged but this means you spend thousands per project if you want the better grade, or hundreds of hours making the drat thing. - They do reviews 3rd and 6th term to check your progress. I believe they still hold you back if they think you suck too much to continue in the program. ILLUSTRATION - Illustration has been broken down into areas of concentration so you'll graduate with illustration as your primary major with some sort of related subset. It determines what happens with your classes in your 4th-8th terms, basically. Last I checked it was illustration design (editorial), fine arts painting (gallery), entertainment design (2d that translates to 3d for games, movies), entertainment arts (2d that's for vis dev, not intended to be translated to 3d) and -I think- motion graphics. You have to make the decision around your 3rd term - the entertainment related concentrations require a separate portfolio review to see if you qualify for the programs. - It is the biggest major of the school, so that means there will be times when you simply cannot get the classes you need because it's too full and there aren't enough others to make up a full second class. - Foundation is now nonexistent. When I started there were four mandatory figure drawing classes, and I took at least eight more outside of school at private ateliers; now they only require one or two and most kids here are encouraged to develop a "naive" style aka stuck with it because they can't draw any better. - If you are looking to get into concept art there are tons of private little schools popping up around the area to fill this need, so if your figure drawing skills are already decent you should just go to those instead. Especially if you already have a degree and don't need another one. Gnomon, concept art academy, los angeles academy of figurative art and entertainment arts academy just to name a few. - Still decent for editorial art if that's your interest, they've hired a bunch of teachers that're actually working so their feedback's up to date with what industry standards are currently at. Gallery art's a bit of a strange creature here, it has a mix of fine art and traditional figurative painting depending on who you take for classes, but they tend to be in touch with the gallery world as well. - They also do 3rd and 6th term review, but they don't hold you back if you suck. Wusses. - Standard to have custom bound portfolios as books for certain portfolio prep classes; concept kids don't worry about this stuff since everything we do is digital and needs to be printed out. Very standard to have business cards and leave behinds for grad show. Gods, that's a lot. Hope it helps.
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Apr 5, 2008 13:39
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Been busy as hell, but here're some jobs that I nabbed from my school's job boards: Date Posted 7/1/2008 4:44:28 PM Company Name sellulloyd Street Address 3191 Casitas Ave. ste-162 City Los Angeles State CA Zip Code 90039 Country usa Website https://www.sellulloyd.com Contact Email richard@sellulloyd.com Contact Person Richard Lassalle Job Type Freelance (Project) Job Category Animation Location California - Los Angeles Area Nature of Company multi media production company Duties/Responsibilities we are looking for an enthuastic 2&3d animator to design and build a series of animations. we are looking for a stylish rendition of a variety of human internal organs Skills/Experience 2 & 3d animation Experience Level Entry-level (0-2 years experience) Information required from applicants Resume, cover letter, samples Preferred Form of Response email Date Posted 7/1/2008 4:50:07 PM Company Name Connected Sound Street Address 11684 Ventura Blvd, P.O. Box 383 City Studio City State CA Zip Code 91604 Country US Website https://www.connectedsound.com Contact Email cassie@connectedsound.com Contact Person Cassie Bueno Job Type Full-Time Job Category Web Design Location California - Los Angeles Area Nature of Company Connected Sound is a web hosting and design company serving a global community of barbershop harmony groups. Duties/Responsibilities A unique kind of start-up company is looking for a few great web designers who are versatile and can create a wide variety of layouts for a template-based business. The candidate must be able to create a Photoshop mockup and render the psd into a webpage with best-practices, cross-platform html and css. Must be Mac based. Must supply a portfolio specifically with web designs. Required Skills / Qualifications: - Gifted artistic sense - Proficient with Photoshop - Efficient and reliable - Comfortable working from home and communicating with coworkers via phone and email. - Uses a Mac (necessary for compatibility with development environment), and is able to use own computer and software for work. - Strong understanding of HTML and CSS Experience Level No Preference Information required from applicants Resume, link to online portfolio Preferred Form of Response e-mail Date Posted 6/30/2008 3:58:45 PM Company Name Dan Clark Company Street Address 557 Terrill Ave. City Los Angeles State CA Zip Code 90042 Country United States Website http://www.myspace.com/danclarkcompany Contact Email danclarkcompany@mac.com Contact Person Don Asher Job Type Freelance (Project) Job Category Television Location California - Los Angeles Area Nature of Company Create & produce cool children's television shows. Duties/Responsibilities Looking for ambitious & talented After Effects & Maya artists/animators for a four to five month project featuring puppets and digital effects for a puppet/CG action comedy. Skills/Experience Tracking, compositing, Graghic Design. Must be proficient in Maya and/or After Effects. Experience Level No Preference Information required from applicants Resume and a work reel in Quicktime or a link to a work reel. Preferred Form of Response Email only. Other This project will begin in mid-July and run through mid-November. It's going to be a lot of fun. Sometimes there's crossover with craigslist, other times not. I know for a fact there're more 3D/website guys here than in my school, so it's better here than wasted there anyway. re: my portfolio, (forgot who asked) I'll spare you the pain since all my poo poo's anime and I had my head up my rear end for most of my education. The better students that come out of there do stuff that look like the pro conceptart.org style, basically.
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Jul 3, 2008 09:11
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MonkeyDonkey posted:I've got an issue I'm not sure how to proceed. I work for a sign company and designed a sign for a cooking team to use at competitions. A representative for a rodeo association eslewhere in the state saw the sign and wanted the same artist to design a logo for them and the team referred them specifically to me but at my e-mail address for work. It'd probably be safest to do it through your company since it's the same thing you do for work - normally for freelance I make sure clients contact me through an email completely unrelated to work. I personally don't give a poo poo whether or not it's ethical for me to do work on the side - I need to make ends meet, and if that means I have to take outside work then I will. Typically, you offer them either an hourly rate and an estimate of how long it'll take, or you give them a flat rate plus the amount of revisions you're willing to do under that rate. Additional revisions should cost extra, and anything that requires a faster turnaround should also be charged extra. This is written up in a contract either by them or by you - this contract will also cover the rights of the logo, who owns what (most likely a work for hire), etc. brad industry posted:Any of you guys have a recommendation for e-mail mailing list software/web service? I need to be able to send out a newsletter every once in a while to clients and I want something with a one-click unsubscribe and some kind of contact management I guess. phplist is supposed to be a decent service. Not something I've used personally, but it's probably one of the first ones I'd try just because it's free.
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Jul 21, 2008 19:44
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Xansabar: This is going to be specific to the games industry so I'm not sure how well it meshes with the other graphic industries, but most job postings say experience wanted but will take someone with an incredible portfolio. Basically, if your skillset matches someone with 2-3 years working experience then it'll probably be fine. All the successful jobs I've found were all from my school's job boards, with a couple freelance gigs from craigslist, so remember to try there as well. Took me about four months before I was able to land a paid internship after graduation, to give a timeframe - this was before the economy went to poo poo, and most companies don't hire as aggressively during this time of year because projects are winding down, holidays are coming up, etc. Padded my resume with a bunch of personal projects (artbook, freelance, websites, etc.) so if you've got anything like that it'll look like you've been consistently active in pursuing career goals. If you're able to find a startup that has consistent funding then that's also a really fast way to boost your resume since the title you'll get on that kind of project will usually be a lead position (just cuz you'll be the only artist for a while, ha). Good luck.
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Oct 15, 2008 23:21
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KittenofDoom posted:Really quick, can someone give me an opinion of the current setup I have for my portfolio site? Still plenty of dead links to go around, but I'm still working on those. Looks good, you just need a link on the side that says "resume" specifically for the retarded HR people. Not kidding about that, you have to be really explicit with those guys.
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Oct 23, 2008 21:30
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IntoTheNihil posted:Can anyone tell me about concept art and character design for the video game/movie industry? Just how to get on that path and what type of career is possible. It's oversaturated since art schools around the nation keep pumping out more grads than there are jobs, but don't let that discourage you. You'd need a portfolio showcasing your abilities - start to finish character design and/or concept designs (props, environment, vehicles, etc.) meaning sketches, reference research, refinement and final. Career possibilities start at junior artist, texture artist, previsualization, storyboarding, matte painter, character designer, costume designer, etc. More than likely at a big studio you'd be doing cleanup of someone else's work if you get in when a project's already underway. Your chances of getting hired are much greater if you're able to do 3D and work that's production level - as in it can actually be used as in-game assets rather than fancy paintings designed to "inspire". It does help a lot to know people currently working in the industry because a company's far more likely to hire a recommendation than a cold call. Best way to start is to start drawing a lot (pros are drawing 8 hours a day, five days a week, constantly), draw from life, do landscape painting, the basics of foundation. You don't need to go to a school but it speeds up the process if you do. Tons of resources are out there specifically for concept art (conceptart.org, cgchannel, gnomon3d, etc.) so it's not as obscure as it once was.
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May 13, 2009 00:48
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 21:21 |
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KittenofDoom posted:I'm going to try to finance it with FAFSA. If I regret it, it won't be too huge a debt and it'll be a fairly low interest rate as well. Still, the cost of an MFA there is cheaper than the cost of an unaccredited degree from a place like Art Center in Pasadena. Art Center is accredited. It's listed here: http://nasad.arts-accredit.org/index.jsp And here: http://www.wascsenior.org/directory/institutions I won't disagree with you on the pricetag, however. qirex posted:This shouldn't be something that convinces you to go somewhere, it generally means that they don't pay the teachers very well [true of AAU as well]. Not to say that it says anything about the quality of staff but it's not necessarily a plus. I know for a fact that Gnomon pays their instructors very well. They're one of the few art schools that do so with little politics, in fact. Why else would a working professional give up their nights and weekends to spend time teaching? And I'm not sure why you wouldn't want someone completely up to date in their respective fields - in my educational experience, some of the worst teachers were always the ones who reminisced about their past achievements and were completely out of touch with the current changing market. Not saying that being a professional automatically means you'll be a good instructor, but at the very least they're going to be more of a valid networking potential than someone who's only been teaching and not working in their field.
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Dec 12, 2009 16:42
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