Art Schools?

[DragonCat]

[DragonCat]

I thought I would ask this one here and start a more “college in general” thread in community later. 🙂

I am looking to go to art school mainly because I am trying to get into the video game business (just not first-person shooters; motion sickness :puke: ) and I love art. Art is fun to look at and to do it yourself. :yes: The problem is that most are scams just lurking in the shadows, waiting until you’re flat broke to pounce. :gasp: I am also hearing mixed reviews on everything and anything (AI of Pittsburg has druggie students and don’t care about you, ‘My cousin so & so came from AI LA and is very successful’, Westwood College is a SCAM!) and all I want to is study somewhere… 🙄 Anyone know a reputable art school? Preferrably in CA?

[Elena]

Yeah, finding a school is hard. There are all those college lists and people who have their own opinions about certain schools etc. The best thing I can suggest is to do ALOT of research. Look at what schools are available, check out things like …

Price – More than just can you afford it. What is included in your tuition? Where does your money go? What are their cancellation/withdrawal policies? You can call the Better Business Bureau, Chamber of Commerce etc. because colleges are businesses. Look into if they are affiliated with a group of colleges or other post secondaries and check out the groups reputation. Are they accredited? Does the school have a student union/government? Talk to them. Also talk to schools about each other, how a school is viewed overall among its ‘peers’ can be a good indication of scam schools.

Courses Offered – What courses are mandatory? Most good art colleges I looked at (way back when) required you to take a ‘foundation year’ where you go through ALL the basics before you are allowed to look at specializing. Are courses transferable to other post secondaries? Check not only with the post secondary of your choice but call other places and ask if they would accept/recognize courses from the school you are looking at. Also what are the profs duties? How many courses/classes do they teach? What is their background? etc.

See if the college you are looking at has an open house or an art show you could go to. Maybe look at taking a weekend or evening course offered through the college you are looking at as a kind of ‘Test Drive’. Go to the colleges advisory department and talk to them. Talk to people who have graduated from the school, more than one and from different programs. Everyone has their own experiences when it comes to school and even through person A may have hated it, person B may have had a great time.

As for ‘druggies’ and other aspects of college life, well, unfortunately colleges and universities are their own little cities and thus come with all the social problems you would find in a city. And certain programs (like the Arts) have a reputation (true or not) for being more susceptible to certain cultures. The thing is, you can choose whether to be involved with a particular group or not. The ‘Not Caring’ I think is a matter of perspective. Each teacher is different and going to teach different ways, also if a prof. has 5 classes of 100people each, they simply may not have the luxury of getting to know you as an individual. You have to be proactive, it is your education, you have to work for it. I found that I got out of my college experience what I put in to it.

Good Luck with your hunt!

[Rachel]

I would look into who developed/did the art on the types of games you’d most like to do. For example, if you like roleplaying games (tend to be beautiful with a wide variety of art styles), check out some popular ones on multiple platforms: Zelda, Lord of the Rings Online, World of Warcraft, etc. Then find out who did/does (some of the online MMORPGs are ever evolving) the artwork. Look them up online to see what their educational background is.
Also, I saw an advertisement for a college in graphical/video game art somewhere. I’m going to check out where it is and let you know…if I remember. hehehe. That being said, I can’t say anything specific about any schools since that’s not my training and experience. But I would do what I suggested and what foxfeather suggested, if I was you.

[Jessie]

yep, lots of scams out there. my sister has dealt with a lot of them, AI and online stuff. i went to a community college and then to a university (California State Channel Islands) and they have a FANTASTIC art program there. the school itself is very small but you get one-on-one attention to some great and amazing professors. they don’t have a lot in the way of video game stuff (at least when i was there, things may have changed) but their multimedia program produces top-award winning students every semester. i always wanted to go to art center in pasadena… but of course you have to spend a fortune there. they DO, on the other hand, offer some great “at-night” courses that could supplement study elsewhere.

just my 2 cents 🙂

[Pegasi1978]

I know you say you wanted schools in California, but if you’re willing to head to the East coast, there’s always SCAD.

[Jennifer]

For East Coast, SCAD ( http://www.scad.edu/) is good, and Ringling is very good . I have a friend going there for the same thing you are (to work in video games). http://www.ringling.edu/

For California, I know that CalArts is the big name, especially if you want to get into animation. http://art.calarts.edu/

If you can, try to find someone locally or even some videos of what your ideal job entails beforehand. For a long time I ‘thought’ I wanted to make 3D animation with all my heart, until I understood what you actually have to do.. I am to this day very very glad I didn’t enroll in college for it. I was >||< that close to spending $60k that I would have regretted! I now know that I would be much happier on the concept art end of 3d animation production.

Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
My art: featherdust.com

[Jessie]

Jennifer wrote:

For California, I know that CalArts is the big name, especially if you want to get into animation. http://art.calarts.edu/

duh.. yeah, i meant to mention CalArts too! ive only heard awesome things about them 🙂

[pipsxlch]

I’m in Florida so it isn’t really what you want, but tehre is a school near me (not a fly by night, been there for many years) called Full Sail. I believe their emphasis is on visual arts/computer animation type stuff. One of their subschools that you hear a lot of locally is D.A.V.E., which I believe is partially supported by/students used by Universal Studios here locally. There is a major computer game company here in town, and D.A.V.E. is a feeder of trained computer game animation folks for them.

[Akeyla]

I cannot give you direct hints as I am a Swiss resident (except perhaps saying that for a Swiss local in comparison I for once after reading some entries here actually liked my school… I pay very little. lets see, 1K a year, thats including most general materials).
I’d like to empathize that should you find a more final choice of schools, do pick contact with them, specifically those who are being at school there. They will be more than happy to answer your questions. This is good to find out:

a) wheter the school is suited for you (finances, weight of focus, general stuff), and what you need to get in ( you may get hints what is required for exams/portfolios). Remember, noone knows better than the one who’s been through it. Dont forget to check job offers and what they pay.
Also, as Jennifer said: some things appear in sunshine but are not that cool. Ask if you can look in for one day or so, noone’s gonna hate you for that.
For example, I am an art teacher. This means teaching art, fitting tasks to how I want them, working with children, seeing new ideas made, solving problems, etc. This also means a lot of organisatory paperwork stuff, buying materials, exact preparation in calculation and materials, answering same questions a billion times, having disrespectful kids, arguing about grades plus the everlasting unexpected: one of my kids ran away in the middle of the lesson, I fetched help from the class teacher and he bit his class teacher.

b) which classes are suited for you, I hate to say it, the teacher makes the class. Eventually the teacher(teachers) make the schooling. We have 4 big schools of my direction (Art Education) here, we meet twice annually, and sometimes it feels like night and day. This can be but must not be. I am just saying this because 6 years ago I would have laughed if you told me this.

c) get information about folks who were to that school and have a job (this has been told already, I am repeating it because its important). Please be aware, that some schools produce twice or trice as many diplomas as there are workplaces. Look left and right what that education you do can include on a jobs base, either directly or for future follow-up educations. Seeing what is included requires direct information from either a former student doing it or simply giving firms/job offer folks a call and asking if this and that would qualify.
Many schools are being re-organized, thus I empathize this because the schools will do a lot to save their hide. I had a schoolfriend who lawsuited our school for this, back when the Bachelor of Art Education was still young.
Its the world of multi-task now, sometimes you need two for the bread to come in, sometimes one does not work at all. so keep a second door open.

and last but not least, I am saying this frankly and it does not mean that it can happen, or that I am trying to cast a shadow over your possible dream job. I am just saying, if you do something you love/like, be prepared that it be tested with full sortiment, including your own doubts (in education and then, when you do the job). This means standing up and facing it and keeping at heart what you are doing it all for.

Try asking on conceptart.org forums, I believe there are quite a few students on there from the mentioned schools, or atleast folks who can answer you more school related detail questions.

What you are aiming for is definitly a very interesting and art filled future. I wish you the best of luck 🙂

[DragonCat]

Thank you everyone, all the info has been extremely helpful. 😀 Still researching schools and am trying to talk my family into letting me leave (word is trying because my mom unfortunately doesn’t have the same ideas I do *sigh*) to maybe a different state (they are the people funding some of it). I’ll keep searching and let people know. 🙂

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