List everyone should read before art school

#1

List to read through before art school:

The majority of the list is from various posts conceptart.org (found here:http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=102315) I wanted to share the content in a more organized format for ease of reading and assisting aspiring artists such as myself. I will gladly add/edit portions as the community sees fit as well to improve the content while keeping it as consolidated as possible.

  1. Where you choose to go to art school is less important than bringing an attitude of “doing whatever it takes” to learn about art to where you are studying.

    1. If you go to a big name school and just do the assignments, you will leave school with very little of value.

    2. If you go to a little bitty school that anyone could afford and no one ever heard of but work your ass off, you will end up miles ahead of the brats at the art schools who are only doing their assignments and the normal minimal workload art schools require.

    3. The schools will not hand feed you the information. You will have to take it from them. If one instructor doesnt know the answers, go find another one and get the answers from them. My best biz advice came from my illustration teacher and from the teacher who helped me to learn color theory. You never know who will have the answers…but you must push to find the questions that need to be asked. Dont expect it to be given to you with a silver spoon. It does not work that way.

    4. What you do outside of school (outside of the student assignments and on top of the student assignments) is what will get you where you need to be. After school you will work four times harder than you did in art school so you might as well pick up the pace your freshman year and push as hard as you can.

    5. One does not have to spend 100,000 dollars (which is what most end up spending after their loans are paid off) in order to get a great education. Around 7. 95 percent of what can be found at the big art schools can be found at the state and community college level and the other five percent (specific connections and work experience) can be found in places like conceptart.org (see employment section) and cgsociety amongst others. Of course one’s major area of study will dictate where they must go to find the information. If any information is lacking from the less expensive education route it can be supplimented with great programs like the Illustration Academy and or the ConceptArt.Org workshops.

    6. Degrees mean jack squat to an artist unless they plan on working overseas (required for the visa) or teaching full time at the university level. No one in my entire career has ever asked if I graduated from college. I didn’t…but I did do six successive years in art school. I did not even graduate from high school. Now I own two international art companies which lead in their respective fields. However, my education was valuable. But, one can be educated away from a degree system and end up just fine. Degrees in art are mostly for pleasing your parents.

    7. Art school is a blast. Don’t let it distract you from being as great as you can be. Becoming a professional artist takes nose to the grindstone work. Art school can distract from that (oh it is so tempting to go to those all night parties where all sorts of debauchery is happening) but limit yourself there…if you are going to art school…spend the time doing art.

    8. Art school recruiters will say anything they think you want to hear in order to get you to go. The best way to find out the truth about where you are going to study is to visit the school.

    9. Ask to see the faculty work of those whom you will study under. If you blindly attend because of reputation you may find that you have instructors who cannot do anything of the sort that you wish to learn yourself. ie if your instructor is a fine artist who makes everything out of balls of rice, you are going to have a very hard time learning composition and color theory from them. Find out who you are studying under before you spend six figures on an education…that even applies to the more affordable solutions at the state or community level.

    10. Set your own goals and make sure that your education gets you there, even if you go to a big-cost-big-reputation school. No matter where you study, you will have teachers who have different goals for you. Make sure those goals do not conflict with or distract from your own goals. Use every assignment, no matter how seemingly unrelated, to get where you want to be. Always ask yourself “how can I use this assignment to my advantage?”

    11. Don’t necessarily be put off by the retail price of art schools.

    There are a limited number of really good prospective students and a huge number of schools competing for them. A good school’s reputation is based to a large part on the success of its alumni, so it’s a good investment for them to offer scholarships to their most promising prospects. Apply to a bunch of schools, and see who offers you the best aid package. If your first choice is still the most expensive, and you’re really good, you may be able negotiate if another school is offering more. This is the value of having a killer portfolio. Getting into art school is relatively easy, paying for it is hard.

    1. Compare departments/programs, not schools. Every school will be weaker in some areas and stronger in others. Some community colleges, state universities, and liberal arts schools have unusually strong programs in a particular field. Some school’s reputations are based more on their graduate programs than undergraduate.

    15.Have fun along the way !

    1. Get out and experience things other than art, broaden your horizon’s, do things you have never done.

    2. Take risks! You do not serve anyone by playing it safe or staying on the same straight road.

    3. If you go to a community college first, take all the possible liberal arts electives as well as your math, science, and english so that when you go to the expensive art school you can take cool elective classes like print making or sculpture or head painting or storyboarding while everyone else is in sociology for artists or some shit. There is no point to pay for basic math 101 in art school if you can get it done for 300 bones at the community college first.

    4. Perhaps eighty percent of the students in art school end up achieving very little with their work after they “graduate”.

    If you took one hundred students from a given program, you would find that perhaps one or two did something significant with their work in the years after graduation. Perhaps another three or four will have good success, another fifteen or so will have something of a career and the rest are going to completely fall off the map. It doesn’t matter if you go to Art Center or if you go to Boondocks University.

    The simple fact is, very few within any given student body put the effort into reaching success that they should or could. The question is…which side of the statistical fence will you land?

    Recruiters will tell you otherwise. They will say they have a ninety percent placement rate or so. That simply is not the case. Unless, one counts getting a job at the local tshirt printing company for ten dollars an hour “placement”.

    Moral of the story…WORK YOUR ASS OFF so you are get more than a statistic out of the huge investment in your tuition and expenses during school.

    1. Take classes with instructors who are working IN THE FIELD. Why take classes from pepole who espouse theory and can’t really make a living beyond the classroom? Theory and opinion are wonderful to push the bounds of creativity but one also has to have a practicality about a career in art. Good classes with instructors who have merged their creative sides and business aspects are worth their weight in gold.

    They are literally bringing in fresh up-to-date experiences to the classroom as well. Don’t be afraid to ask what projects they’re working on and ask to see them.

    1. Prior to graduation, make sure your portfolio is relevant to the industry you plan on going into. All of those school assignments are exercises if they don’t fit within a prospective employer’s needs or comfort zone. In essence, they need to make a buck off of your talents and if your book isn’t fit their needs, it doesn’t mean that you’re not talented but your portfolio just doesn’t reflect what they’re looking for.

    2. By popular demand…

    … don’t let love decide where you go to school: 1.) you’re really young, and 2.) we all know that art school babes are the hottest thing ever. period.

    1. make sure your ready when you do go. do go becuase you think you have to go school. and have some idea of why you want to go there.

    2. When in school, don’t be afraid to take classes outside of your major. Take a class in Fine Arts, try your hand at Graphic Design, study Advertising, or whatever blows your hair back. Take advantage of the time and resources you have access to while you’re there. Don’t be afraid to learn something outside of your comfort zone; it all will come back and influence your own style. Studying art is a lifetime endeavor so why not take advantage of the time you have in college. It goes by all too fast and before you know it, you’ll be joining the work force.

      Selecting a school and progressing as an artist      -my personal perspective

After personally going through the process of selecting an institution and enrolling to further myself formally I felt it best to share some more. It is a mix of thoughts from my own experiences and discussions with friends in similar fields.

  1. Schools are primarily seeking to gain their own income regardless of profit/non-profit status, when looking I felt it was better to consider the schools as competing for my enrollment instead of fighting to get into one specific school

  2. Keeping the first point in mind, don’t give up on personal development the better your portfolio work and credentials are the more options you keep open as more schools will want to accept you and/or provide scholarship incentives to ease your transition in the future.

  3. Visit your high priority school(s) if possible, for me it eased my mind in my investment and greatly clarified my current goals as I progress as an artist. Before you visit thoroughly think of questions to ask and what you want to find out. I threw off my guide quite a few times because I wanted to know specific things for good reasons.

  4. Money is extremely precious, especially when just starting out. Keep in mind that education is a personal investment and should be looked at as such instead of merely a free pass to additional income. Your schooling is more a race to get as much as possible out of your personal development while in an environment for nurturing self improvement. During final years or right after completion your work should reflect your improvements and be ready to start competing in the industry.

  5. Routinely seek out reels online to get ideas and goals for improvement. I enjoy watching the work of professional animators to find aspects I like and admire what they have done to refine my own work and improve it as well. Share your progress regardless of specific field with anyone and everyone for input, it is free and easy to get thoughts to improve your work and ultimately your value as a potential employee.

#2

All of that, for the record, comes from conceptart.org’s reality of going to art school thread: http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=102315.

#3

thanks for posting the link to the original Meloncov =]

#4

Thank you very much for the post. This is exactly what I’m looking for. As a 3rd year animation student, I began to have doubt about whether or not my school can lead me to my goal. I want to build a strong 3D character/ creature animation reel, but I’ve found there’s a long way to go before I can actually create nice pieces.

The animation program at my school is young and general. At this point, I’ve taken most of the classes required and I could only repeat a class that is related to just character animation. I’ve considered of taking classes else where or even transfering to a different school, but I still can’t make up my mind. I’m desperated to hear advice.

The rest of the classes like storyboarding, hand drawn animation and 3D modeling& lighting can definitely enhance my different animation skills, but should I pursue only what I want to focus on? Should I take a semester off and go to Animation Mentor and community college just to focus on character animation?

Money is a problem. I don’t know postponing my art school education is a good idea. Should I go somewhere else to take just the classes I like or? What should I do? I’m really confused.

#5

That sounds like a bit of a tricky situation because you have already invested so much time into your current school. Ultimately I think it is quite a personal decision because everyone learns differently and benefits from different external influences. If you honestly feel that the school isn’t beneficial to you and animation mentor is what you need then go for it, I know that is a bit of a financial hit so of course think about it. Every bit of education is a continued investment in your future but it doesn’t present you any tangible financial gain, so I wouldn’t suggest excessively spending on schools unless your certain it is what you need/best for you. The reason why I bring that up is you mentinoned money being a problem and there are vast resources out there for free online along with numerous books that cover everything in depth.

I feel your concern on whether to learn more in general or simply focus on animation, this also I would think is a personal preference as there are pros and cons to both. For me I started out learning anything and everything and then eventually honed into animation. This was useful because it gave me a chance to try new things and become more certain of what I really enjoyed and could do well. It further benefits you because when you find yourself working within a team or pipeline you can better communicate issues and ideas with individuals that are focused on different aspects. Of course if you focused on only animation to the point where you couldn’t rig at all, couldn’t model only take a pre-made, rigged mesh and animate it nothing more, I would think that is a hit your credentials. It is an extremely competitive industry so if a company has 2 people with fantastic animation reels but one has knowledge of other areas even if something like a basic bi-ped rig it can give an upper hand.

Lastly don’t get too caught up in being stuck on one path, whether it be a school or specifically becoming an animator. Anyone can jump around between jobs and learning methods and many people already working for studios routinely dig through gnomon videos or the other various tutorial sites out there. Hopefully I have helped a tad and not been rambling on with too much of a rant, good luck!

#6

Hey Andrew,
I just want to say thanks for taking the time to put the list together, nice work.
I have to admit, some of what you’ve touched on has my same sentiments and sparks thought into my situation which is similar to the gent who posted earlier regarding switching schools midstream.
I’m currently in my 5th course (6months) in with Full Sails online program (your basic 2yr bachelors program I’m sure you’ve heard of). I have to say I give them a C- for the course so far. They are pretty pricey to boot.
I’m no stranger to online schools as I’ve graduated from Animation Mentor, Escape Studios VFX in Production and 3D Training Institute so I have a good degree of comparison to go by.
Although they all provide you with videos to watch and then you perform the assignments (animation mentor has a live class once a week), the teaching portion from full sail is sadly missing. At Escape and Animation Mentor, everytime you recieved feedback, you were also giving instruction as to what to watch out for, or what you may have done differently and why. Both schools (Escape and Animation Mentor) had a huge workload (if your working a full time job) but again, the courses were tops.
At full sail, here’s a typical feedback for work on their critique boards ’ doesn’t do anything for me’. Well, that’s nice but why? What could’ve been done differently?
I started fulls sail because I wanted the ‘piece of paper’. I’m currently on the verge of being able to work full time freelance but I’m certainly no stranger to the cg world and with other online schools to compare, I can tell good instruction from vacant instruction.
Although I do understand teachers may have a lot on their plate, that really not the students problem…especially when paying a lot of money. I’m paying to be taught to better myself. Sure, like I said, I started so I can get a degree but I was hoping for some ‘process improvement’ along the way which I don’t see. It seems I could continue coursework at FXPHD, DTutors or others for technique improvement. So…do I continue my work at full sail for a degree (with no real technical improvements) or continue to train at other places that offer no degree but the training is solid.
So, I’m at a bit of a crossroads. Certainly, with 6 months in, some monetary ‘bleeding’ has been incurred but I’m wondering if I should not worry about the degree so much and continue to go to places that continually improve my techniques…or just explore a local art school if I want the degree.
I really attended full sail because I heard they had a pretty good rep in the industry…maybe it’s for their campus and not the online.
Quite honestly, I was a teacher for 10 years (not in art) and my only focus was ‘how can I make my students better than me in the end’. I felt my students directly reflected upon me and what I was teaching. So when I go to school now and watch vids with little process improvement, it makes me step back a bit. I could watch vids and do assignments for $50k less at non degreed schools.
Anyways, your thoughts are appreciated (sorry if my text was a bit ‘long winded’).
Joe

#7

I am not going to respond to each item in your post;however, here are my overall thoughts

First, you assume that those who go to a well known art school will work less than those that attend a lessor known school.

I have found this NOT to be the case.In fact, it is probably the reverse! The general rule is that the more famous schools tend to attract more driven, focused and/or talented kids than the lessor named schools on the average. This is due to their higher admission standards Thus, a larger percentage of the kids at these top schools tends to work harder and the critiques tend to be better. This is very important since art students learn as much from other students as they do from their professors.

It is true that even the lessor named schools will get a few stars. However, the average kid isn’t going to be as good or driven as a school that has tougher admission standards.

My uncle who taught at both an ivy league school and at state universities confirmed this. He noted that although the top kids at each of these types of schools are similar, the average kid at the ivy school was much better and more driven then the average kid at a typical state university. The same can be said between well known art schools that have tougher admission standards over lessor named schools with lower admission standards or even no admission standards.

Secondly: For applied art, going to a top name school can help a lot with placement. Many times recruiters will come to top named school over one that isn’t. These top school usuallly have more famous professors who can steer recruiters to the better students. There is no question that the majority of kids that attend a school such as CMU, RISD, Univeristy of Cincinnati etc, can get jobs if they majored in applied art.

Third: You also assume that art school is one giant party and there isn’t that much work involved. You must have been watching the movie “art school confidential” too many times. I certainly can’t speak for all art schools, but for the better schools that I am aware of such as RISD, Pratt, University of Cincinnati et. al. they work their kids like dogs. Putting in 40+hour work weeks in addition to class is not unusual. Putting on all nighters in order to finish projects isn’t unusual.

Fourth: You have noted that it is much cheaper and cost effective to take gen eds at community colleges and then transfer to an art school. This had been said before and has some truth to it. However, there are some big drawbacks to this. First, it is usually easier to get into a top school as a freshmen than as a transfer student. Students take risks that they won’t be able to transfer to the school of their choice. Secondly, doing well in gen eds, even at a community college, isn’t easy. If the student doesn’t do well, he/she might really hurt their chances of getting in anywhere. Finally, it is the freshmen year that students make friends and make connections. Coming in as a transfer, really does put the transfer student at a disadvantage.

Fifth:I will agree that those that attend an art school should work their butts off at any school that they attend. I also agree that kids should take risks and push themselves. You are correct in noting that students should take some courses outside their major, although some art schools already require this.

Sixth: I do agree that if the answers aren’t clear from the class, outside research for the answers is a good thing to do. However, contacting other instructors usually isn’t feasible. It is much better to use outside video training, which is widely available in many areas such as what is found on Lynda.com, gnoman videos etc.

Seventh: When you compare at schools, always check out the student work too in addition to the faculty work. In fact, I would ask, if your major is in some applied art, what companies recruit here?

Eighth: You note “to get your portfolio up to date prior to graduation.” Good luck on that. Many top schools work their kids like dogs and have time intensive senior projects. Most of the better students usually end up having to improve their work that they created in art school so that the work rises to “portfolio standards.” Usually this occurs after art school or during the breaks such as summer break.

Ninth: You mention that only 1-5 out of any given 100 students do anything significant with their training. A lot depends on the major. Applied art students from good, well- known schools , usually have a number of job opportunities and are usually employed. If you don’t believe me, just contact CMU, University of Cincinnati, SVA, Pratt etc. If you are not majoring in an applied art field, you may be right.

Finally, as to the imporance of gettng a degree, this has been hotly debated many times. Please read through the following thread: http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=283&t=788316&page=2&pp=15

#8

Bujin:

Sorry to hear that full sail has you in a bit of a bind, I have constantly seen and heard mixed reviews of the school with most of them drifting into the negative spectrum. Ultimately it comes down to your personal planning, I would think if you believe it is that negative and not worth your hard earned money then seek knowledge elsewhere. I believe most studios and clients would gladly hire someone if they present outstanding work regardless of whether they have that magic degree in hand or not. That is a common issue in our society lately is that we are so driven that college is what everyone needs and they need it right away. The schools are turning into machines that constantly churn out degrees and the mindset of bettering yourself through education is degrading. Ultimately we seek education so that we can learn life skills, we want to make a living and perform a specified job well. If you feel your school isn’t preparing you for your career choice as desired then it is probably time to move elsewhere or at least look for alternative plans. I wouldn’t suggest making the decision based on a single course or instructor because any school can have weak links of course. Don’t completely rule out a degree or school course as a possibility either, some people learn better in a school environment while other flourish digging through online classes and tutorials. As you mentioned you have plenty of online references and tools to help you along the way as well, some students push through a rough school anyway with some added help from the web (gnomon, fxphd, digitaltutors and so on). Lastly I am glad to see a long post as opposed to someone just wasting time by saying “cool post.” Good luck with whatever decision you make and hopefully it turns out for the best!

#9

Taxguy:

very insightful post, for the record that initial post wasn’t necessarily my personal opinion-just consolidated posts from another forum on the topic.

I agree that the tougher admission standards should help keep the less dedicated artists out and ultimately result in more successful students. The key point I was taking out of that list was that it is up to the individual, there are so many posts around the internet saying that they need to go to the big expensive schools. The list was posted to bring up and enforce that the artists that don’t have the financial means to get to the larger schools can still flourish in smaller schools because of their drive and dedication. I don’t doubt the quality and immense value of large art schools, that’s why I personally aspire to get into one coming up in 2013 to improve my skills. I just don’t want to see artists discouraged to chase their goals and dreams because of financial requirements.

Very commonly I hear of complaints that schools don’t have much of a party life or night life and every time I see that I just wonder “what did they think college would be?”. Any school whether for art or another field isn’t an investment in a few years to drink and get laid, instead it is a race to learn and prepare for the next big step in our lives. Regardless there will always be people with that outlook to complain about how hard classes are or the workload being delivered.

I would agree that it sounds much easier to get into a school as a freshmen and maintain the program instead of transferring. Personally I think that it is more beneficial as you mentioned to start at the school of choice and go through the whole program instead of picking off credits from another. It may be more of a financial hit but as you mentioned it is time to make friends and ultimately contacts that is extremely valuable.

The most important concept that seems to ring on over and over that I took out of the list was to work you ass off. Regardless of what school you choose, your background, financial situation, personal life. I have met phenomenal artists from any and every background, whether it was a school like full sail, ringling, animation mentor, gnomon, etc. The key common denominator in all of them is their incredible passion and drive for what they do, each one thoroughly loves the art and when they aren’t working on a project for work they are making something of their own. I really think that any of the art related fields are strictly for those who can honestly say they love it and are constantly inspired by it. There are a tad too many high school kids drifting around thinking “well it would be cool to be a video game maker person” that end up going into the art schools expecting what the commercials showed. There was another thread poking fun at their tv ads and how absurd they really were. This is the kind of people they are marketing to and that is what the masses usually see. The real schools may advertise but you don’t see them showing 2 guys “designing” a game by playing it with xbox controllers in a living room.

#10

I have a few questions that I keep going back and forth on…

     1.) Two people. One has a college degree (AS, BS) and a so-so portfolio. The other has some college/Certificate and an out of this world portfolio? I say the out of this world portfolio (regardless of how much college you have under you) takes the cake. (What do you think?)
     
     2.) Schools... Do I go to school in California (LA, Hollywood, San Francisco, etc...) Where the majority of the jobs are? -or- Do I go to a "famed" school which could be farther away from the jobs?
     
     3.) Public school vs private school? (I ask this question because not all private schools credits transfer over to universities.)
     

     Some information about where I stand:
     - At the moment I find my self in Texas. (I don't have a big preference as to where I live/work, and I am willing and able to move at a moments notice)
     
     - I am very proficient in Maya. I spend about 6-8 hours a day doing different things on the program. I try to learn about 2-3 new things in the program every day through online videos.
     
     - I am currently enrolled in a local community college for 3D Animation.
     
     - My sole interest is film. (I don't want anything to do with video games. Well... maby cinematography for video games)
     
     - I am attending school under the "post 9/11 GI Bill". (which means the government pays for me to live out in town while I am a full time student. Which is good because it allows me to focus on my 3D stuff.)
     
     - I am in the process of putting together my portfolio. (Specifically a modeling portfolio)
     
     As to the first question I asked... I would rather hit the job market as soon as possible than be in school. (I don't have any problem with school, I would rather be working in this field)
   
   This is some of my latest work in Maya:
     
     [img]http://s13.postimage.org/vfmh7xy47/Formula_One_Final1.jpg[/img]
    
    [img]http://s13.postimage.org/d1by3yltj/Formula_One_Final2.jpg[/img]
    
    [img]http://s13.postimage.org/3utngogl3/Church3.jpg[/img]
    
    The race car took me 5-6 hours. The architecture piece took me 1 - 1/12 hours.
    
 The architecture piece "was" part of a larger building. (The building it self is still a WIP)
 
    I say the race car is a medium level of detail. I have wanted to make a Formula one race car for a week or two and... I did it. I will be remaking the formula one car, I will model a newer formula one race car which will has more curves/detail to the body and a little more under the hood... or the trunk?
 
 Thanks for taking the time to read this. I look forward to hearing from you guys and girls!
#11

1.) Two people. One has a college degree (AS, BS) and a so-so portfolio. The other has some college/Certificate and an out of this world portfolio? I say the out of this world portfolio (regardless of how much college you have under you) takes the cake. (What do you think?)

Ultimately I would imagine the one with the better artwork would get the job, a credential in your resume/portfolio isn’t going to make their movie/game/whatever amazing, its the art.

      2.) Schools... Do I go to school in California (LA, Hollywood, San Francisco, etc...) Where the majority of the jobs are? -or- Do I go to a "famed" school which could be farther away from the jobs?

It seems pretty commonly pushed that it is up to the artist/student to get the most out of their program, as far as location goes that could be something to consider. Personally I figure if I can financially manage it to go to the more famous well reviewed schools, even if its on the other side of the world I would attend.

      3.) Public school vs private school? (I ask this question because not all private schools credits transfer over to universities.)

I think the artwork resulting from the classes is what would help decide, schools like Gnomon aren’t for a degree but well respected and result commonly in incredible artists.

      Some information about where I stand:
      - At the moment I find my self in Texas. (I don't have a big preference as to where I live/work, and I am willing and able to move at a moments notice)
      
      - I am very proficient in Maya. I spend about 6-8 hours a day doing different things on the program. I try to learn about 2-3 new things in the program every day through online videos.
      
      - I am currently enrolled in a local community college for 3D Animation.
      
      - My sole interest is film. (I don't want anything to do with video games. Well... maby cinematography for video games)
      
      - I am attending school under the "post 9/11 GI Bill". (which means the government pays for me to live out in town while I am a full time student. Which is good because it allows me to focus on my 3D stuff.)
      
      - I am in the process of putting together my portfolio. (Specifically a modeling portfolio)
      
      As to the first question I asked... I would rather hit the job market as soon as possible than be in school. (I don't have any problem with school, I would rather be working in this field)
    
    This is some of my latest work in Maya:

also congrats on using the G.I. bill to pay your way, I will be doing the same thing just for Ringling (hopefully) instead because they also have the yellow ribbon program to help out covering what the GIB misses.

#12

Hey, Andrewty07

Thanks for the reply.

#13

admsloan, neat work you have there!
A couple of ideas,…
Put your work online.
Get to know people.

No matter what illusion I ever had as to how good I ever was I never got any job without knowing someone who was in a position to play a big part in getting my foot in the door initially. Whether acquaintance or client, so I would say first networking and then have the work to back it up. There is some dude knocking around this forum with doomsday messages about the creative industry but,… who you know has always been important only now I believe it is vital. There are a million books on art and two million books on networking.

Cheerio

#14

Kanga, Thanks for the reply!

I agree with you when you say it is who you know. (Plus, having a good portfolio to back it up)

Just for kix this is my latest modeling project: (Story boarding!) (Time to completion: 8-10 hours)


#15

I reckon the best way to get some feedback on your work is to post it in the wip section here on CGT and state what you are aiming for.
Neat work though.

#16

Great post, although I have to disagree with #8.

Maybe degrees don’t mean much to the artist, but they do still hold a lot of value in the corporate world. The last 4 companies I’ve worked for as well as the one I work for now all require a minimum of a bachelor’s degree to be hired on staff or as a freelancer.

I’m not saying it’s that way with every company, but I wouldn’t discount their value so quickly.

#17

I would also add that it is highly beneficial to speak to current students that are nearly complete in their degrees. When I looked for schools countless programs had brutal reviews against them regardless of the institution (Ringling, SCAD, SVA, AAU, USC, etc.) Keep in mind that art school can be very demanding which I think it should be, if students enroll with the mindset that commercials target to they fail horribly and can want to blame the school.

I spoke to every student I could find in current programs and felt much more comfortable in selecting a school from direct input other artists gave, I also suggest searching for student work to see the output from schools. While doing this always keep in mind of the vast variety in individuals as some may just do assignments to get by while others might tinker for hours in their free time as well to do the best.

I was able to find dozens of current WIP’s of specific courses as well just by searching on youtube and vimeo for a course title. This gave me a great understanding of what was taught in a course along with student outcomes and progress. Many artists have posted work from start to finish of their degree so you can see educational progress as well. I say to do all this research because you are investing your hard earned time and money to get the most out of training possible.

#18

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