I'd recommend Cake's option if you're looking for more "specific" instruction (rather than the standard "art school curriculum", which includes having to pay for general edu courses, art history courses, etc....rather than just the hands-on, actually making art classes). I considered this option before attending college, but in the end I wanted a degree, and I couldn't afford to take classes at an Atelier/the CDA, 2500 miles away, and pay for housing without loans (because you don't get financial "assistance" from those places. The cost is MUCH lower per course, though).
It's a great option if you can do it and not getting a degree from it works for you. (And, I mean, you could always take those classes, and get a degree later.....or get a degree while also taking classes there, or take classes there after getting a degree...if the degree-thing is something you really want.) Once I can afford to take classes over there, and move there for awhile, I'm going to, because the instruction is supposed to be fantastic. Both at Watts and CDA.
Socially, here's what I noticed socially at the two private institutions I studied up here:
Max the Mutt - A lot of the students are fresh out of high school. The small environment causes a bit of a High School 2.0 scenario, because when you get separated into designated groups, that's just what happens. Also some are too young to understand the value of money, so it only adds to the confusion of things.
Academy of Realist Art - It has more of Cake's school problems; the students are on the opposite side of the spectrum, and because of the subject material studied you aren't going to get a lot out of the crowd there. They're focused on producing quality work, and they know the value of money, so it's understandable.
Both of these schools are fantastic if all you care about is working your ass off, and I mean it. The teachers there will bend over backwards to help you most times, and it's really refreshing to get that kind of attention from a school. This is only really beneficial if you've got a resolve of steel and are completely self-motivated. You won't get the same networking opportunities as you would at a major college, but if your goal is to learn the material with as much help as possible, this is definitely a good path to take.
If you're like most of us, it's nice to have a balance of work and play. Personally I work much better when i'm comfortable in my environment, and have a few buddies to motivate me to keep pressing onward whenever times get tough. You won't really get this from either of these schools, cause everyone is fending for themselves in a sense. Unless you hit it off with a group really well, it can get pretty depressing, and you'll lose focus on what you came there to do.
So basically, private institutions are phenomenal if you really want to work hard, but a potential buzzkill if you want to grow socially and network some. From what i've heard, a regular college can have the opposite problem, where you have much better opportunites to network and find a comfortable environment, but you have to put up with a lot of BS like teachers not having time for you or crazy tuition prices.
I wish I could get loans so I could finish my 4 year degree. Instead, I made some poor relationship choices when I was younger and now my credit is shot. I'm also not going back to school this semester because I have an account balance I cannot afford. Bums me out big time.
It's not even that. It's not like I'm 19 and angsty that I'm expected to pay for everything! If I have money, I enjoy spending it on loved ones.
It was more tantamount to bad investments. A relationship that was long term enough to the point where we invested in a new car together and a cross continent move, and a moment of putting my personal finances at risk in order to secure a place for us to live. At the time, it was an acceptable risk and a reasonable investment for our relationship. And the moment we got all moved in?
She leaves me for someone else with little to no regard for the years worth of financial entanglement and obligation we had together. She was a child playing house, but with very real consequences.
My credit has been fucked for years since and it's been a Sisyphean task just trying to keep my Art School Career going, and regrettably it is catching up to me. So yeah, in short, I really wish I still had my good credit so I could get a loan and finish my schooling.
Yeah, if I'm often bitter that's just one of the reasons why!
Other reasons Mars is bitter:
-Initially being raised without language ala the Frederick II experiment.
-Was told he was be taken to pick out a new puppy for his ninth birthday, only to find he had been taken to a taxidermist.
-Had to wait all day for a cable guy to show up once, but he never did!
Yeah, if I'm often bitter that's just one of the reasons why!
Other reasons Mars is bitter:
-Initially being raised without language ala the Frederick II experiment.
-Was told he was be taken to pick out a new puppy for his ninth birthday, only to find he had been taken to a taxidermist.
-Had to wait all day for a cable guy to show up once, but he never did!
My first real human words came late in my life, chief among them was the word Puppy.
The sawdust used to stuff Sir Beasley of Puppington aggravated my lungs over time and gave me a respiratory disease akin to Dust Pneumonia. I was often bed-ridden and reliant on basic cable as my only comfort.
When Dirk from Comcast didn't show up for our coffee date, I was crushed.
For the one I linked, deserted highways would be a great place to start!
Stupid Mr Whoopsie Name on
0
MustangArbiter of Unpopular OpinionsRegistered Userregular
edited January 2011
You can follow me around Iruka, I need a sad soundtrack when I'm begrudgingly making my way to work and then again when I'm leaving work and knowing I have to come back again tomorrow.
Thanks, NightDragon, I'm getting that sort of vibe from everyone. How hard is the curriculum, and when/what did you go in for?
Spoiler'd for looooong answer.
I've heard it kinda varies in difficulty, depending on the department. Having said that, the most difficult part of SCAD for most people is time management...because the workload is high. I was a little more of an advanced student for a handful of my classes, so in terms of "difficulty of projects", I didn't find most to be super challenging...but they can be. As long as students work hard on the projects and listen to / use critiques, they're fine (B- or better). You generally only get C's or lower on things if you made an actual "mistake"... i.e. not following directions, handing something in late, not finishing, not changing the piece at all despite critiques, etc. Skill may play a part in the grading system, but it's not a death sentence if a student goes into a class and isn't very good. Professors, above all, love to see improvement, and if a student can show that they've done that, they're usually graded well.
Workload also varies by major. Architecture and Interior Design students, for instance, are known for having huge workloads. Animation and Visual Effects students (sometimes Broadcast Design students too) are known for being in their department building at all hours of the night while they wait for their projects to finish rendering on the render farm. Interactive+Game Design students are also known for this sometimes, while they finish up their projects in Maya, 3dsmax, ZBrush, and UDK. Difficulty of projects would also vary based on the material. For a lot of these students, the level of difficulty of the assignments may lie in the technology, and learning about (and how to fix) all the software-based issues and bugs and hiccups. For a student in Illustration or Painting or whathaveyou, the difficulty may be a little more focused on the materials, technique, and drawing ability. (That's not to say that the more technology-based majors don't focus on "does your project look good or not" but I think their grades reflect both the aesthetics of their project and how well/thoroughly they were able to use the software package(s). )
I went to SCAD for Illustration, and I technically also concentrated in Concept Art. (They added an official "Concept Art Concentration" to the curriculum in my senior year, but I essentially had already taken 95% of the classes required for it through my electives, and jumping through flaming hoops of fire to substitute a class or two.)
I graduated this past year, 2010, in May. I also took classes in the Sequential Art dept. (the concept art courses), and a handful of classes in the Interactive+Game Design dept. (3D-for-games classes).
And just another note: harshness/bluntness of critiques vary by professor (of course)...but they vary even moreso by department. It was hard for me to get the level of critique I wanted out of the Illustration department...but when I took the courses in the Game Design department, I didn't have a problem. I think the Game Design department was also better at emphasizing "you really have to work hard to land the job you want in this industry, do the best work you can do...if your piece doesn't look professional, I will tell you why". The Illustration department seemed to have more of the mentality that "there are so many ways you can land a job doing illustration or illustration-based work! Do the best work you can do, but if your piece isn't very good, that's okay. Just work on this! *pat on the head*".
There was definitely more of a feeling of serious-critique in the Game dept. than there was in the Illustration dept., for me. I felt that in a lot of cases in my department, people didn't want to give more blunt critiques...and they would often give more "minor" critiques ("maybe move the edge of her hair over here, and make her hands a bit bigger...I like the color of her shirt!") than "overall" critiques ("you might want to go to some of the figure-drawing classes and do some sketches, so your figures look more proportionally accurate, because I've been seeing that issue a lot in your work. Your color scheme for this piece, however, is beautiful!").
But yeah, that's the long answer. :P If you apply to SCAD, definitely apply for the scholarships, too. If you got a good score on your SAT's/ACT's, they offer scholarships for that. If you have a great portfolio, they offer scholarships for that. If you're straight out of high school, or you're transferring, or you're a grad student, etc...check out their scholarships. The chances are pretty good that you'll get something, even if it's only for a few thousand a year.
Good luck, and if you need any more long-winded answers, I'd be happy to oblige!
Whew! That's super helpful, I know exactly where I want to go if I need to replicate a professional client environment now. My career has been so far making independent comic books, so I'm giving the sequential art program a shot. I'd like to be able to use my coursework to produce new titles while I'm in school, by myself or as a writer for other students. I like filling in support roles with people, so I feel a large school like SCAD is going to have a lot of those opportunities for me. I like how there's an ability to stay on campus all day/night if I got to know the right people.
Which city did you live in? What was it like? How did the attitudes of your classmates change as you progressed through school?
Possibly you have an out of date Flash player? I dunno.
I can assure you that it's almost certainly not worth your time worrying about it in any case.
jaja. Its just the other reactions to it... I could go for a laugh :P
Speaking of laughs, thats probably what most of you will get by me calling the spoilered shit music, but here goes.
Stuff I found today by reading through comments on youtube and browsing bands myspace checking for album updates. The first video is the one that got me on this snowball of other videos.
Posts
It's a great option if you can do it and not getting a degree from it works for you. (And, I mean, you could always take those classes, and get a degree later.....or get a degree while also taking classes there, or take classes there after getting a degree...if the degree-thing is something you really want.) Once I can afford to take classes over there, and move there for awhile, I'm going to, because the instruction is supposed to be fantastic. Both at Watts and CDA.
Max the Mutt - A lot of the students are fresh out of high school. The small environment causes a bit of a High School 2.0 scenario, because when you get separated into designated groups, that's just what happens. Also some are too young to understand the value of money, so it only adds to the confusion of things.
Academy of Realist Art - It has more of Cake's school problems; the students are on the opposite side of the spectrum, and because of the subject material studied you aren't going to get a lot out of the crowd there. They're focused on producing quality work, and they know the value of money, so it's understandable.
Both of these schools are fantastic if all you care about is working your ass off, and I mean it. The teachers there will bend over backwards to help you most times, and it's really refreshing to get that kind of attention from a school. This is only really beneficial if you've got a resolve of steel and are completely self-motivated. You won't get the same networking opportunities as you would at a major college, but if your goal is to learn the material with as much help as possible, this is definitely a good path to take.
If you're like most of us, it's nice to have a balance of work and play. Personally I work much better when i'm comfortable in my environment, and have a few buddies to motivate me to keep pressing onward whenever times get tough. You won't really get this from either of these schools, cause everyone is fending for themselves in a sense. Unless you hit it off with a group really well, it can get pretty depressing, and you'll lose focus on what you came there to do.
So basically, private institutions are phenomenal if you really want to work hard, but a potential buzzkill if you want to grow socially and network some. From what i've heard, a regular college can have the opposite problem, where you have much better opportunites to network and find a comfortable environment, but you have to put up with a lot of BS like teachers not having time for you or crazy tuition prices.
I think 4 year degrees are important in terms of getting loans for cars and things, but you could get that at community college while studying art.
There are different approaches and if you can't do it financially, you have options.
artistjeffc.tumblr.com http://www.etsy.com/shop/artistjeffc
Toy company.
We own the patent on this in the US:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYVIqxaaq94
artistjeffc.tumblr.com http://www.etsy.com/shop/artistjeffc
Loans can help you get a degree. Not the other way around.
It was more tantamount to bad investments. A relationship that was long term enough to the point where we invested in a new car together and a cross continent move, and a moment of putting my personal finances at risk in order to secure a place for us to live. At the time, it was an acceptable risk and a reasonable investment for our relationship. And the moment we got all moved in?
She leaves me for someone else with little to no regard for the years worth of financial entanglement and obligation we had together. She was a child playing house, but with very real consequences.
My credit has been fucked for years since and it's been a Sisyphean task just trying to keep my Art School Career going, and regrettably it is catching up to me. So yeah, in short, I really wish I still had my good credit so I could get a loan and finish my schooling.
Your situation sounds similar to the one Ikage went through many years ago.
Otherwise you would have known to
not. trust. anybody.
Twitter
Other reasons Mars is bitter:
-Initially being raised without language ala the Frederick II experiment.
-Was told he was be taken to pick out a new puppy for his ninth birthday, only to find he had been taken to a taxidermist.
-Had to wait all day for a cable guy to show up once, but he never did!
Twitter
My first real human words came late in my life, chief among them was the word Puppy.
The sawdust used to stuff Sir Beasley of Puppington aggravated my lungs over time and gave me a respiratory disease akin to Dust Pneumonia. I was often bed-ridden and reliant on basic cable as my only comfort.
When Dirk from Comcast didn't show up for our coffee date, I was crushed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU5aTiJEGGk
One day.
I can assure you that it's almost certainly not worth your time worrying about it in any case.
Twitter
Whew! That's super helpful, I know exactly where I want to go if I need to replicate a professional client environment now. My career has been so far making independent comic books, so I'm giving the sequential art program a shot. I'd like to be able to use my coursework to produce new titles while I'm in school, by myself or as a writer for other students. I like filling in support roles with people, so I feel a large school like SCAD is going to have a lot of those opportunities for me. I like how there's an ability to stay on campus all day/night if I got to know the right people.
Which city did you live in? What was it like? How did the attitudes of your classmates change as you progressed through school?
jaja. Its just the other reactions to it... I could go for a laugh :P
Speaking of laughs, thats probably what most of you will get by me calling the spoilered shit music, but here goes.
Stuff I found today by reading through comments on youtube and browsing bands myspace checking for album updates. The first video is the one that got me on this snowball of other videos.
Periphery
Periphery has 2 versions of their first album. One with vocals, and one instrumental. I personally think the guy sounds like a bitch. So here's the instrument version.
Be warned 15 minutes!!!
The Contortionist
Viraemia
Son of Aurelius
Anomalous
Anomalous Again
and lonely.
mostly bored.
artistjeffc.tumblr.com http://www.etsy.com/shop/artistjeffc
I need to find a girl who isnt creeped out my creepy internet stalking.
artistjeffc.tumblr.com http://www.etsy.com/shop/artistjeffc
Is it wrong this turns me on?
artistjeffc.tumblr.com http://www.etsy.com/shop/artistjeffc
Usually people hit college and put the cat ears on a back burner.
Won't they emit dangerous fumes?
artistjeffc.tumblr.com http://www.etsy.com/shop/artistjeffc
Only the kinds that make you slightly nauseous and uncomfortable.
peerfect
artistjeffc.tumblr.com http://www.etsy.com/shop/artistjeffc
I know a few tiny types (junior high-ish) in my town that just wear cat ears and tails...
in public etc...
I can only assume the inuyasha bit, but it only makes sense.
Also, Congratulations!
That turned up with a gamers image search in google. o_O
I love this idea.
Though I think violin is more practical.
NSFW: