Applying for my MFA in Digital Arts at DigiPen
polycounter lvl 9
I was hoping to find someone here that's gone there and taken their curriculum. My career focus is on 3d modeling and texturing, but after viewing numerous 3d job descriptions it seems that most places are looking for a jack of all trades type of employee. i.e, a 3d modeler that can work on characters, can draw human/animal/environments/painting.
My fine art skills have taken a back seat to learning 3d over the past few years, but this MFA program definitely focuses on anatomy and improving one's fine arts ability. I'm weighing my options right now on whether or not the cost vs outcome is worth it. I want to really improve my 3d skills, and while that is emphasized in the program description, it's not seemingly so in the course curriculum. I'm fully aware that you're more valuable to an employer if you're more than just a modeler. Not to mention you stand out against every other applicant. Knowing your portfolio should speak for itself, I'm caught in a limbo of wondering if the time I spend on my fine arts will take away time from improving my 3d. I've read one student's blog about his first semester there. Each week he could expect 60-80 hours of work. That doesn't seem to leave much free time to work on 3d stuff. What makes me feel better about my lack of human anatomy knowledge is he had no 3d experience, and his comfort-ability was with drawing. Other people had other areas they were lacking in when he attended. At the same time I do want to be able to sculpt characters in my own time, but I'm betting on myself that I'll make marked improvements in my 2 years there to be able to make that happen :poly142:
Anyone who's taken the Master's course at DigiPen or any Master's in general would really help clear my thoughts!
My fine art skills have taken a back seat to learning 3d over the past few years, but this MFA program definitely focuses on anatomy and improving one's fine arts ability. I'm weighing my options right now on whether or not the cost vs outcome is worth it. I want to really improve my 3d skills, and while that is emphasized in the program description, it's not seemingly so in the course curriculum. I'm fully aware that you're more valuable to an employer if you're more than just a modeler. Not to mention you stand out against every other applicant. Knowing your portfolio should speak for itself, I'm caught in a limbo of wondering if the time I spend on my fine arts will take away time from improving my 3d. I've read one student's blog about his first semester there. Each week he could expect 60-80 hours of work. That doesn't seem to leave much free time to work on 3d stuff. What makes me feel better about my lack of human anatomy knowledge is he had no 3d experience, and his comfort-ability was with drawing. Other people had other areas they were lacking in when he attended. At the same time I do want to be able to sculpt characters in my own time, but I'm betting on myself that I'll make marked improvements in my 2 years there to be able to make that happen :poly142:
Anyone who's taken the Master's course at DigiPen or any Master's in general would really help clear my thoughts!
Replies
80% of what I've learned was self-taught. If you're in a fairly large city, there are probably sculpture courses (and other fine art classes) you could register for if you wanted to do so.
If you're SERIOUSLY (like get procrastitracker or something) doing 60-80 hours of 3d work a week, in a year you're going to have at least 2 kick ass pieces and you won't be in any more debt from school.
Okay lets go a little further... Lets say your Masters Degree is 2 years. If you work 60 hours a week on 3d you will have put in 6240 hours!! of work. If that doesn't land you a sweet job somewhere..
Uhhh...really? I would have to disagree completely. Most studios want specific role artists...env artist, character artist, animator, rigger, tech artist, etc. Sure, mobile studios may want generalists and it can't hurt to know stuff outside your area of expertise but make sure you excel in something and not just be mediocre in everything. My advice is pick what you want to do most and focus all your attention on that specific area so you are good enough to get a job in that role when you graduate.
They may put that but it all comes down to connections and our folio...if you have an amazing folio, they could care less about the degree...
This is what I was thinking. I've already graduated with my BFA and went to FuturePoly here in Seattle. It's an affordable 3d school. For the past year I've been self teaching myself everything I can. When I hit a wall it's when I realize how nice it'd be to have a teacher or someone to go right to. I want my MFA eventually as a personal achievement, but I really want to be a kick ass modeler before that. I don't feel like my portfolio is up to par yet. I'm making strides to change that, but the clock's ticking on getting a job. Definitely doesn't need to be in video games. I'm using all my networking I can, but it's still left me doing my part time retailing.
Sorry, I should have specified.
Don't go to the school, save that money that you would have spent, and INSTEAD worked that many hours i quoted on building your portfolio yourself. Like seriously, 2 years with few other obligations is a LOOOONG time to make insanely good stuff.
Also, since you went to futurepoly, I imagine you should have some nice work from there. I'm taking the online course right now and Jason is super knowledgeable. I'm surprised you haven't asked some of the teachers there about their thoughts on a MFA. A lot of big names.
If you take the environment course he mentions that the past students just focused on 1 discipline (environments/props ONLY) and landed killer jobs.
Edit: This is going to come off dickish but what sense of achievement do you think you'll get from a MFA? In the 3d art world I think a sweet portfolio is much more satisfying than a diploma from a school.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9A9kt9M4Vw
Any time people come back to my class have a totally different set of problems to solve, and there's a different value proposition to the repeat. Just a thought.
I'm glad I went to digipen, and it totally worked out for me and many others, but I know so many people in the industry with the same or better skillset who didn't have to shell out tens of thousands of dollars to get it.
That's what I was struggling with deciding Ted. Is the possibility of landing a job worth the huge amount of debt I'll have because there's one thing that's guaranteed in the end.....debt. Even then I still need to have taken strides in modeling and texturing.
Also in my case I wanted more crossover and team work classes with all areas, including being a lead on my own projects. Instead the program seemed self absorbed into making you just a well versed 3d character artist. Great at getting a jerb, but not so great at expanding your horizons.
If you want human anatomy, take some classes at Gage Academy. In fact they are thinking about starting a sculpture Atelier program this fall. For any 3d program knowledge, take courses at Futurepoly.
Don't waste the absurd amounts of money getting a Masters for game art, regardless of what school it is. It's just a way for the predatory school system in the US to siphon more money out your ass and boot you out the door barely less unprepared as you were before.
You're better off retaking classes at Futerpoly or taking courses from Gnomon.
If you're taking out student loans, those are a very, very real thing. When you gotta start repaying those, they will fuck you hard if you spent too much time in school racking up debt at insane interest rates.
I know several people that pay $1000+ per month for the minimum payment for their loans that initially took out $60-70k.
If you spend too much time in school with a student loan debt floating around, when it crashes on your head, it'll crash hard.
Please don't make the same mistake I did.
Spend that time getting your work up to speed and your name out there. Save your money.
..oh and my student loans are $400 a month. The first bill came the day I received my degree in the mail.
It's time to re-evaluate what you are doing and focus on that. Instead of going to after an MFA, take all of those hours and dollars that it would take, and put it into completing personal work that nudges your folio closer to job worthy.
Degrees are useless if your portfolio isn't up to snuff.
With that said, anatomy and traditional art skills are FANTASTIC for game dev work. But taking those classes as one offs rather than part of a degree is probably a better deal.
At the end of the day everything you need to get into the 3D world is for free on the internet.
If the answer is no, then it's probably not a financially sound investment.
Just focus on improving your portfolio if you want to land a job. You don't need to go to school to work on or improve your portfolio.
If you're looking for critique why not just post on Polycount and ask for it? You don't have to go to school for that.
And seriously, pick what you want to do and focus on improving in that area. You're not going to get a job or stand out by being mediocre at everything. When you spread your time out too thinly by trying to be the best at everything you become the best at nothing.
Focus on one area (environments, characters, etc.) and devote all of your time to it and become the best you can be.
As far as I know, a BFA should be enough for that.
You wont regret it.