I need YOUR opinion - CG Schools?

elfronza

Hello Folks!

I am in that tiny crisis moment in life where you get out of school and need to find a job. In my case, I want to work with games, oh man I really do. The prospect of being in a studio with a bunch of art professionals hammering their heads to produce Game stuff makes me wake up in the middle of the night with a smile stamped on my face (when i was young, this would be one of the professions other kids would laugh at me for saying its what I wanted to do).

Well, I grew up, the world changed a bit and I finally had the opportunity of studying a bachelor in Design. But as the world is not really a wish-granting factory, I realized that I don't have the golden portfolio to land the gig just yet (bummer, eh).

Lets just say that everything I know was achieved by myself, the university degree was great for the academics and whatnot, but not so much for my art (sad emoticon). I don't live in my home country anymore, and I don't plan to go back so the contacts I made are not really helping me. (currently in: Czech Rep, home: Brazil, future: where the wind takes me)


In short - I want your opinion, dear reader, on what is the best way to find a carrier on game dev. I want to work as a character artist, I am currently creating game assets and learning how to use UDK . This is my PORTFOLIO

1 - Is it interesting to take one semester to build my portfolio from home, having a routine of 8 to 10 hours a day of working in 3D. Learning new stuff through online classes and posting my work in forums and Facebook CGpages to get critic and feedback, and eventually try to find jobs through the web?

or:

2 - Go to a CG school, such as Gnomon in California, or any other in Europe (for which i have preference due to my EU passport). I know it is darn expensive, but I luckily have some savings. I am fairly inclined to it due to the prospect of networking and feedback from the teachers. I am just concerned about the real impact it will give to my work. My previous education experience wasn't the best, so it worries me to waist some time again.

What do you say, is it really worth to go to a CG school? which do you recommend? Do you know any in Europe that teaches in English? Or trying something in the USA would be better? Is a course like this interesting (1yr only)? If studying at home is the way, is there anything you recommend me to focus on that would help me get a job as a 3D character artist? Or should I try finding internships instead?(having difficulty to get answers though )




Well, thanks for reading this letter hehe, I hope I can hear from you guys


- elFronza

rino

your best bet would be to move to US and study there as you will have much more opportunities than you would here in Czech Republic.

you have the money, go.

your portfolio is lacking in realtime characters and is probably the reason you aren't getting replies.

elfronza

CurtisWS wrote: »

your best bet would be to move to US and study there as you will have much more opportunities than you would here in Czech Republic.

you have the money, go.

your portfolio is lacking in realtime characters and is probably the reason you aren't getting replies.

Hey CurtisWS, I realize that I lack low res stuff and it is what I am working on now. Are you staying in Czech?

If moving to the US is the way, I believe I must first find a good school, anyone has any recommendations? Gnomon seems to be fantastic but I dont want to be hasty

I do prefer to study in Europe though because here I can stay as long as I want, plus I am already here.

Xoliul

I'll counter and say you best stay the hell away from the US. The schools cost tons for no reason and it's hard to get a working visa as a foreigner. It's not some promised land of opportunity as everybody thinks. Some students from my former university found it much easier to get started at 2K Czech. Granted I think they closed now, so that's no longer an option.
You'll put your savings to much better use if you sit down and make a focused, high-quality portfolio because that's what you're missing now, not more education.

Shrike

I highly reccomend not going to a school, most schools only teach you the basics, im sure there is a lot of useful information to grab, but if you can make highpolys like that you should not have a problem at all finding a good job if you manage to bake those down and texture in a decent fashion. Better sit down and work on your baking lowpoly and texturing skills , maybe get a digital tutors sub. or something along these lines.

If you had that don Quixote scene as lowpoly with textures and uvs in the same quality as the highpoly, then I wouldnt need to see anything else

rino

Xoliul wrote: »

I'll counter and say you best stay the hell away from the US. The schools cost tons for no reason and it's hard to get a working visa as a foreigner. It's not some promised land of opportunity as everybody thinks. Some students from my former university found it much easier to get started at 2K Czech. Granted I think they closed now, so that's no longer an option.
You'll put your savings to much better use if you sit down and make a focused, high-quality portfolio because that's what you're missing now, not more education.

of course, but there is far less studios here in CZ than for example where he's aiming for, California. 2K Czech is still here, only Prague HQ closed.

yes i agree he'd be better off studying on his own, but if he has the money he should move somewhere where he has better chances of landing a job.

you are right about work permit visas being hard to get, i don't know. all of the stuff you said i completely agree on.

and yes elfronza i'm staying in czech.

EzMeow

You can always apply oversea from where you live.
I don't think living next to the studio is going to increase your chance compared to level up your portfolio.

elfronza

Hmm i understand.
I will try to work from home till the Summer. After that, If I cant get a job anywhere, I will apply to a CG school. Thank you guys for helping me out.

Still, nobody has any recommendations of places to study in Europe and North America? Gnomon seems to be fairly well connected to the industry and it is very attractive to me considering the amount of their students that ended up doing well.

Concerning the internships, if anyone could give me their sincere opinion, I've created a personalized CV to show off some design skills, but I fear that instead of helping me stand out, it could actually have a negative effect. Here is my CV.

and CurtisWS, how is it for you to work here in Czech? I see in your portfolio page that you are a foreigner as well I tried to learn the Czech language but man, this declination thing wasn't for me hehe.

cheers

rino

elfronza wrote: »

and CurtisWS, how is it for you to work here in Czech? I see in your portfolio page that you are a foreigner as well I tried to learn the Czech language but man, this declination thing wasn't for me hehe.

cheers

unfortunately i'm still a student and my visa doesn't allow me to work fulltime yet.

yeah, czech language is pain in the ass, i understand people well, but can speak very little. never put the time in it and probably never will, it's very unattractive, at least for me. haha.

Xoliul

Ok well I'll throw out my old school again:
http://www.digitalartsandentertainment.com/#/en/News/

Good place, cheap, you become well rounded. IMO a much better choice than anything in the UK or US due to cost vs return value. Everytime i've recomended it people seem to just ignore it for no reason though..

LRoy

I think your work is pretty strong, but if you want to get into game production you need to show game characters. You'd be better off just taking a few months and going through some tutorials to get the workflow down.