its supposed to be one of the better art schools. a lot of conceptart.orgs founders went there, as well as a few pals of mine and I've seen nothing but solid artists come out of there...but it is obscenely expensive--probably costing more than its worth, since a dedicated person can learn all this stuff on their own or by pushing themselves at other schools.
as a full-time sucker attendee... the school is not about art, it's about money. from a very narrow-minded point of view, it teaches how to make money. when i say narrow minded that is it doesn't concern itself with what is Really going on out there and how the students fair with it, it just gives them what it thinks are the essentials to get a job.
If you wonna make money make sure you get a job just by attending an art school - go there.
if you wonna be an artist and get good (and then, naturally, make money) - go someplace else.
to me it looks like art center in san-fran is way more appropriate for the game/concept stuff.
Wow, that's shocking to me Shotgun. I always heard great great things about Ringling. Bringing up Art Center in San Fran I wonder how the Academy of Art is up there. I don't know much about the west coast schools really.
As an Academy SF Graduate with a degree in Computer Arts, lets just say that by my senior year, I managed to convince my advisors to replace most of my computer classes with illustration and industrial design courses. If you want to be a feature film animator, there might be something for you at the Academy, but when I graduated in '02, there wasn't much of a video game program there. Of course things may have changed by now, but I still believe that you should go to art school to learn foundational stuff and learn the computer stuff from places like this messageboard since the tech is always changing and schools typically do a bad job of keeping up.
All that being said, I had a pretty good experience at the Academy. Their illustration and ID department is pretty competitive and I learned a ton.
Ringling is supposed to be a great school for those wanting to get into film or animation careers. But if you wanted to get into games i wouldn't let that stop you.
This sort of ties in to what others were lamenting about...
I'm sorry if this comes across as a cynical bastard kind of rant, but in my opinion, NO school out there is going to get anyone a job in the industry on name, cred, etc. alone.
Classes, profs, direction, etc. will vary, but the fact of the matter is that if you really want a career in games you simply have to bust your ass like there's no tomorrow on your own time.
When I look at a portfolio of a potential hire I don't care where they went to school, only that they have a real degree (showing that they know how to go through a system). What matters is their work, and honestly, you can always tell which pieces in a portfolio are class projects and which were created on their own time.
Ringling has a great rep. If you went there, great- ace your classes, learn to communicate with other humans and work on team projects, learn how to express your thoughts, critique others constructively, etc. But above all else, work as hard as you can to make sure that your portfolio for whatever you're into is better than the next guy's. Because he's going to be sending his stuff to me and everyone else just like you.
[ QUOTE ]
...and honestly, you can always tell which pieces in a portfolio are class projects and which were created on their own time.
[/ QUOTE ]
How so? I'd assume that the class projects are not as good as personal projects. Whether it's because there's not enough time to complete the project 100% or because there's not enough emotional investment in it. But I'm curious as to how you can tell.
I had a discussion with one of my teachers, just the other day, about how obvious it is that a great number of students aren't passionate about their work.
[ QUOTE ]
Classes, profs, direction, etc. will vary, but the fact of the matter is that if you really want a career in games you simply have to bust your ass like there's no tomorrow on your own time.
[/ QUOTE ]
I think that comes back to the passion about your work. I've found that, no matter the school, there's a large amount of the population that are in love with the IDEA of becoming a game artist, but are not necessarily in love with their work.
Yeah, sorry to derail...anyhoo, just make sure to look at the curriculum at any school you're thinking about attending. Choose what is right for you, not what you think will look best on paper. Chances are it will let you down in some form anyhow. :] As a rule, I would take anything a school rep says with a grain of salt. They're sometimes better at their job than army recruiters.
Conceptart.org has a good thread full of information about Ringling School found here: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=77793
To the OP- Sorry, I didn't mean to derail the thread.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
...and honestly, you can always tell which pieces in a portfolio are class projects and which were created on their own time.
[/ QUOTE ]
How so? I'd assume that the class projects are not as good as personal projects. Whether it's because there's not enough time to complete the project 100% or because there's not enough emotional investment in it. But I'm curious as to how you can tell.
[/ QUOTE ]
It's pretty easy. Applicant is applying for a certain game art position and has any of the following in their portfolio:
1. A ball bounce animation
2. A non game spec still life scene. Usually a bunch of office supplies.
3. One bad IK exercise
4. A single character, generally not game spec.
5. That same character in a short film
6. any kind of 'digital imaging' assignment (usually has PS filters a plenty)
7. Far too many life drawing class sketches
8. A link to a Flash website the applicant made
9. Black and white photography
the list goes on...
Again, take this all with a grain of salt as I have seen these offenders in small doses in many good portfolios. What I'm getting at is that anyone that has too many of these items on their site is telling me something loud and clear: 'I didn't care enough to do anything outside of the stuff I was told to do for my classes.'
It's pretty easy to tell class work from work made geared to get you a job in the industry. The biggest give away is the quality and this is usually the result of the stupid deadlines given by professors who just want the class to produce volumes of work instead of quality. In my case I usually had to produce 10 to 15 second CG animations in two to three weeks and was required to provide a storyboard. To boot the students didn't have access to the computer lab outside of class time. Since this was a intro to 3d modeling and animation it really sucked to say the least. Another clue is that a lot of professors don't know anything about the game industry and a lot of time are biased against it.
Before you go to any Computer Art school make sure they have the software used in the industry you want to work in, and find out how much time you have to use the computer labs. Texturing courses are really lacking in most game programs so if you can find out how good these are before hand you'll be better off. Good luck.
Replies
If you wonna make money make sure you get a job just by attending an art school - go there.
if you wonna be an artist and get good (and then, naturally, make money) - go someplace else.
to me it looks like art center in san-fran is way more appropriate for the game/concept stuff.
All that being said, I had a pretty good experience at the Academy. Their illustration and ID department is pretty competitive and I learned a ton.
This sort of ties in to what others were lamenting about...
I'm sorry if this comes across as a cynical bastard kind of rant, but in my opinion, NO school out there is going to get anyone a job in the industry on name, cred, etc. alone.
Classes, profs, direction, etc. will vary, but the fact of the matter is that if you really want a career in games you simply have to bust your ass like there's no tomorrow on your own time.
When I look at a portfolio of a potential hire I don't care where they went to school, only that they have a real degree (showing that they know how to go through a system). What matters is their work, and honestly, you can always tell which pieces in a portfolio are class projects and which were created on their own time.
Ringling has a great rep. If you went there, great- ace your classes, learn to communicate with other humans and work on team projects, learn how to express your thoughts, critique others constructively, etc. But above all else, work as hard as you can to make sure that your portfolio for whatever you're into is better than the next guy's. Because he's going to be sending his stuff to me and everyone else just like you.
...and honestly, you can always tell which pieces in a portfolio are class projects and which were created on their own time.
[/ QUOTE ]
How so? I'd assume that the class projects are not as good as personal projects. Whether it's because there's not enough time to complete the project 100% or because there's not enough emotional investment in it. But I'm curious as to how you can tell.
I had a discussion with one of my teachers, just the other day, about how obvious it is that a great number of students aren't passionate about their work.
[ QUOTE ]
Classes, profs, direction, etc. will vary, but the fact of the matter is that if you really want a career in games you simply have to bust your ass like there's no tomorrow on your own time.
[/ QUOTE ]
I think that comes back to the passion about your work. I've found that, no matter the school, there's a large amount of the population that are in love with the IDEA of becoming a game artist, but are not necessarily in love with their work.
Yeah, sorry to derail...anyhoo, just make sure to look at the curriculum at any school you're thinking about attending. Choose what is right for you, not what you think will look best on paper. Chances are it will let you down in some form anyhow. :] As a rule, I would take anything a school rep says with a grain of salt. They're sometimes better at their job than army recruiters.
Conceptart.org has a good thread full of information about Ringling School found here: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=77793
Good luck!
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
...and honestly, you can always tell which pieces in a portfolio are class projects and which were created on their own time.
[/ QUOTE ]
How so? I'd assume that the class projects are not as good as personal projects. Whether it's because there's not enough time to complete the project 100% or because there's not enough emotional investment in it. But I'm curious as to how you can tell.
[/ QUOTE ]
It's pretty easy. Applicant is applying for a certain game art position and has any of the following in their portfolio:
1. A ball bounce animation
2. A non game spec still life scene. Usually a bunch of office supplies.
3. One bad IK exercise
4. A single character, generally not game spec.
5. That same character in a short film
6. any kind of 'digital imaging' assignment (usually has PS filters a plenty)
7. Far too many life drawing class sketches
8. A link to a Flash website the applicant made
9. Black and white photography
the list goes on...
Again, take this all with a grain of salt as I have seen these offenders in small doses in many good portfolios. What I'm getting at is that anyone that has too many of these items on their site is telling me something loud and clear: 'I didn't care enough to do anything outside of the stuff I was told to do for my classes.'
Before you go to any Computer Art school make sure they have the software used in the industry you want to work in, and find out how much time you have to use the computer labs. Texturing courses are really lacking in most game programs so if you can find out how good these are before hand you'll be better off. Good luck.
Alex