Question to 3D artist

w4ssup · Mar 2015

I'm interested in becoming a game designer and looking for the right college/university that will help me achieve my goals, so I was wondering if anyone know any good college/university I should look at? also why do you suggest that college/university? And can I see some of your guys art work that were able to do from going to that school (if you did attend it)?
PS: I'm also interested in Computer science, so suggest some school(s) that offer both majors. Sorry if you cant understand this topic, English is not my native language.
PSS: I'm currently looking at USC, DIGIPEN, and Champlain college

ysalex · Mar 2015

My personal feeling on it is that people would be better served going to a fine art school rather than a tech school. If you find yourself learning software, you're wasting your tuition, whereas if you're focusing solely on learning fine art skills (drawing skills, observation skills, sculpture, and a diverse set of tangential fine art skills) you're learning things that you can apply to any art position you take.

The tech oriented schools tend to (not all, but most) teach software and treat art like a vocation, like plumbing or car mechanics. They're showing you specific pipelines (often outdated), and specific software (which constantly changes in the industry anyways) and these are things that can easily, easily be learned by yourself.

A common theme I see is the tech school graduates who know the software, but lack the developed art skill, and have to bunker down for 2 or 3 years after they graduate to develop those skills and put together a portfolio.

Meanwhile the art graduates leave school with a fantastic skill set for art, but need to take the time to learn the software and pipelines, which take a slow learner maybe 2-6 months, before they can put together than portfolio.

Obviously there are outliers in each case, many of the tech school graduates have jobs lined up even before graduation, but it's not the typical case.

Just my opinion.

w4ssup · Mar 2015

Never thought of it that way before, but I'm trying to find a good school that could do both art and computer science instead of one that mainly focus on the artside

LRoy · Mar 2015

The other thing you should be wary of is how ridiculously overpriced art schools tend to be. Honestly I've learned more taking online workshops with amazing teachers than I ever did in school, and for far less money. The biggest issue with learning online is self motivation and it doesn't help if you need a visa.

DireWolf · Mar 2015

^
I recommend that too. Programming side, you'll find lots of good courses at Udemy and Coursera.

Neox · Mar 2015

do you want to become a game designer or game artist? while design and art can blend together at times, gamedesign usually has nothing to do with the art side of production.

SpaceRogue · Mar 2015

If you want to go the art way I'm also going to backup the thought of learning art before app. And rethinking if you need to put yourself in crippling depth. There are other ways entirely :

https://medium.com/i-m-h-o/dont-go-to-art-school-138c5efd45e9

If you seriously want too, also be careful about what art school
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/f-scott-hess/is-deskilling-killing-you_b_5631214.html

A program even as complex as MAX or Maya won't take you one fourth as long as tackling being able to sculpt human anatomy. You want the technical side ? Go get yourself a sub on Digital Tutors And you'll be up n running in no time.

More art based programs can be found, MasterCG is one example
http://3d.cgmasteracademy.com/
and the GAA another
http://gameartistacademy.com/

Question to 3D artist

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