Questions regarding art style & portfolios

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
1

<p>Hi guys,</p>

<p>I actually started this thread on another forum, but I decided to try starting one here as well since I've learned a great deal from reading the posts and I'm hoping to hear as many opinions as possible to guide me in making decisions with regard to art school. </p>

<p>I'm about to graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in a Graphic Design course from a university in the Philippines. Although it is my dream to someday be a character designer, concept artist, or storyboard artist, I had no choice but to major in Graphic Design since it was the closest I could get to a visual arts-related course at my university.</p>

<p>I am looking for prospective art colleges in the US where I can attain an MFA degree. I have yet to decide what major I am going to pursue, but right now I am considering either Animation or Illustration.</p>

<p>However, after doing a bit of research on the application process for US art schools, I came upon a dilemma regarding the portfolio requirements. I read accounts by art school applicants that art schools react extremely negatively (sometimes, even violently!) to portfolios that include anime-influenced artworks. This information is quite disheartening for me since my art has been strongly influenced by anime.</p>

<p>Here is an image I put together featuring some of my recent works-in-progress:</p>

<p><a href="http://i33.tinypic.com/2gvofo8.jpg%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://i33.tinypic.com/2gvofo8.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>(The top and bottom images are from comic projects that I'm working on. The two images in the center are from two separate drawings.)</p>

<p>I am aware that art schools in the US train animators to discover their own unique style, instead of emulating one that has already been established. And I am open to learning to draw in different ways. However, I grew up watching anime and it was through anime films (such as those by Hayao Miyazaki) that intensified my passion for animation all these years. For this reason, I hope to study in an environment that has an accepting outlook towards that form of animation.</p>

<p>This brings me to the questions I would like to ask the members of this forum:</p>

<p>1) The following schools are those that I am considering applying to. Would you know if the following art schools are open to accepting students who draw in a style influenced by anime/manga?</p>

<ul>
<li>SCAD</li>
<li>Academy of Art San Fransisco</li>
<li>SVA</li>
<li>Pratt</li>
</ul>

<p>2) Would you know of any other art college not listed above that is open to accepting students who draw in anime/manga-influenced style or are at least unbiased towards those who enjoy looking at works rendered in that particular style?</p>

<p>I am asking these questions because I am aiming to start studying in the US by Fall 2010. My main concern is that I might not have enough time to build an extensive portfolio that is largely composed of observational figure drawings, since I have little experience with drawing from live models and will be busy with the move from my home country. I would like to know if I have a chance to be accepted by submitting a portfolio that features some anime-inspired works, or if I would be outright rejected. I am also examining options for art schools where I could meet some people who have had exposure to, and have an appreciation, for anime works.</p>

<p>Your advice would be greatly appreciated!</p>

2

<p>It makes me cry how those fair flowing spiky hair-do that Japanese won’t able to attain but love to draw, mysterious sudden pocket watch with delicate chain, diagonal parallel lines of blushing cheek traveled far and wide. Bring back the kid in me.
Don’t worry, no one here will laugh at you, I have seen lots worse at the waiting lines for MICA, SVA, RISD at NPD.
You are saying you have BFA. What did you do? What kind of graphic design? Any works from the class? They didn’t make you draw from life at all?
You mean you don’t have to do that in Philippine to get into art school, like work till you get carpal tunnel by folding graphite?
You gotta have different kind of works you might think not suitable for your intended concentration (anime?) post all those and see what big people here have to say.
If rainningagain suggest something, listen to it but does not mean you have to go to SCAD.
If taxguy said something, he has only good intention to help you out. Cute, really.</p>

3

<p>[Artdaily.org</a> - The First Art Newspaper on the Net](<a href=“http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=34218]Artdaily.org”>http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=34218)
did it work? manga is now officially respected art form. No fear.</p>

4

<p>It’s unfortunate that my drawings made you cry bear and dogs. But I am an anime enthusiast and I still am one after many years. However, I am open to learning to improve and broaden my drawing style, which is why I want to continue studying right after I finish my BFA. </p>

<p>At the present, I’m still taking my undergraduate studies in Graphic Design, but I will be graduating next year. In my course, we were taught typography, layout, art history, art analysis, as well as how to use design software. </p>

<p>No, they never required us to draw life studies because my university is not an art school. It has courses from all sorts of disciplines. In fact, there is no university solely dedicated to the visual arts in the Philippines. Moreover, Graphic Design is a very new course in my university and the first to tackle the visual arts. Not everyone in my course draws, but they do have skill in choosing colors, fonts, and arranging text and images.</p>

<p>I don’t intend to concentrate solely on anime forever. It’s just how I’ve been drawing until now and since I have had hardly any experience with life drawing and only have limited time to prepare a portfolio, my intention in starting this thread is to better understand how having anime-inspired works in my portfolio is viewed by the schools I listed above. We don’t have Portfolio Review Day in my country so all I know about the art schools in the US comes from what I have read from the internet.</p>

5

<p>Someone else, please?
what a sweetheart, isn’t s/he?
bump</p>

6

<p>and, Op, post your design works, so they get better idea where you stand. That all sound good what you do there.</p>

7

<p>I don’t think bearsanddogs meant your work was bad and that’s why she cried. I think she meant that she thought it sad, maybe ironic, that the anime style has hair-do’s largely unattainable (at least without using gel and freeze and other hair products) by the artists responsible for the anime art style movement.</p>

8

<p>Your list is sort of like the “One of these things is not like the others” game on Sesame Street. Academy of Art U will take you no matter what your style, because they’ll take anyone. They don’t require a portfolio for admission. You can be accepted without them ever seeing anything you’ve done. </p>

<p>I cannot speak to the anime/manga program there, but the school does not have the reputation of the other schools on your list. In the San Francisco area, it’s widely thought of as a real estate scam of sorts – the owners buy up buildings and make them into “student housing” and then keep increasing their majors offered and number of students they have in order to fill all the student housing. They make money on renting all the spaces. It’s also got a reputation among some places here of basically being a day care for affluent but directionless local students, especially in some departments. </p>

<p>That said, there are some genuinely talented students there – it’s just that there are also plenty of students who are dilettantes or generally unfocused and unmotivated.</p>

9

<p>Okay, thanks for clarifying bears and dog’s comment about the anime-do’s, redbug119. After all, gravity-defying hair is just one of the weird quirks of anime art. At least the huge eyes were spared for once. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>bears and dogs, I’ll try to post some of my design works sometime as you suggested, but I’ll ask permission before I do since the majority of them were used for school activities and I might not be allowed to post some of them online. </p>

<p>Just wondering though, should I include design works in my portfolio to an animation or illustration course if the designs are mostly text?</p>

10

<p>Just saw TrinSF’s reply just now. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!</p>

<p>Yeah, I have been hearing about the real estate issues and unmotivated students at AAU. And for a time, I was ready to drop it from my list. But if I’m not mistaken, AAU’s animation program was highly recommended on this forum, and was said to be more solid compared to some of those in more prestigious art schools. I reconsidered and decided to keep AAU as one of my choices because I have been to the school and they are probably the most open to accepting and training students like me, who lack solid foundation skills. It’s true that AAU’s overall reputation is no where near the other schools I’m considering, but I have put together this list based on the animation programs that were most recommended by people online, since I don’t know anyone familiar with US animation schools here in my country.</p>

<p>Just realized that I haven’t mentioned specifically what kind of animation I’m hoping to learn in this thread. I’m hoping to study traditional 2D animation.</p>

<p>Although its supposedly a breeze to get into AAU, I’m still hoping to gauge my chances with the other schools, and try to find out about how the professors and students from those schools view the style I am most familiar with.</p>

11

<p>What? it’s your works. What are they (who?) gonna do to you? You are just a student, didn’t get payed or signed contract or anything right???</p>

<p>About crying, it was of nostalgia and I guess from national pride/ embarrassment. I did not mean boo hoo weeping nor what’a heck! screaming either.
When I was growing up in 70s Japan, drawing such manga style was popular pastime for group of kids. Who can’t draw would gather around who could and make request of garb, hair-do, action (fighting, kissing, dancing) backdrops (space, war zone, Neuschwanstein, Red Square, Versailles-this one was HUGE) then, group critique.
After grade school years, most kids would realize that getting intimate with actual flesh and blood boys/girls are more fun than ones on the paper or in TV.
Within those never grew up, few hard core anime Otaku would form their own group in outskirts of the society.
And yet few odd balls - I was one of them - masks true motive (manga! anime!) underneath of desire for so called higher education and start practicing for the timed drawing exams for selective art schools until you’d cough up charcoal dust. Goal is to be accepted into either visual, graphic or communication design programs that somehow included concentration for illustration/typography combined (sort-of manga!)
It was embarrassing to say out loud you wanted to be a manga artist because it was an immature, unsophisticated career choice.
Though some kids are really good at it and skipped college, become professional and made pile of money. ( In Akira Toriyama’s case, fridge full of ten thousand yen bills, as fable goes, he did not know there were such thing as bank account)
enough for the story from the past century.
Future is in your hand.</p>

12

<p>I apologize for taking weeks to answer. Been swamped with work for school! I couldn’t post some of my design works since they contained info about students and teachers that they might not want to go online. Here’s some links:</p>

<p><a href=“http://i46.■■■■■■■.com/10p6o0g.jpg[/url]”>http://i46.■■■■■■■.com/10p6o0g.jpg&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://i47.■■■■■■■.com/vobrip.jpg[/url]”>http://i47.■■■■■■■.com/vobrip.jpg&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://i47.■■■■■■■.com/ff3bb7.jpg[/url]”>http://i47.■■■■■■■.com/ff3bb7.jpg&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://i50.■■■■■■■.com/2hog1at.jpg[/url]”>http://i50.■■■■■■■.com/2hog1at.jpg&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://i48.■■■■■■■.com/xlh30j.jpg[/url]”>http://i48.■■■■■■■.com/xlh30j.jpg&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://i47.■■■■■■■.com/2qxm16g.jpg[/url]”>http://i47.■■■■■■■.com/2qxm16g.jpg&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://i48.■■■■■■■.com/2nggadc.jpg[/url]”>http://i48.■■■■■■■.com/2nggadc.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Your story is really interesting bears and dogs, now I see where you’re coming from. Thanks for sharing your insights! I have heard about how the word “otaku” gives off a negative image in Japan, and how wanting to be a mangaka is not exactly the most praiseworthy career path either.</p>

<p>In the Philippines, the negative stigma of anime and manga isn’t as strong since many of the fans still have wholesome lives outside of the fandom. The creepy, hardcore otakus are few and far between. On top of that, the anime/manga scene here is not really something that is enjoyed in solitude, it’s a great way to meet and make friends with people who have similar interests. Just sharing a bit on why it’s more accepted here and why it’s so popular as well. :slight_smile: Certainly, there are a lot of trashy anime and manga out there, but the ones that are worthwhile really do make a lot of people happy.</p>

<p>Like you, I’m hoping to develop anime/manga art into something deeper and more refined. That’s why I’m really hoping to go to an art school that does not look down on the style and is open to helping me develop the way I draw into something better. :wink: I’m definitely open to learning foundation skills, but I was hoping to not have to discard the initial foundation I have developed with anime/manga style entirely.</p>

13

<p>I taught G.D. at SCAD, and reviewed incoming MFA applicant portfolios, so I can speak a little about what SCAD might think - although I can only guess about how the Animation or Sequential Arts departments may respond to an anime portfolio.</p>

<p>These are my thoughts…</p>

<p>Anime is a style that lends itself to imitation so it may be difficult for a reviewer to see what separates you or sets you apart. You ought to include additional sketches/works to show that you can do more than anime. If you are interested in animation, be sure to include some motion studies, even if they are frame-by-frame flip books, animated gifs, etc. If you are interested in Sequential Arts, submit some mult-panel pages and ink them. Show them you can tell a story visually.</p>

<p>Your graphic design work is not going to help you for two reasons:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>An MFA applicant’s portfolio should include only works relevant to the course of study you wish to pursue.</p></li>
<li><p>I understand that the G.D. program at your university is new, and it shows in your work. Overall your work is on the level of a second-year student at SCAD. It is very clean and precise, but conceptually, it lacks originality and inspiration.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>So…I think you have two choices. </p>

<ol>
<li>Work very hard to diversify your portfolio with works related to Animation, Sequential Art, or Illustration. Use different media and do not include more than 50% anime.</li>
</ol>

<p>Or…</p>

<ol>
<li>Submit the best possible work you can regardless of the area of study, and cross your fingers that SCAD will accept you “provisionally” - meaning that they will assign you one or two year’s worth of undergraduate level courses which you must pass before you can then resubmit a graduate portfolio for entrance into an MFA program. From what I have seen here, you would not be accepted directly into an MFA program.</li>
</ol>

<p>My apologies if my response is not optimistic, but I’d rather be honest with you. I no longer work at SCAD, nor do I represent the college, so this is only my opinion.</p>

14

<p>Again, listen to this guru and think about it.
I wonder what taxguy is doing… he might be busy during holiday.</p>

<p>I went to Japanese bookstore yesterday, they used to have small corner of manga/anime, but now almost entire floor is taken over by them, half volumes are for the locals, translated in English. Things have been changed, really, it might be still bit embarrassing but there sure are demand and supply, big money.
Nowadays any B&N stores have graphic novels/ manga section.
My kid’s friend want to study art in Japan and I looked up my old school, it is quite dorky website compare to US’ but surprise! they do now mention “manga” as one of their concentration!!! I guess some alms that made it big helped, Satoshi Kon as such.
It require fluency in Japanese for foreign students, other wise you could have gone if you wanted to.
I think you are neat, hard working person that could learn anything technical.
If you got enough money and already set mind to live here anyway, come visit schools and ask more opinions, travel and learn more about your options.
There is no way really telling how anything is from internet or view books because they are made to sell the school.
I took cross country trip and concluded that you never know until you know.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

15

<p>the same kid was at SVA open-house and the dept. head boasted that SVA is the pioneer of the Ame-manga (?) American manga.
I don’t know how to appreciate SVA but it is good for commercial art, illustration, sort. You can take piece meal courses there.</p>

16

<p>RainingAgain, thank you very much for responding so soon and for sharing your advice about my chances with SCAD! I really appreciate your honest answer since my main objective in starting this thread really was to have a better understanding of what the portfolio reviewers think about anime style artworks.</p>

<p>With the feedback that I’ve received, I can now conclude that an MFA is too much of a long shot for me, so I am aiming to pursue a second undergraduate degree instead. (Hopefully, I can skip the required math and science subjects in undergrad?) Since I can’t rely solely on my anime art and my GD works can’t be used at all in my portfolio, I’ve started going to foundation art classes this week. I’m hoping to be able to put together a portfolio based on some of the pieces that I will work on in the class. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>bears and dogs, I also noticed that the manga and graphic novel sections in bookstores get larger each time I visit the US! There were always people in that section sitting on the floor and reading. Actually, that’s one of the reasons why I was surprised to find that the reception towards anime art is still not very enthusiastic in many art schools since from I have observed during my trips to the US, many ordinary people, and not just hardcore otakus, enjoy reading manga. (Not to mention, its influence on US cartoons like Avatar.) But yeah, there is a good and a bad side to something so popular.</p>

<p>Japan really is the only place where art schools offer classes in manga and anime, but as you said, the language barrier is a restriction. I’m currently taking Japanese Studies as a minor degree, but I don’t think I can speak enough of the language to be confident about attending a course taught in 100% Japanese. Maybe someday when I have enough practice!</p>

<p>You made a good point about taking a road trip to the art schools instead of relying only on catalogs and the internet. I’ll talk to my parents about visiting the schools. :slight_smile: Thanks again for your response!</p>

17

<p>Problem is that art world and art schools don’t want to cater to ordinary people, unless they are able to support them big time.
Pretentious -er the better.
If you don’t get it, that’s because you got bad (or ordinary) taste in arts.
I was at this big shot Chelsea gallery and it was an awful show. **<strong><em>, Wait, is this going to be fixed by moderator? male reproduction body parts are everywhere, girls doing to herself, animals, whatnot in this giant concrete white high ceiling skylight frosted glass windows gorgeous space was packed with these super stylish people with straight faces looking at poster paint second grade kid might have done quality *</em></strong>*es galore.
If the artist was not Mike Kelly, would anyone cared to look at them let alone open their wallet? I really don’t know what to think but THAT is the whole point.
Again, good luck, kid like you are the real hope.
Don’t give up, don’t bother. Do your stuff.</p>