Strong Student Trying to Break Into VFX--Advice?

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
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<p>Hello CC Community!</p>

<p>I'm looking for advice on how to proceed as far as getting into Visual Effects goes. Perhaps I should start off with background on me and my credentials.
--As far as academics go, I'm an excellent student. On the SAT I received a 2360 which I think is a really good score. To be frank, I've never paid very much attention to standardized tests, though. I have a 4.0 GPA and have taken some honors/AP coursework. I'm currently a Junior, by the way.
--When I receive critiques from local artists, I usually receive strong, supportive feedback. I know this isn't really a "credential", but it may be helpful to know.
--Most of my experience is in 2D artwork. I like graphite and charcoal, but I occasionally do acrylic painting. I am however, trying to broaden my horizons by doing sculpture as well as several digital mediums. (Which I'll go into in just a sec)
--I have a part-time job in graphic design for a local startup. It doesn't earn me much money (at best, $60/week) but it's something, right?</p>

<p>So anyway, recently I've decided I really want to pursue CG. I recently purchased quite a bit of software (Maya, Zbrush, Adobe CS6), bought a few books and training DVDs on the software and have been zipping through them in all the spare time I can muster. </p>

<p>On to my questions: what kind of schools should I be looking at? I'm currently considering the Gnomon School of Visual Effects, Savannah College of Art and Design, Ringling, Full Sail, and Rhode Island School of Design. I haven't done as much research as I probably should have at this point in time, but do these look like decent choices? Another question: does it matter that I just started CG? Would schools be expecting a portfolio consisting of 3D pieces, or are traditional pieces acceptable? Also, what kind of scholarships should I be looking out for? I'm sort of on the low-income side of things, believe it or not, so any financial benefits would be of great help.</p>

<p>Lastly, if any of you have general advice on the subject I'd be happy to hear it. I'm rather inexperienced when it comes to this field, so anything is helpful. </p>

<p>Thank you for your time!</p>

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<p>With such strong stats, I’d suggest an Ivy League school, especially if you plan to request financial aid. Ivies provide a rich fin aid package that no art school can.</p>

<p>RISD, MICA, UArts, Savannah, etc all have strengths and weaknesses but you will be immersed in art.</p>

<p>Besides visual arts, UArts has performing arts which may offer some opportunities to apply your effects in practice.</p>

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<p>Figure out how much your family can help you with, financially. When you say ‘low-income side of things’ it surprised me a little, given that you just bought CS6, which costs a LOT! So I’m hoping that your family can contribute a reasonable amount, and that by low-income you mean that cost is a consideration. Or do you mean that they cannot afford to help much or at all? That is a different kettle of fish.</p>

<p>With your stats and a good portfolio, you can probably get some nice merit scholarships, but art schools are expensive. Merit scholarships can make some great art schools about the same as the cost of going to a state university. Sometimes even less. But it’s usually going to cost something, and I don’t recommend going into high debt. </p>

<p>Look at programs at universities, too–with your high academic stats, that may be your ticket to an affordable education. Virginia Commonwealth U, for instance, has one of the best public art programs in the country & they have a Kinetic Imaging BFA degree. With your stats, you could qualify for a nice scholarship I’d guess (however, you will need a great portfolio to get in).</p>

<p>Start your planning by figuring out what the budget is, though.</p>

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<p>VCU has a strong art program, I agree. I think the BFA is important so check the programs and how many resources are devoted to it. Some schools advertise their art departments and only offer a BA in art which equals art teacher for most grads of those programs.</p>

<p>Art colleges are expensive $30K and up on average. Go for it and see what they offer but I’m still suggesting the Ivies with your stats - At Harvard, Princeton, Yale, if your family income is less than $65K, you go free with no loans. You can’t beat that price. You have a shot.</p>

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<p>Hey there…with stats like that you will get decent merit scholarships from the stand alone art schools. RISD is different from the other stand alone art schools in that its aid is need based - so I would definitely keep that on your list. There is a dual degree program at RISD/Brown that you might be interested in. Brown has a very strong Comp Sci program and if you combined that with FAV at RISD you would get a great education and have a strong peer group to move forward with.</p>

<p>Drop Full Sail off your list. It is a for profit institution that has a bad rep. Also look at CMU(good financial aid), UCLA, USC, U Penn.</p>

<p>Art Center in Pasadena too! Very serious atmosphere for hard working people. </p>

<p>Keep us posted please.</p>

<p>PS Where are you located?</p>

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<p>Do any of the Ivy schools have animation/kinetic imaging/motion type BFAs? (they may, my kid didn’t have Ivy-level stats, so I didn’t look at them). I always had the impression that most LACs and Ivy schools tended to have more studio/fine art based programs, and mostly BAs. Brown/RISD aside, that is. Since OP’s interests sounded very focused on a more technical field, I was trying to think of schools that had a path to that as an undergrad.</p>

<p>Another possibility, look at posts on here by Digmedia. His son with very high academic stats went to Ohio U’s honors college and I believe he was a film-animation major of some kind, and I think he was not in Fine Arts college but another one, perhaps part of the Scripps School–he works in the film/animation business now and does special effects. OU sounded like it was really good for him, and really affordable—maybe almost a free ride but I’m not sure.</p>

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<p>My S is at an art college too. I love it for him and his stats were not Ivy level. I know the cost though. My D is at an Ivy and it’s cheaper for her than it is for my S so I have a direct comparison. Also, my S got the highest merit award offered at his school(he’s super talented) and it only covered just more than half of his tuition, room and board excluded. The Ivy just gave a boat load of money, loan free that covers over 2/3 of all costs. I make more than twice the $65K for free students so I know they must be more generous as income goes lower.</p>

<p>UPenn has a digital media design program. Start there than check out the other schools. They also have design your own degree majors so don’t consider anything off limits to a school with a $10 billion dollar endowment. Just ask.</p>

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<p>Hi, thanks for all the replies guys. Sorry, I hadn’t checked the thread since I had posted it until now. I’ll try and respond to all of your points, but if I miss something feel free to bring it up again.</p>

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<p>Hmm… I had never actually considered Ivies. My teachers often recommend that I apply because I make strong grades, but usually I’d brush them off because I was thinking they thought in terms of an academia route, which I’m not very interested in. But I’ll look into their fine arts programs. </p>

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<p>Sorry, I should have clarified. My parents’ combined income is less than $80K/year. Which, although not impoverished, I think makes me on the low income side of things. They have a 529 plan in place, but from what I understand, it’s certainly not enough to cover full tuition at an “art school.” Oh, and about the software, that was with an academic discount and out of my personal bank account from my job. You’re right though: it’s still ridiculously expensive. It was practically from years of saving that I could afford all that stuff.</p>

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<p>Duly noted. I’ll check out those schools as well. On a more general subject, I am a bit worried about applying to universities simply because I hadn’t planned to take any SAT subject tests, but that can be easily remedied with a bit of study.</p>

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<p>Central Florida. I really do not mind relocation, though. On places where living on-campus is an option, I’d take that offer, but if not I’d take that into consideration. (Financially and otherwise)</p>

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<p>Yeah, I don’t think a BA would necessarily suit my needs, at least without some graduate work at a vocational school, which I really could not afford.</p>

<p>On that note, what do you guys think of Gnomon as an undergraduate? I’m not sure whether it’s a for-profit, but looking at job placement post-graduation they’ve certainly got a strong reputation. My major concern with it is the lack of merit-based scholarships, and I’m not entirely sure I would qualify for their financial aid. </p>

<p>Anyway, thanks for the replies. You’ve all certainly given me much to research!</p>

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<p>Some links for you. Added RIT and Chapman to my suggestions:</p>

<p>[Entertainment</a> Design | Undergraduate | Programs | Art Center College of Design | Pasadena, CA | Learn to Create. Influence Change.](<a href=“Undergraduate Degrees - ArtCenter College of Design”>Undergraduate Degrees - ArtCenter College of Design)</p>

<p>[Animation</a> - Film & Animation - RIT: College of Imaging Arts & Sciences](<a href=“http://cias.rit.edu/schools/film-animation/undergraduate-animation]Animation”>http://cias.rit.edu/schools/film-animation/undergraduate-animation)</p>

<p>[BFA</a> Digital Arts | Digital Arts Degree Program | Chapman University](<a href=“Page Not Found | Chapman University”>Page Not Found | Chapman University)</p>

<p>[School</a> of Visual Arts >Undergraduate >Computer Art, Computer Animation & Visual Effects](<a href=“http://www.sva.edu/undergraduate/computer-art-computer-animation-visual-effects]School”>http://www.sva.edu/undergraduate/computer-art-computer-animation-visual-effects)</p>

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<p>OP, while you have a very high GPA/scores, you have stated you are certain you do not want to go the academic route for undergrad. Instead, you are asking for advice on pre-professional training in CG and computer animation… is that right? You may find College Confidential type advisors have more experience in those other areas (ivies, LACs, fine art majors) but there are good reasons you may want to reconsider these top colleges—financial aid and merit scholarships. You mention Gnoman and my son has worked with students there on games he designed as a Interactive Media (game design) major at USC. He also worked with animation majors at the Art Center in Pasadena and Laguna School of Art. These schools, and Gnoman in particular, have very focused training in exactly the field you are exploring and have very high placement in jobs right out of school. They do not, however, provide excellent aid and the cost is a real factor to consider.</p>

<p>UCLA has a wonderful Digital Art program, but as an out of state student, you would not find it affordable, I’m afraid. USC (both my sons’ school) has a program you should consider, and also offers the possibility for great merit scholarships–their top award (Trustee) is full tuition for 4 years–and students with your high stats plus demonstrated creative initiative (teaching yourself those programs, for example) and talent tend to catch their attention.</p>

<p>In addition, you should look into your state university. And also check out MIT, whose media lab (grad program only at this time) is so well regarded you may find the creative work they are doing inspiring, and also find undergrad research opportunities there. </p>

<p>The only trouble with picking an ivy (like they’re generic?) is making sure the school is invested in the state-of-the-industry standards. Often, the best sorts of instructors–those who are currently working on the top software, games, animation, films–are not found among the teaching ranks unless the school is making a big push to enter this field. </p>

<p>Best of luck as you explore.</p>

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<p>^To add to MadBean - Industry standards change so don’t be surprised to learn on something in school and to graduate to hear nobody uses that anymore. The movie Avatar revolutionized 3-D and The Hobbit just took it to another level about 4 years later. Plus, a lot of places use proprietary equipment you won’t find anywhere else. Learn to learn because you’ll always be learning.</p>