Taking a break? Wanting to transfer to SVA. Need some advice!

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
1

<p>Hello everyone. I'm currently a student at QCC majoring in Digital Art.
Unfortunately for me, I decided I wanted to go to SVA to pursue Visual Effects near the end of my HS year so I did not have a portfolio of any kind to submit. Drawing is a hobby of mine so I have never took it seriously but I have a huge interest in visual effects. I love movies and I have CGI. I love the amazing things you can do with Adobe After Effects and Maya which is why I would love to take classes at SVA to learn how to use them. I love the amount of work that goes into it and I would love to work for ILM to work on movies like Transformers and etc to do Visual Effects.
Now I am located in NYC so I figured SVA was my best bet to major in Visual Effects after going to QCC for two years to build a portfolio. </p>

<p>Now I have been attending Bridgewood art classes the past two months to work on my drawing and in 2 weeks, I will be going back to continue their drawing class to improve some more. They also have a figure/college portfolio class that I was thinking about attending during their fall semester, which I believe runs from Sept to Nov of this year. Problem is I graduate from QCC in May 2014 and in order to attend SVA in the Fall, I need to submit a app by the end of this year if I'm remembering that correctly. That itself is a problem because I won't have a portfolio by then, meaning I will miss the Fall deadline. </p>

<p>P.S. This is the website for their classes. Art</a> Classes NYC | Art Lessons & Classes for New York (NYC)</p>

<p>I need advice in what I should do. Would it be wise to do the following?</p>

<p>1) Graduate QCC in May 2014
2) Take a break, no classes from the end of May 2014 till 2015. I apply for their Spring 2015 semester, with the deadline for that being November 2014. </p>

<p>Is it bad if I take a break during the fall of 2014 and just apply for SVA for their Spring semester? I would basically not be going to class after May of 2014 when I graduate from QCC with my associate degree. I feel like I NEED to do that in order to have a good portfolio to submit because I basically have nothing right now. </p>

<p>I'm stuck on what to do and would like some advice. I'm not even entirely too certain what should be included in my portfolio and how good it has to be, if anyone can also link me to some portfolios that have been accepted by SVA for Animation and Visual Effects, that would help as well. My GPA is currently 3.7 and I plan on maintaining that or even higher until I graduate QCC.</p>

2

<p>Looks like SVA has personal portfolio reviews on an on-going basis. Put what work together you have and schedule one or go to a portfolio review day. They should be able to tell you what you might need in additional work to make a rounded portfolio. Work should be from real life (not from photos). For animation show work that shows action–even quick sketches.</p>

3

<p>Since you are already in NYC, make an appointment to do a tour and speak to an admissions counselor. We found that many of our daughter’s credits would not transfer to SVA. From speaking to others, it sounds like this is fairly typical. Speaking to them now would save you from spending time and money on classes that may not transfer.</p>

4

<p>Since all the private art schools are expensive I would also look at other schools for animation even if out of state.</p>

5

<p>Thank you everyone for the reply. The way QCC works is that you need 60 credits by May of 2014 in order to graduate with a associate degree. I am only taking classes that are required, I’m not taking art classes in QCC that are not required to graduate. The ones I am taking now are fine already and as I mentioned, I am attending another “after school” for drawing lessons. </p>

<p>I am just wondering if it is a bad idea to skip out on the Fall 2014 term for SVA and simply apply for their Spring 2015 so that I have extra time to make my portfolio the best I can in the next 11 months or so. </p>

<p>Also to gouf78, SVA is my best bet for VISUAL EFFECTS. I’m not too interested in Animation specifically but SVA offers that major WITH Visual Effects. I found the only other school that is good for a Major in Visual Effects is in California, which is across the country.</p>

6

<p>Bump. Anyone else want to give some advice on my plan?</p>

7

<p>You could take classes at the Art Student League in NYC instead and develop your portfolio there. My daughter did that when she was 15. She didn’t enroll in full classes–she just took the ones she could get to.</p>