I'm going back to college!!!!!

[Sepulverture]

After a lot of careful thinking and weighing of pros and cons I have decided to go back to university and finish a degree.

I attended a private IT academy for some time and got certified as a network administrator while in highschool and that is about the extent of my higher education except for one year in community college that I flunked out of completely.

However this flunking out was not a bad thing. I started school there with the intention of getting an associates in network administration and from there move on to a state university, but I ended up flunking out of that year of college while discovering my desire to 1. teach, and 2. be a professional artist and 3. be a professional artist in the video game industry before moving on to teach at the university level after I have worked in the industry for a few years and got some in-field experience under my belt.

I have drifted through self-education of 2 languages (and trying to keep a good handle on my first) guitar, drums, bass, drawing and some painting, and other skills but now I have decided to get a formal education.

I'm having trouble locating a suitable university here in Beijing though. Most of the universities that I am even remotely able to afford seem to have art departments that focus largely on "practical art skills" like fashion design, or advertising design.

My goal was to study fine art focusing on things painting and drawing (although all these art programs would teach fundamental skills like color composition etc).

My question is would it be worth it to suck it up, take what's available and study something like graphic design, or advertising design and just try to find a reasonably priced private studio to focus on more "traditional" disciplines (like paintings and advanced drawing, not just sketching, two things that these degree programs offer only in limited amounts)?

[nauvice]

awesome news. I dont think graphic design is as focused in drawing or painting but at least it teaches color and composition. And Im not sure how it is in China, but even a drawing I class usually goes beyond the basics after the first week (like using different tools, drawing figures and environments from life, etc). And graphic designers and architects are recommended to take that class.

[Jason Rainville]

For GD programs, give em a call and ask what kind of "foundations" courses they have, such as painting and drawing, even see if you could take a small tour if it's available. My GD course actually had some pretty good foundations classes as I was leaving, anatomical study, nude models, basic digital illustration etc. You never know.

[Derek the Usurper]

I'm not sure what the curriculum would be exactly, but I would think that fashion design would be extremely helpful for a character artist in the video game industry.

[Sepulverture]

Derek - I thought the same thing a lot, and seriously considered a degree in fashion design to use towards character creation, and it does include some of the fundamental classes that Jason R. was talking about, however after looking at the class it seems to be more focused on actually creating fashion clothing and setting up catwalks, lighting for stages things like that. Not sure if that's the direction I want to go (although it would be a great opportunity to hand-make different costumes for character design references ;) as well as studying drapery and different materials).

zwarrior - You're right, drawing and painting are not big focuses for graphic design students (at least where I looked) but the color and composition studies would be very useful I think.

I did tour the campus of one of the unis that's not far from where I live, it's pretty well known of it's visual communications programs and not horribly expensive (although still a bit pricey). I am still looking for a university that has a fine arts degree, but at this point it's looking rather bleak purely from the standpoint of finances. Still looking though!

Jason - I am thinking of doing a trial attendance to some of the classes they have available. In China the first year of studies is mandatory Mandarin Chinese classes to prep you for your major studies, they offered to let me sit in on a few of the Mandarin courses to see which level would be suitable for me. I wonder if they'd let me do the same for some of their art/design classes.

My biggest concern at this point is would it be wise to simple find a "practical" art degree (graphic design etc., etc.) and then take private studies at a studio that issues a certificate of accomplishment of something just to show that I did in fact attend studies there, or if I should just try to knuckle up, take a second job and save save save to try to go to one of the upper-tier art universities that are available here, since those SEEM to be the only ones available that have pure Fine Arts degree programs, as well as well established reputations.

[Costau]

You shouldn't settle for less of what you want, or may feel is right for you. If you're confident that you're able to save up that money then put the damn work in. Most of those foundational classes for the other practical art majors are very bare bones introductory and not worth the cash for what you want usually. Especially most of the students won't take it as seriously as you will, and that can effect the teacher as well on how much he/she cares to teach.

Get the traditional and fine arts training, and then move on to specializations cause it will be fundamentally adaptable to fashion, graphics design, sculpting, what have you...
Plus since it's universities you'll get a more well rounded education which comes in handy.
The best advice I've read, is only go to a specialization certificate school AFTER you get a solid education.

Whatever you decide to do man, make sure you get the most from it. it doesn't matter where you go to learn. The school's just there for guidance, you'll still find a lot of self teaching is involved, but at least in school you don't have to worry about what you need to learn first. Also, it's good to know you'll be in an area with thousands of people with the same interests. Just keep drawing till then.