Ringling College of Art and Design 2009 hopefuls

[joshSobel]

Hello. I head this was the place for 2009 applicants, so here I am.

I graduated last year and had already applied to computer animation at Ringling for 08 and didn't get in, so now I'm working for a year (Flash animation for my church) with hopes of getting in for 09. I made all the classic mistakes (not having enough life drawing, putting in 3d stuff, saying "ever since I saw X" in my essay, etc). This year, my portfolio will be much better.

I have no formal training; I'm just self taught, so I'd really like some serious critiques and suggestions. I only joined CA for this topic, so I'll link out to some of the stuff that might go into my portfolio. I'd appreciate any feedback.

http://thesilentdirge.deviantart.com...trait-97971685
http://thesilentdirge.deviantart.com...ons-2-99182314
http://thesilentdirge.deviantart.com...ons-1-99080340
http://thesilentdirge.deviantart.com...udies-99072612
http://thesilentdirge.deviantart.com...orner-94237697
http://thesilentdirge.deviantart.com...eball-69224913
http://thesilentdirge.deviantart.com...l-Mit-70872857
http://thesilentdirge.deviantart.com...sions-96281449

[5coop]

Josh- your last 3 pieces may be good portfolio pieces if you dont have time to re-develop them. They show good values and usage of the pencil/Charcoal. Your previous pieces dont really do that and you tend to focus on the same expression too much. Also some of your face sketches seem unproportioned, another reason why i dont suggesting those is that it can be seen very clearly they are from photos. They tend to dislike that, no wrong in that either! Keep working. Also try some interesting perspectives and angles/draw some backgrounds (like the mit) to make your drawings more interesting. Good luck!


yeah my school is crazy but then again, we are an international school in tokyo under the full IB program and considered one of the best 3 in tokyo. I dont know how that helps me much im not trying to get into harvard! And jeez my parents could have payed ringling easier if they didnt have to pay the 2,000,000 yen / year cost hahaha its been 9 years!

[joshSobel]

Thanks. How can you tell that they're from photos? The one of the room corner wasn't though.

[Shanemeh]

yeah my school is crazy but then again, we are an international school in tokyo under the full IB program and considered one of the best 3 in tokyo. I dont know how that helps me much im not trying to get into harvard! And jeez my parents could have payed ringling easier if they didnt have to pay the 2,000,000 yen / year cost hahaha its been 9 years!

Wow...

[Meloncov]

yeah my school is crazy but then again, we are an international school in tokyo under the full IB program and considered one of the best 3 in tokyo. I dont know how that helps me much im not trying to get into harvard! And jeez my parents could have payed ringling easier if they didnt have to pay the 2,000,000 yen / year cost hahaha its been 9 years!

Yeah, I'm curious if going to a prestigious high school helps getting into Ringling at all. My high school is pretty prestigious, though not on the level of 5coop's.

If nothing else, I get a large GPA adjustment.

[aguilas990]

Simply put: it can't hurt.

[5coop]

Thanks. How can you tell that they're from photos? The one of the room corner wasn't though.

I meant your portrait, facial expression sheets, eye and i forgot which other one. I know the room isn't, in fact you didn't quite catch all the darks and whites because you rely on photographs to improve that one i think you should make a graph of gradient from very black to very white (i generally use 5+) and try to use all the variations. I generally try to critique hard because its what i wish people would do with me, i sometimes forget to say positive feedback hahah sorry if i sound like i dont like your work, i do just listing what you could improve on

Lol just thought i should put out there im not japanese for anyone wondering i just live in japan hahaha

[anamelie]

Wow...this thread was extremely helpful. Thank you everyone! I feel so much more...informed.

Oh, I also would appreciate any feedback on some pieces I'm considering for my Ringling portfolio. I only have a few right now, because I haven't been able to take pictures of a few, and I don't have that many to begin with...
Sorry, I didn't make a sketchbook, because...that forum is intimidating. xD Not the people. Just the art.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11...e1_9_28_08.png
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11...e2_9_28_08.png
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11...re_8_24_08.png
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11..._lie/Hands.png

Also, do any of you Ringling students have any suggestions for documentation, since we have to turn our portfolio online or by cd? Like...file types, sizes, dpi, the extent to which you should photoshop pictures to make them more presentable, and how to take good pictures of your art. (SlideRoom says less than 2MB for image files...I guess that's kind of big? Bigger than all of these, except for the scanned hand one...but my camera might just be low quality...)

For the ones I attached, I put the pictures flat on my bed and got two of my tableside lamps and set them on either side of my picture for lighting. Then I used my magnificent picture-taking skills to try not to get a blurry picture. Yay for resourcefulness!
As for adjusting the pictures, for now, I just rotated, cropped, and adjusted the color levels so they were b&w instead of yellow or blue...the lights in my room play tricks on me.

[5coop]

I have a question for current Ringling CA students or others that know the answer. Although very close to CA, does Ringling have any classes in visual effects? or of 3d composition on film footage through a software like AE? Or would i need to take further courses if i wanted to get into that side of the business? Thanks.

[Meloncov]

I have a question for current Ringling CA students or others that know the answer. Although very close to CA, does Ringling have any classes in visual effects? or of 3d composition on film footage through a software like AE? Or would i need to take further courses if i wanted to get into that side of the business? Thanks.

People routinely go from Ringling directly into VFX work, but they don't have classes in it per se.

[5coop]

that means they dont learn composition in the various softwares rather they do the 3d work that is later composed. Mehh oh well you can always get some g.n0m0n videos.

[Meloncov]

that means they dont learn composition in the various softwares rather they do the 3d work that is later composed. Mehh oh well you can always get some g.n0m0n videos.

While no noe is going to be an expert in compositing based on Ringling's classes, I'm pretty sure all of the higher level Ringling work is rendered in multiple passes and composited together.

[Meloncov]

Also, do any of you Ringling students have any suggestions for documentation, since we have to turn our portfolio online or by cd? Like...file types, sizes, dpi, the extent to which you should photoshop pictures to make them more presentable, and how to take good pictures of your art. (SlideRoom says less than 2MB for image files...I guess that's kind of big? Bigger than all of these, except for the scanned hand one...but my camera might just be low quality...)

While at pre-college, my teacher told me not to be afraid of using photoshop to improve my paintings.

They view the portfolios on a projector that probably has 1024 by 1280 resolution, so roughly that size would probably be best. Put it in a jpeg to make the file size decent.

If you don't have access to specialty lighting equipment, photograph your pieces outside on an overcast day.

[thesinfulsaint]

Josh-- I think, like others have said, that you should try to focus on drawing from life instead of photo. Also, a lot of your drawings seem a little flat. I can tell that you're trying to think about value in these, but a good rule of thumb is to make your darkest value black and your lightest value white. The full value scale needs to be present in order to really represent form. Part of the reason that working from life is so helpful is that you can set up your lighting so that you can actually see this.

anamelie-- First, I think Photobucket removed one of your images. Second, the gestures are all right. I think that I would favor something a little more detailed if you are going to submit gesture drawings. Also,
When I submitted my portfolio, I don't think anything was much bigger than 800 px wide. Basically, my methodology was this: They are going to be looking at a TON of portfolios, so I want to make sure that mine is easily displayed on a monitor and that it won't take a really long time to load. I used .jpgs.

5coop-- Actually, we don't really cover VFX here. I think what Meloncov is referring to is CG composite animation-- lots of people do that. However, particles, cloth, etc... We don't really do that here. If you want to do VFX, go to a technical school. However, what I will say is that you are responsible for your own education, and there was a student a few years ago that *did* wind up working in VFX.

[5coop]

Sinfulsaint: ah well i was just curious. But no particles and no cloth sounds weird, how do you learn animation without learning how to make particles and cloth? As in, obviously people will want to "dress" up their characters and have some sort of particles, people use fire and such even in straight animations.

[CatHicks]

how do you learn animation without learning how to make particles and cloth?

Particles and cloth have nothing to do with character animation. If you want to learn and experiment with VFX then the department will support you and help you, but this should not be your focus if your goal is to focus on animation here.

[thesinfulsaint]

Watch the senior theses on the website. Most (if not all) of the characters are clothed, but there is no cloth simulation. All of that is very technical work. If there is anything that looks like VFX, it is more than likely faked with some sort of texture change. Cloth simulation, particles, etc. really has very little to do with character animation. It's the icing on the cake. If the underlying motion of your character is not strong, adding cloth, etc. is not going to make it look good. At Ringling, we are focused on character animation.

But, again, if used in the proper place and time, cloth/particles/etc. is allowed. For example, one of my friends is using Maya Fur in his thesis. It just isn't taught here because you more than likely won't be hired to do a job in that concentration. As a CA major, your job options are more or less these: animator, modeler, texture artist, lighting, and (less common) story. There are occasionally students that wind up in other concentrations like Visual Development or VFX, but for the most part...those are what you can count on.

[EDIT] Blast, Cat, you were quicker than me.

[5coop]

alrighty thanks for the clear up both of you i guess what i really wanted to hear is that they do support you if you choose to experiment in those areas... so yeah thanks for the answers.

[Meloncov]

Watch the senior theses on the website. Most (if not all) of the characters are clothed, but there is no cloth simulation.

I thought there was at least one with cloth simulation. Mayber that was two years ago.


In any case, it's an exception.

[lowercase]

I was thinking about the senior thesis and what direction would be best to go in and realized you're pretty limited in how much you can do, no?

I imagine the amount of time it takes to do all the modeling, animating, etc... really constricts the number of characters and locales you can work with.

[Meloncov]

I was thinking about the senior thesis and what direction would be best to go in and realized you're pretty limited in how much you can do, no?

I imagine the amount of time it takes to do all the modeling, animating, etc... really constricts the number of characters and locales you can work with.

The lenght of the animation is proably a far larger impediment to having many charecters and locations than modeling time. You can only develop one, maybe two, charecters in that timeframe, with a few more in minor roles.

[5coop]

About the time in senior thesis, i know and heard that the maximum is like...2 min or something. IF YOU WANTED TO, would you be allowed to make it longer? I mean, ok so maybe they tell you the max is 2 min because maybe you dont have enough time...if you put extra time in it though, find the time... would you be allowed to make it over 2 min?

[Meloncov]

About the time in senior thesis, i know and heard that the maximum is like...2 min or something. IF YOU WANTED TO, would you be allowed to make it longer? I mean, ok so maybe they tell you the max is 2 min because maybe you dont have enough time...if you put extra time in it though, find the time... would you be allowed to make it over 2 min?

If you could convince the teachers that you could somehow complete it all without a sacrifice in quality, sure. It's not like there is some cut off that you absolutely can't go past.

On the other hand, people have failed thesis pre-production because they refused to cut their thesis to a reasonable length (all this learned from my TA at pre-college).

[Shanemeh]

Meloncov you went to the ringling precollege event?

[Meloncov]

Meloncov you went to the ringling precollege event?

Yes, as did FearSelf.

[Shanemeh]

How was it. I was considering of trying it this year.

[Meloncov]

How was it. I was considering of trying it this year.

It's definately worth doing. PM me if you have more specific questions.

[lowercase]

The lenght of the animation is proably a far larger impediment to having many charecters and locations than modeling time. You can only develop one, maybe two, charecters in that timeframe, with a few more in minor roles.

Thats true. I guess I was thinking in terms of maybe flashbacks or something, where you could briefly be exposed to different locales that would expand the scope of the story. Also, like you said, minor characters that serve the development of the main character or story. Bleh, anyway...

Oh ya, and the thesis' "The Fall" and "The Balloon" are 3 minutes and 3 min 40 sec respectively, including credits, so there is for sure no limit at 2 minutes.

[CatHicks]

In a hurry.

It's not like there is some cut off that you absolutely can't go past.

2 min thesis. 1:30 min animatic out of pre-pro.

Limitations for thesis stories come from the limitations of story itself as well as student feasibility. It is hard to strike empathy with more than two characters in under 2 minuets, it is also very challenging to animate two characters for two minuets straight.

You cannot make the time or find the time to make your film longer. Longer does not make your film better.

[Meloncov]

2 min thesis. 1:30 min animatic out of pre-pro.

Is that an absolute limit, or a very strong suggestion? I got the impression from Justin that some do go over that.