Ringling College of Art and Design 2013 Hopefuls

[themegagod]

My eventual goal is to become a creative director on games, getting to that point through the art lead position. This is all very far down the line (possibly around 10 years AFTER graduation) but I was wondering, is it possible to minor while in the CA and GAD programs?
If so, I'd like to utilize their Business of Art and Design minor, but I've heard that people put in well over 80hr a week into the CA and GAD majors. would there be time to do a minor?

[XxMikaruxX]

I honestly don't think you can Minor in GAD or CA, they are always EXTREMELY busy. As for the difference, the two are very similar but from my understandings GAD's focus more on environment and technical aspects (Like actually programming playable games) which is slightly different from preset CA's. If you want to do things like Pixar/Movies, go to CA. If you want to make interactive games, go to GAD

[themegagod]

If you want to do things like Pixar/Movies, go to CA. If you want to make interactive games, go to GAD

Of course everyone who watches a pixar movie wishes they could do that, but I more like the depth of interactive gaming environments. It's hard to explain, but the CA thesis seem flat whereas the environments seen from the gad programs feel like you could actually reach into it. I know what I'm talking about, lol.

By any chance would you know anything about the amount of programing that goes into the GAD program?
I've heard that it has literally next to none, that it is primarily and almost extensively an art program, yet then I've heard that in years to come the thesis films may be turning into creating a playable demo of a game. I'd be fascinated to learn how to make a playable demo, but I'm not looking forward to heavy programing.

[XxMikaruxX]

From what I have seen of GAD students, I am pretty sure sophomore year they are required to make a playable platformer, but I'm not 100% on that.

[Minaudie]

Hello everyone! It's been a while, but I think that's because nothing I write is getting sent through. Oh well, moving on~

I have a question open for anyone really. Has anyone gone to/know someone who has gone to the Precollege thing Ringling has? I have applied for it and am currently waiting for my teacher to send in the letter of recommendation before they review it. I live in Pennsylvania, so 4 weeks in Florida is going to be crazy, but I am really excited because I haven't visited campus yet, and if the campus is bad, I may have to find another school :/

I guess another question would be how do you like the campus? I've talked to some other people who have said that they really like it, and I'm always curious about this until I can go.

It's awesome reading everything that's been posted, a big thanks to Lizzybeth, I remember reading your posts a few years ago, and it's awesome that you are still helping out even though you've graduated!

[themegagod]

Hello everyone! It's been a while, but I think that's because nothing I write is getting sent through. Oh well, moving on~

I have a question open for anyone really. Has anyone gone to/know someone who has gone to the Precollege thing Ringling has? I have applied for it and am currently waiting for my teacher to send in the letter of recommendation before they review it. I live in Pennsylvania, so 4 weeks in Florida is going to be crazy, but I am really excited because I haven't visited campus yet, and if the campus is bad, I may have to find another school :/

I guess another question would be how do you like the campus? I've talked to some other people who have said that they really like it, and I'm always curious about this until I can go.

It's awesome reading everything that's been posted, a big thanks to Lizzybeth, I remember reading your posts a few years ago, and it's awesome that you are still helping out even though you've graduated!

I know there are better people to help you out than myself, because I've never done the precollege thing, but I'll throw in my two cents anyway.
I didn't find out about ringling until after I graduated high school, so I couldn't really go to the precollege thing. . If I had, I certainly would have tried to go.

I used to live in the mountains of Pennsylvania, up around the tobyhanna area, and then I lived in south new jersey for awhile. I'm now just north of sarasota (tampa). I can tell you the weather difference is really easy to get used to if you like the heat. I know I do, so It was actually a great change. I haven't experience the terrible humidity people always talk about, but I'm pretty sure I can take it. as long as I don't have to deal with snow ever again, I'm good.

I've also yet to visit the campus, but from what I understand the campus itself is gorgeous. The issue is the surrounding area, I've heard isn't the best, but that is the case with all schools. they need to buy a lot of land so they buy in the cheaper areas, and there is often a good bit of crime right around the school. but that's every where. Look at temple university and rutgers. the schools themselves are beautiful, yet right around the corners are often the "ghetto". If you are living on campus with the dorms, you shouldn't even have to worry too much about going off campus.
Personally I've grown up in bad neighborhoods my whole life so IDK what the big deal is, but if it is a worry for you, just try not to leave campus at night, and never alone. that goes for any school you go to.

If you want to do an earlier visit, there is the spring open house coming up in February, and you can basically schedule a personal tour just about anytime throughout the year. I would have done this already myself, but I've been bust doing other things. I like to pretend I'm busy.

ANyway, nice to know there are some other GAD hopefuls floating about (even if you are a year away from applying). Hopefully i've been some help, and soon someone else will pipe in with some more info.

[anomalexie]

@tmg: I think CA mostly concentrates on story-telling and being able to effectively convey emotion through their characters, they're supposed to bring life and believability to these characters. Maybe? Right? Their characters have to be like actors. Not that they don't need environments, because that's also very important, but animators need to be able to relate to their audience more than GAD needs to In GAD environments are very crucial and believability in the space needs to come across if needed. Game characters need a lot of room and levels to run around and shoot zombies in Story and graphics are very important to both though c: I wanted to minor in Business too but it doesn't seem like there'd be much time :Y

@ minaudie: I've visited the campus and it's really beautiful. I don't know if I'm biased just because I was so excited, but compared to the university I attend now, Ringling still beats it in environment. It's bright and it always seems so cheerful. I've never done the precollege thing either, I didn't have the money to spare at the time. But one of my classmates did and she loved it and learned a lot, even though she didn't end up going there (financial reasons I assume). Sarasota's right on the coast so there's always a nice breeze and temperatures level out so it's not toooo hot as inland. I've heard a lot about the crime too, but as long as you go in a group and are careful, I'm sure you'll be fine. My high school was in a terrible neighborhood too, but as long as I was careful, I've had nothing worse than a homeless man approaching me for a few minutes.

[WaterVase17]

Anyone knows the score requirement for the TOEFL test? for international students who needs to take the test, do you know the score requirement? Also, if you get a low score, should you apply for the applications anyways? will the school not accept your application because of your low score?

[themegagod]

Anyone knows the score requirement for the TOEFL test? for international students who needs to take the test, do you know the score requirement? Also, if you get a low score, should you apply for the applications anyways? will the school not accept your application because of your low score?

I have never heard of the TOEFL test so about that I wouldn't know.
My view on applying, is if you want to get into either CA, GAD, or even Illustration, I'd apply anyway. You basically get one change a year you get in, so you should increase your chances by applying as much as possible. Statistically speaking your chances increase every time you apply (but at once a year, that's still a pretty slim chance). The school's representatives (if you call them) should be able to tell you everything you need to know.
here's what a quick search under how to apply brought up, when looking at Ringling's site.

"International Students

Ringling College students come from 42 countries! We welcome applications from international students. Because Ringling College does not offer English for Speakers of Other Languages courses, you must be proficient in English to be considered for admission. If you are a citizen of a country where English is not a common language, please submit scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or International English Language Testing System (IELTS). A minimum score of 61 (internet version) or 500 (paper version) on the TOEFL; or 6.0 on the IELTS is required. In addition, please submit the International Supplement* to the Common Application"

hope that helped.

@tmg: I think CA mostly concentrates on story-telling and being able to effectively convey emotion through their characters, they're supposed to bring life and believability to these characters. Maybe? Right? Their characters have to be like actors. Not that they don't need environments, because that's also very important, but animators need to be able to relate to their audience more than GAD needs to In GAD environments are very crucial and believability in the space needs to come across if needed. Game characters need a lot of room and levels to run around and shoot zombies in Story and graphics are very important to both though c: I wanted to minor in Business too but it doesn't seem like there'd be much time :Y

Some times you don't have to shoot zombies. sometimes you need to jump on things too.
I think you're right about the whole believability and life bringing thing. I've read people say that if you can have your audience become emotionally attached to you characters, you did it right.
I've read dealing with games is more like playing god.
I kind of figured so much, but I wanted to be sure. I do love characters to, so maybe in 4 1/2-5 years time, I'll try and combine the two ideas into one thesis. Yes I do live in a fantasy world. One where I can find time to learn everything, ever.
speaking of time constraints, if it were possible, I know I'd fill my elective with animation classes and just forgo sleep until I gained my degree. Business sounded a bit more plausible though.

@ minaudie: I've visited the campus and it's really beautiful. I don't know if I'm biased just because I was so excited, but compared to the university I attend now, Ringling still beats it in environment. It's bright and it always seems so cheerful. I've never done the precollege thing either, I didn't have the money to spare at the time. But one of my classmates did and she loved it and learned a lot, even though she didn't end up going there (financial reasons I assume). Sarasota's right on the coast so there's always a nice breeze and temperatures level out so it's not toooo hot as inland. I've heard a lot about the crime too, but as long as you go in a group and are careful, I'm sure you'll be fine. My high school was in a terrible neighborhood too, but as long as I was careful, I've had nothing worse than a homeless man approaching me for a few minutes.

Reading some of these posts make me feel like a "bad boy". Is it bad that I was one of those who would approach the homeless guy unafraid? Ask him about the weather? When they go on psychotic tangents about the FBI, it's sad and hilarious simultaneously.
I think the worse thing that ever happened to me was being approached by a pushy drug dealer. They really are in disbelief when you don't want to buy their "goods". Well no, when I was like 12 My brother got mugged. But that was in a nice neighborhood. So yeah, bad neighborhoods mean nothing. Just learn the language of the "streets" and you have nothing to worry about, lol. That and never leave your abode with anything of value... I never own anything of value so it works perfect for me.
And about the weather. IDK about you, but it's been feeling cold to me. 66 degrees feels icy to me. IDK how my body forgot the cold so fast but it thinks it's freezing right now.

[WaterVase17]

Thank you theme, your answer helped. I have one more question; how do you guys photograph your work? also is it ok to use photoshop to organize your images? like for sculpture, should I put 3 or more images onto 1 page or should I send it as separate pieces?

[escaphilia]

I've only seen pictures/video of the campus, it looks so beautiful though o0o I'd like to schedule a visit before I send in the rest of my stuff (especially since you can get a portfolio review there), but since it's in the middle of the holidays I may not make it.

We have a lot of homeless here, and I would agree about "speaking the language of the streets" lol. walking downtown Houston at 2 - 4 in the morning you get all kinds of folk bothering you ( I could tell some stories lol), but there are a few things you can do to minimize threats

Also, I was thinking about minoring in business too! I thought about illustration as a minor, but the CA program is so intense it's like...well what CAN you do on top of all of that, yanno?

[escaphilia]

And, to answer that question really quickly:

I photograph all of my work with a regular camera phone and then edit it in Photoshop. It is more than okay, and in fact, at the Ringling info session they mentioned it was a good idea to do just that. As for a sculpture, my personal opinion is to do different angle shots and then edit it all into one image. If it's different sculptures and they aren't related (like from the same series and whatnot) then I would probably make those separate images.

[themegagod]

IDK about what's allowed or not, or what's best, but I personally, do use photoshop with the images. I put like sketches on the same image, and cut out what I didn't like. And since I use a camera instead of a scanner, sometimes i do get pesky shadows, which is often pretty easy to get rid of using adjustments > layers, and then using those eye dropper tools (I just was doing it on a couple of images in my sketchbook).

as far as what I understand about photographing your image, it has a lot to do with lighting your image. If you are taking a picture, you want there to be as few shadows as possible, so you should try to have two light sources of equal high and strength, tilted at 45 degree angles on either side of the image. that or use natural daylight. in either case, try to keep the image perpendicular to your camera, and keep the shadows off.
as far as taking pictures, again, I think if you go to Ringling.edu an then into their portfolio section they have a whole section just on how to photograph your work. they used to.

[JAndrews]

I've only managed to get 1 piece of my portfolio into the computer thus far, and I did both: by taking a couple pictures of the piece, AND scanning it. Any opinion on which method is better?

[themegagod]

If you post the image up, I"d be able to tell you of the two you have which is preferable. As which is better, that up to each person's own preference. As long as the end result is what you want, than it's the best choice. I think.

[anomalexie]

IDK about what's allowed or not, or what's best, but I personally, do use photoshop with the images. I put like sketches on the same image, and cut out what I didn't like. And since I use a camera instead of a scanner, sometimes i do get pesky shadows, which is often pretty easy to get rid of using adjustments > layers, and then using those eye dropper tools (I just was doing it on a couple of images in my sketchbook).

Hahaha I did that too for some sketches. I'll probably end up doing like a collage of my best gestures, just to use one image versus multiple. I play with the lighting too, using brightness contrast just so it's easier and clearer to see if the picture came out a little dark. Or using the clone tool to erase mistakes or writing that would distract.

I just take pictures with our small family camera on pretty solid resolution. I use multiple lights as well, and set it somewhere where my shadow won't cast on top of the image.

[ilovesketchbook]

Anyone knows the score requirement for the TOEFL test? for international students who needs to take the test, do you know the score requirement? Also, if you get a low score, should you apply for the applications anyways? will the school not accept your application because of your low score?

As an international student applied for Ringling before, I don't need to submit TOEFL test as long as English is my first language in my country. I think they prefer looking at your portfolio to GPA. All the best for your application! What major are you applying for?

[ilovesketchbook]

Hahaha I did that too for some sketches. I'll probably end up doing like a collage of my best gestures, just to use one image versus multiple. I play with the lighting too, using brightness contrast just so it's easier and clearer to see if the picture came out a little dark. Or using the clone tool to erase mistakes or writing that would distract.

I just take pictures with our small family camera on pretty solid resolution. I use multiple lights as well, and set it somewhere where my shadow won't cast on top of the image.

Is it ok if i comply afew photographs of my sketches into a page? Or a sketch per page? Shall we show one another our portfolio before submitting? I am not sure if it is a good idea.

[escaphilia]

Ringling allows you to combine sketches/drawings/etc into one image. The only requirement ( I think it's the same for all categories) is 5 - 25 images (how those images are put together is up to you!) and it has to be 5mb

[themegagod]

ummm.... Wow.
I didn't expect it at all, since I'm still working on my portfolio NOW; but guess what guys? I got in!

I guess when I asked for my application to be renewed, they just sent last years portfolio in as well.
I just received my acceptance letter about an hour ago.
I've read it about 8 times. It's for the 2013 school year, and they are waiting for my $500.00 dollar acceptance fee.

um.
Wow. A really unexpected, beautiful start to my day.

[Cnyx]

ummm.... Wow.
I didn't expect it at all, since I'm still working on my portfolio NOW; but guess what guys? I got in!

I guess when I asked for my application to be renewed, they just sent last years portfolio in as well.
I just received my acceptance letter about an hour ago.
I've read it about 8 times. It's for the 2013 school year, and they are waiting for my $500.00 dollar acceptance fee.

um.
Wow. A really unexpected, beautiful start to my day.

That's great! Congrats!!

[escaphilia]

CONGRATS!! I'm so so happy for you, and you definitely deserve it! *raises virtual wine glass*

[JAndrews]

Congrats on getting in! I didn't even realize they send acceptance letters this early.

[Cnyx]

could you maybe post your portfolio, for those of us still working to get an idea of what some accepted work looks like?

[themegagod]

CONGRATS!! I'm so so happy for you, and you definitely deserve it! *raises virtual wine glass*

*clinks wine glass* Thank you kindly. All I can say is persistence has won. Soon enough we will be drinking wine in your honor as well.

Congrats on getting in! I didn't even realize they send acceptance letters this early.

Honestly me neither. That's why I read it over like 8+ times, and it wasn't until my mom read it over that I was sure I was reading correctly. Bear in mind it was Game Art and Design, not Computer animation that I was applying to. CA is the only program that has the January 15th deadline. I guess everything else is first come first serve. I bet being put on the wait-list last year didn't hurt either.

could you maybe post your portfolio, for those of us still working to get an idea of what some accepted work looks like?

Absolutely. As I said it must have been with last year's portfolio because I didn't update my slideroom yet this year, so my new work couldn't have been used. If you look in my sketchbook, I think the post before my newest has a lot of the work I eventually used in my portfolio. I'll get my full portfolio up as soon as I get it together.

It's funny. I was today, going to post on this thread if anyone has recently looked at the portfolio examples that ringling shows. I recently looked at them and was struck with fear of not being good enough. So much of those examples are beautiful. like a mix of dali and M.C. escher.

[squareyes]

congratulations im happy for you. Sounds like an awesome experience to go through, just going about your day and finding out your accepted with last years work! haha

i however still need to get accepted.XD congrats again

[ilovesketchbook]

@themegagod: Congrats! I am happy for you. They accepted u according to ur past portfolio? i think u can update ur portfolio if u want to get a scholarship. DD

[anomalexie]

ummm.... Wow.
I didn't expect it at all, since I'm still working on my portfolio NOW; but guess what guys? I got in!

I guess when I asked for my application to be renewed, they just sent last years portfolio in as well.
I just received my acceptance letter about an hour ago.
I've read it about 8 times. It's for the 2013 school year, and they are waiting for my $500.00 dollar acceptance fee.

um.
Wow. A really unexpected, beautiful start to my day.

What? They just sent in last years portfolio??
I NEED TO UPDATE MINE THOUGH D:

BUT CONGRATS TMG! D SOOO HAPPY FOR YOU ^-^ WOOOO! our first acceptance hahahaha!

[Dunnstar]

Congrats as well, I'm not even applying to Ringling but I definitely understand the excitment you must feel. I wish every one luck.

[WaterVase17]

As an international student applied for Ringling before, I don't need to submit TOEFL test as long as English is my first language in my country. I think they prefer looking at your portfolio to GPA. All the best for your application! What major are you applying for?

im applying for ca