where to go after HS?

[sentient]

im going to be a junior in high school this coming september, and im going to be seriously looking into colleges, and i want a career in art. i dont want a school thats all traditional art, or all new media, but i would like to do both. currently i have in mind:

The Academy of Art College, San Francisco
(www.academyart.edu)

RISD, Rhode Island
(www.risd.edu)

Pratt, New York City
(www.pratt.edu)

School of Visual Arts, New York City
(http://www.schoolofvisualarts.edu/main.html)

so anyways im looking for a good school that covers all the bases, and preferably in the USA. i do speak Czech though, so any Czech schools would work too, and if its really good i wouldnt mind leaving the country. so anyways, tell me what you think of those schools, and give me a recomendation if you have any, for other schools. thanx a lot.

[chris]

ill be attending memphis college of art soon, http://www.mca.edu . they have alot of stuff in fine arts but they also have graphic design/illustration courses too. as far as i know there arent any majors in industrial design, or any specific things like that. mca is kinda expensive(its a private, independant art college) but they almost always give out portfolio scholarships that are quite generous. i had a shitty portfolio and yet i got like 12k to last me the 4 years, plus each year they can reevaluate your ability and possibly get more scholarships. i dont know if this is done everywhere, if it is, sorry for the useless info.

good luck man,
chris

[Harlequin]

Well, I've attended two of the schools you want to go to. DO NOT GO TO THE ACADEMY OF ART COLLEGE!!! I'm sorry if I offend anyone on this site, but my experience at that school was down right awful. The foundation classes are a joke. You don't really start to get teachers with a solid background until the later years. Some of the foundation teachers often came from the administration...not good. I actually had a career counselor at Art Academy tell me to go else where for my education. This was a hush hush opinion of hers because the school regularly fires its staff is they have any other opinion of the school besides it being the best...which its not. They will show you amazing work that comes from the students, but this work is coming from a handful of talented students they happened to be lucky enough to land in their school. But if you would like to attend highschool all over again, be my guest, the Academy is your school.

I attended RISD also, Illustration grad. RISD will put you through the ringer. When you graduate you will have learned the true meaning of hard work. You won't come out as polished as an Art Center grad, but you won't be a mindless art monkey either. RISD drills in the traditional skills, which are extremely important for a good base. The digital side of RISD...well...when I graduated, 1999, they had sunk a lot of money into new classes and labs for the school during my last year. They were trying to catch up with the west coast schools. If they continued with that they should have quite a setup now for the digital medium. You could find out the details by calling RISD. I recommend the education. Your surrounded by a group of students that aren't wishy washy about what they want. Most of your classmates serious about their work and will push each other. It's not a party school. You have to focus and not get distracted to do well. Plan on spending many late nights and weekends working on your art. There is no extracuricular at RISD. You won't really have the time. Another plus at RISD is the school has a coop with Brown University. You can take any classes Brown has to offer. You can also use all their facilities on top of RISD's.

Pratt is a great fashion school. But if you aren't going into fashion, I wouldn't suggest it. Also the area the school is located in has really gone downhill.

SVA has a great photography department. And I think that the Industrial Design department is good also. Don't know much beyond that. I don't really hear alot about that school anymore.

I hope this helped a little.

[Harlequin]

I'm sorry, I messed up with Pratt. It is not known for its fashion. It is primarly focused in fine art. Though it has a desent photograph and film department. Of course, to enjoy these wonderful majors you must past through the college gates of barbwire....no joke....barbwire...all around the school. Like I said, not a good area.

[Jason Manley]

there are just as many good students coming out of each of those schools...justin kaufman on the main page is a rather talented alum of the academy...if he learned a lot of his craft while studying there then the resources must be available...granted he left after a couple years to do his own thing...he did learn there and his art shows it.

www.workshopcrew.com has some talented sf alumni on its site...take a look...they are as decent as any group at risd IMHO.

I get literally hundreds of reels sent to me...guys from all schools...as a whole, no one school is cranking out any group better than the other. though contrary to the above statements i have gotten better reels lately from students in sf than students at art center. (but i do not see every portfolio...just the ones sent to me) each portolio set from the different schools has and shows the schools strengths as well as the individual talents.


I'd study art is sf in a heartbeat..the galleries are there..the city is inspiring...great food...great culture...great art.

risd is not in a city with a real big art market...not in comparison to NY or LA or SF.

a real art market...sf is. the galleries...ILM, Lucasfilm, Pixar, Shaba, SSI, UBISOFT, factor five, and many many other places are right in the area which are potential places for employment. Id bet that two thirds of the game companies are near sf or LA....not to mention all the film etc.

a good example is that troika has some internships that may come about...the students in LA and California are given first consideration simply because it is easy for us to meet with them and easy for me to get them here. I do not work at the only company like that. If you are not near an art market then it will be more challenging to get work. it is simply harder for companies to meet people when the need arises when they are far away. if the school has a great employment dept then that can act as your bridge.

The one exception I am aware of is Ringling. I honestly believe in all my dealings with the art schools, as either an artist or an employer, that ringling has the absolute best career services department. Ringling's career services bring more companies to their campus than I can think of. I was recruited out of there...so was james zhang...so was andrew jones...so was puddnhead...so was....you name it. most of my good friends work at companies they met while at ringling. however sarasota is a very very artistic community and the museum there is supurb. their facilities are top notch as well...but it is a school where self motivation gets you everywhere...it will not be spoonfed...it is also a school with a lot of beach going party kids...but the faculty is there and so are a small percentage greatly talented students.

I cant think of too many companies in RI. maybe hasbro...if you want to work then sf is a good place to study...a good place to make connections...and a good place to learn. the city is beautiful...the people were nice when i was there...looks like an artsy town to me.

I do think that Rhode Island would be a nice place to learn...Id study there if I went back..sure....but my point is not an any way shoot risd down..it is simply to show that different schools can have different strengths. you just have to find out what they are and take full advantage of them.

if you weighed them against each other I really do not think any one of them is any better than the other...each has strengths and each has weaknesses (art centers students often have portfolios that are a bit art center typical from what i have seen... but are atleast showing the awareness of commercial application and the importance of traditional foundation....RISD is not in a great art employment town even if it does have a wonderful and intense program etc.....ringling has a good program and a fantastic career services dept and a great museum but sarasota is hot and capital BORING at times...all the better to study I guess)

you see what i mean?


j