CA member SCAD reunion

[AmishCommy]

Howdy all,

I noticed in recent posts that a bunch of us here on CA have gone, are going to, or are planning to go to SCAD. Like it or Hate it SCAD is deffinetly an experience.
So in my nostalgia for the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly i envite all Allumni, Current Students, and all those considering going to SCAD to join in a massive digital reunion. Hey you never know, you and I and others on this site may have crossed paths at one point in Savannah. Let this be our gathering place to keep up with each other and see what everyone has been up to.

[Neil]

Nice.
Any other info on jobs that people got from the 2001-2002 years?

[poopinmymouth]

I attended all of fall 2001 all of 2002, and the first quarter of 2003. I was an animation major, but switched to game art my last quarter. I think that i learned alot from SCAD but it was overpriced as hell. Its the law of supply and demand I guess, but still, way too much money for what you get out of it.

I was hired straight out of junior year to work on a LOTR game (now canceled) at Warthog Texas. That was where I met jason manley, and Andrew Jones, and John Rubio during monday life drawing sessions, and sunday sketch groups. I then moved to Terminal Reality where I worked as a Character artist on Bloodrayne 2, After that shipped I moved up here to Mythic Entertainment where I am a character artist on Dark Age of Camelot, and Imperator Online. I've also done contract work for Ghost Recon 2, an unnanounced RPG, and an english educational title for an italian company.

Any SCADites who wanna shoot the breeze dont hessitate to message me on aim, my s/n is poopNinmymouth

[GhostofMacbeth]

Old school SCADite myself ...

poopinmymouth ... What LOTR game did you work on before it was cancelled .. I am just curious Thanks

[Neil]

Seems like you are doing quite well for yourself, nice number of big games in really not too long of time.

My AIM is BadBadNeil anyone feel free to add me

[poopinmymouth]

hmmm, well not only was it canceled, it was unnanounced. but it was essentially LOTR crossed with diablo 2, and it was fun as hell. VU was moronic to cancel it.

[GhostofMacbeth]

Didn't know if it was Treason of Isengard or whatever but it sucks that it was canceled. Sounded like it might have been cool. I was looking forward to some of the things they were doing (LOTR nut that I am)

[poopinmymouth]

treasons of isenguard was the dynasty warriors lotr game, if i remember correctly. and yes it was fun.

[Neil]

Game companies sometimes don't make sense to me.
Theres a whole bunch of ones that got canceled that I was looking forward to including Mafia 2, Baldur's Gate 3, and Fallout 3(at least from Black isle).

When I graduated SCAD i totally lost interest in 3D and I don't know why. Perhaps it was burnout, whatever the case bad time losing interest in 3D when you have a degree in it

[gruve24]

I went to scad for awhile, look for me at the San Fran' workshop, I'd really like to see everyones work !

[AmishCommy]

ole to all, my internet was down all day, but now i replyyyyy!!!! weee.


Neil- when i gradumakated SCAD (2002) i was totaly burned out on my majors too, Sequential Art and Illustration. I went up to NY to shop my Children's book around and i did some simple promotion but no good came out of it. I had a small gig doing a monthly cartoon for a children's mag but it got canceled when the company realized it was easier and cheeper to fill the space with random babble about music stars. poop! Since then i got a hook up working at an art gallery. it had its ups and downs and i got to get into web design a little while with them. I learned a lot about the Art world and i think that if all the tallented people on this forum would break into the world of Fine art we would all be more succesful than we are now. the only problem with that is how to break into the Fine Art world. it just about as easy as getting a children's book published. oh well. Since then I've quit and move out to NYC and we'll see if that will be good or bad for me.



Glen- what have you been up to in the last few months? still chilling in savannah?

poopinmymouth- you seem to have been pretty successful. good for you. most of my 3D friends have been pretty successful. (more successful than i have been - i guess i missed that boat.)

gruve24- we need more details of your SCAD experience so we can reminis/comiserate together

[GhostofMacbeth]

Arkady, Still in Savannah and been working too much with some RPG and CCG things, which is good, but just too busy at times. Trying to catch up on stuff now.

[gruve24]

I'm actually a bit bitter about that school. the only good thing I'm walking away from are a few life long friends and Paul Hudson. This doesn't go for everyone but alotta students there weren't to focused, or they used the excuse "my syle" to cover up their lack of acedemic understanding of...form,shape,light,anatomy,perspectice,countour ,chiaroscuro,sfumato etc... I'm not a master at any of these but I came to SCAD hoping to learn about them, learn the fundamentals before I could start to make a finished picture. Instead I got, "don't worry about accuracy just get it done" or "you don't really need to learn all that suff just make it look good"..these were from students and professors. I felt I was given real world assignments to tackle without any real training. Anything that I ever did that I was happy with happened because I went off on my own and taught myself. deadlines were a joke to me. Eventually I'll get to a point where the lines converge and I'll be able to do professional quality work within an alotted time frame...but SCAD just wants you to scribble anything down on a piece of paper, and be able to tell the professors, I'm done give my grade...and I'm outta here. there was just no in depth information given. However, the exception to all of this was Professor Hudson...who is...AMAZING, great teacher, I got from just one of his classes what 3 years of SCAD was not able to provide, and because of him he's given me a means to teach myself correctly (if you can understand what I'm trying to say). I don't mean to put anyone off to this school and I'm speaking on my behalf but if your serious about art, SCAD is definitely NOT the place to be in my opinion. oh my major was illustration, but I took courses in sequential and painting.. and most of my ill feelings are geared mostly to the illustration department.

[pandorablood]

god...i just recently graduated from scad.....and i really feel like the computer art department was a joke.....there are some teachers that were really passionate about what they were teaching but that was just maybe 3......the rest were happy to see anything turned in......one teacher in particular..hmm lets just say he taught animation and dynamics....was a complete waste of my money....i taught myself everything in those classes........i graduated with honers and still feel like i didn't get much out of it......it just didn't feel like a real art school......maybe it was my major...the computer art department needs alot of help.....and organization.....i did take a few painting classes and thats were i felt at home.......my boyfriend is still there and i think his education is a bit better than mine...they did change some stuff around....but its still way expensive for what you get.....

[Neil]

god...i just recently graduated from scad.....and i really feel like the computer art department was a joke.....there are some teachers that were really passionate about what they were teaching but that was just maybe 3......the rest were happy to see anything turned in......one teacher in particular..hmm lets just say he taught animation and dynamics....was a complete waste of my money....i taught myself everything in those classes........i graduated with honers and still feel like i didn't get much out of it......it just didn't feel like a real art school......maybe it was my major...the computer art department needs alot of help.....and organization.....i did take a few painting classes and thats were i felt at home.......my boyfriend is still there and i think his education is a bit better than mine...they did change some stuff around....but its still way expensive for what you get.....

Was that computer art teacher that didn't know much Dave Kaul?

[J Bradford]

I went to SCAD, I was there for 3 years and then I went to work on the same LOTR game that poop did. I have mixed feeling towards the school, I learned more from the foundations department (painting, life drawing, etc) than I did within my own major; that was mostly something I practiced on my own time. There is a few professors in the foundation department who totally kick ass.. Ching Cheng Hung, and Jeffrey Markowski; I think Jeffrey browses these boards but I'm not sure.. those 2 guys rock hardcore. I spent all my time making 3d on my own and going to friday life drawing all the time. The school has it's ups and down I think; the professors in the computer art department do not carry good reputations. The thing that nagged me most in computer art department was a lot of students taken technical directions towards the end of their 4 years; Rman, Houdini.. that is fine and dandy but I don't understand why they took that direction when a vast majority of the classes they took for 4 years had to do with ART; drawing, painting, modeling, etc. That was really strange to me. Like poop mentioned the price is pretty rediculous, but it pours tons of cash into facilities and top notch technology. Just recently I read the school is expanding it's department to Atlanta, which is 4 hours north from the school.. so you can take classes in downtown atlanta now. To me that shows the school is aiming to become an Empire; I can only imagine in 10+ years you will see commercials on TV for it; I guess that is good or bad depending on what you want in a school. I sorta enjoyed the sleepy college town feel. The town itself is very pretty, victorian but loaded with a lot of crime for such a small downtown. Pluses? I was able to network pretty well, I wouldn't have landed my first gig if I hadn't attending SCAD; I made a handful of friends there who are in the industry now. I learned a lot from the foundations department. I'm not much a believer in rolling back and changing history, but possibly if I had to do it over again I would have moved to So cal, and taken classes at Watts Artielier.. it would have been far cheaper, and the level of education there would have been 10 fold stronger.. while learning 3d and stuff on my own like I did at SCAD. Okay I've gone on a rant... that's my take.

[TheMightyCamel]

Ha ha good old SCAD... Seems like such a long time ago. AmishCommy filled me in on this thread, couldn't resist joining in on the bash. Still I suppose it was an experience - that's where I met most of my friends (and wife) so it's all good. I'd be interested in teaching there one day just for the hell of it.

A lot of talent there, too bad the programs are rubbish. Most of the 'professors' just finished grad school and teach because they can't make it in the industry. Computer Art was pretty pathetic except for Joe Pasquale (dunno if he's still there). I guess it teaches to you be independent and share with others. Certainly not worth the money.

[Neil]

Ha ha good old SCAD... Seems like such a long time ago. AmishCommy filled me in on this thread, couldn't resist joining in on the bash. Still I suppose it was an experience - that's where I met most of my friends (and wife) so it's all good. I'd be interested in teaching there one day just for the hell of it.

A lot of talent there, too bad the programs are rubbish. Most of the 'professors' just finished grad school and teach because they can't make it in the industry. Computer Art was pretty pathetic except for Joe Pasquale (dunno if he's still there). I guess it teaches to you be independent and share with others. Certainly not worth the money.

I think I remember you from my senior project class, did you do a animation of a woman running and climbing up a wall?

Pasquale was more of a ball buster than an actual teacher (at least for me), I remember how bad Valentine and Kaul were in 3D it was scary. The Discreet Flint teacher knew his stuff and I learned alot (but about a program I will probably never use again). The same is true with Avid classes. Sure I learned alot but for the amount of time that I use avid...ahhh hindsight is a bitch!

To not bash scad too much however, I have read about similar cases about a LOT of art schools around the country.

[pandorablood]

Was that computer art teacher that didn't know much Dave Kaul?

oh god yes.....he is a nice guy...pretty entertaining in class....but he's not worth throwing your money away...good thing he is not teaching animation anymore....the only good thing he did was give us the pdf's for the class....then your on your own.....he even asked me what my favorite was animation or dynamics...since i got an A in his dynamics class and then he agreed that he hates animation..heh....

[J Bradford]

They took Dave out of teaching animation? Wow, I wish they had done that before I had to take it with him. That was one of the worst cmpa classes I had, to put it lightly. Sure, Dave was a nice and funny guy; but he didn't take anything seriously with our class. I can't really understand why they hire a cmpa instructor if they don't have a background in the animation field, or something related. It's like they knew where the buttons were and that was it. I think Edward Kenny was cool, and the guy who teaches the game art and design course, I forgot his name though. And Basra, but I heard she left.

[pandorablood]

yeah thank god they did.....he is something else.....yeah i had Edward Kenny for two classes he's cool...my favorite was malcolm kesson...that class was totally worth the money...i was freaked out to have to learn renderman but he is such an awesome teacher, i had no problems once i was in there.....the Houdini teacher was good too...clark...i wish my first Maya class was taught like that...he is a very patient teacher

[Neil]

Was it me or did Dave Kaul always look like he was on drugs? Almost like he watched Bill & Ted's excellent adventure too much.

Although Dave Kaul was pretty bad, the worst I had was my intro to programming class. It was taught by an arab looking guy ali albrahim or something like that. Oh my god. No one could understand what he was saying, if you asked for help he would just shrug it off, was never around for extra help, and sometimes he would just leave class and come back like 10 minutes from the end of class for no reason. I think they got rid of him around 2000 or so, what a nightmare. I really wanted to learn programming too.

[TheMightyCamel]

I think I remember you from my senior project class, did you do a animation of a woman running and climbing up a wall?

Pasquale was more of a ball buster than an actual teacher (at least for me), I remember how bad Valentine and Kaul were in 3D it was scary. The Discreet Flint teacher knew his stuff and I learned alot (but about a program I will probably never use again). The same is true with Avid classes. Sure I learned alot but for the amount of time that I use avid...ahhh hindsight is a bitch!

To not bash scad too much however, I have read about similar cases about a LOT of art schools around the country.

Yeah I did that (first 3D project ever - what a disaster!), I think I learned my lessons from that. Actually that was Dave's class. I believe he became a motivational speaker since 3D wasn't working out. Valentine was a nice guy he just had no business teaching. If you want to be an art professor at least have the credentials - which is why I prefer Pasquale even though he was tough. Hell the best teachers I had were the toughest, this isn't middle-school!

[Neil]

Pasquale was definetely a real world guy. Although I learned little technically in his class (which i wouldnt expect anyways since it was the final class), I learned some good lessons about hard work and I honestly felt that he cared about us making it in the real world.

Maybe someone needs to tell SCAD these things, perhaps we can save a few souls in the future and make the boat ship shape. SCAD would be an awesome school if the teachers where better. They have the equipment, they have the money, and they have students.

[pandorablood]

LOL!! I think my best memory was when he jumped up on the table and broke out with a rap for us about dynamics....oh man!

well from the looks of it the school is changing...so new students will get a better education hopefully!.....i heard they are thinking about getting rid of all the workstations and having people buy laptops! and they would give them temp versions of the software....that sounds crazy to me! on top of 20,000 a year jeez!

Was it me or did Dave Kaul always look like he was on drugs? Almost like he watched Bill & Ted's excellent adventure too much.

Although Dave Kaul was pretty bad, the worst I had was my intro to programming class. It was taught by an arab looking guy ali albrahim or something like that. Oh my god. No one could understand what he was saying, if you asked for help he would just shrug it off, was never around for extra help, and sometimes he would just leave class and come back like 10 minutes from the end of class for no reason. I think they got rid of him around 2000 or so, what a nightmare. I really wanted to learn programming too.

[poopinmymouth]

Maybe someone needs to tell SCAD these things, perhaps we can save a few souls in the future and make the boat ship shape. SCAD would be an awesome school if the teachers where better. They have the equipment, they have the money, and they have students.

I hear you man. I want to teach eventually, and I have my sites set on SCAD. They have everything you could want, except the teachers. I figure if I can be a good game art teacher, it might help a few aspiring game artists.

[Sammy]

I got out in May, and now I'm working at Midway. I had a great time at SCAD.

I missed out a lot on the 3Dart experience. If anyone there is interested in some extra classes take John Morris' ID rendering classes ... and Victer Ermoli is a great guy when it comes to learning some design theory, and how to creatively think about your audience. So if you can expand over into the ID department there's lots you can learn.

SCAD's largest problem was the student body ... all was there, the equipment, money, teachers, etc. ... but SCAD really doesn't screen its students, tho there's not a high level of competition...
you can easily ride by on 10% of your skills, just don't let it happen...

look to Forums like CA.org for a real dose of competition, and use SCAD as a learning backbone. Get as much experience as you can, and fall in love with your craft.

[poopinmymouth]

look to Forums like CA.org for a real dose of competition, and use SCAD as a learning backbone. Get as much experience as you can, and fall in love with your craft.

Awesome advice. I always tell students, Don't look to your classmates as peers, Look at the professionals online, who are already making a living, doing what you want to do. They are the ones you will be competing with for jobs, not the slackjob richboy sitting next to you in class.

[Neil]

Haha I went to CA.org and it's Cocaine anonymous group. What is this ca.org you talk about?

Oh and good thing about perhaps being a teacher, god knows good teachers are in short supply.

[miroku]

Greetings fellow SCAD grads.

Whats up Arkady! Monkeyboy says hi.

I have to agree with some of the sentiments about SCAD here. I didnt learn much in the computer art classes there. I actually learned more about teaching since I had to teach Maya to my teacher. But, at the end of the day, I did have some fun times there, and made some good friends.

So, when's this reunion?

Poop, you really wanna go live in Savannah to teach at SCAD? I cant stand the thought of living in the weather