College Advice

[Aequitas]

I currently want to become an artist within the video game industry. I have aspects to work for a big company, though I don't want to dream too big so I won't decide on one (but Bungie is always nice hehe). But there seems to be a problem.

I desire to go into more of 3-D Modeling since my drawing skills, while they are quite good, are still quite underdeveloped (and I'm currently working to fix that). I currently go to School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in, naturally, Chicago IL. This school is quite nice, but they seem to have a limited course selection for 3D Modeling and Animation, as well as are more about conceptual art. By that I don't necesarily mean the concept art that I've been viewing on here, in a sense; but rather any form of 'art' that has a good idea/concept behind it. Due to these facts I am not necesarily sure if this would be a good school to stay in to reach my goals. Although I really like it here I have been looking at other schools and would like to ask for advice.

My parents have set a limit of Midwest and Eastern locations for college, as they do not want to be that far away from me. I have been looking into MICA (Maryland College Institute of Art) and am not sure what type of college I should necesarily be looking for to get into this field, although I do know that MICA has programs for a line of work akin to this.

Thank you in advance for all of your help
- Aequitas

[thesinfulsaint]

Well... To be perfectly honest, I'm not that impressed with SAIC. Mostly because there are no majors at their school. Only "Focuses". They don't really give out specialized Bachelors Degrees--You just get a BFA if you go there. You don't get a degree in painting, drawing, sculpting, etc. It's just a general thing, which leads me to believe that they are mostly after your money.

Not only that, but like you said, they don't really have a lot in the area of 3-D Modeling. I, too, am interested in Modeling/Computer Animation. I know that MICA is a good art school, but I'm not sure how strong their Digital 3D program is. Keep doing research. I really don't know if there are too many really great computer animation schools in the Midwest and Eastern areas of the US, to tell you the truth. Since the industry is mostly based in California/Florida, you're far more likely to find truly awesome schools there.

Personally, I'm in love with Ringling School of Art and Design. The student work there is phenominal, and unlike SCAD, the school is fully-accredited and has its own campus. However, I'll throw in that Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio has a pretty decent Computer Animation program, if you don't want to go THAT far away. [URL="http://digitalarts.bgsu.edu"]Here's their site/URL]Check out Aaron Halifax's thesis work under the graduates section. He's currently working for Blue Sky, I believe.