Schools In the NYC/NJ area

[sandman09]

I live in New Jersey and I will be going to school in this area. I'm considering the usual NYC schools like SVA and Parsons, although I know very little about those schools and what other options I have. Anyone have any suggestions/recommendations? Should I be looking beyond the NY/NJ area, even if I'd rather not stray too far from home?

FYI, I plan on becoming a concept artist of some sort, but I'm not sure exactly what I would want to do and what industry I'd like to work in. I'm interested in animation, although I don't think I'd want to be an animator but rather do concept art or storyboarding. Something along those lines anyway. I'm flexible and don't feel like I need to commit to a definite career plan yet, but I have a vague idea of what my interests are.

[David]

You may want to look in Philadelphia. I've heard good things The University of the Arts' illustration program.
UArts (http://www.uarts.edu)

or a more fine arts school that teaches traditional drawing and painting but also encourges more contemporary art techniques is The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
PAFA (http://www.Pafa.edu)

Good luck.

David

[bRyaN]

If you have the money definately go to SVA in NYC...excellent school great courses, and professional teachers..SVA (http://www.schoolofvisualarts.edu)

If you like comic books and want to got strictly sequential art with some classes in design, layout, human figure studies etc..
professional teachers, decent work environment Joe Kubert School for Cartooning and Graphic Art is a good school(i attended one year at the school) in Dover, New Jersey
Joe Kubert School (http://www.kubertsworld.com)

Actually most of my friends who went to school there is working in comics already...The penciller of Tron 2.0, Gabe Bridwell (http://www.gabebridwell.com), was 3rd year student when i was a first..

[amphex]

where in NJ u live?

[tyboogie]

sva, parsons, and pratt are all good schools

[bRyaN]

Originally posted by amphex
where in NJ u live?

I'm actually from queens, NYC, but i lived in the town that the Kubert school was in when i went there( i dormed basically.... 4 hour total triain ride from the city to school and back..wasn't quite feeling that...)

[Ion]

where in jersey are you guys from?

i'm from a little town called Manalapan

..now i'm out in SF

[AlexPanzer]

Hey, I am from Brooklyn, my name is Alex and from my experience I can tell that FIT and School Of Visual Arts are great schools, Parsons is good too but it is very expensive and in some areas it is weak. I took 4 pre-college courses at FIT and 2 pre-college courses at School Of Visual arts and I learned a lot about the colleges, about its strenghts and weaknesses. If you live in NY or in NJ area with access to New York then I can recommend pre-college (for High School students) courses at School of Visual Arts. The price is $220 for 1 course (limit 1 course), by course I mean 10, 3 hour lessons from 10:30AM-1:30PM on Saturdays, and you get 1 college credit upon a completion. There are many courses there, I personally took Computer Art, Interior Design, and on will be taking Black And White Photography this fall. The if interested then check www.sva.edu or register (by going to admission office with check or money order for $220, payable to School Of Visual Arts, include name and Social Security number). The admissions office is on 209 East 23rd Street (close to 3rd Avenue) its right accross Baruch College.

I really suggest on taking courses there because it is an excellent opportunity to start thinking about college, it will you and the college get to know eachother, and great thing is that you can earn credits there that will count towards your degree.

FIT offers pre-college courses too, they dont offer credits for them and cost $250 for NY residents and the dificulty level is introductory.

I personally plan to attend FIT and major in Advertisement and Marketting Communications (non art/ business major) and I plan to take art classes as well. I chose FIT because it is innexpensive (SUNY standard - about $3,000 a year for tuition) which FAFSA/Financial Aid can pay off in total (in average financial aid tuition pays for about $13,000-$16,000 for education + for supplies as my friends tell me from their experience). I also know that theres a high probability for me to get a nice paying jobs after I graduate, FIT caters mostly to fashion and related industries such as design firms, toy design companies, fragrances and make up companies, advertisement firms, etc.

Illustration is excellent at FIT, you can either major at Traditional Illustration or at Fashion Illustration. 3D Modeling/Animation is excellent but they improved it since the last year, tradition frehand animation is strong, photography is also strong. Great thing about FIT is that to get a Bachlors (4 year degree) you gotta (required) to get associates (2 year degree) first and then complete another 2 years and the thing is that you can take for example first 2 years of Advertisement Design and another 2 years of Photography and you end up with a 4 year degree.

If you have any Q's then email me at AlexPanzer@verizon.net

-Alex Panzer

[bRyaN]

Well done Alex...the description of both schools is spot on...

[skatay]

Not to cause any commotion, but I believe you can get into the 4 year programs @ FIT from other state (SUNY) programs if you have an associates from another SUNY, since I was accepted for their upper division graphic design classes with my associates from a local community college (in this case, Suffolk).

[Kismet]

If you're looking to do Animation, Concept Art, Storyboarding, or anything along those lines (like you mentioned in your post, cuz I see others are ignoring that fact) then SVA, Pratt, or UArts are your best bets.

I know a LOT of people who go to SVA, and they enjoy it, but it costs too much for what you're getting (in MY opinion).

I've HEARD a lot good things about Pratt, but it's just not my cup of tea so I can't tell you much about it personally.

UArts used to be my top choice, but I was rejected (their minimum GPA requirement for acceptance is 3.0 and I had a 2.7 or 2.8 ). UArts probably has the best education out of those three, but it's the most expensive (if your grades are good enough I assume you get a juicy scholarship, my friends did) and the farthest away, not to mention they're on an awkward version of the semester system that sounds strange to me (my friend has 1-2 six hour classes every single day but Thurs).

Montclair State University is not a bad choice if you want to stay close and VERY cheap. It's in Montclair, NJ, and they have an Animation major and an Illustration major (should you decide to do concept art/storyboarding). It's a very economical decision, and the student body is diverse and unique. I have friends who go there/who are going there. I'd highly recommend it. (As far as I know, it is the ONLY school that's actually IN New Jersey that has an Animation program.)

And that's my two cents, lol.