City College of San Francisco(CCSF)

[SenseofTouch]

I just graduated from high school and I'm about to enter college this month for the first time. My career goal is to work in 3D Animation and Visual Effects; 3D modeling, animation, etc. I plan to transfer to Academy of Art University as soon as I complete all the GE requirements at CCSF.

But AAU is a private school, so they are not affiliated with CCSF, that means CCSF doesn't know what kind of credits can be transferred into AAU. Depending on the situation, should I fulfill both school's GE Requirements so that I get an Associates degree(which might take a longer time?) or should I ONLY fulfill AAU's GE requirements and then just transfer into AAU right away.

Also, my long term educational and career goals focuses mainly on Art and on the side Japanese. I want to also one day study abroad in Japan for the language and culture. So, for my goal in 3D Animation and Visual Effects, what types of courses should I take at CCSF to help me strive closer to that goal? What kind of skills and foundation would I need? Please be detailed.

Also, I'm going to be a full-time student, so should I still find a part-time job. I'm mean, to acquire some experience and maybe start networking right away so I that maybe I'll find the job I want immediately upon graduating from school?

[btectonic]

I'm at CCSF now and have been studying art and architecture there since last year.

Take all the foundation courses, which is basically all that's offered at CCSF: drawing, painting, sculpture, art history.

The key to success at CCSF is pushing the art instructors; you'll need to take pre-req's, Basic Design and Basic Drawing, to get into any other art class; visit, ask around and find the teacher who will be hardest on you.

There's an odd phenom at CCSF ArtDept that takes lots of younger students by surprise: there are gobs of ruderless older students taking up space in class. If it appears that the instructor is catering to the adult students who are NOT seeking degrees, switch sections.

Can't Be Beat: Restivo and Kling for Figure drawing, Ren's summer session Painting, Morikawi and Kling for Painting during the regular year. Russel for Watercolor. Scott for Art History 101 and 103. Olivier for Intermediate Drawing (but not Beginning); Torlakson for drawing/painting is a mixed bag, some people love him, others despise him, he's moody and odd, IMHO.

In any case if you feel you're not getting the level of instruction you expect PUSH the instructor (in a polite way...) Work your butt off, do more than asked, join ArtClub, TA for art history classes, take advantage of honors sections, keep your GPA high and shiny. If you don't have sketchbooks assigned for any given class fill one up per class anyway; work work work work.

And that'll be all you, pushing yourself--very few instructors at CCSF will push you that hard. It'll get you used to the real world so those over-the-top work loads at AAU won't totally blind side you.

AAU *will* transfer credits, you'll need to be insistent with your AAU advisor; as mentioned in other threads, take ALL your LibArts and GenEd requirements at CCSF, you'll save boatloads of money.