Any reviews on AAU's master's Illustration program? Online?

[Amber Alexander]

This summer I'll be in my final semester graduating from UC Berkeley with a major in Art Practice and I want to pursure a career as a concept artist for games. I live in the California, Bay Area and really not willing to move so after looking around Academy of Art in SF is the only college I found that offers a Graduate program in illustration and they offer the entire program online, which I am considering. (so far my medium of choice is digital painting)

So what i'm curious is has anyone gone to the graduate illustration program there and has any feedback on what was good/bad about it? Has anyone gotten their degree online either there or another school and how well did that go?

Or know of any other schools in the bay area that offers a graduate illustration degree?

[Sidharth Chaturvedi]

Why would you go for the online degree if you live here? There are definitely some classes that can be taken online (mostly the art history classes), but if you're actually in the Bay Area there's no reason to miss out on the live classes, especially for figure drawing and painting. The teachers there will tell you this as well.

I'm not an illustration major here but I've taken a class with Stephen Player and looked over their offered masters courses- a LOT of the required classes in the major involve oil and watercolor painting, and of course drawing in pencil and charcoal. If you decide to attend, make sure to brush up on all of them so you don't fall behind early on. The prerequisites and all are set up in a way that you probably won't touch digital painting until your 4th semester.

[Amber Alexander]

I would consider online because of the issue of travel plus carrying supplies to and from san francisco. I would probably drive to bart, bart in, then take a bus. From where i live it would be 3-4 hours out of my day just for travel time. Possibly even 5 hours if the building isn't near the bart station.

[Sidharth Chaturvedi]

Ahh, I hear you, that would be a concern if you live far from a bart station. As for the academy buildings, the bart stop at montgomery st. is a minute's walk from 79 New Montgomery, the school shuttles go to all the other buildings from there. Not sure about how long they take to get around, I've never spent more than 20 minutes on one in the morning, but in the afternoon they can take longer.

[jackpot_anjr90]

I'm a little confused. Why are you limiting yourself to schools in California if you're going to take the online courses anyway?

[Amber Alexander]

I don't really want to have to go into all my reasons for why, I just wanted feedback from someone who went there :)

[Sidharth Chaturvedi]

Fair enough :). By the way, just wanna give you a heads up about the MFA program. The advisers, in all likelihood, are going to really try to sell you on how flexible the program is- don't buy a word of it. The first year and a half at least is all requirements, after which you get 18 credits of directed study, of which you'll want to set aside at least a few for the various things you can put them towards. I don't tell you this to slam the program though, the rigidness is fine as long as you like the class list. Just watch out for the admissions people! All the best.

[jackpot_anjr90]

I don't really want to have to go into all my reasons for why, I just wanted feedback from someone who went there :)

Ok, I see :) Well I did attend their summer pre-college program last summer and I'll be returning as a full-time student for the upcoming fall semester. I can't say anything about the masters program but I do know that they have a good illustration program. Here's a link to the art gallery from the spring shows. You can go through work from different majors and there's a lot to look at.
http://www.academyart.edu/student_galleries/index.html
Here's a link to the school's illustration page which has links to the different courses description and graduate program.
http://www.academyart.edu/illustration-school/index.html

[dickiemaxx]

I would consider online because of the issue of travel plus carrying supplies to and from san francisco. I would probably drive to bart, bart in, then take a bus. From where i live it would be 3-4 hours out of my day just for travel time. Possibly even 5 hours if the building isn't near the bart station.

The Main campus is about a block from the Montgomery Bart Station. The Illustration building is a short walk from Powell station. There is also shuttles that run between building that are free to all students. Since I don't live in San Francisco I have a locker on campus that I keep supplies for classes in and still have supplies at home. I found it was worth buying the extra couple of things to have duplicates.


***Edit Sorry I didn't read the full thread before responding. I am a BFA Illustration student but the MFA director seems really easy to approach and talk too. I am sure he would set time to talk and met with you to address your concerns about the online program. Don't talk to the recruiters they will tell you anything to get you to sign up but the director is a nice guy.