Any British People Out There??!

[-The Swift-]

hello there!
i'm 15 and want a career in concept art. i've got plenty on time to hone my skills, but i have no idea what good, art schools there are in england, i'm interested in just about anything, archectecture, landscapes, charactors, vechiles.....................etc
i'm desperate for some good career advice. anything, even if it's "all the good schools are in america!". i'm not bothered about price so anyhting goes. please, help!

[novice]

hey , umm i go to westcliff arts college its pretty good , but i'm not sure thats what your looking for its more broad range of topics but just illustration , anyways where do you leave in england

[novice]

sorry about the mistakes , i meant to say , not just illustration , and where do you live?

[-The Swift-]

thanks novice, i live in warwickshire quite near coventry, central england basically.

[Cellstorm]

I'm from the uk, and registered just to post in this thread :)
I live in Surrey, south east england. I'm taking Graphic design at college but find it doesn't suit my interests. I'm very much interest in concept art/design but the course is about adverts and such like.
Anyway I would suggest just take a sketch book around all the time like someone else said. For the first few months your drawings will not get much better than they are now, but they will eventually. I'm not a great illustrator either but I have been getting better.

[-The Swift-]

thanks cellstorm, your comments are much appreiciated! i've started a daily sketchbook here in the daily sketchbook forum, and i know what you mean! it's just finding the time right now! thnaks for your help, i just need to find a course that suits my needs!!!!!!!

does anyone know much about the art centre college of design, i'm considering it but anyone with any good knowledge of it would be helpful!

[novice]

yes i agree , i'm doing a graphic design course and it isn't all fun, infact quite a lot of it is turd , too much advertising and logo designing but i spose its up to us to make the project intresting , do they do pure illustration courses at college?
but i do enjoy the photoshop and illustrator work, just ocassionally u get really retarded projects , for example ' how to make a good cup of tea ' or 'cool/uncool' exhibition.

[Joey]

Hi,

I'm from Edinburgh and I took a HND Course in Illustration with Design a few years back. It was primarily Illustration but had various other smaller classes integrated into the course (Life Drawing, Photography, Computer-Aided Design, Graphic Design) but these courses were far too few and far between (not to mention the constant absence of tutors at classes) to really get anything out of them. And they weren't teaching me anything I didn't already know, so I left with a HNC under my belt.

I'm sure if you have a look around online for various colleges (or colleges of art to be precise) you'll find many Illustration courses to take that will teach you the basics of drawing. In terms of concept art I'd suggest taking a course that utilises Computer-Aided Design to a greater extent. I'm currently looking for night-courses like this myself (I'm amazed at how inspiring some of the art on this site can actually be!).

There's a site I know of that lists almost all British colleges and universities, although it probably excludes specialist schools (if there are any in the UK). If I can remember the address or find the link I'll post it here as soon as I find out.

Cheers,

JOEY. :D

[FFS]

i cant remeber its was like 8 years ago but when i lived in suffolk i remeber there was a art college and ive heard its a really good one and it caters for alot of different styles and i know of a few in cornwall but i cant think of any names but i am considering either architechture or contempory art and bath spa university in dorset/wilts has an excellent art facillitie its where im considering going if i can think of the names of any ill post back.
Craig

[-The Swift-]

thankyou all for your replies!

[Sleepy_Head]

Hi Swift,

I'm a brit too, and a student ( a very mature 34 year old student, but a student none the less).

Now, although my course is not art based, here are a few tips on choosing a course to suit your needs.

Don't be afraid to leave the country. The best art school I know of is Angel Acadame of Art (http://www.angelartschool.com/).
If you want to do computer based arts, don't do it at university. Learn art, and learn the computing tools in your spare time. The base knowledge is far more important, than learning an application. (see note on uni below)
Don't pick an ivy league school because of it's name, this does not mean they have a better course. In fact, in the uk, the best art courses are run by the old polytechinics.
Don't choose a university that only runs one art course. Much the same as computing, art has many different levels and you need to be able to make a choice to suit your prefered goals, not the universities set schedule.
Don't let people push you in one direction. You are very young and have a life time in which to move from one style or choice to another. Pick what you want to do in the now, and stick with it through to the end. All knowledge in a field is useful even if you don't use it every day.

A note on universities
For a start, university may not be the option for you. Especially within the arts, it is the quality of your work that will get you noticed not a piece of paper with 'This person can do that' written on it. However, if you do choose to go in that direction you will need to know a few things to get you out the other side as the same person that went in. Firstly, the lecturers and professors do not know everything! They are good, otherwise they wouldn't be there, but to take everything they say as gospel has been the downfall of many a student. Also don't be intimedated (-=spelling=-) by these people, keep your goals in mind, by all means listen to them but don't let their ideas about your future cloud your own.

Secondly, there will be people there who are better than you. It is a fact of life that some people just know how to do things because it has already clicked in their head. NEVER let that get you down. Do your own work and learn for yourself. It is more often the case that these people do not finish at the top, because they think they are brilliant and don't study half as hard as those who are there purely to learn. (I know this is true, cause I was one of those good starters, and boy have I had the wind knocked out of my sails!!)

Thirdly, do not do a course that contains two subjects. No matter what anyone tells you, it is impossible to to gain as much knowledge as you would get doing one at a time. The number of people I know who did a joint honours and spent several years looking for a job afterwards is fenominal. Along with this point comes this always choice the hardest course, now I know this sounds stupid but you will gain more knowledge by just scraping a pass in the hardest, than you will flying through the easiest. (But remember your goals, don't choose the hardest in ceramics, if your goal is computer graphics :D )

Fourthly, do a course that contains the fundimentals. It's hard for me to say what the fundimentals of art are, but I do know for my course. It works like this. I have done, what is considered, the hardest computing degree in the counrty. It deals with the basic bottom line knowledge of computing, and as such I can now programming in any language on any computer in the world with little or no training. The same applies for any course, know the fundimentals and you can adapt your knowledge to any other part of that subject. Take art. You have real life, anime, bargue, oils, water colours, clay, ceramics etc etc. These are all styles, to do any you need the fundimentals first!!



Right, I think that is enough of a rant and I have work to finish. I'll just finish with this. You don't have to be 18 to do a course in art outside of school. There are plenty of groups and acadamys around the country that love to take on younger students.

Well, I hope it all goes well for you, and just remember to keep your goals in the front of your mind at all times.

Cheers

Sleepy

[-The Swift-]

Thanks so much sleepy!

It's so good to have some solid, sound advice from someone who's been there, done that!

After taking a closer look at some of the fees in big name art schools, i was gald to hear your advice on universities. i've been lookign round for some courses on illistration and fine art, which seems to be quite sucessful momentarily. but just thanks for the advice, i will bear it in mind and maybe consider art classes in the summer.

many, many thanks,

-The Swift-

:)

[prof]

Have you considered a degree in industrial design

you will need all the art and illustration skills that are on show here, but you will also learn about the technology and manufacturing processes. A lot of film and game artists have gone through this route.


I teach on this (http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/cd/docs_dandt/prospectus/undergrad_overview.html) course, but have also been out in industry for 10 years, designing a wide range of products from military/fighter plane stuff to powerboats and vacuum cleaners

We may be introducing a concept art module in the 3rd year of the programme.

[-The Swift-]

thanks prof!!!!!!! that course looks pretty good! i'll definatly consider it!:)