Art Center

[Lauren Short]

I have a question on the topic of the art center in Pasadena, CA... I'd like to know what layout of classes i should take... First of all I am taking courses, especially G.E., at PCC(community college), as well as art classes...or am planning to b/c i'm still a senior in HS. I wondered what course plan would be good for someone who is interested in concept/digital art for gaming/movies/etc. ? I fanyone can help me out w/ this question I'd really appreciate it.


cheers:chug: :beer:

[spider2544]

at art center your first 3 terms are pretty much planed out for you the second you sign up

depending on your major though is wahts going to really affect what classes you end up

it sounds to me like you want to be an illustration major

but if i were you i would take your portfolio to an admisions councilor and see waht they think

i right now am a fine art major there and a lot of my buddys are illustration tand they reall enjoy it

also fine art has an illustration minor and fine art is the most free to chose what classes to take while the illustration program is a bit more rigid and locked in

[spider2544]

oh by the way if your not going to art center next term you should take night classes or saturday classes there next term for sure
cause almost every one here has done that its REALY rare to get in with out having gone here befor applying (though not impossible i did it cause im from sacramento)

also if you get in youll be one of the younger people there cause i think the averge age of incoming first termers is like 24 or something which i think is an advantage

AIM me at spider2544 if you want to know what its like to go there

[Voltmeter]

HI there. I am in the illustration department at artcenter (7th term who hooo) and I can tell you a little bit about it. Spider is right, your first 3 terms are very much locked in. You will paint swatches, draw heads, paint heads, draw naked people, paint naked people, and finally draw and paint clothed people. After the first 4 terms you can begin to do basically anything you want. Although the curriculum on paper seems quite rigid, the two department heads (Gary Meyer and Dave Mocarski) will work with you to substitute entertainment track classes for the more traditional and editorial illustration classes. As long as you know what you want to do, they bend over backwards to make sure you graduate with what you need.

A word on choice of major: Illustration is a good major if you want to be a generalist who draws people really well. Industrial design is good if you want to learn how to render materials and machinery and build models. Transportation design is good for learning very specific rendering skills for vehicles (duh). Only the illustration department will teach you how to draw people well, and paint well in general, that being the reason I chose it. Illustration is also the most lenient of the three in terms of taking classes from the other two majors. I present the other two as options however, in case you have a more technical bent.

Cheers, and good luck!

[CoolkatCasey]

hey there,

i know this response isnt totally specific to your question. I go to rival OTIS college of art and design in westchester. Im in the digital media program, focusing primarily on the same preproduction type stuff that you seem interested in.

as far as classes to take, it really depends on EXACTLY what you want to do. the industry is really specialized when you get out there. are you more interested in doing loose conceptual work? or are you interested in doing fully rendered production pieces?

the most important thing to know is how to observe. take as many life drawing classes as possible. learn how to look at stuff, and see everything thats there. rendering isnt really a big deal, but understanding the structure of reality is.

figure drawing is also a huge deal. if you dont have a deep understanding of anatomy, you are going to flop. this also goes under learning how to observe.

i attended community college for 2 years before transferring in, and i took pretty much all studio classes. 4 semesters of observational drawing, 3 semesters of figure, 4 semesters of design, 2 semesters of "illustration" (this was basically about weaving narrative into your artwork), i also took some digital classes.

if you have strong thinking/understanding skills, you will have an advantage. anyone can learn to render, but having the knowledge of whats behind it is whats important.

uh, hope that helps.

[Lauren Short]

thanks alot guys! this really helps...yea i was considering otis since my dad lives on the west side...like really close to there. I wondered which was better in terms of connections curriculum etc.... hmmm for me at the moment i want to ather as much info as possible.


cheers mates,
:chug: