How to be a concept artist?

[mero]

I can't seem to find the right course suited to aid me in becoming a concept artist. My illustration skills are still developing and I have minimum skills in Photoshop and animation.

I studied Fine Arts for a year only to realize it was not a good fit for me, I'm not particularly compelled by 18th-19th century artworks and I felt most of the lecturers were restricting me to their art styles and not my own. I'm considering doing a graphics design course to familiarize myself with the latest software and at the same time express myself creatively but I'm not sure if thats right for me either.

I'm interested in designing for games, films or books. What educational background would you suggest? (I live in Sydney, Australia)

Does a single course exist where I can:
1) Perfect my illustration skills.
2) Learn to manipulate my illustrations in Photoshop/Animation software.

Any help is much appreciated.

[mrcrinkles]

I am looking for schools in a similar vein in Australia, myself.
I've decided to take an animation/new media/interactive entertainment focus.

The two schools that seem to pop up in forum discussions and also have pretty good student reels coming out of them in Sydney are
Qantm
and
RMIT.

Both give you a BA (if that matters to you) and Qantm has an internship in the third year in the New Media sector.


Have a look... maybe they're up your alley?
Also, if I'm not mistaken Qantm has a more games specific program that gets pretty good reviews when compared with the competition... but I could be off on that...

I hope this helped

[mero]

Thanks alot for the advice. :)

I've done some research on both schools but found the fees were definitely something I cannot handle right now. (Already have a hefty student/home loan to pay off) :(

I'll probably have a look into doing some animation courses in TAFE.

Thanks!

[mrcrinkles]

You're welcome.

I'm too old to let debt stop me. I honestly believe that if you know that this is what you want just do it. The money will sort its own self out in time.

Besides. aren't there are bunch of government loans and grants for you as a resident??