MICA or The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, anybody have opinions about them?

[Bojee]

MICA or The School of the Art Institute of Chicago?
I just got accepted to these 2 schools and I was wondering if anybody knows anything about the schools and or have opinions about them???
:confused: Your feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks! :D

[Jason Manley]

if the chicago school has anyone teaching drawing...i mean someone who can actually draw teaching drawing than it would be a good location..so close to that nice little museum..heart of the city....seems more like a school where you can box up some rice and put some glitter in it than one of traditional values.

mica had some decent painters there back when i was at ringling. i dont know about now.

the only way to find out is to visit the schools. you will be spending A SHITLOAD of money on them. be sure you visit to see if there are faculty there with work which you respect. look at the body of student work you see too. if you see dung sculptures and rat pelt hats then you might want to give your cash to a different institution. hehe.

j

[Wilson]

CIA is mostly a concept school, there is little to no life drawing. I don't know much about MICA. There's a school that's unacredited here in LA called LA Academy of Figurtive Art. Vilpu teaches there and so did Kevin Chen till a little while ago. If you really want to become a character designer you really just need a good teacher and a good life drawing workshop to go to while you get an ID degree. There aren't many schools who focus on figurtive art anymore. You could go to the league in New York. From what I've been told they are still awesome and yet cheap, but again no degree (even though some of the best illustrators in the 20th century went there). There are a couple of masters programs in figurtive art alone like the New York Academy of Figurtive Art and I believe the Florence Academy of Art. Art Center still has a decent illustration program an a decent ID department, not as good as it was though.

Hope that helped.

[Firewalker]

I know people who have gone to Chicago, and people who are going to it, and I've heard only good things... While I've also heard the same about MCIA, so they're, apparently, both on the same level. It just really depends on what direction you want your art career to go, and for that you'd need to get an in-depth taste of each school and to do that you should do what Jason suggested and visit each one and find out as much as you can about what they have to offer.

Call them up and say you would like to make an appointment with someone for a tour or introduction to the school, there are always people who are willing to do such things...

-=(v)=-

[Bojee]

Wilson thanks for all the great info, Is CIA where you went ? Are you going to LA academy of figurative art now? Seen Kevin's stuff, so amazing, maybe I'll get to work with him someday. I'd definitely like to go somewhere that respects figurative work, that's the bulk of what I'm doing now, I'm not looking to become a concept artist though(love to have a lot of their skills!) at least in the sense that I'd be working for a game company,or doing storyboards, comics,etc. Although that'd be an amazing life and I'd love to be doing all that, my work's more fine art based so I'd like to be doing conceptual things or narrative paintings on a larger scale for gallery work and if illustration jobs came my way....well that'd be cool too.I worked as an Illustrator for a while doing editorial stuff mostly, I enjoyed the work itself but wasn't good at selling myself so I got into fine art and have been doing that for a while now, But who knows the work I see here is so inspiring maybe I will wander down that path again for a while. I love illustration especially old school stuff(wyeth,pyle, cornwell), so if they have any decent illustration teachers where I end up I'm all over it.

Jason- Yeah I've heard that Chicago's more conceptual , but to me that just means I have more flexibility to do what I want and use their facilities to do it. I'm looking for a flexible program so I can make up my own program. Drawing , painting , sculpture, and illustration.
I'm kinda leaning towards Baltimore though cause I'd like to be on the east coast so I'm close to DC and NY and europe for that matter. I also heard MICA's more traditional so maybe I'd fit in better there. I checked out chicago already and I'm going to try to check out Baltimore in the next week or so, It's a ton of money and it scares the shit out of me to go into that kind of debt but both schools are giving me good money to go there so it seems like a missed opportunity not to go. Thanks a lot for the help.-bojee :D

[Bojee]

Firewalker- good to hear, I've heard the same. Been to chicago, now I'm gonna try to make it out to baltimore, hopefully it'll blow me away. Thanks for the input.:D
By the way do you train? I noticed the Bruce Lee quotes, he's a big hero of mine.He went to school in Seattle and is buried here, I've visited his and brandon's grave many times.

[Bojee]

Just heard from MICA today, man those guys are way cooler than any of the other admissions people I've dealt with, way more up front, more down to earth. Art schools can act like such snobs sometimes, it's that same bullshit you have to deal with when your dealing with galleries. MICA's a pleasant surprise, hopefully it'll hold up when I fly out there. :D

[Firewalker]

Yeah, Snobbery is what's stopped me from being published or even getting my artwork in any books... I actually looked into both of the places (among others) as I may apply to take some professional lessions in the near future as well...

And to answer your question about training... I know Jujitsu (Orange Stripe), Spetznas (3rd level / 5 levels) and I'm currently learning JKD actually... And being a philosophy student, I actually use Bruce's ideas to help enhance my understanding of everything around me... Actually... Surprising enough, it's some of his philosophy that helps me out in my art...

-=(v)=-

[Bojee]

Firewalker- Cool, I used to teach Tang Soo Do ( korean style) did some kickboxing and Capoeira too, been totally focusing on the visual art these days but I miss it and will get back into it at some point.
As far as Bruce's philosophy helping your art it makes total sense to me, truth is truth and can be applied in many different ways.
Thanks again for your help-
Bojee

[Bojee]

To anyone who helped out thanks, I've been accepted and I'm going to mica in Baltimore in the fall. I'm a little nervous but the school rocks and i'm excited about being on the east coast. Thanks for all the help with the decision making.:D