Academy of Art San Fran Online BFA Program?

[Thaelys]

Anyone doing this? I have respect for Academy of Art in San Fransisco, I was planning to go there a decade ago when I got out of my Air Force enlistment. Couldn't get enough financial aid at the time so I hopped between a couple of lame schools in Chicago.

Anyway, I'm going back to school to finish my Bachelor's. Since I've got a wife, kid, a mortgage and a half-assed career in interactive media, I have very few options in my immediate area. I enrolled in an online Game Art curriculum at Art Institute Online. After one quarter (5.5 weeks) I have concluded that I have done nothing accept waste time and money with that place. I looked into other options, and behold Academy of Art offers BFA programs completely online!

I'm really excited about this...it's like getting a second chance in a way. I know it won't be as cool as actually walking into a classroom, but this is the next best thing so far. I've applied for the Animation BFA with Visual Development concentration. That is exactly the type of curriculum I've wanted to study - the next best thing to Art Center's Entertainment Design program from what it looks like.

It looks really well thought out, I like the idea of the live in-classroom videochat format. I thought that's what AI was set up for, but that was a complete let down.

Is there anyone that has done the AASF's online program? Any opinions with some insight? Thanks.

[IcyM]

Hi Thaelys! I know how you feel about Chicago's schools for illustration, I came from Chicago too and moved out here to attend the Academy of Art. I recently finished with a BFA in Illustration.

The classes I've taken online were only the liberal arts classes, like you said, nothing like learning first hand. They are easy and simple, their main goal is to present you with the info and pass you if you put in nice effort. The core classes are very good, but I recommend that you have a digital camera to turn in your homework. Most of your work won't fit on your scanner, so, light your work nicely and take a digital picture to email in.

As for Visual Development, many of the speakers that came to AAU always spoke of concentration. I'm not sure what you're into, but certainly find out what in Visual Development you want to do. Characters, game design, environments, textures, etc etc. and stick with it. A lot of people jumped around here and when they left, their portfolios were all over the place. One of the Pixar speakers said "When I see a portfolio, I better know what you want to do, cuz I don't have the time to figure it out."

And quite honestly, when you have work done, show it here too. A large part of classes was about crits from instructors and classmates. The very helpful people here will give you solid crits too!

Good luck!

[Thaelys]

Thanks for the feedback Icy!

I'm glad you brought up the emphasis on concentration. I've actually put a great deal of thought into exactly what I'd like to do once I'm on the career path.

I'd like to specialize in World and Environment Design for Games. This goes beyond simple level design but has it's roots there. I'm not as concerned with the actual mechanic aspect of the design. I'm more interested in developing the visual identity of a gameworld or environment. I could go further and push that into the ecological, cultural, and physical development. Larger games such as MMO's usually have quite a few world and environment artists covering the project, as I've read, frequently assigned to specific aspects of the world itself.

I've reviewed the curriculum and it looks fairly well thought out. More emphasis is placed on design and 2D content creation, but there are a few 3D courses included. I don't plan on being an animator, character designer or a texture artist, so I don't think I'd need as much concentrated study of 3D apps as these people do.

I worked with 3DS Max occasionally, specifically for modeling. I have a decent grasp of the fundamentals. I'm really interested in using Zbrush for environment modelling. I can also build real 3D plastic, clay and foam models - I aquired those skills while studying industrial design. I've scratchbuilt a few models for tabletop miniature games, and a couple of them have more detail than stock models from Games Workshop.