Gungnirspear
January 31st, 2007, 07:04 PM
Hey All,
I happened to stumble across these forums today while doing some research on art schools and instantly signed up. Very impressive and well done site. So, this is my first post. Nice to meet everyone :^^:
Down to the meat of it, then:
I am currently a 23 year old active duty Navy enlistee (Aviation Electrician/Aircrewman) stationed in Atlanta, GA. I am nearing the end of a 6-year enlistment which I will not be continuing.
I love art and always have. I have had a pencil in my hand and filled sketchbooks with mostly concept art my whole life. Later on in life, I melded my love of computers with my artwork and began working on various forms of graphic design, interactive design and web design.
During High School and into college I did graphic design work part-time. I worked for several companies, working on advertisements, catalogue designs, web-site design, etc. I worked for a start-up web design company for a short while. Although I really, really enjoyed this work my heart always remained with concept art.
About a year into college I decided to enlist in the military for several reasons (personal, financial). As one might guess, there's not much desire, room or time for artistry and design when enlisted. I've continued to sketch, draw and digitally design on my own time for personal enjoyment.
Now, nearing the end of my enlistment, I am eager to jump back into the civilian world. If there's one lesson I learned during the time of my enlistment, it is that one must pursue their dreams and do what truly makes them happy in life for any form of personal satisfaction...At least in my opinion. Such being the case, I am gearing myself up to attend art school.
I still need to narrow my specific field of interest, but currently I am leaning towards concept artistry, graphic design, interactive design or an amalgamation of all. I would love to work in the game industry (a desire I see many share), working on such things as character and conceptual design, but my mind is pretty open at this point.
Now that you have the background, here's what I desperately need from all of you: Advice! Any and every bit that you can lend would be very much appreciated.
Some pressing questions that I would desperately love some input on:
First and foremost, I am eager to start composing a portfolio for school application purposes. Some specific areas of information I'd like to know are:
a.) Are there examples of others portfolios available for viewing on the web or at other locations?
b.) Are there guidelines/rules/strategies to follow when building a portfolio and, if so, where can these be found?
And anything else you can think of on this topic to add. I am truly anxious to begin working on this and so any and all information would be desperately appreciated as I am very ignorant about the portfolio building process.
Also, because I currently live in GA and would like to remain here if possible, I have been looking at SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) as my main choice for schooling. However, I am obviously prepared to attend another school in the event I am not accepted or cannot attend SCAD for one reason or another. From what little research I've done SCAD seems to be very well respected and accredited, but you being the experts I would appreciate your input
a.) General opinion/accredition of SCAD? What are your feelings on it?
b.) Would it be a good choice for the field(s) I am interested in pursuing?
c.) Are there other schools that would be a better choice or more suitable?
And, once again, any other wisdom you could lend on this topic.
These are my two main questions at the moment. But please, PLEASE, any other advice you could offer would be ravenously devoured and appreciated. As I said, I am very ignorant and inexperienced at this point and would love any input you all could give.
I apologize for the long-winded post and would like to thank everyone ahead of time for their responses. Looking forward to hearing from you all.
On to more research! Cheers!
I happened to stumble across these forums today while doing some research on art schools and instantly signed up. Very impressive and well done site. So, this is my first post. Nice to meet everyone :^^:
Down to the meat of it, then:
I am currently a 23 year old active duty Navy enlistee (Aviation Electrician/Aircrewman) stationed in Atlanta, GA. I am nearing the end of a 6-year enlistment which I will not be continuing.
I love art and always have. I have had a pencil in my hand and filled sketchbooks with mostly concept art my whole life. Later on in life, I melded my love of computers with my artwork and began working on various forms of graphic design, interactive design and web design.
During High School and into college I did graphic design work part-time. I worked for several companies, working on advertisements, catalogue designs, web-site design, etc. I worked for a start-up web design company for a short while. Although I really, really enjoyed this work my heart always remained with concept art.
About a year into college I decided to enlist in the military for several reasons (personal, financial). As one might guess, there's not much desire, room or time for artistry and design when enlisted. I've continued to sketch, draw and digitally design on my own time for personal enjoyment.
Now, nearing the end of my enlistment, I am eager to jump back into the civilian world. If there's one lesson I learned during the time of my enlistment, it is that one must pursue their dreams and do what truly makes them happy in life for any form of personal satisfaction...At least in my opinion. Such being the case, I am gearing myself up to attend art school.
I still need to narrow my specific field of interest, but currently I am leaning towards concept artistry, graphic design, interactive design or an amalgamation of all. I would love to work in the game industry (a desire I see many share), working on such things as character and conceptual design, but my mind is pretty open at this point.
Now that you have the background, here's what I desperately need from all of you: Advice! Any and every bit that you can lend would be very much appreciated.
Some pressing questions that I would desperately love some input on:
First and foremost, I am eager to start composing a portfolio for school application purposes. Some specific areas of information I'd like to know are:
a.) Are there examples of others portfolios available for viewing on the web or at other locations?
b.) Are there guidelines/rules/strategies to follow when building a portfolio and, if so, where can these be found?
And anything else you can think of on this topic to add. I am truly anxious to begin working on this and so any and all information would be desperately appreciated as I am very ignorant about the portfolio building process.
Also, because I currently live in GA and would like to remain here if possible, I have been looking at SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) as my main choice for schooling. However, I am obviously prepared to attend another school in the event I am not accepted or cannot attend SCAD for one reason or another. From what little research I've done SCAD seems to be very well respected and accredited, but you being the experts I would appreciate your input
a.) General opinion/accredition of SCAD? What are your feelings on it?
b.) Would it be a good choice for the field(s) I am interested in pursuing?
c.) Are there other schools that would be a better choice or more suitable?
And, once again, any other wisdom you could lend on this topic.
These are my two main questions at the moment. But please, PLEASE, any other advice you could offer would be ravenously devoured and appreciated. As I said, I am very ignorant and inexperienced at this point and would love any input you all could give.
I apologize for the long-winded post and would like to thank everyone ahead of time for their responses. Looking forward to hearing from you all.
On to more research! Cheers!