I have a few questions, I'm in need of some advice.

[Sunshine225]

Well, it wasn't until recently that I had figured out that I wanted to go to an art school/study art in college. Long story short (-ish), I came to this realization after A.) I was more excited to see that the ag school (I know, complete opposite side of the spectrum) I was thinking about attending offered art classes as opposed to having classes where you cut open a goat or something, B.) Going to art school has always been something that's been lingering around in my mind since, like, ever, C.) I've thoroughly enjoyed art and my high school art classes more than cows and plows, and D.) In the long run, I'll be happier with a career in art rather than one in an agricultural field. That being said, I'm not sure if I should start out at a community or junior college and give myself a year or so to get all of my pre-reqs out of the way and build up a portfolio in the mean time, or dive straight into applying to an art school and have only a few months tops to build up a strong portfolio. Schools I'm looking into are RMCAD, CCA, SFAI, CalArts, Otis, and possibly LCAD. I've been doing research on them, but if anyone has any info about those schools, it would be MUCH appreciated if you would share.
On top of that, I ended up moving a quarter of the way through my senior year from northern California, where I had an AMAZING art teacher/department, an art classes taught in a college-like way, and was about to take the figure drawing classes at CCA (literally three days after I moved), to southern California where I'm in an "AP Studio Art" class (please read that with sarcasm). In said class, they haven't started working with paints or any other medium other than black ink. Because of that, I feel like my skills aren't going to be where they need to be to get into an art school, even though I'm still doing about a painting a week and doing drawings from life and the mind almost every day outside of class. And in the art class I'm in right now, it seems like I have no guidance at all and I'm just repeating beginning art over again. Sorry for the ranty-ness of that paragraph, I just need some guidance in what to do about the situation.
Now for the questions:
1. I'm either looking into art education, fine arts, or illustration. I'm leaning more towards art education with a fine arts emphasis or majoring in fine arts with a painting/drawing emphasis, but the illustration classes seem really fun. What are schools looking for in a portfolio for these majors?
2. What should I be looking for in an art school for these programs?
3. Is there anything that I can do outside of school that would help me get better?
4. Like I mentioned above, should I start at a JC next fall and give myself all of the time until its time to start applying again to build my portfolio? Or should I be pushing myself to go to begin at an art school?
5. RMCAD is in Denver, so its pretty much impossible to go visit there, what would be the next best thing for me to do?

Thanks if you have any answers or additional information you could give me!

[Noah Bradley]

1. I'm either looking into art education, fine arts, or illustration. I'm leaning more towards art education with a fine arts emphasis or majoring in fine arts with a painting/drawing emphasis, but the illustration classes seem really fun. What are schools looking for in a portfolio for these majors?

Observational drawing/painting. I'd advise you to watch out for fine arts programs, as a lot of them tend to be lacking in instruction and overflowing in artsy-feely stuff. Not always, but you'll tend to get more solid foundational skills in an illustration program.

2. What should I be looking for in an art school for these programs?

Look at the faculty. Look up the faculty's websites and check out their art. Impressed? If not... you may want to look elsewhere. Also, check out the student work. Naturally, schools only put forth the cream of the crop that comes out of their schools, but it'll give you a feel for what the best in the program are doing (just understand that most of the students will be much more... mediocre). And look at the curriculum. See if the classes sound interesting. Facilities, location, and expense are more issues to consider.

3. Is there anything that I can do outside of school that would help me get better?

Draw more!

No, really, draw all the time. If you can, attend as much life drawing as you can get. Not only do schools love to see life drawing in application portfolios, it'll help you for the rest of your artistic career.

4. Like I mentioned above, should I start at a JC next fall and give myself all of the time until its time to start applying again to build my portfolio? Or should I be pushing myself to go to begin at an art school?

I'm a huge fan of community colleges/junior colleges. The affordability of them just can't be beat. And honestly, with perhaps a few exceptions, you're not going to get fantastic gen. ed. instruction at an art school. Pushing your own skills during this time might land you a bigger scholarship when the time comes.

Hope all that helps a little. And good luck!

[Sunshine225]

Thanks so much!

[Metalclay]

Yeah man, start at a JC. You would be foolish not to, especially if you don't think your skills are up to par to get into art school. Plus, you never know who you're going to meet in these colleges, especially in a major state like Cali. Heck, by the end of it, you might not want to even go to an art school anymore.

As far as what you can do....as Noah Bradley said, draw! Just draw, that's all you're going to be doing in art school anyway, it's not like they inject some secret formula into you when you pay your tuition and step foot inside the classroom. Like anything worth attaining in life, it's just hard work, that is all. You might benefit in some books though, I'll suggest authors:

Bridgman, Loomis, Hogarth, Richard Schmid, Robert Beverly Hale, Michael Hampton, Juliette Aristides, John H. Vanderpoel, Vilppu, and...there are more but that should get you more than started.

[Sunshine225]

Thanks for the books suggestions. Another question I thought of earlier today: Noah said that I might want to watch out for the fine arts programs, so if I did end up choosing education as a major, should I consider Illustration as an emphasis instead?

[Too Many Captains...]

It depends on what you want to do, really. If you want to teach (that is your end goal), then go into education. If you want to DO (go into art rather than education), then pursue illustration. Remember though, you can change your mind! Half of the kids in the classes I'm in have already or are now considering major changes. Hope that helps
mike

[artlmf]

I can answer your question about RMCAD if it's helpful. I graduated from there. One thing I know that might help you is RMCAD has an Art Education program with an Illustration emphasis. Not sure the quality of the Art Education program. The illustration program is decent, not excellent, but decent. I liked most of the faculty, each has their own artistic specialty. After taking basic illustration classes such as history of illustration, figure drawing 1-4 etc., you take more focused classes such as childrens book illustration,( if this isn't for you, it is still worth taking the professor for this class is hilarious), conceptual illustration (not concept art but more editorial) then of course a digital illustration class. I did like that you have to take a web design class. Not enough business classes though, as with most art schools it seems. Everyone's experience is different in art school, mine was both rewarding and soul draining( my life consisted of school, work, draw, repeat.) But enough of personal rambling.

The campus is beautiful I must say. Trees, old campus that's haunted and Casa Bonita. It's about 15-20 min from Denver. Tuition is cheaper then most art schools I've looked at. At this point I ran out of things to say but hope it is helpful to you.

[Taxguy]

You might want to add MICA ( Maryland Institute College of Art) to your list. They are very well known for your areas of interest and probably more well-known than the schools that you mentioned. In addition, you can get a combined five-year BFA/MFA at MICA in art education,which can save you both time and money.

[Sunshine225]

Mmmm I love Casa Bonita. I remember going there when I was little and lived in Denver.
I actually thought about MICA, but not having any family or friends on the East Coast kind of put me off. But I'm probably going to look more into it. We had a rep come to my class and it seemed really nice there.