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Do you have a back up school?
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You can try San Jose State University. Don't let the "State" part fool you - it's actually a very, very good program and their animation program is very well known. You can look up some student and alumni work on their website: http://www.shrunkenheadman.com/
Like I said, it may sound not that cool but the ACTUAL graduate program they have requires a portfolio for it and I've seen their work live - it is of real top notch quality. Good luck to all your endeavors. :)
This post was edited by Laura Mars at December 28, 2011 10:43:08 PM PST -
Oh no need to remind me, I know about San Jose State's competitive animation program. I live in the Bay Area :) The only problem I have with SJSU is their notorious administration which tends to change requirements and very slow when it comes to paperwork due to the high demand
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since I'm graduating with a BA next semester, I would look for work but at the same time keep trying to apply for calarts. Not sure how many times I will try or where life will take me, but that's why it's exciting :D
This post was edited by James Hoe at December 29, 2011 8:14:06 PM PST -
Hear, hear to that from a fellow Bay Area dweller of Cupertino! As GREAT as SJSU is - I've been on constant wariness of it. In general I've found SJSU to be waaaay crowded with people who I haven't really "clicked" with and a lot of the office work stuff has given me a headache. Example - one office tells me to go somewhere for information. I get there and they tell me to go back to that office I was sent from for more information. Another thing was when I was signing up for classes, since they basically just try to get through thousands of students, they gave me the wrong list of classes to sign up for for my major! I got it fixed at the LAST second because a teacher from the animation department found me and some other animation majors to sort that out.
I wanted to go to a Laguna College of Art of Design since it seemed stable enough for me to safely graduate within four years. Classes are small and I LOVE that.
The only reason I can NOT go all boils down to money. My family is pretty broke so my options were limited to either a community college of San Jose State. P: I won't complain, though, since I'm lucky enough to be living near a state school with a program THAT good for what I want.
Even still, though - the work SJSU churns out is top notch and you will be definitely ready for a job by the end of it so I would NOT shoot it down completely. I know despite me not loving SJSU I'm not trying to shoot it down since despite all setbacks it is a GOOD option even still. -
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Some safety schools I'm thinking of are Cal State Long Beach, and the Laguna College of Art and Design. LCAD definitely has a great animation program... my only problem would be it's lack of dorms- I'd have to live at home (agh!) Aside from that, CSULB's animation program isn't bad. I haven't heard of SJSU. Wish I did earlier, I would've applied. -
I hear great things about SJSU but the only issue is that you'd have to get GEs and stuff out of the way first. I was turned off by that when I was applying for animation schools. If you don't mind going out of state Ringling is a good backup and if you don't mind leaving the country Sheridan is a good school too! Worse comes to worse you could go to AAU (Academy of Art in SF). Most people don't like it because its a for profit school and accepts everyone but they have decent teachers and prime location in SF. It has a decent program and its close to Pixar (compared to other schools) so they get some mentors and stuff. -
Cat I agree that Sheridan and Ringling are excellent schools but I wouldn't exactly call them back ups just because their admission process is as competitive as CalArts. As for AAU I have respectfully disagree. I dont know if you've ever heard of CCA(California College of the Arts), which is located closer to Pixar and also has an excellent animation program
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Sorry about AAU. I checked up and they no longer have their classes with Pixar soooo >_>
Another option instead of going to a backup animation school is going to one that will give you a really strong foundation year and then transferring over. I know that CalArts doesn't really have a foundation year and because of that I always felt a bit lost in the basics of drawing. Most schools require a foundation freshman year anyway so you'd have to go through with it regardless.
This post was edited by Cat Tuong Bui at January 4, 2012 9:00:45 AM PST -
cca junior here, if you're looking for affordable schools, definitely send a portfolio out to cca. They gave out the best scholarship from all the schools I applied to (~11).
We probably don't have the best facilities but we got some mighty fine professors. Most of them are from Pixar, (our visual storytelling prof is Mark Andrews), we also got guys from Tippett, EA, old school Disney, people who've worked on stuff like Celebrity Death Match, The PJs, Robot Chicken and more.
So if you want knowledge, you'll get it here. You're going to have to be pretty self-motivated though cause no one will be keeping tabs with you. Except maybe your Junior Review which is made up of a panel of industry pros (Dreamworks, Pixar, Tippet, etc) who will look at your work and critique everything you've done since the beginning of time and talk to you about your future, etc. (I've heard it's pretty nervewrecking).
As for Gen Ed. classes, any accredited school you attend will require those classes. Which is why I would recommend going to community college first, get your maths, literature, philosophy, psychology, et cetera out of the way for a fraction of the price and then go to art school. Keep practicing your art, take some gesture classes while in CC, maybe some painting, drawing and shoot, you might have a better chance to get a really good scholarship to any art school you apply to in about two years (they go by quick! don't fret!)
Then when you get to art school you can take all the awesome classes you want (like glassblowing!). Talk to advisors from whatever schools you're interested in to check out what classes will transfer though. Don't want to take a class for nothin'.
You could also do what some (really very awesomely talented) people have done in the past and push as many as those gen ed. classes as you can out of the way, take your animation classes and get hired to a studio before you graduate and screw Ethics 101. I wouldn't recommend that though.
Or just apply out of highschool, I've seen some freshman work that have come out of highschool and they're pretty awesome.
If you guys really want all Pixar teachers, there's always the Animation Collaborative right in front of the Pixar (which beats CCA in terms of distance by nine minutes!).
Oh! and CCA does have dorms, we also don't have a food plan so if you just want to live off ramen and save money, then go for it! wouldn't recommend it!
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Jon Paramel said:
Thanks a lot for the great insight Michael! Right now I have CCA and SJSU on the same spot for backup. A question: What kind of animation does CCA focus on? I really wanna do characterAnything you want man.
Since the program is so new, we don't have a "thing". We're not the best for 3D like Ringling, we're not the "best" for character animation like Calarts is, we're just an animation school; do whatever you want. It really is that loose.
We got people that really are into modeling, some that even want to go into VFX, we got a number of people (including myself) that are more into storyboarding, some even want to specialize on character design and previs work.
CCA doesn't really expect anything out of you and their requirements for graduation aren't many; take your humanities, two 3D classes, storyboarding, character design, junior seminar, two senior theseis classes, and have something done for the Animation Show which is this school wide event where they show some junior work and all senior work; that's pretty much it.
So if you're into character animation, great man. We got the guy who animated Triton from The Little Mermaid; you're in good hands. Just ask him any questions you have, e-mail him with any concerns and let him know you're really interested in character animation.
If you're into storyboarding, Mark Andrews man! Samurai Jack? The Incredibles? Toy Story 3? Spiderman?! yeah man, ask him questions like there's no tomorrow while in class and you'll get all the knowledge you need.
Modeling? Ask the Gaming Design teacher everything you want to know.
My point is, whatever you want to do, even if it's more experimental stuff; we got a teacher who makes a living doing it.
Yeah, it kind of sucks that there's no core structure and that no one really cares about you or your work, but hey, that's life. Overall, it's a pretty good school especially if it means graduating with half (sometimes even 1/3 or 1/4 even 1/0) the debt than had you gone to Calarts or Ringling.
As for AAU, as much flack as it gets from random people on the internets, I agree; lots of talent coming out of there. In fact, many of our Animation teachers (from Pixar) have graduated from there. I do have a feeling though, those people would have been good going to any school. To be completely honest, I think that's true for any school: you get out what you put in.
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How are the class sizes? Big? Small? Just curious, what's your "focus" anyway?
This post was edited by Jon Paramel at January 4, 2012 9:13:15 PM PST -
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Jon Paramel said:
How are the class sizes? Big? Small? Just curious, what's your "focus" anyway?
Class size range. Animation I and other classes like that can get pretty big (tops at 16 I believe). Then, there are classes like Visual Storytelling and Game Design that stop at 8. That of course fluctuates since not all classes get filled up (so you can have a clas of about 5 people) on the flip side of that, sometimes a teacher will write an "override" slip and let more people into the class that's "allowed" but it's usually just one or two people more, sometimes three. Overall though, pretty small classes.
My "focus"? Storyboarding. Remember, though, there really aren't any tracks or guidelines, you pretty much have to make your own. Which really means, putting more time in storyboarding, giving yourself assignments, looking for help online, etc. Especially given the fact there's only one class in the school that deals with visual storytelling, and a bunch more with "animation", but such is life; gotta make the best of what you have.
Good Luck on applications guys!
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Erin Kim said:
anyone applying to Ringling?I'm applying to Ringling aswell are you..?
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Jon Paramel said:
So are you planning to stay at SJSU Laura?Well, unless either me or my family gets rich from nowhere, I'm at SJSU to stay.
But to be fair for all people who are looking into SJSU - GEs are a pain in the rear end. I am still in disbelief at the classes I have to take, even if I was trying for a nursing degree (somebody tell me why I need to take a class on the WEATHER?).
And I've heard some stuff about AAU and CCA as well. I don't know too, too much about CCA but enough people I know have been recommending it and it is near Pixar.
As for AAU. I took the summer pre-college courses there in the summer of my sophomore year beore junior year of high school. The school seems like a school that requires above all else: effort. The professors I met with were legit and they had awesome equipment to work with. I have seen absolutely amazing work from the school as well. Fair to say, though, I've also met incredibly lazy student work from people that seemed a bit pretentious at times.
I knew a girl who went there and her figure drawings were beautiful. She mentioned it's like a weeding process. Anyone can get in. But all the slackers end up failing because the classes are legit and they were not up to it. And they have some great professors with some good works.
On the other hand, it is so obviously a for-profit school that the idea just sometimes can bug a person if that kind of stuff bugs you. And since they had this crazy idea of having campuses spread all over San Fran, if there is ever traffic where your bus is going you are going to be late for sure. But to be fair, it's still nice since the AAU bus is a free service for students.
But even with everything I'd still be a bit wary since this school has been known to be a rip off to people. I've heard good things but I've also heard really bad things. P:
This post was edited by Laura Mars at January 7, 2012 3:09:38 AM PST -
I'm really glad this thread exists-- all this info has been super helpful! I've been hearing loooots of people say they wish they had gotten all their Gen Ed classes out of the way at community college before they went to art school (especially over Concept Art). I'm really tempted by this idea, so if I don't get into any schools at all I might do this and improve my art on the side.
I'm from the midwest, so I'm going out of state no matter what. My goal is California since that's where the industry is at, but since I'm going that far away anyway I wouldn't even mind going to SVA in New York or Ringling in Florida. I've heard that a lot of east coast schools are more focused on the advertising aspect of animation though. My impression is that going to a school, any school, in CA close to the industry is better than using a school on the east coast as a back-up school. Is that true?
Cat Tuong Bui said:
Sorry about AAU. I checked up and they no longer have their classes with Pixar soooo >_>
Another option instead of going to a backup animation school is going to one that will give you a really strong foundation year and then transferring over. I know that CalArts doesn't really have a foundation year and because of that I always felt a bit lost in the basics of drawing. Most schools require a foundation freshman year anyway so you'd have to go through with it regardless.
I really like this idea! That way the Gen Ed credits would get out of the way too. You'd kill two birds with one stone. I'm surprised I haven't heard more people suggest this.Michael Barquero said:
Yeah, it kind of sucks that there's no core structure and that no one really cares about you or your work, but hey, that's life.
As for AAU, as much flack as it gets from random people on the internets, I agree; lots of talent coming out of there. In fact, many of our Animation teachers (from Pixar) have graduated from there. I do have a feeling though, those people would have been good going to any school. To be completely honest, I think that's true for any school: you get out what you put in.
I've heard the same thing that you said about CCA about AAU. Apparently nobody cares about you. And that last comment you made is really, really important. You have to go beyond what you're expected of (or I guess not expected of in this case). Talented people are talented people and that doesn't change. :P
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I am surprised that no one mentioned: USC, UCLA ( although these two are tough for admission), SVA, Pratt Institute, Rochester Institute of Technology, and SCAD.
This post was edited by Sandy Botkin at February 23, 2012 11:39:22 AM PST -
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