Sijun Forums :: View topic - What to Choose: Illustration or Industrial Design?

Ozymandias · Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2001 5:01 pm

Which concentration benefits more to get a job doing concept work for film/tv/games?

I've been changing my mind back and forth on which major i should apply to. Any input from u guys would be great!

edible snowman · member Member # Joined: 12 Sep 2000 Posts: 998

dont take my word for it, because i dont really know, but im guessing that it depends on what you want to do in those fields. depending on what job you want, one might be better than another. if your doing concepts of more technical stuff, technical might be better and vice versa. but then again i only wrote this because i thought you deserved a reply, not because i know what im talking about.

quaternius · Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2001 9:34 pm

Are you more into mechanical things or organic/character things? Or both? Are you a transfer or are you starting out as a freshman? If you're just starting out, the core classes are usually fairly similar between the majors. I have friends that have started in illustration and changed to ID and vice-versa. --- meaning, it might not make a difference right now and it could be possible to change focus later.

Just some quick thoughts.

Q

philjaeger · Guest Member #

From my emperience it would depend on what school you attended. I think Ind. Design for mechanical objects. Illustration for organics. Possbily you could create an individualized major. i did that under the official heading of "drawing" major. many of my classes were illustration, some design and some fine art, a bit of everything.

Phil

spooge demon · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2001 2:01 am

"concept work for film/tv/games"

ID would be my suggestion if this is your goal

Ozymandias · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2001 10:01 am

Thanks for all the responses. Yeah, i was considering illustration a lot because i wanted to learn to how paint traditionally and illustration would let me do that, i think. ID is a lot of rendering which i wouldn't mind doing. I haven't had much experience in designing things, right now i'm taking a life drawing class and drawing as much as possible wherever i go.

I asked this question becuase i was thinking of transferring to Art Center and i needed to figure out which night classes i should take for the summer. If i went into ID i would take Art Center's intro to product/trans design. If i went into illustration i was thinking of going to the atelier where Fred teaches.

TheSourPatchKid · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2001 5:16 pm

Why dont you dual major? That would be a good choice.

Also try to make friends in the industries you want to get in. That is your best choice. You could be the best at ID or Ill. and it wouldnt matter because people like to know who you are.

Annoying but true

burn0ut · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2001 6:26 pm

you can only pick one major at artcenter sourpatchkid.
Hey spooge if you ever read this again, what did you major in?

Vortx · Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2001 7:56 pm

If you wanna concentrate on concept design...then you should major in ID. Art center keeps the two majors pretty separate...but you can always take illustration classes when you get to higher terms.

The focus of illustration and ID are very different at ACCD. Of course you can sorta double major.....if you can handle it.

-feng

spooge demon · Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2001 12:06 am

I started in product design, but I did much better in my trans classes. I did some hard time at Ford, decided that was not IT and came back and started illustration from 3 out of 8 semesters. Ugh. The final 4 semesters of ill were worse than useless.

Ozy, be very careful, illustration at ac will not teach you traditional drawing and painting. ID will actually come much closer, if they have not buggered the program (my guess is this has happened). I know that the illustration program has gone away from traditional skills, but then again, the chairman who did all that has recently retired. So who knows, but check it out very carefully.

If you go to Fred's school, beware that the training you get will be very narrow. There is a lot of stuff that you should know that you would not get there. It is great for a very traditional style of illustrative painting, but that style is not selling as illustration these days. Be very aware that this is happening. As much as what the atelier teaches is exactly what art center lacks the reverse is also true. AC is a much wider program and you will be introduced to a lot of stuff that you may never have known existed.

So either place, you have to be on the ball enough to fill in the gaps. Go to atelier, learn 3-d. perspective, mechanical objects and design, 20th century art and its influence on art and design, etc. Go to art center, you must fill in a LOT of missing figure drawing, head drawing and mucho painting.

I am going to the atelier in thousand oaks quite a bit now. Draw from life.

burn0ut · Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2001 4:33 pm

lol, i dont know if i want to even apply to accd anymore... hmm what else bad/good can you say about it spooge/feng anyone else ?

burn0ut · Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2001 4:45 pm

ah, i think it will give me a good understandin of what there doing there, on thursday (april 5th)
there having that illustration scholarship competition.
I dont know if its invitation only or what, that reminds me i gota rsvp

Ozymandias · Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2001 5:00 pm

Thank you for all your responses to this question of mine. I've pretty much decideded to go into into ID and fill in the gaps by myself like spooge said.

Hey burnOut i'm going to accd on april 5th too. I reserved a space yesterday.

Waldo · Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2001 6:15 pm

You've received some good advice and I'll toss my two cents in and suggest that you do fill in a gap or two at Watt's Atelier. I've taken a figure drawing course and am currently enrolled in a tonal course and they have/are thoroughly kicking my ass in a good way. I'm having to rethink my whole approach and am breaking bad habits that I never even knew I had. The instructors are top-notch (students, too), classes are small so there is very much hands-on instruction. I was somewhat overwhelmed at first and walked away with a headache or two, but in a few short months, my skills and understanding have improved tenfold...

Give 'em a shot and good luck.

Ozymandias · Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2001 7:20 pm

Hi Waldo, i'm attending UCI right now, how is the drive to Encitas? Is it ok for a visitor to come to the atelier to observe?

quaternius · Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2001 11:06 pm

Ack, I wish I'd known about these ateliers before I moved back up here to Northern California. They'd have been great resources. Is there anything like Watt's Atelier or L.A.'s Associates in Art atelier up in Northern California? San Jose? San Francisco? Inquiring minds want to know.

Q

jzero · Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2001 7:43 am

I had this exact same dilemma years ago, at Syracuse. But I was lucky to have plenty of time to look around. Freshman year was a prep year to take studio classes and not immediately choosea major. I got interested in ID then, although until that time I had thought that illustration would be mine. Then I took a 100-level ID drafting class as an elective; this class had ID Sophs in it, and talking to them and seeing what they were working on made me realize that I wasn't that much of a gearhead. Then it came time to choose a major, and I toured the VisCom dept. That did it, I decided that making pictures was much more important to me than designing objects.

So the moral of this tepid little tale is, get as much info as you can up front, before you decide. And by all means, Follow Your Freaking Bliss!!

/jzero