[timur04]

I have asked this question in my " WWII painting" post but that link is not working now and i never got a chance to read peoples reply so here it goes:
I'm applying to a few art colleges and putting together a portfolio. My problem is that i have some Photoshop paintings that have tanks as the main subject, and I am afraid that they will dismiss my work as childish. I've seen other portfolios that got scholarships and the subject matter they have painted is mostly land scapes, abstract objects and self portraits. Maybe they consider those subjects " artistic " and view my work as shallow and lacking in meaning. Should i take out my tank paintings and just put in generic paintings instead? Plez Help.

[Jabberwocky]

Getting anything for college from art is hard. A lot of colleges like to see well round and with a focused main media(s). That's at least what a lot of the colleges told me. There's nothing childish about tanks... Take your best work. The work you put your all into, but don't let them know. Who's to say they're not sick of seeing flowery fields and self ports? Show them that you don't conform and they will see that as a plus... artist aren't suppose to conform we are suppose to stray and think for ourselves. So if your tank is your best and you are proud of it take it.

Another bit of advice... ask your high school art teacher for some help. I know that they may or may not be of much help. If you can you maight want to go to a local college and ask an art instuctor there for some help. That's what I did.

Anyways good luck.

[[Shizo]]

Damn right they'll think it childish.
Or you might get extremely lucky and get an old conservative lady to review your stuff (as it happened to me).
Here is the story:
Hehe it was kinda cool though, i already knew she wount like me since i saw her so i thought 'what the hell!' and showed her some pictures of SWAT guys, Visor from Q3A, some robots and tanks.. guy with a gun
hehe all the GOOD stuff and she looked even more pale after she viewed more of my excellent art.
She just flipped though my sketches and illustrations, sometimes picking somewhat classic type of themes and saying 'ok, now this looks interesting'
BTW the Photoshop/3dmax stuff that i showed she said 'i see you can use the programs, but you have no art in it'
So yeah.. i was kicked out miserably, college was Tyler school of art of Temple univ.

(oh yeah i also had a recruiter from college come to our school and she showed some real crap that colleges REALLY like, hehe the one i remembered was a photo of a red dress.. what they liked about it is that the girl went out and bought all red material in town and made a long ass red dress out of it, and then spread it all over the place and took a pic of it.)

[bld]

Good luck on a scholarship.

For the most part all a college wants is your money, they don't care about what your skill is and such stuff. They want you to pay them. They want you to graduate so it reflects on them good too.

Schools aren't very willing to lend out free education unless they belive your one of the few people that will give them a damn good name.

For the most part, you can get into any school as long as you apply early and can pay for it. Sad but true. Be prepared to take annoying test after test for colleges, even if you took act's or sat's most schools have their own applicant test, which will ram you with a huge amount of technical language, this is so they know you won't fail, drop out, and quit paying, as well as not giving them a higher dropout percentage.

Colleges = Businesses

[shinji69]

To [Shizo]

Hehehe...sucks not to be living in Los Angeles....

Judging from your post, I think you could have been admitted to pretty much any art colleges and art departments in universities around here, as long as you have a good fundamental drawing and painting skill, or just the potential for that.

I feel really bad about that old lady didn't give a good credit on SWAT team and Q3A character. Quite honestly you drawing skill might not have been good enough. If you live in west coast, the reaction from the admission council will be drastically different from the old lady....like

"Hey, cool drawing, man. But are they original characters? We'd prefer seeing your original characters." That was the comment the rep from OTIS gave me back in 1997, when I showed him a mediocre copy of Spawn from a magazine photoshot.

There's a drastically different mindsets between East and West coast. East coast art school, if they embrace techniques, will prefer more classical works. That's why we don't see that many classical artists from east coast who paint 'Captain America beating the crap out of Red Skull' or 'Gundam slashing a Zaku with a beam saber' straight out of school. It's not in their culture. In opposite, west coast art schools are more open for such kind of 'fun-loving low brow paintings' because of.... the presence of entertainment industry, which is the biggest recruiting source for art students fresh out of graduations.

Plus, adding a 3DSMAX/Photoshop works in college portfolio is not really a good idea in both coasts unless they are REALLY good. When it comes to 3DCG east coast art schools won't give a rat's ass.

[shinji69]

To Bld...

That's why I strongly believe that there should be state-funded art institutes that are no more expensive than other public universities.

Other countries have art institutes supported by the government or local authorities, even Peru has national art institute.

Why not us? Teaching realistic art is very important not just because it's a pinnacle of human achievement but also because modern entertainment industry demands talents with really really solid skill level. And such kind of foundation art trainings can be applied to numerous fields of careers like filmmaking, animation, toy industry and video game industry...to name a few. And how much money do they rake from all round the world?! Entertainment business is the fifth largest export of this country!

That's why I believe that there should be state-funded art institutes with affordable tuition. Just let every schmoe who wanna be artists in and sort them out with a brutally rigorous training program until people like Boogie or Leighton remains till the sophomore year....HEHEHE. Even the most incompetent moron in the campus will be able to paint like Saint Spooge.

[[Shizo]]

heheh yeah, i'm nt very lucky at all
That's why i decided to learn this computer drawing/3d on my own and get a job to get moneys and learn at the same time.

PS, q3a dude was just one character that wasnt mine, rest was all original and GOOD! Mostly pen sketches, and airbrushed paintings.
But i didnt wanna go to college anyway so .. ;)

[Jabberwocky]

The art school I decide to finish is costing me about $600 a semester. And about $300 in books for the whole course. But it's Commercial and Advertising art.

[timur04]

Thanx your all your replys. Shizo - I have seen pictures of that girls red dress, and its 5 times bigger then spawns cape. Someone also mentioned that i should talk to my high school art teacher. The truth is, i cant stand her. Let me tell you why: I have been drawing all of my life so i have good technical drawings skills, at least more then a students who took art their first time this year. Most of my classmates got A's in the class and i got a C ! Even though i turned in all my assignments on time just like the others who got A's. When i asked the teacher why i got a low grade she took out my work and pointed out small "technical flaws" like some objects did not cast the right shadows in a landscape, therefore it would be a lie to give me anything above a C. I would be Ok with that if other students work would be better then mine. But its NOT ! If someone would put my stuff side be side with the other's work, mine work would look like photographs next to crayon drawings done by a 12yr old. I dont have anything against my class mates, in fact some of them are my friends, its just she set high standards for me and grades the rest of the class on a different scale. God i hate her

[shinji69]

I visited the website of Tyler school of Temple univ, and checked out their portfolio...

I don't think any of us can learn how to draw and paint properly from there...

Just check out this website and links attachted in there. This guy is probably a mediocre student in Art Center... But just compare with others.

[shinji69]

I visited the website of Tyler school of Temple univ, and checked out their portfolio...

I don't think any of us can learn how to draw and paint properly from there...

Just check out this website and links attachted in there. This guy is probably a mediocre student in Art Center... But just compare with others.

web page