[tilokani]

I'm in grade 9 at the moment, and I was thinking... I'm planning on going into the industrial design field, but I'm also in favour of going into comic art. I'm sure that some of you guys here know about this. My two choices, basically from what I know, are for Industrial Design there is either Humber College in Ontario, and the University of Waterloo. And for art in general, there's The Ontario College Of Fine Arts I think... so let's say I decide on taking industrial design, what are most employers looking for? What kind of education, what experience? And how would I go about finding an employer? And let's say I find one, what's the basic salary I'm looking at. For this I'm talking working with car design, film design, prop design, along those lines.

And then, for comic art, I'm probably sure it doesn't pay as much, but in that, the same things are being asked by me. What kind of education are employers looking for? What sort of experience? Skill? Anything else? Also, the pay, what should I expect.

Also, I'm aware of the fact that employers would be more impressed at the fact that the employee has gone to a good schoool or not, so that's what I'm worried about.

Insight on this would be awesome. Thanks.

[Malachi Maloney]

A university is a group of colleges.

[Socar J. MYLES]

As far as I can tell, employers in the freelance field, especially in comics, don't give a rat's patootie where you went to school.

For game-design jobs and higher-profile advertising jobs, yes, it might make a difference...but even there, it's the portfolio that speaks loudest. Of course, if you do go into industrial design, then, yes, a degree is a good thing to have. Probably even required for a no-experience entry-level position.

I can't speak for EVERY company out there, obviously...but I can tell you that nobody has ever so much as asked for a print copy of my resume, much less wanted to know whether I have a degree or not.

(For the record, I do...but it might as well be my shopping list for all the good it does! IMHO, the best reason to go to art school is to learn the skills you'll need, not for a piece of paper.)

[ October 18, 2002: Message edited by: Socar J. MYLES ]

[-HoodZ-]

college vs university...well all i can say is that when my college turned into a university the tuition went up...

[Svanur]

My teacher told me that the only difference between college and university is that a university gets to call itself a university because it has a philosophy department but a college has none.

So pick a C or U after the teachings not the name.

[tilokani]

Thanks for the info! Another question though, I'm still younger than most people here, and that's pretty much why I'm worrying so much, but where would I go after school? I mean, how would I know who's hiring, and what company's should I go for? For industrial design that is...

[Jucas]

Art Center.
artcenter.edu

[ October 18, 2002: Message edited by: Jucas ]

[HawkOne]

Fine Art and Industrial Design are two VERY different beasts, sure enough, both require a little of the other, but they are not very closely related otherwise.

You might work in clay in both courses for example, but in Industrial Design you would have to think about the wind drag efficiency and other practical issues of that new supersonic toaster, and to do that you would have to learn Physics and Mathematics, learn about the workings of various metals/plastics/electronics, how to shape them, and a zillion other such things.

In Fine Arts, you would have to learn a lot about Art History, you would have to be able to waffle on about how significant Rodins sculpture is, and how profoundly well thought out the composition of Titans "Joan of Arc" is, and a zillion other such things. (Hopefully you would avoid schools who still bring students to Rothko(et.al) exhibitions, where you would stand for hours thinking about the profound messages that "Black No.192" brings to mind. )

Common to both places are things such as learning to create concepts/ideas and talk about (defend) them, learning about the materials and tools you use, learning to take both harsh and flattering crits without becoming depressed or overconfident and a zillion other such things. This is probably the most important part of your education.

If you want money, a safe job and such, go for the Industrial Design course. If you are persistent, have great ambitions, don't mind eating only potatoes for a whole year to be able to pay for that insanely expensive tube of Natural Ultramarine that you just gotta have to give your work that "Je-ne-cais-croix"

My view is biased of course, since I've seen both kinds. The Fine Artists of today usually needs to have a "supporting second job" to make ends meet. Gone are the days when Rockefeller sent you 10,000 a year to keep painting the New Hampshire coastline (or whatever )

Designing toasters for General Electric is probably not the most interesting job on the planet either, but at least this type of job is possible fo find, and who knows, maybe some guy from Daimler really likes your toaster-design, and think you should come to apply your unique style to the next Mercedes, with incorporated toster for each passenger.

Whatever you do, choose wisely.

[Soak]

you can combine to jobs and sleep 2 hours a day

[tilokani]

Ha, yeah, i could combine two jobs and sleep two hours, or just not sleep and spend two hours dancing on my head. thanks to everyone else also for the help.

[Light]

For comic work they are looking for the ability of pencilers to draw original high quality perspectively correct pictures without reference or at least rather quickly and with good facility. The ability to tell a story is important too.

Most comic artist start out as backgrounders so basically being very good at sketching and perspective is most important. It doesn't pay very much I think at something like $18,000-$25,000/year. I'm not a comic artist but this is rough information I've been relayed.

A computer coloring job is easier at least I think but these are hard to get (no?).

If I were you I would go for industrial design because if you have the ability to draw or learn the technical issues then the comic work will always be available and industrial would pay more.

[Dr. Bang]

university definitely if you have enough marks and $!

If u want to go to a college, find a REALLY good one.

[daeldren]

Actually for me I dont really care where I go to school, right now Im attending a private university in the middle of Iowa for computer graphics, but at the same time I think Id rather be going to a tech school rather than here especially because Im paying about $20,000 per year. I think that in the long run though its going to matter more on your talent than what school you attended at least thats the way it should be. One of our biggest problems in this program is people dont realize that its a art major, you wouldnt believe how many people come in having almost no creativity. Anyways as far as jobs go I cant really help you there, I myself have been looking for a job in the field with no luck, except for a miserable part time job doing photo editing for some studio photographer.

[tilokani]

You know, for 20 000 dollars, I could just buy a horse and ride it around my entire life! But really, this information is very useful, I appreciate the help!