[agnostic]

hi,

i'm thinking of attending frisco's academy of arts next year and i'm wondering if anyone else has heard of it and can tell me somethings about it. i heard it was estasblished 132 years ago which must mean it sets some sort of presedence over other art schools. but what about their digital arts program? or their grahpics design programs? thanks

agnostic.

[Fred Flick Stone]

Don't go to a school just because it is old. What is it you want out of the schooling? San Fran Art Academy is a fine art only school, specializing in modern art, not traditional. Want to learn to draw the figure, you would have better luck waiting for Lucas to open his institute in the Presidio. Really look into what you want to do with your art career, if that is what you choose, and pick the school based upon this decision. It will be the wisest or worst decision you will ever make...

[AliasMoze]

Say what? Was that a joke about Lucas or are you for real?

[Manik Monkei]

Nope its serious. From what I understand Lucas & Co. are going to start setting up there in a year or so. Past that I don't know much.

Have you heard any details about his plans for the Presidio, Fred?

[General Confusion]

I heard about the visual effects facility that is supposed to be set up in Presidio. It is supposed to house the largest archive of visual effects props, paraphenelia (is that spelled right) etc. ILM, may be relocated to the grounds, as well as Lucas' other companies, there will be a school that primarily focuses on teaching the ins and outs of visual filmmaking, effects, digital, analog, etc. The school's main occupants will be perspective, as well as, current employees of Lucas' empire. However, there may be eventual availibilty to outside interested parties, meaning you may be able, one day, to attend a Lucas run school.
I heard this through a friend of mine who lives in the San Fran area, who has connections within the mighty walls of ILM, so it is heresay, but there is also a grain of truth to it. I read in a news report that a big visual effects endeavor that is in the workings for the Presidio area, I believe it was a former military base, is being challenged by the Gay Rights Alliance or something like that, over who could purchase the site. The Gay Alliance wants to build a park on the site.

So there is my two cents, if anyone has different info, I would love to hear about it.

later

------------------
www.geocities.com/genconfusion/

[Francis]

More info here:

http://www.lucasfilm.com/presidio/2000/

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Francis Tsai
TeamGT Studios

[akh]

(sorry for going off topic agnostic... who knows, maybe itll help =)
Fred - (and to others of course if you can help me out )
since your a teacher and know more about these things, i was hoping you would have some advice for me. Im just gonna add to agnostic's question... hehe, even though its been brought up before, i still think its a good topic.
basically, my major plan is to become an animator either for character animation or visual effects in the film industry. I live in chicago, but I would like to go to school in the Cali area. But, from what Ive read, instead of learning the computer first, animation houses rather have someone know how to draw than know the program. With that said, i would want to master the figure and study illustration (is that a wise move?). Also, I would study illustration cause I want to have other options open for me as an artist just in case, so I can switch to other areas of the art field easier.
Now heres a couple questions. After I would finsish studying the figure/illustration, would I then go to, lets say graduate school for animation? (Becase I know that is how USC and UCLA does that).... which kind of leads to my second question. Do you know how UCLA and USC's traditional art program is? I would like to go to a University instead of an art college cause i think (hehe, as well as my parents, who are paying for my college =)) that academics are still important, even though i'll be learning art. But im still open to art schools. From what I want, do you have any suggestions (both universities and art colleges)? I know Rhode Island school is one of the best... and Cal Arts is good too (but is that for animation or traditional?), and i think NYU and Rochester Institute of technology are good? And concerning other schools, how do I know if it has a good enough art program? i mean, does it just depend on how much you learn from the program and how much you apply yourself, or are schools genuinly better than others?
hehe, sorry to make it so long, but i think its better that i be more specific and vague about my plans and questions. Thanks a lot, hope you (or someone) can help
-alex

[This message has been edited by akh (edited July 25, 2000).]

[DuKEZ]

agnostic if your in the area.. (im in san jose) and ive looked around too.. i thought of going to sf art academy.. but like fred said its moslty fine traditional arts and paints. and now they have a multimedia division.. but thats mainly 3d modeling and such..

but i also found this other school called Cogswell [ www.cogswell.edu ] located in Sunnyvale. they seem to specialize in the digital arts.. checkem out..

[FireWalker]

Agnostic my boy,

I'm currently attending the academy of art in san fran.. so i guess i could answer a lot of questions you might have. I don't know what you're interested in, but the academy has departments that pretty much cover all aspects of art. I'm a film major. The computer arts department is huge, and probably one of the higher-end facilities in the country.. with peeps coming in from pixar, manex, etc to speak. Like fred said, it leans more towards modern and commercial aspects than the traditional, but that route is available if that's what you're after. However, before you will move onto specifics of what you're after.. you will have to take traditional drawing, visualization, and color and design courses.. which i think is a good thing. Like alex said.. know the basics before learning the technology and seems like the figure drawing courses are covered.. i'm always seeing naked people around in the illustration building :P

if you've any other questions get 'em out there..

oh, Fred, do you know of Ruben DeAnda? He was an instructor of mine that flew up from San Diego to teach drawing..

[This message has been edited by FireWalker (edited July 25, 2000).]

[Atreyu]

I'm also attending the Academy of Art College, and it is a very good place to study. They have courses covering almost every aspect of modern art, and you will probably even take some courses in other arts (sculpture, etc).

In fact the first time I heard of Craig was from a teacher in the industrial design department. There are so many exciting things to learn, and it's a beautiful city to live in. If you pick and choose the right teachers, there are amazing people working at the academy.

Now one thing you must know, there is not a big relationship between amazing artists and the school they come from. But there is a direct relationship between the amount of work you do, and the quality of your images. If you only work for school, you will never be incredible, unless the school is incredibly strict.


www.illusionart.com

[spooge demon]

One thing about art that really makes it different is the ability to judge someone entirely on the portfolio, and the quality of the portfolio is a direct indicator of your ability to do the job. In other areas you have grades and interviews, which are indirect indicators at best. They might measure brownnose ability as much as real ability.

It is not a perfect indicator, though. I have seen nice portfolios but the inability to complete a job. I have seen portfoios with cool rendering of water drops on coke cans, but, well, they can't do Pepsi cans.

So I think the school you go to should be judged on 1)emphasis on fundamental drawing and painting, 2) competence of these basic instructors and the ability to teach (talk to RECENT graduates) 3) flexibility to create your own program. Don't worry about the prestige of the school. Schools work on the "Halo" effect, meaning the real world doesn't find out they have gone downhill until 5 years after the damage has been done. That was true at ACCD. The illustration dept was gutted while I was there.

Please also consider Industrial Design. From looking at the work, I think a lot of the people here who are considering art careers would be better of in ID