Entering Art School

Introduction

Every time I read a forum or newsgroup, there is always the same type of question regarding what to do after graduating high school. Many people want a career in visual effects, animation or games and they want to know what the best schools are. To answer that I will simply say, there is no "best" school and most likely never will be. There are far too many variables involved when deciding to "grade" the top quality school for the ever changing world of digital media and art.

In this article I will explain some of the basics of what to look for in a school and just touch on what to expect. Before I begin, I should point out that this document is Art related, not programming or whatever, strictly art. I will also mention this many times, but every school has its own requirements for accepting students. Be sure you research what those requirements are, if any.

I'm going to keep this as simple and short as I can, because I know many of you are hungry for the information and may need to come back to this a couple of times for reference. So expect a lot of bullets and numbers.

First thing you should do is research the area you are most interested in:

• Graphic Design
• Fine Art
• Illustration
• Painting
• Drawing
• Sculpting
• Animation 2D or 3D
• 3D modeling
• Visual Effects
• Games
• Photography

Once you decide the area you want to focus in, start researching what the artists do in that field. It's important to know the backgrounds of these artists, especially if they had a formal education in the arts. You may be surprised at the number of successful artists who have strong backgrounds in Fine Art.

Once you get some preliminary research done and you have a strong idea of what you want to study, it's time to start looking at schools (colleges).