What school did you go to?

[redpandafire]

Hi, I'm from the montreal area and finding a tough time looking for a school that's good for me. Has anyone else studied in montreal before?

Otherwise, what would you all recommend to submit in a portfolio directed towards a gaming college? I ask in general, because I'll probably be told each program has their specific requirements.

[FredH]

How come you are having difficulties finding a school? Is it because of the portfolio requirement? Generally, if you show that you are capable of drawing and are enthusiastic about it (enthusiasm is shown through the amount of work you show and if there is a desire for improving). A dab of 3d helps, but it's not generally needed as anyone who can draw, is a good candidate for learning 3d easily.

I recommend Dawson College if you are set on learning how to draw or 3d. Either the Illustration and Design program, or the 3d animation program. I believe registration for the new semester is over though:flag:

Otherwise, Game Artisans is starting training in Montreal very soon, but again, a portfolio is required to enroll for the workshops.
http://www.gameartisans.org/montreal/workshops/index.php

[redpandafire]

Thanks for the info. I draw very frequently, and work heavily on human anatomy. I've been wanting to submit my portfolio to schools but have no 3D work to show except for an old old Zbrush sculpt of an unfinished face. There's quite alot of detail but its simply not finished product stuff.

I mostly do studies and so its very time consuming, I rarely get to complete anything I draw. Would you think it was okay to submit stuff like this to schools?

http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/showthread.php?t=14587

(Sorry for the off-topic. I've moved my links to a thread in the WIP forum)

[FredH]

This is a great start, I really like your sketches and it shows attention to detail and a desire/devotion to get better, but do you have anything in color? I believe Dawson's Illustration program requires 10 pieces in color. I could be wrong though, it's been forever since I checked.

[redpandafire]

Thank you very much. I dont have anything in color. I've never tried to great success.

So if the portfolio is a set of 14'ish images. Around 10 should be colored? What portion is actual 3D work?

[FredH]

If you are up to the challenge, I suggest you simply join GA's G.A.M.E.S 3D workshop to begin with. Enrollment begins next week. First workshop starts mid June. You are good at 2d, and you said that you dabled with 3d a bit (hopefully, 3dsmax), so with some intensive work, we will help you learn quickly. After the workshop, you can become a member so that you can continue to work here after standard hours (we will close around 11-12pm everyday), with guidance.

We provide notebook computers for the 2-3 week workshops, however once the workshop is finished, only gold members can freely use our computers. Everyone else can rent them, if they are available. If you already have a notebook computer, becoming a premium member is enough.

If you have not already seen the place, drop by anytime to chat. It's best to come in between 1-5pm tuesdays till saturdays.

[redpandafire]

I'd love to enroll. (edit) Sorry I found the info i needed from the front page. It looks very exciting, I will be submitting my portfolio for your review.

And yes, my previous 3D experience was in the 3DS max trial.

Thanks.

[JacqueChoi]

I went to Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design.

I would NOT recommend going to a Fine Art's School. Go to a commercial one.



I will however highly recommend going to a school that gives you a degree.

[FredH]

Yeah, if you'd like to travel to work in another country later, you would need a degree. I agree with jacque, stay away from fine arts!

redpandafire, ah, I am glad to hear that you know 3dsmax a bit. I already had students in mind for our first workshops, but I believe there is still 1-2 spaces available. If you are around the area this saturday, come in between 1-5:thumb:

[SavageD]

I grew up in Calgary but left in 2004, moved down to Los Angeles to attend the Art Institute of California - LA. Sometimes moving out of town and placing yourself outside of your comfort zone is the best thing to do.

[Shadownami92]

Why stay away from fine arts? I just ask this because I've been told that a going to college for fine arts could be good as you learn more of art fundamentals rather than just computer programs and whatnot?

Some good reasons would really help me out. I've got enough credits to get my associates degree and I can still choose between graphic design or fine arts. And I plan to transfer to a university pretty soon. I was planning on getting a BFA in Animation and Entertainment, is this a good idea or is there some better degree for game art?

[Elmo]

i went to both ubisoft campus and NAd center and their very good school u should really check them out u will learn alot
but mostly u will just get a foundation and just get good on ur own 3d takes time heeh :)
\as for portfolio u can put a pretty wide variety of things going from drawings paintings anatomy studies 3d photography sculpture pics
anything that shows ur artistic spirit
they just want to know if u are artistic
then theyll just show u the programs and techniques but ull make the art
keep it up and good luck
EDIT POST HAHHA CHUA I DIDNT know it was u:) its emanuel from hotmail ahah

[JacqueChoi]

Why stay away from fine arts? I just ask this because I've been told that a going to college for fine arts could be good as you learn more of art fundamentals rather than just computer programs and whatnot?

Some good reasons would really help me out. I've got enough credits to get my associates degree and I can still choose between graphic design or fine arts. And I plan to transfer to a university pretty soon. I was planning on getting a BFA in Animation and Entertainment, is this a good idea or is there some better degree for game art?


Well, My grad class consisted of a girl who painted with her hair, a naked girl standing on a podium talking about her childhood, an obscure photograph painted on top with india ink (accompanied by a telephone book manifesto), and numerous video based installation pieces.

The animation class at my school had a couple of students who scratched on film, while others did experimental stop motion type animations, and a couple of non-objective abstract expressionist animations transitioning between different mediums...


Basically what I'm getting at is, Fine Arts won't help your portfolio, or give you good instruction. Go to a more commercial art school.

[D3struct-o-Bot]

Basically what I'm getting at is, Fine Arts won't help your portfolio, or give you good instruction. Go to a more commercial art school.

Bioware Edmonton has hired a lot of people from ACAD (http://www.acad.ab.ca/) over the years and not just for concept art positions.

SCAD (http://www.scad.edu/programs/) is another art school offering fine arts, animation, comics. Reputedly has animation grads getting hired at Pixar, Dreamworks, etc.

I understand where you coming from. There are still snobbish programs and profs out there who won't really teach you art skills useful for gamedev. But just to put things in perspective...not all schools offering fine arts are bad. Just the same for "for-profit" schools like AI or DeVry (which are more "commercial" or vo-tech than either ACAD, SCAD or Emily Carr). Not all deliver what they promise in their ads or tv commercials either, except for maybe Gnomon and VFS (in terms of training quality and getting jobs right away).

If I were to study in Vancouver (with intent to get into games) I wouldn't go to Emily Carr or VFS or Vanarts. I'd go to Capilano University Animation Department for the hard skills and art fundamentlas and just subscribe to one of the online sites offering 3d video workshops for after-school training and practice in software and game art creation techniques.

[redpandafire]

I was always told to stay away from those all-in-one gaming colleges like the IADT in Toronto. Because although they teach you a bit of everything, you rarely get good at any one thing. I know this because the guy working next to me spent $30k in that school and got nothing near the job he wanted. He gave up on 3D, gave up on drawing, and now just does QA.

But I figure if he were to pick up his art again, and work every night after work, he would get somewhere.

EDIT POST HAHHA CHUA I DIDNT know it was u:) its emanuel from hotmail ahah

MANNY! Whats up dude!? :D

[FredH]

Yeah, for fine arts, perhaps it depends on the school. At dawson, I believe they frown on teaching students perspective and life drawing because they prefer to let artists explore their natural and expressanistic(?) side. In illustration and design, in the first semester, they make it their mission to force students to unlearn their bad habbits and draw things correctly as seen. Also teach how to come up with ideas with thumbnails, and how to see the correct degrees of angles that can be found in everything you see.

For gamedev schools that teach the entire pipeline of content creation, you usually end up learning things you'd prefer not to and the creation side of the pipeline, the art, is barely touched. The high prices of these schools does not necessarly mean a good foundation for creating game assets - the bear minimum requirement to get into a game job.


Question to everyone (I am just curious), have you heard of anyone not really proficient in art, get a job as a level designer or something else in a game studio? There are schools that teach level design, but i am curious if they can get a job with this skill alone.

[redpandafire]

I've never known anyone to take the new Level Design courses offered. But judging from the portfolio requirements, you must have created many game mods in the past, most FPS mods I think. And without artistic proficiency, its kind of difficult to generate much sucess with your mods. That's my take on it anyways.

[Ace-Angel]

Hope I'm not Hijacking the thread, sorry if I am, but I have a small question.

If someone is looking for an English based course in Montreal, other then Dawson for the 3D area, what other options do they have?

[FredH]

For english, Dawson is the main one, but there is also 3d animation at concordia, but I wouldn't recommend it. If you can't get into dawson, wait until you can, or come to GA Montreal =)

[Ace-Angel]

Aww, I wish. It'll be atleast a year, give or take before I'm in a position to attend GA, although I would benefit greatly from it as it would help to tighten me.

Thanks for the Tip Fred, much appreciated.