I'm still in my first year of college but I would like to know which Art schools are the best to go to? I was looking at FZD recently and was amazed by the artwork but I realized that it costs over $35,000 to get in... And I don't know if the school is even legit or not. What are the best choices for an Art degree/experience after College? (FYI: I live in Florida and attend Valencia College)
Sorry I'm not IronStylus or with Riot but this is important.
School and the prestige it may bring is important, of course, and the people you would meet at these places might open up opportunities you otherwise wouldn't have; but that is no reason to forget the important of practice and passion.
You could be the best student from the best school and it will mean jack if someone looks at your portfolio and goes "Meh...". Is it more impressive when a student from an art academy produces art or when someone self-taught produces the same thing?
Start drawing, animating, etc, what you love now. If it is not as good as you'd like or as good as someone you look up to, do not throw it away. Keep it as a reminder of where you are now and proof that you have improved as you keep working on your skills.
Create things that inspire and make you happy, that is where you best work will come from.
Want to make yourself more marketable? Challenge yourself! Suck at drawing hands, landscapes, faces, proportions? Look for references and do a sketch or two everyday to get better.
Trying to be as good as someone else is a shitty goal. It is perfectly fine to use others as a point-of-reference but your goal should always be to be the best that you can be. That only happens by working until the good becomes better and that better turns into the best.
Choose a school you can afford and more importantly one that will fit you, not a school you have to fit into.
School can be really important, depending on the art. I was a ceramics major, and if you're going to major in any kind of art that isn't like, drawing or painting or something, make sure your potential dream school has all the equipment you've ever dreamed of using (within reason, of course). IMO a well-stocked art department and good faculty is a far better indicator of quality than an outright price or prestige. University of Virginia is a really excellent school. I heard from an art friend who went there that they had not a single kiln on their campus.
If you're looking to do digital art, I'd ask colleges what programs they keep installed on their computers (Oh yeah, make sure they have open computer labs where you can do your work in your off time and that those computers are fully locked and loaded). After all, it would be kind of silly to go to school to do, say, digital sculpting and then find out that the school doesn't have Maya or something on any of its computers.
You're not gonna wanna shell out a ton of money to try programs and equipment you might not even like. My alma mater had TONS AND TONS AND TONS of art toys, and while it's definitely not a super prestigious school or anything I'm so glad I went there.
