[blush]

For graphic design, your portfolio should have a variety of your best and most recent (last 2 years) work. This can include paintings, drawings, photography stuff, logo designs. They like versatility. And your work should be a reflection of you.

I know that some of the best graphic designers out there can't draw (i, personally, don't even know how that's possible.) but its still a very important skill to have.

If you have some work done in photoshop, they can be submitted but the work has to be original. Meaning everything is done from scratch. Not a bunch of pictures of your favorite Kpop singers that were copy+pasted together with colors and swirls added here and there.

Would taking a picture & using that as a reference on photoshop (or just simply tracing/vectoring it) counting as 'scratch'?
For one of my projects, I took a picture of a car I found on google and basically made my own version of it by re-tracing everything and then adding the little details with other tools. None of the real picture was used.

[Xkumagorobeamx]

ok so I have been thinking of getting into Animation for a while now. There is this one school that I have been thinking about. Although I'm not sure if its a good school for animation or not. Its Laguna college of art and design. The tuition is quite high, so i don't want make a poor choice of picking college.

and also can someone give me some advises on what i should include in my porfolio?
Thanks

[o8dOObOO8o]

wow, so many graphics and animation and illustration majors....... i kind of feel left out.

i'm going to Pasadena Art Center College of Design... came in as an Illustration major, then switched to Fine Art. i'm graduating in about a year or so, and i'm thinking about going to grad school overseas, but i'm not sure where. does anyone know of any good schools outside of CA???? i hear good things about alot of schools so i can't really decide yet.


and just for some of those asking about art careers...
for design, particularly graphics or illustration, you do get paid pretty well. if you can get yourself well promoted, you'll get job requests from magazines or newspapers or something, and you can work as a freelancer. or you can go into a small design firm and work as a team, or work under a particular magazine.
for fine arts, its a bit more unstable, unfortunately for me. you can work as a curator, or something, but for the most part, it's all about just doing what you like and making yourself known a bit. :/
for animation and entertainment designs, they've got the biggest opportunities, working in movies and stuff, like pixar or dreamworks or disney.
but i think all of these can always mix and match any way you want.
there was that really famous art director for disney(as well as my favorite art director) Mary Blair, who's done the artwork for Bambi and Sleeping Beauty, the background design. her paintings sold for millions, and they were just landscape paintings for the movies. she's done gallery exhibitions too.
there are people who major in graphics and illustration, who end up learning and pursuing a photography career, or having gallery shows. there are fine art majors who design sets for music videos or movies, and some even work on stage sets for plays or musicals.
there's an infinite number of possibilities, and all you have to do is start with one, and follow on to what you feel you want to do.

[deeism]

Thanks for the link, but alas this is not mac-friendly, my search continues.

If anyone does happen to find a good, quick, and of course safe source
---Please PM me ASAP

It does not have to be the Adobe Master Collection, but specifically looking for:
Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign CS4

have you thought about the student edition? (it's about $100 cheaper..) im thinking of purchasing cs4 for my mac as well, but it's soo expensive i'm not sure if my budget allows it but at the same time i don't want to download something that could potentially hurt my mac :<

i found this site awhile ago with alternatives... i've never tried any of these, but if anyone feels like it, give it a go : >
http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/top-5-alt...-for-mac-users/



speaking of photoshop,
does anyone know the difference between the student edition and the regular one?? (or should i ask this somewhere else....)

[Xkumagorobeamx]

There is also this other college that sent their information to me. Its called Platt College.
I'm not sure if someone went/is going there right.
Can you guys give me some advises on this school?
Is it good for animation? How are the environment?

Thanks

[BPWNR]

I'm heading off to Ringling either next year or the year after, depending on if my early graduation pulls through or not. I'm a little scared, because if I do get to go early I'll only be 16 years old, haha. D:

With the age, it's not really so much a social problem as it is a living-on-my-own problem. I skipped a grade in elementary school, so everyone's almost always been older than me. I don't really care anymore, heh. Buuut, I'm worried about being so young and away from home. My parents will be two hours away (around Disney! we can see it from our house!) so it won't be so bad, but nyeeeeeeeeh. It's still iffy. XD

As far as getting in, I'm extremely confident in my talent, and my dad's a veteran so I get an awesome all-expenses scholarship that covers tuition and food and... whatever else I need. I'm very, very grateful for it, since I probably wouldn't be able to go otherwise.

I'll most likely be majoring in illustration. A good friend is coming a year (or two, depending) behind me and will be studying filmmaking, so I won't have to be lonely the whole time. XD

OVERALL, I'M PRETTY FRIKKIN' EXCITED.

[yanyan_321]

Woo~ an Art & Design Thread!!

I'm currently in my second year at Eastern Michigan University majoring in Graphic Design.
I chose GD lul GD = gdragon too because I LOOOVE drawing/photoshop/photography/making cool stuff. ;D
I plan on transferring to College for Creative Studies up here in Detroit!!! (don't worry, D-town maybe the most dangerous cities, but it's located in the nice part of it.)

I want to transfer because, well, the art program at EMU is GREAT if you want to become an Art Teacher... not ferr meh.


Then I suggest some kind of university. I don't really know much about other states, but University of Michigan has a pretty good art program and it's got a great science program.

CCS is nice, I might plan on going there after I finish my BA. I am attending UofM...Not far from EMU lol

UofM has some nice program, you just have to talk to your advisors A LOT. Also ever since the new dean, things change. But overall, I like it.

[deeism]

hey guys.

ive been researching some schools..

what;s the difference between a BDes in Fashion/Communications and BA in Fashions and Textiles?
There's specialization after the second year in the BA (like marketing, design, technology, etc)...

is there a difference at all?

[Brusky]

thought these links might be useful for those who are interested in finding some reputable design institutions:

BusinessWeek: Best Design Schools in the World

BusinessWeek: World's Best Design Programs

and woot for CCA graphic design!

[demllequ]

ok let me introduce myself
hello everybody I am studying B in design studies. I do not know what I am going to major in yet but I am leaning towards web design/photography or interactive design. I don't know yet. follow the man on his bicycle to view my picture blog! =D

[threecharles]

I was planning on finally going back to school and like someone said before...you're only given one life to live and i finally decided to chase my dream to become a graphic designer.


I REALLY want to go to Ringling. I was thinking about going to MassArt for a year or two and then transferring to Ringling because I've been out of school for almost 3 years.

How is Ringling's graphic design program? Do they really give you a MacBook Pro when you go there? Is it hard to travel around the area without a car?

I know Ringling is a pretty pricey college....on average, how much can you expect to pay for tuition?

Yup, only one life so chase those dreams no matter what the cost, except happiness
Ringling is a fantastic school for nearly everything we offer. Graphic Design just got its own floor in an entirely new building this year. Many graphic designers have internships and some even are apart of our design center who work with clients their entire senior year. I do caution you though, Ringling is a pretty serious school; it costs a hell of a ton, and you will spend a lot of long nights at the computer.

Yes, Ringling students are given a MacBook Pro. Most people don't have cars and instead ride bikes, make friends with cars, walk, or ride the bus.

Currently, tuition is costing around 13k a semester. Feel free to drop me an email about any Ringling questions at EMAIL

I'm heading off to Ringling either next year or the year after, depending on if my early graduation pulls through or not. I'm a little scared, because if I do get to go early I'll only be 16 years old, haha. D:

With the age, it's not really so much a social problem as it is a living-on-my-own problem. I skipped a grade in elementary school, so everyone's almost always been older than me. I don't really care anymore, heh. Buuut, I'm worried about being so young and away from home. My parents will be two hours away (around Disney! we can see it from our house!) so it won't be so bad, but nyeeeeeeeeh. It's still iffy. XD

As far as getting in, I'm extremely confident in my talent, and my dad's a veteran so I get an awesome all-expenses scholarship that covers tuition and food and... whatever else I need. I'm very, very grateful for it, since I probably wouldn't be able to go otherwise.

I'll most likely be majoring in illustration. A good friend is coming a year (or two, depending) behind me and will be studying filmmaking, so I won't have to be lonely the whole time. XD

OVERALL, I'M PRETTY FRIKKIN' EXCITED.

Ah Recent Veteran parent FTW! Anyhow, I am an Illustration major at Ringling. We are definitely THE school for Illustration, no doubt. My advice to you is if you feel you are a bit young, then consider talking with the school and setting up a way to knock out your liberal arts at a community college. I really recommend this because it will save you a lot of hassle down the road. Honestly, most students coming directly from high school don't have the right mentality to succeed, a few years in Community College would allow you to knock some liberal arts out of the way and just improve your observational skills. Of course those two or so years at community college you should be filling sketch books with drawings from life, like classmates and such.

Anyhow, the email thing goes for you too. I wish you both the best of luck.

[comicboyz4eva]

Can anyone give me an idea of what a portfolio should include?
I barely have any drawings or fashion design stuff, only videos I made.
I want to go for a fashion marketing major, or somewhere along the lines of that.
Can anyone give me some suggestions for my portfolio? >_<

[_em0r_]

Hey! This is exciting to see a thread about! I am a first year Graphic Designer at RIT. I saw there were other people who go there too who commented on the thread which is exciting to see. From what I hear we have a really great design school and our rate of getting hired it super high. We are apparently on BusinessWeek's list of top design schools in the world.

I just finished my first quarter and am proud to say I survived it. Its really rough taking 6 art classes at once.

[oekakiaddict]

HI >_<
my mom was kidding around when she was suggesting schools to me, and she suggested FIT (fashion institute of technology, I'm thinking that that qualifies as art/design)

and then I went online and searched their courses, etc. etc. and got really interested
like reeeeeeally interested.
then she told me she was kidding and would prefer me to majour in business in a local school near where we live (it's pretty famous.. I think), that I should just take the courses I'm interested in when I'm nearing the end of my college career and not actually majour in it-- because if you're majouring in art, classes like math, English, history, etc. etc. aren't emphasized and.. well, I'm already pretty durrr there >_<
the problem is, I'm not the least bit interested in business, and I've liked designing, making, etc. jewelery ever since I was little


so this kinda comes as a blow, because my older brother majoured in art (VSA), and decided to transfer out and majour in physics in that local college I mentioned, and I don't wanna go through the trouble he went through with studying twice as much as everyone else, then taking summer courses to catch up. I'm hoping that I'd make the right decision and stick with it and be happy with what I did..

the problem is I can't look into the future and choose FIT or RU depending on whether not I liked the job I'm doing when I'm an adult

so like
is there some type of question survey method that if I answer "correctly" I'll know that I'm not just randomly deciding or something?

I would go with something that makes you happy.

I'm 2nd year Industrial Design, and I'm just going to inject some of my input, if you're looking for a more realistic design job I would suggest Industrial Design (a bit biased since it's my major) or Product Design. They're both majors that are hands on with material and work with both drawing/rendering/thumbnailing your designs and physically creating them. It makes me happy to know I can learn how to work with metal, wood, molds, vacuum forming plastics, ect. and actually have real skills other than drawing getting out of college.

If you consider Product Design, I would suggest the Art Center in Pasadena Cali, not only is their program good, but they're known for having a good alumni network.

For Industrial Design...I would suggest asking around Core77, it's the established website of professional and students in Industrial Design and you'll get good opinions there if you're interested. You could get really good opinions from Yo in particular there (Mike Ditullo, he's currently the design director at converse). I met him the other day with my fellow sophomores through one of our professors and I have to say it is an awesome experience being able to watch a pro work. >w< But I'm rambling now, this concentration is small, but tight-knit community even around the country, probably because of the internet/Core77...anyways, just check it out, it's something to consider. If you do consider it most people will probably recommend RISD, The Art Center, Pratt, University of Cincinnati (it has the current set standard for industrial design so most kids flock there), or studying abroad in Britain. Ahh, run on sentences, but anyways, that's just my input.

:3

[Edit]

Even if you go through the major and decide you don't want to specifically do Industrial/Product design, you come out with a good skill-set and I've known a number of people who go on to doing things like sculpting or like one of my professors silver-smithing/sorta like a jeweler. Generally different schools will concentrate more on certain disciplines within the concentration, like I think Cleveland Institute of Tech. has a large network in the car design industry, but schools like University of Cincinatti or the Art Center will have a broader range. Uhh, but like I said earlier, if you're interested, it'd be good to check out Core77.

[parachute]

hi guys,

when i was younger, i wanted to go to an art school, but when i started high school, i started leaning towards business/marketing/advertising. i kinda gave up on art these last few years, but now i realized that i really want to major in something i love doing, art. now, i'm thinking more of majoring in design/visual communications & advertising/commercial art.

since i want to stay in california, i was thinking of applying to uc's, university of san fran, cal poly slo, etc... (for their art programs) but now i'm thinking of an art college, like otis college of arts & design OR california college of the arts.

i'm currently a junior in hs and i was wondering if its too late to start making a portfolio? i haven't taken any art classes in high school, and i'm really regretting it. (i took some in middle school though) idk if i'm talented enough or anything, but i don't want to regret NOT applying to an art college, sooo does anyone have any suggestions? and since i want to do more of a communications arts thing, what types of things should i include in my portfolio?

ALSO, stupid question, but do you need a portfolio if you were planning on majoring in art major at a NON-art college? (ex. cal poly or any of the uc's)

sorry for the long post T________T

[Tomochii]

Hi guys!
First thread to catch my attention Everyone in here doing what they want is so inspiring
I studied Fine Arts at UCDavis for about 2 years, but realized it wasn't what I was really looking for career-wise :/. I changed schools recently, and am currently study Game Art & Design at the Art Institutes. School is much more enjoyable now~

ALSO, stupid question, but do you need a portfolio if you were planning on majoring in art major at a NON-art college? (ex. cal poly or any of the uc's)

sorry for the long post T________T

^ I don't think that's a dumb question at all, I'm sure other people are curious . I can only fill you in on UCs though, but as far as I know (from personal experience, and friends) only UCLA requires a portfolio.

[*PeACH*IT*UP*]

EDIT:: Nevermind. People told me things. SO never mind about this post. Sorry for wasting space though >.<

[schwinn]

@threecharles
Oh my, it's a small world. My sister is graduating from New College of Florida in the spring, right down the road. I hear ya'll party together.
I spent quite a bit of time around Sarasota and its colleges, and Ringling seems like a cool, reputable place.

I just started my first year of uni at London College of Fashion for costume design. I'm from New Jersey, so it's a rather ridiculous change, but the city is gorgeous, and the people are really nice and welcoming most of the time, even though they cringe when they hear my awkward american-raised-by-brits accent.

[maly&ahpulee]

I'm currently at UW-MADISON. The art program here is supposedly good, but I think I want to transfer somewhere that focuses only on the arts.

[lokkita]

hi guys,

when i was younger, i wanted to go to an art school, but when i started high school, i started leaning towards business/marketing/advertising. i kinda gave up on art these last few years, but now i realized that i really want to major in something i love doing, art. now, i'm thinking more of majoring in design/visual communications & advertising/commercial art.

since i want to stay in california, i was thinking of applying to uc's, university of san fran, cal poly slo, etc... (for their art programs) but now i'm thinking of an art college, like otis college of arts & design OR california college of the arts.

i'm currently a junior in hs and i was wondering if its too late to start making a portfolio? i haven't taken any art classes in high school, and i'm really regretting it. (i took some in middle school though) idk if i'm talented enough or anything, but i don't want to regret NOT applying to an art college, sooo does anyone have any suggestions? and since i want to do more of a communications arts thing, what types of things should i include in my portfolio?

ALSO, stupid question, but do you need a portfolio if you were planning on majoring in art major at a NON-art college? (ex. cal poly or any of the uc's)

sorry for the long post T________T

It is absolutely not late at all!! I'm like you, I didn't actually decide on going to an art school until the second semester of junior year. Most art colleges are on rolling admission ( I think Otis is), so you can turn your portfolio in at any time. Take some out-of-school drawing classes during the summer, and start building your portfolio then. Otis, Calarts, LCAD, etc. all have summer art programs you can take, this will also help build your portfolio.

You can do it! I'm glad you're making a choice to have a job that will make you HAPPY