Search form

Which type of training recommended?

12 posts / 0 new
Last post
Which type of training recommended?

Greetings all. I am a bit new to these forums, so any help from knowledable folks would be appreciated.

My daughter will be graduating from University of Cincinnati in about a year in the digital arts in the top 10-15% of her class and is VERY motivated and hard working. Her program is a broad swath of digital training including all the adobe programs, some Video work with Cinema 4, a lot of flash and a lot of web design with some animation.

My daughter likes animation and wants to get training in 3D animation specfically. As I see it she has three options:

1. Grad school: however, not sure that this would be the best option for skills training.

2. A second undergradatute degree: Normally, I don't like this option since it seems to be going backwards for her professionally plus she would ordinarily have to retake some gen eds especially for schools like Cal Arts. In addition, although we probably have the money to fund this, it is the most expensive option. However, Ringling waives Gen eds for those with previous bachelors degrees,which might be a good optioin. Same can be said for Digital Art College in Florida and Full Sail University. We are even considering Sheriden College that has several one year programs or Max the Mutt,which is a three-year program.

3.Take the couses in a technical, vocational school such as Gnomon ( high end graphics program, which is 21 months and recommended by an animation friend) or animation Mentor's online program ( which is 17 months)or Boston University one year intensive digital imaging program which is 12 months every day and is located where we live, Sheridan College in Canada (1-2 years), Max the Mutt in Canada 3 years) etc.

Each has their pros and cons. For example, Animation Mentor looks great but is strictly character animation. I would think that she should be exposed to various areas of animation such as modeling, rigging, etc.Gnomon looks great,but I haven't met anyone who has been there. Thus, I am very confused.

MY first question is:What option do you recommend as best for skills training?
What do you know about Gnomon? What do you know about Sheridan? What do you know about Digital Arts College and Academy of Art University in San Francisco?

Let me note that a goal of my daughter is to eventually get an MFA from somewhere in the future,but she wants strong animation skills now. As you can see, we have really thought this out,but it does present a lot of issues.

If you want to PM me, send me an email at sandytaxman@comcast.net

Thanks for your help.

Since she already has a bachelor in arts I would choose option 3.
Gnomon and AM are probably the most renowned short term programs but they are very different beasts. Like you said AM is purely character animation, while Gnomon is much more geared towards modelling, texturing, lighting and compositing. The main question here would be what it is she would like to do. If she wants to be a character animator then AM is your best bet. If she wants to model, texture, composite, etc then Gnomon would be a better choice.

Character animation tends to be a seperate skillset. Most CG generalists can do everything except char anim. I know people that can animate and model and rig and light and composite; but they are few and far between; and in time they usually need to pick one or the other.

Whatever school you choose, make sure the place focuses on artistic skills, not software training. If a school can't show teacher- and student portfolios that are up to snuff with what studios produce, keep looking.

cheers,
Dave

I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy [i]-Tom Waits
[/i]

thanks Dave

Thanks Dave for your advice. Do you or any others have suggestions for other schools that I haven't noted?

Hi taxguy,

I'm probably the last person you should be taking advice from, but...this community has helped me a lot, so I'll share what I can:

Option three, sounds like a good choice, assuming her fundamentals are strong, meaning, she's practiced her drawing, studied her anatomy, etc. I say this from my research on these programs because they're very fast and very intense. To learn your fundamentals along with more advanced concept seems a bit insane. Also, I noticed you didn't mention VFS, you might want to look at that one.

As for option 2: it's expensive. I wasn't able to attend one of those 100k (probably 200k now) schools despite my admission, but...hey, there are tons of people that did it that way (not attending a calarts, ringling, scad). I'm hoping to do the same :D

If you can afford it, go for it I say. I mean, you get lectures from people in the field, heck your teachers are people in the field. The environment, from when I visited Ringling was inspiring, not to mention the connections you get. It's great! but there are other ways.

Don't know if you've read this yet:

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/student/send-a-canadian-to-calarts.html

But if you haven't, do so...all of it.

The comments are perhaps the most insightful I've read, and I've been researching this stuff day and night all across the interscape.

I'm also going to throw in San Jose State for option 1. It's really a great looking program, and best of all, it's relatively cheap. I was reading a blog the other day, I think his name was Paul Abadilla? (not sure, google it) Anyway, he just got hired to Pixar, and his work is really good. Just looking at all the works on from the shrunkenhead club is pretty damn inspiring.

For a list of schools that deal in art/animation you might want to check out the AICAD schools:

http://www.aicad.org/byname.htm

Good luck

Additional Information

Metalclay, my daughter's design skillls are terrific. However, she does need stronger fundamental training in portraits. I guess does 3D animation or shading and lighting need strong live drawing skill?

Let me rephrase. what do you know abouit Gnomon?

Let me rephrase the question. What does anyone know about Gnomon? Can you get classical animation from them too?

Let me rephrase the question. What does anyone know about Gnomon? Can you get classical animation from them too?

In the last 3 studios I worked me and one other guy were the only classically trained animators. Your daughter will be much better off taking drawing and painting classes on the side while she works fulltime on her CG skills. Not a popular opinion in this forum, but that's been my observation over the past 8 years of working in CG.

As for Gnomon, here's a long thread with lots of former students :
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=2&t=205253&highlight=gnomon
Seems most of them were happy with it.

I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy [i]-Tom Waits
[/i]

Your daughter will be much better off taking drawing and painting classes on the side while she works fulltime on her CG skills. Not a popular opinion in this forum, but that's been my observation over the past 8 years of working in CG.

No, I think you will find a larger consensus about traditional skills emphasis on these forums. There are some voices that say such skills are not necessary, but I think the wiser heads here certainly do agree that traditional skills are an undeniable asset.

"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)

Quot erat demonstrandum :)

I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy [i]-Tom Waits
[/i]

I agree

I agree with Ken. In fact, I just had a discussion yesterday with someone who worked with Disney for years and now teaches - and he confirmed that by and large the folks who learned the traditional skills fare better in the industry - 2D and CG.

This is someone who is hired by the big studios to teach and "refresh" the animators/ artists...and they teach at the Animation Guild from time to time.

Thanks.

has she taken the time to animate anything yet 2d or 3d that will give her some clue of how good she is at it. with whatever knowledge she has or doesnt have. I suggest she spend some time animating and studying animation. before jumping into a school. from the time she spends animating she will find out. what type of animation style or studies she needs to pursue

Tryee, yes she has done some basic animation

Tyree asks,"has she taken the time to animate anything yet 2d or 3d that will give her some clue of how good she is at it."

response: Yes, she has done some as part of her digital arts program and learned some on her own. In addition, she does some animation at her coops. However, although it is good and expressive, it is fairly basic and mostly in flash. She does need a lot more training and probably can use a good year in basic live drawing and anatomy, although her still life drawing is quite good.