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Hopefully this question hasn't already been asked. I'm a current student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) interviewing for a summer internship with a graphic design house. They have already seen a pdf portfolio from me prior to asking me to come in. I've been having a hard time nailing down what's the proper format for an interview portfolio. I understand to include my best work, etc, but the size of the portfolio and whether I should make a copy to leave there are things I need help with. Is it okay to resize poster work? Should I make a 100% version and then a smaller one to leave there? Any help is greatly appreciated!
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# ? Jan 14, 2009 20:24 |
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# ? May 16, 2024 08:41 |
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GodofGravity posted:Anyone have any advice on getting into creative advertising? Firstly, where do you live? The ad industry varies hugely by location.
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# ? Jan 14, 2009 21:33 |
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marshmallard posted:Firstly, where do you live? The ad industry varies hugely by location. I'm in Southwest Michigan. Most places I was applying were near Chicago, Detroit or Grand Rapids.
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# ? Jan 14, 2009 22:08 |
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GodofGravity posted:I'm in Southwest Michigan. Most places I was applying were near Chicago, Detroit or Grand Rapids. Ah, OK. I'll let an American goon help you out then, I hear it's quite different across the pond.
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# ? Jan 14, 2009 22:45 |
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I am torn. I keep getting restless and wanting to move back to Chicago and go to Columbia to get a BFA in Graphic Design and Photography there, but it's a lot more expensive than where I am currently and with the economy as it is, finaid is getting harder to come by. I'm going into my second semester as a Pre-Art student at UW-Milwaukee after three years of dicking around in college trying to figure out what I want to do. I should've taken a year off or so, I know, but I was afraid of being uninsured (I get sick a lot and broke my elbow so thank god I didn't). But since I'm running out of patience and time and money, I am under a lot of self-imposed pressure to get done with school ASAP. I guess what I'm asking is, would it be worth it to move back to Chicago? Is living in Chicago going to give me an advantage, since I ultimately want to work there? Is being local an advantage when it comes to internships? I know I'll be much happier in Chicago, but Columbia is expensive (though not as bad as SAIC) and I think that would weigh me down a little. Are there any other BFA programs I could look into that are cheaper? I ultimately want to do packaging design, especially in a cycling company setting (like SRAM, which is why I want to live in Chicago). Additionally, there is something called the Chicago Portfolio School which is a one-year crash course program for $12k that helps you develop a portfolio. According to the website, a lot of their "graduates" have gotten jobs at big firms for Ad Direction. I've been doing graphic design work since I was in high school so I know how to work things like Photoshop, I just don't know all the terminology and techniques behind why design is design. They have a Graphic Design program, and although I wouldn't get a BFA, I'd supposedly have a good portfolio. I can't find much about it on the internet that wasn't put out by the school itself, though. So I'm wondering if I should just give up on getting a degree and do this instead so I can start my career? Or is this a bad move?
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# ? Jan 15, 2009 18:40 |
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district 12 posted:Additionally, there is something called the Chicago Portfolio School Did you look at their student work? I don't think it's that great. I was always under the assumption portfolio schools were more for those who wanted to get into advertising. Compare Chicago Portfolio school with Miami Ad School, which is a two year program. I've been looking at grad and portfolio schools. Miami Ad has want I desire so much; a large study abroad program. cheese eats mouse fucked around with this message at 18:40 on Jan 17, 2009 |
# ? Jan 17, 2009 18:34 |
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i've written a treatment for an indiana jones film that takes place in 1926, centered around the first adventure with marion and the search for the blade of masada. should i even write it out or would it border somewhere between hopeless and fanfic?
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# ? Jan 18, 2009 03:59 |
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FizFashizzle posted:i've written a treatment for an indiana jones film that takes place in 1926, centered around the first adventure with marion and the search for the blade of masada. Fanfic, sorry. People don't accept spec screenplays for film properties the way they do TV. And even in TV it's more of a way to show off your skills - spec scripts from unknowns hardly ever get produced. So change all the character names and run with that poo poo.
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# ? Jan 18, 2009 04:08 |
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slashie when are you going to take a script ive written and show it to a friend of yours 50/50 right down the middle
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# ? Jan 18, 2009 04:16 |
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FizFashizzle posted:slashie when are you going to take a script ive written and show it to a friend of yours Okay I will hang on... He says "Why are you talking to internet people?"
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# ? Jan 18, 2009 04:47 |
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Slashie posted:"internet people?" we have feelings too
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# ? Jan 18, 2009 05:07 |
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FizFashizzle posted:we have feelings too Aw I'm sorry. He's just a big meanie. You know those Hollywood types.
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# ? Jan 18, 2009 08:26 |
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I'm looking at doing some part time freelance illustration or design work at some point (when I improve a bit more) for some side cash. I was wondering, what kind of companies tend to look for this kind of service? Also, how do you go about getting this kind of job once when you know where to go?
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# ? Jan 20, 2009 09:27 |
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Out of curiosity, would it help my job-seeking if I lived within the city I want to work? I currently live within commuting distance of San Francisco, but still about an hour and a half away. I've had prospective employers express concerns over even that much. I could probably make enough money above what I currently make if I waited tables in SF as opposed to my lovely ghetto city to afford to rent a room. Probably. Aside from being able to list my address in the Bay Area on my applications, would I gain any kind of additional knowledge or benefits from living there?
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# ? Jan 20, 2009 13:26 |
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cheese eats mouse posted:Did you look at their student work? I don't think it's that great. I was always under the assumption portfolio schools were more for those who wanted to get into advertising. Compare Chicago Portfolio school with Miami Ad School, which is a two year program. I googled it a little bit, but I was wondering if you could say a little bit about what a portfolio school program is like? Does it look good to have on a resume when you apply for jobs?
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# ? Jan 20, 2009 18:12 |
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KittenofDoom posted:Aside from being able to list my address in the Bay Area on my applications, would I gain any kind of additional knowledge or benefits from living there?
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# ? Jan 20, 2009 18:51 |
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KittenofDoom posted:Out of curiosity, would it help my job-seeking if I lived within the city I want to work? A guy at my office (London) moved to Scotland. He didn't tell work until he'd done it, he just did it. It's been no problem, and that's a whole other country. Maybe just leave your address off your resume? You only really need a website/email address/phone number these days anyway.
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# ? Jan 20, 2009 20:40 |
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Ah thanks. I didn't think there'd be any major benefits to moving AFTER finding a job, I just wanted to make sure. Besides, the BART is fun!
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# ? Jan 20, 2009 22:12 |
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Liebe posted:Hopefully this question hasn't already been asked. Any chance you could email me at standby at gmail ? I have a couple questions regarding the graphic design program at SAIC.
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# ? Jan 21, 2009 07:47 |
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GodofGravity posted:Anyone have any advice on getting into creative advertising? I think you are right on track with the creative role at an agency. Sometimes my agency will get clients that have little to no clue as to what they want, and someone like you can really shine in that moment, given the ability to conceptualize the piece and also deliver some marketing strategy. All the agencies I've ever applied for are usually pretty high on artistic and graphic ability, so I don't think I could recommend NOT getting better at graphic design, as that's the field you're going to work with. I see two options, you decide you want to mesh your abilities and work creatively in a small studio, that has clients that you can work with and pitch whole projects for. (You would need to work on your graphic design abilities it seems, if you are lacking confidence..) The other is to work with a marketing company, and work with separate companies and be the in-between for the outsourced media design. I also get work from marketing agencies who already have a clear cut idea of what the client wants, and most of the time its not me or the client deciding that, and it seems pretty often.
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# ? Jan 21, 2009 21:53 |
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srphm posted:I think you are right on track with the creative role at an agency. Sometimes my agency will get clients that have little to no clue as to what they want I don't know about yours, but at my agency, the clients don't know what they want until you present them with your first draft. Then they know exactly what they wanted, and it definitely wasn't what you've done.
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# ? Jan 21, 2009 23:09 |
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yoyomama posted:I googled it a little bit, but I was wondering if you could say a little bit about what a portfolio school program is like? Does it look good to have on a resume when you apply for jobs? I don't know much since I'm starting to look into both portfolio and grad schools. I will say if I end up liking advertising I will be going to portfolio school. It was highly recommend by my professor, who is in the advertising field. It's just an extra help to really get you into the business and add better work. From what I've been told a master's in graphic design is only needed if you want to teach. I'm thinking about a masters but more in the motion graphics field. I have two loves, graphic design and animation, so I would prefer to combine the two. I'm still about a year or two away from a decision though. Do you have access to a good adviser? I'm just a lowly junior in college. Oh I saw district12 has not achieved his BFA yet. I say go for the BFA as most portfolio schools require a bachelor's degree. Plus you'll learn a lot. cheese eats mouse fucked around with this message at 00:41 on Jan 22, 2009 |
# ? Jan 22, 2009 00:33 |
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srphm posted:I think you are right on track with the creative role at an agency. Sometimes my agency will get clients that have little to no clue as to what they want, and someone like you can really shine in that moment, given the ability to conceptualize the piece and also deliver some marketing strategy. All the agencies I've ever applied for are usually pretty high on artistic and graphic ability, so I don't think I could recommend NOT getting better at graphic design, as that's the field you're going to work with. Thanks for the input. Good to hear that I'm on at least somewhat of an ok track. The options you laid out are both things I would enjoy doing. I would like to see myself starting in something like the first option and moving into more of leadership type roll similar to the second. I know there are something aspects of design that I still need to work on. And even though the newspaper ads I currently produce are nothing great, they are helping me pick up on things that weren't focused on as well at my university.
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# ? Jan 22, 2009 02:49 |
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hey slashie, check your email hate to be pushy, but time is kinda of the essence here. i'll make it up to you i swear by buying you a PM cert
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# ? Jan 22, 2009 03:20 |
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district 12 posted:I am torn. I keep getting restless and wanting to move back to Chicago and go to Columbia to get a BFA in Graphic Design and Photography there, I've heard a lot of bad things about Columbia College lately. I have a friend who graduated a couple years ago from the photography program and has a killer job with Playboy now because of it who has told me that they have recently made some serious faculty changes in the photo department and replaced some experienced professional photographers with graduate students. It was one of the factors in my own decision to not transfer there, so I figure you might be interested as well. In addition, the cost of tuition there has risen almost 6 grand in as many years, so expect it to become just as expensive as anywhere else soon enough. I have heard some other less than flattering things about the school from another friend who is also a graduate and actually employed by the school itself.
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# ? Jan 22, 2009 06:52 |
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FizFashizzle posted:hey slashie, check your email Replied. I'm so excited for you!
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# ? Jan 22, 2009 12:31 |
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cheese eats mouse posted:I don't know much since I'm starting to look into both portfolio and grad schools. I will say if I end up liking advertising I will be going to portfolio school. It was highly recommend by my professor, who is in the advertising field. It's just an extra help to really get you into the business and add better work. From what I've been told a master's in graphic design is only needed if you want to teach. I'm thinking about a masters but more in the motion graphics field. I have two loves, graphic design and animation, so I would prefer to combine the two. I'm still about a year or two away from a decision though. I already have a B.A. in psych (no more advisors for me), but I want to eventually go into a more artistic field. I was thinking of going into advertising since it would put my degree to work while I save up money to go back to school for either animation or ... something, and work on my portfolio. Thanks for your reply, and best of luck with school.
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# ? Jan 23, 2009 01:02 |
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Hey nothing wrong with a psych BA. I've done all right with one. Whether or not you end up going back to school there's a LOT you can teach yourself at home. I just got a recruiter hit for a full-time UI/web design position at a startup in San Mateo, CA that's intended for a junior designer, with say 1-2 years of experience. If anyone is qualified and interested please let me know by PM or email me qirexlol at mac dot com. If you've never done any design before please don't bother.
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# ? Jan 23, 2009 08:58 |
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Dogcow posted:advice Thanks very much, this is all great advice and I really appreciate it. In order for me to put your advice into context can you please tell me what do you do for a living?
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# ? Jan 26, 2009 11:24 |
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I still feel like I'm flailing in the dark. For those with agency experience, can you take a look at my portfolio and give me an idea what path I ought to pursue? That is, don't criticize what's on the page (I've got enough of that to work with), but show me something that's a better version of what I'm already doing? Knowing what direction to head in will make it considerably easier to get there, rather than trying to improve on things I won't be using anyways.
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# ? Jan 28, 2009 13:46 |
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KittenofDoom posted:I still feel like I'm flailing in the dark. For those with agency experience, can you take a look at my portfolio and give me an idea what path I ought to pursue? Your portfolio confuses me because there's no explanation of the work there - it's just there. I think you should add text to the pieces, explaining what they are, what you used to create them and what you did with them. Like the Pique one - you could put something like: Packaging design for Pique (men's cologne) Created in Adobe Illustrator Now on sale at pique.com Or whatever. As a prospective employer I'd want each piece to justify its place and explain how it demonstrates your skills. Also, I think you know this already, but your resume plays up your skills in programs like Photoshop and After Effects, but a lot of the work in your portfolio is done by hand with pencils or paint or whatever, which is weird and irrelevant. The photograph is especially confusing.
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# ? Jan 28, 2009 21:19 |
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I've posted before about this, still deliberating. Sorry if I'm rambling. I'm in Art Fundamentals at Sheridan College in Oakville, ON. I love it. I'd always done art as a hobby but never considered it as a career, so I did a bunch of other schooling in university for history, was dumb about it and switched schools a couple times, all while exhausting every financial resource possible. Eventually I ran out of money and was going to school part-time and eventually stopped completely. Around this time I had some epiphanies about life, came out of some longtime depression, remembered art and my love for it, and here I am. Beyond that I have no clue. This is a one-year foundations program, so I'm done in April, and will only have a certificate, not even a diploma. So I have to do something else. Not be all e/n about this (though I feel very e/n about it all the time) but I'm 24 and have not accomplished a drat thing in my life thus far. All my friends and my wife have all graduated and are making money and going places, and I'm sponging off my wife going to school hoping to someday maybe be somewhat employable in some field I'll probably hate anyway. I've bounced from school to school, doing a few different programs and not finishing any of them. I feel like my education's just become a running gag by this point. I want to be employable, have skill,s be good at something and be productive. I also want to pursue artistic fulfillment. So far I'm on the path to neither. There are career paths I'm interested in, but they are varied and I don't know which to follow. I considered applying to Sheridan's animation program, not so much because I want to be an animator (the more I think about the less I do) but because it'd give me a more varied skill set than just doing illustration. I'd be able to illustrate, animate, and have the benefits of some film school-type experience too. I also want to apply to their illustration program as a back up. I'd love to be able to illustrate freelance or something cool like that. Jim Flora is a big inspiration on that path. My other big love is comics. I don't really read them actively, but I love love love the medium and am constantly dreaming up poo poo to make into comics and have a few long-term projects on the go. I read Scott McCloud and get so caught up in it, and am in love with the storytelling possibilities, the whole scene of comic creators that I read about, the future of the industry, the DIY side of self publishing and the creative freedom it brings... everything. No matter what I'll be doing some comics, but really I'd like to be making money doing it. Looking at things more pragmatically, I'm thinking about design, preferably print, or typography, or something along those lines that would make me more employable in the near term. I'm trying to self-teach these topics but my lack of direction is translating into a lack of motivation. A big hurdle is of course finances. I've got over 25k in debt so far, and I can barely barely keep afloat as it is paying for that. I've ruled out any further debt, as I have no indication that I'll be able to handle it any time soon. I'm also commuting about 100km each way to school from Waterloo, so gas and car expenses (yeah I bought a car specifically for school. never get a car) are killing me, but I'm toughing it out to finish this school year. I'd have moved, but I'm married and didn't want to uproot my wife from her job for an 8-month program. So this is a big strike against going for a 4 year full-time program at Sheridan. Either way, it's looking more and more like I should just forget about next year and work. I'm sick of living like a 19 year old, sick of being poor and it's very attractive to just say gently caress it and get back to work and actually be able to pay for things and enjoy life (though I won't enjoy life because I wont be doing art, just whatever poo poo job I get because I have no education or qualifications). So another option came to me the other day. I could try and do the Fine Arts program at University of Waterloo (10 minute walk from my door) part-time, and use my accumulated history credits from Laurier (the other university I went to) to cover the other academic requirements. So if this were to happen, I'd have a degree (which I wanted anyway. I loved history and academia I just didn't want to make a career of it) two teachable subjects as a backup in case teaching becomes an option for me, and good classical training as UofW's program emphasizes painting and drawing (even get my own studio in 4th year). This would work ideally for me because I could work and still go to classes, and I'm not worried about drawing it out part-time, as long as I can work to pay for everything. It's here in town so I can just walk or whatever for free and get rid of that loving car, and I won't have to disrupt things for my wife, who's already getting established in her work. I'm emailing the department heads and such but I want some opinions. Would I really be missing out by not going to Sheridan, who has great name recognition and a solid program? Does this seem like a good plan? I'm stuck under the weight of all my past bad decisions and can't make any new ones for fear of screwing up further. tl;dr: Help me CC, you're my only hope. update: I heard back from the UW people, saying yes it can be done part-time and I can get in as a mature student with most of my Laurier credits transferring over. I'm all but decided on doing this. My only hang up is that the application deadline for animation at Sheridan is Feb 2 and I'm wondering if not applying straight away for that would be a mistake. General Ripper fucked around with this message at 23:57 on Jan 29, 2009 |
# ? Jan 28, 2009 22:34 |
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marshmallard posted:Or whatever. As a prospective employer I'd want each piece to justify its place and explain how it demonstrates your skills. Is there a particular designer, or branch of graphic design, that's heavily involved with illustration as well?
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# ? Jan 29, 2009 01:07 |
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General Ripper posted:There are career paths I'm interested in, but they are varied and I don't know which to follow. I considered applying to Sheridan's animation program, not so much because I want to be an animator (the more I think about the less I do) but because it'd give me a more varied skill set than just doing illustration. I'd be able to illustrate, animate, and have the benefits of some film school-type experience too. I also want to apply to their illustration program as a back up. I'd love to be able to illustrate freelance or something cool like that. Jim Flora is a big inspiration on that path. I can't give much advice, but I thought I'd say a bit. As far as animation is concerned, if you're thinking that you don't want to do it, then don't. It's a pretty good field, and it would be a decent career move money-wise, but it's not for the faint of heart. With that said, there is a lot that goes into the animation process, and you may find out that you want to work at an animation studio, but not as an animator per say. If you like illustration, just focus on becoming a storyboard artist, or something similar. As far as comics go, I'm in a similar boat as you. I would say that, if you get the chance, go to a comic convention and talk to the comic artists there and get some ideas of how to do comics, what it takes to get published, etc. I did that last year when I went to New York Comic Con, and I had a blast, and learned a lot. If you can't go to a con, then look up artists' blogs online and email them, or find them on forums. quote:Would I really be missing out by not going to Sheridan, who has great name recognition and a solid program? Does this seem like a good plan? I'm stuck under the weight of all my past bad decisions and can't make any new ones for fear of screwing up further. I'm no expert so don't take my word on this. I think that you should try to go to the best school you can, but at the end of the day it depends on you. No degree will get you a job if you don't have the talent. So just focus on getting a protfolio together and developing your ability in whatever way you can. Don't let your finances hold you back. If you want to go to Sheridan, then take the time to save up the money and get things in your life together so that you can go. With that said, you don't need to go to Sheridan to pursue an artistic career. Artists need to be resourceful, so you've got to work with what you've got. Don't worry about screwing up further. As a fellow screwer-upper, I see your point, but you just have to move forward without fear, and do what you love and learn how to balance it out with being realistic about your life situation. If you want to try to do graphic design just as a backup, don't do it. There are a ton of graphic designers out there, and with all the competition and your heart not in it, it just won't pan out in the long term. The most employable skills you can have are the ones that you enjoy, and there's no point in building a bunch of skills just to get a job that you don't like. I'll stop rambling now. I hope at least some of this helps.
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# ? Jan 30, 2009 01:14 |
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Hwangin Tough posted:Thanks very much, this is all great advice and I really appreciate it. In order for me to put your advice into context can you please tell me what do you do for a living? I'm a Flash developer at a small interactive studio in Chicago that is a satellite of a much larger New York office. We do nothing but Flash here, I think New York does some non-Flash stuff every once in a while. I would recommend going into Flash if you really (really) like interactive. On the development side you don't have to worry about cross browser crap of any kind and it's basically endless as to what you can do in terms of interactivity. It's in general going to be much, much more difficult than the average html/css page or template with a sprinkling of jQuery, or skinning some CMS templates. I know for a fact as I've done plenty of both. What makes it suck massive balls on unfortunately frequent occasion is what little (read: none) understanding just about every creative has in terms of the difficulty of making changes to things you built from scratch in an insane hurry to begin with. Flash development is not inherently hard, the difficulty comes from writing what amounts to primitive 'software' on-the-fly since no one can make a decision or get you the materials you need in a timely manner. This is basically the 'fun' side of web development, and though I am actually now trying to do something entirely different, I certainly wouldn't do anything else in the web industry, except possibly design. General advice for anyone who wants to do interactive design: make it pretty. This is our creative director's portfolio. Everything he does is packed to bursting with striking dynamic forms, loads of color and a great sense of space. In high end consumer work like microsites and interactive banners no one cares about usability, it's about making poo poo that looks cool. Eye candy and novelty is the name of the game. However the web makes the contradiction in design between visual sophistication and simplicity even sharper than print I think. On the one hand it has to be flashy and colorful and all that poo poo while maintaining the visual simplicity necessary to guide the viewer's eye and present an intelligible set of controls for an interface they have never used before. Many (most?) Flash sites do a terrible job of this and I'm often as bewildered as anyone else trying to use them, even as a professional Flash developer.
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# ? Jan 30, 2009 05:15 |
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Ol'DirtyBehrmann posted:I've heard a lot of bad things about Columbia College lately. I have a friend who graduated a couple years ago from the photography program and has a killer job with Playboy now because of it who has told me that they have recently made some serious faculty changes in the photo department and replaced some experienced professional photographers with graduate students. It was one of the factors in my own decision to not transfer there, so I figure you might be interested as well. In addition, the cost of tuition there has risen almost 6 grand in as many years, so expect it to become just as expensive as anywhere else soon enough. I have heard some other less than flattering things about the school from another friend who is also a graduate and actually employed by the school itself. Yikes :\ Well, that helps. But the cost of SAIC is absurd and financial aid seems to be mostly nonexistent. Worth a shot at least! I'm going to visit the campus again on Thursday and I'm going to make sure to write down all my questions so I don't forget I have been taught at my current school by graduate students and I don't find it to be a disadvantage, but I am in the first year right now so it's mostly just the basics rather than working towards a professional career, so I suppose that has something to do with it. Thanks for the tip!
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# ? Feb 1, 2009 17:05 |
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I'm trying to decide where to go to college. Right now it's between School of Visual Arts in NYC, CalArts in Valencia, and Columbia College Chicago. I'm going to major in film/video but what I really want to do is comedy. I know all of those locations have Second City, UCB, Groundlings, iO, etc. somewhere near the school, so i'm planning on taking classes on the weekends. Where would be the best location for me to be? I know Columbia offers a comedy studies program at The Second City.
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# ? Feb 1, 2009 18:16 |
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Chicago probably has the most non-school comedy opportunities. LA and NY both have lively sketch and standup scenes, but Chicago is basically a factory town for improv. Taking the full Second City program is essentially getting a graduate's degree in comedy, and there are some more experimental places like The Annoyance. However, Columbia's film and video program is known to be kind of overcrowded lately, especially in the directing concentration. I guess it really comes down to how much of your education you want to come from school vs. outside of it.
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# ? Feb 1, 2009 18:40 |
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I wanted to ask if any designers knew of good websites where there was a lot of freelance work that focused on ad/logo work. I recently got laid off from my design position and am looking to find sites that do not require designers to place bids/pay money to find work. I have been checking Craigslist/SA mainly. Thanks!
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# ? Feb 2, 2009 05:24 |
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# ? May 16, 2024 08:41 |
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They basically all require you to place bids, and on top of that you're competing with people in India and Russia who charge like $4-10/hr and most of them will even work for spec (). Small one-off logo work is really only profitable face to face, online the market is just way too saturated. Now, there are places you can get bigger contracts, and those are worth going after, but they're still done via bids. elance.com is probably the biggest of those.
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# ? Feb 4, 2009 20:35 |