kelaino | school and career things

I've been thinking a lot about school, now that I'm unemployed.

I apologise if any of this comes off as naiive or ignorant -- I really wasn't taught "how" to look into schools or choose schools or whatever. I was going through therapy for the first time at that time everyone was looking into college, so I'm really not as... good at this as most people are, it feels like, and I know I tend to say things that come off as kind of ignorant.

I'm currently waiting for August so I can sign up for the American Animation Institute classes at the Animation Guild in Burbank. I've gotten recommendations for these classes particularly because the same professors who teach also teach at CalArts. I was originally going to take a storyboarding class, but I think I may start with figure drawing instead. If I have the money to take a second class, I'll consider taking storyboarding as well, but the classes are $200 a pop and I'm not sure what my finances will look like.

If things go well and this is something I really want to do, there are a few different options.

I'm still trying to understand the difference between going to art school, film school, and a general radio/TV/film/telecommunications program. I'm interested in doing pre-production or post-production work on films and TV (particularly animated), but right now I'm purposely trying to keep my career goals loose and flexible. I'd prefer not to do something just specialized in animation, but I do want the focus on storytelling that I wasn't getting from my English major. I want to have as many skills as possible so I can be more flexible. I really don't want to be pigeon holed into *just* screenwriting or *just* storyboarding, at least not right now, but those are both things I'm willing to do.

If I just go with a general Telecommunications program, I plan to go back to my community college and finish up some prerequisites in the Telecommunications program and transfer out to one of the nearby Cal States. If I go to Cal State Northridge, I'd probably major in Telecommunications and minor in Animation. This is probably the cheapest and most financially feasible option, but it is also the most distant -- it is about a 45 minute, ~35 mile drive one way, every day.

If I were to go to art school -- and I know art school is so, so expensive -- I can go to Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. The Entertainment Design undergraduate program sounds exactly like what I'm looking for, and I've gone to their open house a long time ago (unknowingly, anyway -- they had an art showing, and it turned out to be an open house, but not really advertised as such). I really enjoyed their school and the exhibits they put out.

I'll admit that I'm the most hesitant towards the Art Center though -- I am well aware of how little I can pay for it, and considering that California isn't really the cheapest place to live, I might be digging myself a financial grave. I know that a high school friend of mine went for her undergraduate degree and has had trouble paying off her loans, and she comes from a relatively well off family. I would be getting no financial help from my family (other than continuing to allow me to live with them), so the responsibility is all on me.

There are a lot of film schools and schools with Film degrees in the area (I live in Los Angeles, after all), but I'm hesitant to really choose any particular schools that could be potential choices until I really understand the difference between film school and art school. There are a few that offer Animation as part of their Film program, the famous UCLA Film school being one of them.

I don't know. This is the most I've thought about school for a while, so I'm gonna stop here before I make myself too anxious or something.

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Beh, there's not a whole lot to know about art schools. Unless you go to a big-name one (that studios recruit from and stuff), you're probably getting pretty much the same education. Most of them are kind of in trouble right now for having horrible, horrible job placement. I think I've mentioned this before, but really your best bet is putting all your focus on challenging yourself and improving when it comes down to it. If I could do it over, I think I would have spent the time and money I blew on college (and will continue to shell out for an indefinite amount of time) on the resources needed to work on stuff from home.

TBH, I don't think you really need an art degree to be a successful artist. It comes down to what you're capable of doing. If you get a degree, it could be in something totally unrelated and get you almost the same result. You'll naturally develop skill sets in your areas of interest to begin with.

Figure drawing is an absolute must, though, so I think you have a good idea by taking that class. $200 for a class is reasonable. I'd look into other alternatives for standard life drawing sessions, and try to do that as regularly as possible, though.

Just my opinion. :D

I can get all that a lot! Most of the reason why I plan to go back to college at all is to get a degree where I can work in TV and Film in general; whether or not art is a focus in my college education is a different but related story that I'm figuring out.

A lot of the ideas in this post were actually because of one of my bosses at my last job had initially gone to school for Scriptwriting at Cal State Northridge, but took most of the art classes at the Animation Guild that he recommended to me. He then was able to get placed in a job working for Hyperion and work on a few of those made-for-TV Christmas movies like Jingle Bells and O Christmas Tree, as well as on the Proud Family opening sequence a little bit... so he did a lot of work on animation without an art school degree either. (He also pointed out that being in between projects was tough and that was the reason why ultimately he left. between a mortgage to pay and the future of having children, it just wasn't for him)

If you don't mind me asking, what do you do for your day job? And is it hard to balance day job stuff with art?

That's a good call. Versatility in film and TV will probably come in handy... Because, yes, like your boss said, there's no guarantee that you'll have work in between animation projects.

I just work in a kitchen as a fry cook. It's really mindless work and it pays pretty well for... you know, what it is. (My coworkers are perpetually high, so the bar is set pretty low.). It's not challenging, but it'll suffice for now. I never have difficulty paying my bills on time and I almost always have money for art supplies and most other things I want. If I'm serious about a project getting done, I'll set a deadline and make it second priority. Right now my art is limited mostly by my temporary living situation, lack of space and being suddenly understaffed at work. But yeah, those things happen, too.

So no, it's not really hard, and it's not the worst situation ever by any means.

That sounds like a pretty decent job situation, actually! I'm sure energy wise it must be tough working in the kitchen and still having energy for art. But between your fry cook job and commissions, it doesn't sound like a bad set up. I'm really glad it's stable for you, especially since your commissions seem to be doing well too ❤️️

Did you get a different living situation now? I remember the last time I checked you got a run-down house and were fixing it up (and I think Sa was living with you..?) but obviously it's been a while.

I don't know. Most of the time, it's not so bad. I set aside mandatory art time every day, even if I only draw "therapy art" when I'm worn out.

I'm still living in that house. Sa only stayed here for a little while. She moved in with some coworkers. I like the isolation, but there's no storage and the place continues to decay around me (Phantom smells/noises, landlord's hoarders nest under and around the house in various piles (I keep imagining there's some sort of mole-people colony under there.)- basically things I don't have power to change). I'm moving to an apartment in the city next week to save on a few costs (multiple closets... so wonderful...). Plus the weather is less icy-snowy at the lower elevation, and I'm sick of almost dying once a week on the scary cliff I live at the top of (and apartments are typically warmer, which I'm totally ok with).

It seems pretty promising, basically.

Mole people colony... D8

Seriously though, that does sound pretty scary and an apartment does sound like a good decision. I didn't even think about how Colorado weather must affect you until now.

I'm excited to see how you decorate it, your decorating skills are pretty rad :D

I will definitely post pictures when it's decorated!! Pretty psyched about it.

Yeah, Colorado weather isn't fun when you drive a little car (Will not drive big car, even if it means getting places is hard and lots of people in big cars make fun of me.). It snows for 7-9 months and spring is basically Winter 2 Turbo Extreme. It doesn't really get as cold as places further north, but the weather is just unpredictable. You can go from full blast AC to flash flooding, quarter-sized hail and tornadoes touching down thirty minutes away within the same day. It rains while the sun is shining. Once it was 55 degrees out, so I put on shorts and went to school and got stuck in a blizzard on the way home. Basically, Colorado is the worst, and that is my rant for today.

school and career things

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