What is up with the RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN?
I heard that it’s supposedly one of the best in the nation… WHY?
How are art schools rated?
One thing Ive noticed is that their instructors are mostly former students.
Correct me if Im wrong… Isnt that the sigh of a bad school?
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Also What kinda jobs can you get with a major in illustration?
I didn’t go to RISD, but I went to Mass. College of Art (a long time ago)…The jobs I’ve had since then include…Picture framer, stripper, and finally, costume designer. I majored in Painting at Massart, because at the time there was no illustration major. (The college beiong very weak in drawing back then). When I graduated, I got a sewing machine as my present, and I took off with it. My art education was in no way wasted, however, as design principles are universal, and will apply to all different art forms.
Things are very different now, and I think that the possibiltiies of putting an education in illustration to good use after you graduate are greater than when I was a student. We didn’t have computer graphics as an option, for example, nor did we have many of the technological advances then which have made the illustration and graphics processes much simpler.
Oop-s, I forgot to address your questions about rating a school of art. I have no idea how anyone does this, except I assume that one takes into account the overall abilities of the school’s professors, and the collective achievements of same. Many teachers at Massart were very productive, and I would look for that. If they are still producing, then I would assume that they are capable. Why would former students as instructors be a bad thing? They are going to teach somewhere, so why not teach at the place where they learned?
Me muvver-in-law went to RISD, and my wife took some classes there before deciding to pursue anthropology. They have excellent teachers who don’t get all hung up on “being artistic”. As for what work somebody with a degree in illustration can get–a lot of matte painters for the movies started out as illustrators. Open any magazine. Look at albums–still have painted colors? Most of them are done by “illustrators”, since the “real” artists usually don’t “lower” themselves to “commercial” work.
See a new logo? An illustrator came up with it. Animation and illustration still have a lot of overlap.
In this brave new world of clip art (which, to me, is an oxymoron), somebody had to actually create the original art. Those people have a background in illustration, among other things. And even for those of us who aren’t primarily illustrators - it amazes people that I can actually illustrate something from scratch; they always want to know where I “got” it.