Before performers take their places in front of a green screen or in the studio, every aspect of their characters’ looks and the imaginary world they inhabit has been made real by a talented coterie of visual development artists. A new 16-unit Visual Development department certificate at Santa Monica College (SMC) trains students to join that select group, who give life and heft to animation, games, and other media.
The new certificate is the most recent addition to SMC’s expansive Entertainment Technology program, which offers degrees and certificates in Animation and Digital Media (Visual Development also forms a new area of concentration in SMC’s Associate in Science degree in Animation.). For the Visual Development concentration, SMC faculty developed courses that cover every detail of the pre-production process used to design the characters, props, vehicles—and even whole environments—that create memorable cinematic experiences and allow players to immerse themselves in games.
Karina McBeth, who served as storyboard artist on The Angry Birds Movie, is one of the many entertainment professionals throughout the Los Angeles area who honed her skills and developed industry contacts at SMC. “The program has helped me in my career by refining my artistic abilities,” says McBeth, “and preparing me to work collaboratively!”
A California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) counselor recommended SMC’s Visual Development program to McBeth. At SMC, she found “…the best resources available to students, like access to current software and industry-standard equipment.”
Those resources also include having instructors who are industry professionals. “The small class sizes and having those instructors allowed me to grow as an artist and learn what the industry is currently looking for,” says McBeth. She wants to develop her own feature or TV series and adds that the techniques learned in SMC’s intensive classroom experiences continue to prove invaluable.
“I use many of the skills I learned during my Digital Imaging class in my day-to-day workflow,” she says. “And learning perspective and figure drawing helped me refine my artistic skills to draw characters and environments from different angles.”
While still a student, she interned at Walt Disney Animation Studios—an opportunity gained not just through learning the technical skills of storyboarding, but also through taking a career development class that helped her prepare a résumé and cover letter.
Gaming brought Susan Tang—who already held a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology—to SMC, where she is studying game design and 3D Art. She hopes to combine science and her newfound expertise in entertainment technology to create interactive educational games for children. The best part, agrees Tang, are the instructors. One even set up an independent study option so that she could learn a software program not currently taught.
Like McBeth, Tang took advantage of SMC’s numerous internship opportunities, working with a Santa Monica arcade game developer. She serves as president of the student Gaming, Animation and Special Effects (GASE) Club. They offer tutorials, workshops, guest speakers, and volunteer to tutor and help school children with homework.
SMC continues evolving its programs to enable students to stay ahead of the curve in fulfilling the industry’s shifting needs. Entertainment Technology faculty work in and collaborate with the entertainment industry to ensure that students learn practical, job-oriented skills.
For more information on all the programs mentioned, visit www.smcdesigntech.org. At the time of this news release, spots were still available for the Fall 2016 semester for ET 21C: Prop and Vehicle Design and ET 38: Digital Imaging for Design 2, courses which are part of the new Visual Development Certificate. See www.smc.edu/classschedule to sign up.
Before performers take their places in front of a green screen or in the studio, every aspect of their characters’ looks and the imaginary world they inhabit has been made real by a talented coterie of visual development artists. A new 16-unit Visual Development department certificate at Santa Monica College (SMC) trains students to join that select group, who give life and heft to animation, games, and other media.
The new certificate is the most recent addition to SMC’s expansive Entertainment Technology program, which offers degrees and certificates in Animation and Digital Media (Visual Development also forms a new area of concentration in SMC’s Associate in Science degree in Animation.). For the Visual Development concentration, SMC faculty developed courses that cover every detail of the pre-production process used to design the characters, props, vehicles—and even whole environments—that create memorable cinematic experiences and allow players to immerse themselves in games.
Karina McBeth, who served as storyboard artist on The Angry Birds Movie, is one of the many entertainment professionals throughout the Los Angeles area who honed her skills and developed industry contacts at SMC. “The program has helped me in my career by refining my artistic abilities,” says McBeth, “and preparing me to work collaboratively!”
A California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) counselor recommended SMC’s Visual Development program to McBeth. At SMC, she found “…the best resources available to students, like access to current software and industry-standard equipment.”
Those resources also include having instructors who are industry professionals. “The small class sizes and having those instructors allowed me to grow as an artist and learn what the industry is currently looking for,” says McBeth. She wants to develop her own feature or TV series and adds that the techniques learned in SMC’s intensive classroom experiences continue to prove invaluable.
“I use many of the skills I learned during my Digital Imaging class in my day-to-day workflow,” she says. “And learning perspective and figure drawing helped me refine my artistic skills to draw characters and environments from different angles.”
While still a student, she interned at Walt Disney Animation Studios—an opportunity gained not just through learning the technical skills of storyboarding, but also through taking a career development class that helped her prepare a résumé and cover letter.
Gaming brought Susan Tang—who already held a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology—to SMC, where she is studying game design and 3D Art. She hopes to combine science and her newfound expertise in entertainment technology to create interactive educational games for children. The best part, agrees Tang, are the instructors. One even set up an independent study option so that she could learn a software program not currently taught.
Like McBeth, Tang took advantage of SMC’s numerous internship opportunities, working with a Santa Monica arcade game developer. She serves as president of the student Gaming, Animation and Special Effects (GASE) Club. They offer tutorials, workshops, guest speakers, and volunteer to tutor and help school children with homework.
SMC continues evolving its programs to enable students to stay ahead of the curve in fulfilling the industry’s shifting needs. Entertainment Technology faculty work in and collaborate with the entertainment industry to ensure that students learn practical, job-oriented skills.
For more information on all the programs mentioned, visit www.smcdesigntech.org. At the time of this news release, spots were still available for the Fall 2016 semester for ET 21C: Prop and Vehicle Design and ET 38: Digital Imaging for Design 2, courses which are part of the new Visual Development Certificate. See www.smc.edu/classschedule to sign up.
