Hey guys,

I'm very new to this site and even the idea of pursuing car design. Studying car design was something i threw around in my head for a few years when I was 11 or so and still drawing cars all the time but I gave car obsession a rest after a while. About a year ago I decided that I wanted to pursue an art career. I've been painting and drawing my whole life, I consider myself a bit more than pretty talented, and I thought it would be a rewarding job. After a while I began to think that an art career wouldn't be the best idea unless it was commercially based. I started looking into Graphic Design and then Illustration and ID. I applied to a pretty small number of schools, only two of which offer design programs. I'm looking at my situation now and thinking, s#*t do I need to apply to some more schools? and what do I actually want to do?

A couple days ago I was checking out the Art Center site and started checking out the transportation design department. Anyway, it got me thinking. Car design really covers a lot of my interests - drawing and the aesthetics of design, some physics and engineering stuff, and cars, obviously. I'm pretty sure I'd really dig the field. Thankfully the direction I'm in now and the direction I've gathered most car designers take initially are not very different. I don't want to change my focus too drastically though as this urge to go into car design is only a few days old.

So basically, my question is this: As someone coming out of high school in the US, what are the first educational steps I should take to train for a car design career? I noticed in the portfolios on this site lots of you have BA's in ID or somthing similar. Is this the best way to go about things? What did those of you who didn't study ID start off with? Anything related to this type of stuff would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jim

An ID degree is probably the best way to go. Also realize that there are a small number of schools with trans focus that have industry connections and sponsored projects that get you the best possible shot at getting a job. Car design is a small, competitive field, and can be rather insular for outsiders.
Another thing I would say about design education is that once in the program it tends to be really focused and competitive. It is extremely fun and rewarding but you have little time to experience anything approaching a normal range of college experiences in life or intellectual growth. I would say at CCS around half the people here have previous college experience; in my class several people already have engineering and ID degrees while others are out of high school and do well, so it depends were you are at.
Personally I went to Drexel for engineering before hearing about ID and going to Bucks to put together a portfolio, it has worked out pretty well so far for me.
(Noticed you go to school near me, I went to Council Rock)

bump?

quote:

Originally posted by mg:
It is extremely fun and rewarding but you have little time to experience anything approaching a normal range of college experiences in life or intellectual growth.

I'm gonna have to disagree about the "intellectual growth". If you have your priorities straight, I don't think you need to depend only on your courses for intellectual growth at this age. Not to mention CCS does have some excellent Liberal arts courses. Only the trans students are too tired to really pay attention in them.

quote:

Only the trans students are too tired to really pay attention in them.

Too caned.