WCAAD student Jack Wang earned acceptance to SVA--School of Visual Arts, New York in 2022. He wrote a comment about our school on Yelp. “Everything began for me with a phone call with Ms. Wang and the portfolio preparation teacher, Omar. I was a lost sophomore student in high school that just decided to pursue art, having no professional art training, but in a dire need to create a portfolio. Choosing to join the West California Academy of Art and Design, and to study under Omar is the best decision I have made in all my life. Omar is the last person I would think of when I picture a teacher, but he would be the first person for me to call when I need a portfolio. He guided me throughout my two-year journey, telling me which classes to take would benefit me the most, pushing me to become a better artist, and pulling me out when I felt like I hit a dead end. I took classes everyday that the studio is open since Omar and I both knew I did not have the most foundation, three hours of portfolio preparation on Monday through Thursday, and both sessions of life drawing on Friday and Saturday. I hated it at first because I did not have any time for my personal life, always looking for a way to get out of class. But after a few months, I saw my skills improve so much that I could not stand looking at my old art. While I just received my first acceptance letter from my dream school, SVA. I would recommend this place in a heartbeat.”—Jack Wang
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August 8th is the International Cat Day! The theme for 2022 is “Cat Friendly Resources.” This special day for cats was created back in 2002 and since then, people who love their kitties celebrate the day with their feline friends. WCAAD student Jonas Ma earned acceptance to Columbia University in 2022. He wrote a comment about our school on Yelp. “Been a student since the summer of my freshman year in high school, and I just graduated in my senior year, Omar pushes me to the better artist I am today. Mrs. Wang's hospitality is extremely heartwarming and the place feels like a second home even though I have to drive one and half hour to get their every time because I live in Irvine. There are variety of classes to choose. Entertainment design, architecture, fashion design, illustration, fine art, UI design, book cover design, graphic design, font design, and most importantly life drawing class. And Omar treats you like you are a professional artist, not some random kid who likes art. He pushes us to work hard and think outside the box. And most importantly, he will critique your work outside of class all the time. He said "send me work when you are outside of class!" So basically you are having class 24X7 for the entire year if you are working on art constantly. No matter how late it is, he will reply. The group chat the students have is a great community. Students help each other, give advices, help critique. Very comfortable community. And we have big class critique every now and then to not only help students get critique from multiple perspectives, but also train students to know how to speak up and express their thoughts. Omar has transformed me from a shy introvert to an artist who really likes to speak out and critique and express my opinion.” ----Jonas Ma Elizabeth Liu 2022 senior will begin her studies in the Fall at Art Center College of Design with a product design concentration and $12,000/yr $48,000 total scholarship! Elizabeth Liu’s portfolio artwork Elizabeth Liu’s portfolio artwork Additional offers and scholarships include: Otis College of Art and Design $23,000/yr. -$92,000 total CCA $22,000/yr.- $88,000 total SCAD $11,500/yr.- 46,000 total Arizona State University $10,000/yr.- $40,000 total UC Riverside University of Illinois Urbana Elizabeth Liu’s portfolio artwork Elizabeth Liu’s portfolio artwork Elizabeth is an inspiring, enthusiastic, and persistent individual who has impressed colleges in timely way. Elizabeth has been a student at our academy for about year and half, where she has gained insight and has enriched her studies. Elizabeth Liu’s portfolio artwork Elizabeth Liu’s portfolio artwork She was always considerate and process oriented. Elizabeth truly believes the process is more important resulting in the best outcomes for her designs and/or artwork. Elizabeth Liu’s portfolio artwork Elizabeth Liu’s portfolio artwork During her short time here, she has produced unique artworks. She has gained skills and improved immensely, despite starting late in art and design. She has fine-tuned her digital output with graphics, layouts and well-thought-out designs. I believe her strengths are in building and designing complex forms. The theoretical concepts and actualizing models are inspirational to witness from her peers. Elizabeth Liu’s portfolio artwork Elizabeth Liu’s portfolio artwork She has experimented and used her time to really pursue her passion, Industrial Design. I see this dedicated student focusing on her research and is open to learning without ego. I would love to see Elizabeth’s skills refined with her continuing education and achieve her ultimate dream at Art Center. Elizabeth Liu’s portfolio artwork Elizabeth Liu’s portfolio artwork She was always the first one to volunteer in critiques and other students look at her as she set an example. Elizabeth Liu’s portfolio artwork Elizabeth Liu’s portfolio artwork She once revealed to me she has sleep paralyses and insomnia. This disturbance has contributed to her art but has stressed her in her academics. She was able to create from past traumatic lapses and gained control through art and improved her grades. This obstacle is an example of her resilience and drive to be better through analytics and critical understanding. Elizabeth Liu’s portfolio artwork Elizabeth Liu’s portfolio artwork Outside our program, Elizabeth was involved in local art communities. Elizabeth wants to design and to inspire others through beautiful and inviting designs and the activities she participates in. Her work has been exhibited at local galleries Buena Park winning 3rd place. Other work was showcased at the OC Fair with honorable mention and at Muckenthaler gallery. This past summer she partook at UCLA and Art Center extensions to gain further knowledge and experience. She is compassionate and assisted student in dance and motivated them in performance, advising them with stage conduct for show. Her enthusiasm for her culture has propelled her to join many cultural clubs and Chinese clubs. Her participation for international food Fair (IFF) and Key Club where she choreographed dance routines for the purpose of promoting and improving neighborhood experiences. At COFA council, she is the principal photographer and prepares art shows. These shows are dedicated to showcase festivals and organizing young artist opportunities. Lastly, she has played piano since childhood and plays clarinet achieving honors for her branch on the CM exam. I am truly confident Elizabeth will be a driving force in her major and her new peer. Her resilience and never-give-up attitude pushed her limits and beyond. (By Omar Gallegos, WCAAD Vice Principal and Director of Education) Ever wonder how cars are designed? Learn from an actual car designer! Art Center Professor Roman Iniguez now is teaching Transportation Design course at WCAAD. This course will put students at the very center of transportation design. Students will learn innovative creative skills with transportation vehicle design and related components, and develop compelling, sustainable and valuable transportation and mobility solutions for a better future. Courses will cover merging gap between aerodynamics and efficiency, performance and safety including motor vehicle, highways, roads, bridges, bus, train, and aviation transportation. Roman Iniguez holds a Master’s degree of Science in Industrial Design and a Bachelor’s degree of Science in Transportation Design from Art Center College of Design. Currently, he lectures at Art Center College of Design as an Adjunct Professor preparing young automotive design students for a very challenging future. Art Center’s Transportation Design is a world-class program which prepares graduates for careers in automotive interior and exterior, motorcycle, marine, aircraft, commercial transport, personal mobility and public transit design. Its impressive list of alumni includes top designers at virtually every major studio around the globe. For decades, Art Center has educated the global design leaders who have brought beauty, innovation and meaning to the way people travel. Art Center graduates led the teams that created the iconic cars of the 40’s and 50’s, the muscle cars of the 60’s and 70’s, supercars, family cars, and a majority of the new concept cars unveiled at major motor shows each year. Mingkun Yan, a 22-year-old student, benefited from the WCAAD’s Transportation Design course and he got accepted to the prestigious Art Center College of Design -- Transportation Design for the 2019 academic year. Mingkun’s Transportation Design Portfolio Artwork Mingkun’s Transportation Design Portfolio Artwork Mingkun came across WCAAD by attending its Open House. He spoke to several instructors and was impressed by the caliber, rigor and ultimately the work students were producing. Specifically, for him, what sold him on the program was the instructor for his major, Roman Iniguez. Roman has been teaching at WCAAD for eight years. He has extensive automotive design and styling experience. As a Senior Creative Designer, he has styled numerous vehicle exteriors for multiple divisions within General Motors over the course of a decade. His work as a design team member, helped to ensure the success of vehicles such as the Chevy Camaro, GMC Acadia and Cadillac Escalade. Mingkun began attending WCAAD in early spring of 2018 and went through an intensive portfolio course work. He was accepted to Art Center in November 2018. Roman is his first year instructor at Art Center. The WCAAD Transportation Design course encourages creativity and budding strategically thinking beyond but including sketchpad. Students will have discussions on impact of the vehicle manufacturing industries, creating better transportation solutions at a system and product level. Students will learn car design and styling, learn to sketch in Photoshop, gain useful knowledge on perspective drawing, create their own design in clay, learn how to sketch and render drawings of cars. This course will help students build a portfolio and get into an automotive design college. Sign up for the class and you can sketch like a pro automotive designer!
WCAAD student Eric Lin earned acceptance to Art Center in Illustration with a scholarship of $22,500/year $90,000/4yrs in 2022. He wrote a comment about our school on Yelp. “Figure drawing from my weekly figure drawing class. The models are always professional and terrific posers. The most common medium we use for practice is charcoal on newsprint, but we experience with a wide range of mediums such as Chinese ink, oil/acrylic paint, watercolor, etc. Sometimes we are required to draw with certain conditions such as drawing with contour line or drawing without a gesture which forces you to be precise and measure your proportions in relation to other portions of the drawing. These exercises are crucial because they improve your weak points and makes regular figure drawing feel easy. This place is no joke, it's an institution for students that take art seriously. Omar points out constructive criticisms that are on point and direct. I have been to figure drawing sessions in the most well known Art schools in the country, like Art Center in California and School of Visual Arts in New York. to be honest, Omar's figure drawing class is just as good if not better than those ones.” ----Eric Lin |
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