Oh my god your art is the stuff that dreams are made of<3 absolutely beautiful! Have you always been interested in digital art or did you gradually delve into it? What was your process with deciding which school to attend? And how long is your..
“…Current art program? I’ve been toying with the idea of art school but never wanted to commit to the debt. Thanks for sharing your work!”
Okay, so I’m going to share with you information I have kept pretty private for a while now. But, I feel like it’s time to let it go:
When I first applied to art school, I was rejected from every single art school that I wanted to go to. Consequently, I spent my first year at a normal non-art college. Haha, looking back that was a really, really dark time for me. Literally everyone I knew told me I needed to give up on art. Not many other students have failed as catastrophically and repeatedly as I have. But, it taught me the value of failure and persistence. It drove me to work 12+ hours a day, and not eat or sleep until the work is done– a habit I still keep up.
When I did get into RISD the following year, it was as a film/video/animation major. The year after, I transferred to the illustration department. This year is my first year being formally taught illustration at art school. And as such, I’ve learned about 90% of what I know about painting from the internet and books.
Haha, yeah… but truth be told, I stopped relying on school for my education a long time ago. I am self taught because for the majority of my education, I simply had to be.
If attending art school will put you in significant debt, I would advise against it. I have never taken a single formal digital painting class in my life. People have this misconception that if they make it through art school with straight A’s and by doing all the homework, they will make it as an artist. Sadly, this is not true. Imagine art school as the world’s greatest library–in it, every secret piece of undiscovered knowledge in one place. And, there is a set curriculum, with some required reading, and occasional homework. If you’re at such an amazing library of knowledge, and you only do the small amount of required reading, isn’t that a shame? I see so many people at art school just doing what’s required of them. Conversely, I see really great artists online who are, like, accounting majors, doing really awesome work! That’s because those people show initiative, and design their own learning path. Doing this is better for the long term too, because it teaches you to evaluate your limits, and push them. Confining yourself to a predetermined curriculum takes away that ability, and it’s the reason why art school graduates end up failing.
Artistically, I consider myself a student of the internet… and a selection of books from Amazon ^_^
Don’t get me wrong–art school does have its perks though. I’m lucky to have very hardworking parents who are able to support my education. And again, RISD is still, in my eyes, the world’s greatest library. Coming from a liberal arts school, it boggles my mind how easily I can find the resources I need to learn what I want. Like, live figure drawing sessions? Check! A $200 out-of-print book? Oh, it’s downstairs, I can go rent it out anytime 0.o
But, I think what I gained from my education at RISD (so far) was not technical skills per say, but social awareness. Going into RISD, I thought that achieving greatness was just a matter of being able to draw well. But I learned that greatness also consists of having something to say; it’s about innovation as well as skill.
Whichever way you choose, my advice to you is this:
Figure out what you want to do with your life, and stay laser focused.
If you do attend art school, don’t rely on it to teach you everything.
Also, it doesn’t matter where you are right now, it’s all about where you are going, and the speed at which you are learning. I started college at the very bottom, not even good enough to be at the school I’m currently attending. I’m happy to say that this is no longer the case, and my work is much improved from before :) Everything that I have accomplished in art, I was able to do in three years. Hooray for underdogs, am i right? :)
Anyways, hope this helps! I’ll leave you with this quote, it’s gotten me through a lot!
“If you are not willing to learn, no one can help you. If you are determined to learn, no one can stop you.”
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