THE ART SCHOOL DILEMMA - Updated 11/22
୧ʕ•̀ᴥ•́ʔ୨Update 11/22: Just wanted to tweak some things in here! Originally I posted this the day I spoke with my instructor and got all this advice from them, I wanted to post it while it was fresh in my head and now looking back there’s certainly things I’d like to word differently. (: This post recently blew up and there’s some things I feel I should go more into detail with as well as add on some other advice I learned this weekend now that I’ve attended CTNX.~ I’ll be editing and adding in new input with italics and parenthesis btw.
Hey friends, here’s the thing I was talking about. Prepare for some information and advice in a probably not extremely coherently written way.
Art school is expensive, like ridiculously expensive, especially if you haven’t gotten a good chunk of scholarships to help pay it off. And it is an even more painful thing for those who WANT to go to art school but most definitely can’t. I’ve attended two art schools - Ringling College of Art and Design and currently Laguna College of Art and Design - majoring in Game Art at both schools. Both were great learning experiences, and I grew a lot as a person. I’m currently finishing my second semester ( I’ve since dropped out of LCAD 11/02~ ) at LCAD as transferring fucked me over. And I started to realize at this half way point that I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and that all these superfluous classes were honestly meaningless to my goal and just wasting money. And it is with that I announce that I will probably be dropping out to focus on independent study. ( I dropped out to focus on independent study) I may be doing one more semester at LCAD, but most likely not. (I am not) And I’d like to share the ton of advice I’ve collected from friends who work in the entertainment industry, as well as instructors. Now note that this is mostly directed towards entertainment design majors (animation, game art, etc.) and media majors, but it can most likely hold true for other arts. ;) This is also geared more towards people who want to work in contract or salary jobs, vs just freelancing. (This can still apply to freelancing)
The question many ask is completing art school worth the debt? I brought up this question to some friends who graduated from places like Gnomon, and most told me no, it wasn’t. Because many things you learn in art school will not only be outdated by the time you get out, but with the internet it’s now easy to get all the resources you need for far cheaper or even free.
(Not everything will be necessarily outdated, but you’re going to get caught up much faster on your own, and be able to keep up with the newest software (if you’re doing 3D/CG Stuff), school generally slows down these processes so it’s easier for the general student class to stay on track.)
There’s a post going around by Noah Bradley, a concept artist, that’s similar advice I’m going to be giving, however I’ve got some other stuff to add on.
Now, with that being said, what’s even the value of going to art school? Well there’s definitely pros you can get out of it but once you’ve gotten those out of the school, there is no reason to stay unless you really need that piece of paper ( there are other pros of art school lol. I still don’t think it’s worth the cost but let me be a bit more specific- ) Art school is a great way to network, as often instructors are people who (hopefully) have worked in the industry, and if you do have instructors like that BUDDY UP WITH THEM, MAKE THEM LIKE YOU, THEY ARE IMPORTANT. And this is the same for your peers, this sounds awful but I’ve always been told it’s a good idea to hang around with the best artists in class, you don’t necessarily have to be friends with them, but watching them work and ABSORBING THEIR METHODS ( don’t copy, make other’s pipelines and workflows your own if it helps your process) will help make you a better artist too. As well as hanging out with just good people in general! ( Other pros I did not specify is that many internships YOU CAN NOT GET INTO UNLESS YOU ARE A STUDENT. Smaller studios and paid internships may be more opened to non-students but this is something to keep in mind when I start talking about my later advice and I hadn’t really considered at the time. I’ve been turned down from internships I’d be perfectly suited for because I’m no longer a student and returning to school. Lacking that internship experience can be a set back but again, internships are not always necessary if you can make a solid portfolio when applying for jobs.)
Aside from networking, the second importance of art school is to help you figure out specifically what you want to do. ( Hopefully, if it’s not once you start getting into more major-specific classes, then it might be a good idea to get out of there - however sometimes you won’t know what you really like until you’re in a studio. It is important to find a discipline of your major or industry and focus on making a portfolio that is based on that discipline. i.e. If you want to be a 3D character artist, your portfolio needs to be mostly character art and anything related, jobs are not always looking for breadth like college admissions are - if you’re applying for a specific job your portfolio needs to be geared towards that.) For example, when I went into school I just wanted to do game art but didn’t know what part of it I wanted to do, now I know I want to be a 3D character artist. Once you have that knowledge of specifically what you want to do that’s when it’s usually a good idea to get out of there and save your money. If you know what you want to do prior to going to art school, well, you don’t necessarily need to go, unless you’re incapable of networking or learning outside of a school setting (which is okay! not everyone has developed those self teaching skills, and it can be a hard skill to gain, but it is something you should work on - regardless if you’re in school or not being proactive is incredible important).
As for the degree, you do not need it to be successful in the art industry. I’ve been told countless times that they have NEVER been asked what school they went to, or what degree they got. They just want to make sure you, as a person, are fit for their company, and that you have a good portfolio. The degree is good to have if you’d like to teach art, or do something outside of art that requires it, but that’s about it. ( Since I’ve started applying for industry jobs, I’ve only seen about one that required a degree, all others basically will state they want a BFA or the equivalent experience - as long as your portfolio is on par with those coming out of a 4 year college you’re good to apply - and even if it isn’t, it doesn’t hurt to apply anyway - you might even get feedback!)
Onto the advice. Independent study isn’t easy, and it definitely takes a certain type of mindset and discipline in order to achieve success - honestly something I didn’t have prior to me going to art school. It’s important to have a plan laid out, especially if you’re going to focus a year or two (or more) of your time on this one thing you want to be. I’m honestly awful at organizing information, so I’m just going to bullet point my advice. B)
No one who matters is going to look down on you for not attending art school or dropping out - none of the recruiters or industry professionals I spoke with at ctnx looked down on me for the fact I dropped out of art school due to financial reasons - they honestly all understood, all that mattered was the work I was producing. Never feel bad about the fact that you can’t afford art school nor have a degree, all that matters is you as a person and your work.
Figure out what you want to be, this needs to be specific, there are generalist jobs out there, but they are few and in between. ( many of these type of jobs are also given toward senior artists in the company as they’re known for being good at several things) So some examples of something more specific would be character artist, 3d modeler (for environments, assets or characters), rigger, animator, visual development, concept artist (characters, environments, assets, etc.), vis dev (characters, props, environments, etc.). You need to know specifically the job you want to do! ( Or start trying to figuring that out! Write out what stuff you love to do and start to narrow it down to what you want to build a portfolio around and what skills you need to work on!)
Research studios and jobs you’d be interested in, read over the requirements for these jobs, take note of them and what you need to improve on as well as learn.
Look into online classes, workshops, video tutorials that relate to those job requirements. For game art there’s a TON of things out there. If there’s any self-taught animators out there that have some recommendations please feel free to send some my way and I’ll add them to the end of this post. ( Since attending CTNX I’ve seen a few animation online schools but I’m not sure how good they are, CGMA has some animation focused classes, there’s also cgtarian, and animationmentor which I’ve heard are good but I’m not sure!)
Focus ALL your time on that goal, so for example, once I switch over to my independent study plan, I will ONLY be doing 3D character work and putting all the time I can into focusing in learning zbrush and getting better. ( Alright so my plan has changed a bit in this regard, since I’m currently strongest in 2D and I need a job ASAP, I’m focusing on working on a strong vis dev portfolio for now, after I’ve got that going and start applying to jobs related to that, I’ll switch my focus to zbrush since being a 3D character artist is my dream job. If you know specifically what you want to do and you’re already working on it, hone in on that discipline like my aforementioned advice. :’D )
Join online forums related to the industry you’re shooting for ( for game art, places like conceptart.org and polycount.com are great)
Post your work there, you’ll get a lot of shitty critique from people who have nothing better to do but crit people all day, but you’ll also get a lot of valuable advice from people in the industry. Take in all that crit and keep improving.
Make a list of phone numbers ( and emails) for companies you want to work for.
Make a list of contact info of networks if you have them.
If you don’t have networks, go to conventions, expos, and meetups, make networks, talk to people, show them your work, it is DIRE you do this. If you’re not going to school this is one of the only ways you can make networks aside from online. And in real life meetings are going to be that much more meaningful.
If you have networks, ask around if they know anyone in these companies you’re interested in working for.
If they do talk to these people about what it’s like working there, what they did to get in, what they think you need to do to get your work to their standard.
Also know that a lot of these companies are full of mediocre artists, something my instructor made a point of is that we only see their star artists publicly, but not the hundreds of okay artists in the back. You do not have to hold your standard to these top artists, you just need to be better than the okay artists. Obviously it’s a good idea to shoot for the top, but do not let the idea that you’ll never be that good so you won’t get a job discourage you, because in reality that is NOT the majority. ( this is also dependent on the studio, blizz has a pretty solid dev team, but even if you look at their OLD concept work it’s pretty abysmal)
Once you’ve got your portfolio started (it doesn’t have to be completely ready, just have a few solid pieces to show), start CALLING up the companies mentioned before. DO. NOT. EMAIL. I know this is extremely difficult for people who have anxiety (myself included) but it’s imperative that you call. In an email it’s so much easier for a recruiter or hiring manager to ignore it or tell you they don’t have time currently. On the phone is a lot harder for people to ignore you, and chances are they’re not going to hang up on you haha. ( Alright, after I started trying to apply for jobs I’ve come to the understanding that a lot of these companies don’t post numbers publicly, so to change this up a bit, if they have a phone number you should contact that FIRST, email is second priority for contacting if they do not have a phone number available - but do remember they are much less likely to respond if you do it through email.)
When you call ask if they have INTERNSHIPS FIRST, do not ask about jobs. If you ask for a job they’re going to tell you to look on their site online and the conversation ends there. Now this is where things might get a little tricky, some companies require you to be in school in order to apply for an internship, but a lot of companies haven’t even thought of offering internships! ( especially if you look at smaller studios and don’t shoot for the big ones just yet) ( As I mentioned before this has been an issue for me because a lot of companies looking for interns want you to have a degree, mainly because if it’s unpaid they have to give you college credit in exchange otherwise it’s illegal haha. But it definitely doesn’t hurt to ask if they accept non-students!)
If they don’t have internships or haven’t thought about having internships, explain to them that you’re interested in helping them out in the studio in exchange for experience. Now this is very different then when people come to you asking you to do free art in “exchange for getting viewership” or whatever bs. Working in a studio you are going to learn the ins and out of a professional pipeline, you are here for the education you wouldn’t get while in school. And for the stuff you’d learn in school (like programs) you are going to learn them at a MUCH faster rate while working in a studio. They are far more likely to hear your pitch for an internship that is at no cost to them vs someone looking for a job. ( jk it’s illegal for you to do work for a company for nothing, and honestly unpaid internships are kind of fishy, but even a low paid internship is a valuable experience, either way just pitch an internship at them!!) An internship is also an important opportunity to see if you’re a fit for their company, and it is not uncommon for companies you’ve interned at to hire you later on.
Sometimes if you’re rejected by the first person who answers, call again and see if you get a different person. Sometimes person A is having a bad day and doesn’t want to hear your jargon, but person B may be willing. And that second call might be enough to get them to hear you out and look at your work.
Sometimes a portfolio book is more effective than a website. It’s easy for a hiring manager to ignore something online (similar to the email thing mentioned earlier), but a physical portfolio book is RIGHT THERE AND HARDER TO IGNORE OR TOSS. So consider making one. ( YO AFTER I WENT TO CTNX I WISH I HAD A PHYSICAL PORTFOLIO JFC, It’s so much easier to whip out than a tablet or computer honestly, idk, I just regret not bringing a physical portfolio)
Be proactive, stay on track, be disciplined, do your research and don’t waste time. Consider places you may of ignored before (example, while I majored in games, I’m looking into the toy industry too!) ( Also sometimes you need to start somewhere small and work your way up as you gain experience, you can’t always afford to be picky when it comes to studios and jobs, so it’s important to look at anything that may help in your favor)
Good luck, and everything will be okay! Work hard and believe in your capabilities as a successful artist. Beat that stereotype and don’t let money be the reason you can’t make it.
Since attending CTNX I thought I’d share some varied advice I got from professionals during panels, workshops and just personal one on one. Not all of this relates to the specific topic of this post but JUST GOOD ART STUFF I WANTED TO TACK ON.
Pretty gets the job, working smart keeps the job - you have as much time as you need to noodle around with pieces that are in your portfolio but it’s important in a job setting to be as efficient as possible. This can mean anything from using 3D composites, textures, less strokes, whatever to get the necessary work out in a timely manner.
LOOK AT PHOTOS AND REAL LIFE NOT CONCEPT ART (when it comes to making your own concepts) - while the digital age is fantastic and resources are everywhere a big issue many recruiters brought up is that many portfolios look VERY SIMILAR, and this is because you are unknowingly taking in influences from the art you look at and love. When you are looking at things from real life you are capable of creating far more original ideas than anything you’d ever get from looking at other’s concept work. It’s okay to get inspiration from other’s art but remember to be smart about it. It’s easy to not realize you’re doing this, and that’s why once you understand this issue you have to keep on yourself about it!
Use your time effectively - aside from working on personal work, when you sketch in your sketchbook or whatever your preferred medium is do so with a purpose in mind. (i.e. you want to get better at s-curves today, so you fill a few pages in your sketchbook with gesture drawings, or you want to get better at fur so you do a bunch of fur studies, etc. etc.) Master studies are also very valuable and something to consider.
DON’T TAKE CLASSES JUST TO STAY BUSY, being busy doesn’t mean you’re moving forward, it’s important to keep yourself progressing but don’t lose track of your goals. Take classes that related and aid your end goals when working towards a portfolio. ( this is true for those in art school and those who decide to take online classes).
ACT DO NOT REACT - be disciplined, do art because you want to not because you have to do it or because you need to be pushed by others in order to be motivated. You need to be self driven, otherwise you are not in control. (An example of this being that the whole time we were at ctnx we saw so much cool art and it was like damn I want to make cool art, but that was a reactive action, rather we should have just been striving to make cool art in the first place on our own without that outside pressure or influence)
When talking to industry peeps always say thank you and value their time! (aka don’t be shitty, don’t waste their time)
When asking them questions make sure they are direct questions and not wandering questions (i.e. wandering: “What kind of stuff made you want to draw a lot?” vs direct: “What are some of your top influences for your work?” - basically be professional about the way you deliver questions)
Don’t leave things up to chance, BE PROACTIVE!!
Organize yourself before your portfolio - this is where it’s important to understand where you want to be career wise, figure out your discipline, start gathering portfolios for those who applied and were hired for the same jobs you want to work towards, study how they laid out and presented their portfolios and what made these portfolios successful.
Don’t be hard on yourself but be realistic! It’s easy to bring yourself down when the art industry is insanely competitive but remember you are learning, if you’re being proactive you are progressing, don’t set unrealistic short term goals for yourself and take it one step at a time.
CALL YOURSELF A PROFESSIONAL AND TAKE ON THAT MENTALITY - doing so can completely change the way you see yourself as an artist as well as aid you in your journey!
Portfolios should be your BEST WORK, not your sorta good work, or okay work, ONLY SHOW THE WORK YOU LIKE. If you have pieces your kinda meh about, scrap them and work on new pieces to take their place that you’re proud of.
I hope this all helps, and is somewhat useful. This is mostly me just retelling advice that I was given. ;P
Below are some stuff to watch/look into (these are mostly geared towards game art, but if any other people want to recommend some other resources I’ll add them here! These are not all free, but a lot more affordable than a four year college)
Gnomon Videos (Mostly entertainment design and game art focused.)
Feng Zhu Videos (Huge range of videos, mostly GA/concept related)
Noah Bradley’s Art Camp (12 week courses focused on either covering all the important fundamentals of concepting or environment concept design)
CGMA (CG Masters Academy, lots of industry professionals teaching online classes - either 2D digital art or 3D. Lots of courses!)
CDA (Concept Design Academy, offers several tracks focusing on character design, environment design and storyboarding)
Conceptart.org (Great place to get inspiration, keep track of upcoming art events, get critique through the forums and participate in contests. GA focused but still has lots of variety.)
Polycount (A great resource for getting feedback and advice on 2D and 3D work. GA focused.)
Robotpencil (Mentorship programs taught by Anthony Jones and others! GA/Concept focused.)
LUCIDPIXUL (Mentorship program, but also very valuable youtube videos. GA/Concept focused.)
ArtStation (Another great place for inspiration, and also view job postings. GA focused.)
Ctrl+Paint (Digital painting tutorials, majority of the content is free.)
Shaddy Safadi (Digital painting tutorial, environment focused)
SILA (Society of Illustrators Los Angeles)
Creative League (Community of animators and creatives, posts resources and other helpful things. Animation focused.)
Animation Resources (As it’s named, animation resources. :P Animation focused, also has illustration resources as well.)
Ross Draws (Nice speed paint stuff!)
Level Up! (Artist interviews, freebies and resources)
CGTarian (animation and vfx online school, not too familiar with it but look into student work!)
Animationmentor (also an animation online school, I’ve heard some decent things about it, but again do your own research!)
The Animator’s Survival Kit (Important book to have for animators, very thorough when it comes to traditional animation.)
Illusion of Life: Disney Animation (Often dubbed as an Animator’s Bible)
Digital Painting Techniques (Personally own this book, and love it! Great techniques on painting digitally)
Color and Light (Staple book every artist should consider checking out, written by James Gurney. Focuses on the use of light and color.)
Imaginative Realism (Another Gurney book, focused on painting things that don’t exist in real life and how to go about it.)
Picture This: How Pictures Work (Importance of shape language)
Any of Scott Robinson’s books (It’s good shit)
