Self-taught & School - My story.
Let’s talk about school and being self-taught.
I know I have people on my feed that are self-taught and successful, as well as beginners going the same route and might be curious. This is why I’m writing this.
I’ve gone down both paths, so I wanted to speak from my experiences and hopefully someone can get something out of it.
So this is my personal journey.
I have never gone to school before now. Right now, I’m in the final stretch of my education (The Game Assembly) and it’s not too long until I dive into the industry. I started out doing everything on my own. I never took a single course except from self-taught things online.
I began studying art seriously back in 2009. It began at a forum called ConceptArt (dot org). At the time CA was very active. The forum was flourishing and it was the place to be for feedback and motivation. I started out pretty slow because I didn’t really know HOW you’re supposed to study. I had no mentor. I just did it. I tried to figure out how successful people at the forum progressed and I tried copying their methods.
In order to do all of this right I had to build a lot of self-discipline. I followed an artist named Dave Rapoza, watching his live streams and joining his study group Crimson Daggers. I did studies every morning watching his live streams. I then tried my best to apply these things in my work. I improved a lot and it was an interesting and intense time trying to figure everything out on my own. I even started my own stream for about a year.
However, nothing ever really kicked off. My social life started to suffer because all I did was this art stuff. Socializing online with other artists is great but I lived in the freakin’ forest. Ain’t no artists there. I completely stopped hanging out with friends because I was so into my progress. I ended up very isolated and me being very introverted, became like a hermit.
Not only that but because I didn’t really live a life, I feel that my personal work started to suffer. My stuff wasn’t that interesting. I didn’t really know where to take my work. I just made random stuff thinking I’ll get work eventually if I just kept at it. But looking back at my work, it was decent but stiff and not cohesive. I had no real set path in mind.
I had some bad years after that, I kind of lost my spark. I didn’t really know where to go. I actually applied to this school around that time because a friend told me he was going to. He got in. I didn’t. I was so bummed out and didn’t really know where to go next.
The following year was pretty much all about soul-searching. I had to figure things out. I had a lot of personal issues looming over me at the same time, it was a really tough time in my life. One day I was laying on my friend’s couch and talked about how lost I was feeling. He just told me “Conny, you’ll soon be 25. Just apply to that damn school again, it could only get better at this point.”
So I applied and got in! This changed my life completely.
I was now in an environment where I get to talk to creative people every day and actually get to know them in real life. The school taught me so many new things and constantly pushed me to use these things in game projects. Learn and apply, learn and apply.
I was used to a high tempo because of my previous lifestyle but the change was great and very sudden. I was about to quit. I have now realized that this was more about personal growth than an artistic one. I’m glad I was convinced to stay.
I’ve learned so much about 3D graphics, how to structure projects and work in teams. I’ve learned how to take my work and apply it to a bigger project. With my hand on my heart, I can say that I now know how to take a game from start to finish. I also found out that I want to specialize in animation. I could never have gotten to this place if I didn’t go to school. It’s possible, but not for me.
If I said this to myself back in 2009, I would have thought of it as a weakness. It isn’t a weakness. You need to get to know yourself. I need creative people around me that I can learn from, discuss ideas with and have a laugh with. Without this, I know I would be depressed. Because of my tendency to isolate myself.
Thanks to this school, these students (my friends), the teachers and everything that came with moving here, pushed me to become a better artist, a better team player and most of all a better person.
My journey isn’t everybody’s journey, but it worked for me. I’m thankful for both experiences.
Best of luck to you!