Don't Go to Art School

[Rodney]

This will be making the rounds...

 

Don't Go to Art School: Why Traditional Art Schools are Failing Us by Noah Bradley.

 

He outlines the issues and provides some resources to help address the problem.

 

Here's a brief snippet of Noah's recommendations:

 

The $10k Ultimate Art Education

 

$500 - Buy an annual subscription to The Gnomon Workshop and watch every single video they have.

 

$404.95 - Buy Glenn Vilppu’s Anatomy Lectures and watch all of them.

 

$190 - Buy all of these books and read them cover to cover.

 

$1040 ($20/week x 52 weeks) - Weekly figure drawing sessions. Look up nearby colleges and art groups and find a weekly session to attend.

 

$2500 - Sign up for a SmART School Mentorship when you feel ready to get one-on-one guidance to push your abilities.

 

$2400 - Sign up for four classes from CGMA. Get taught by professionals in the industry on exactly the skills you want to learn.

 

Free - Watch all of these keynotes.

 

Free - Study other things for free. Suggested topics: business, history, philosophy, English, literature, marketing, and anything else you might be interested in.

 

$500 - Throughout the year, use at least this much money to visit museums in your area. And not just art museums. All museums.

 

Free - Create accountability. One of the great advantages to attending a school is the comradery. So use the internet to create your own. Go join a forum where you can give and receive critique on the work you’re developing. There are many different ones out there that can suit whatever flavor you prefer.

 

The rest - Materials. Buy yourself some good art materials to create with. Whether digital or traditional. Don’t skimp.

 

His main point is that the debt incurred in attending a traditional art school is not worth the cost (a concept most will readily agree with).

 

Agree or disagree (like most folks his solutions align fairly close with his proximity to those solutions), Noah has many interesting and thought provoking things to say and considerations to contemplate on his blog. Like this article entitled, "Start often, finish well"

[Dpendleton77]

He nails it. I go to the art league and it is so much cheaper.

[Roger]

$280k or so for a four year education at RISD? Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.

 

Seriously, that is insane. I can't imagine trying to pay that back on even a six figure salary, let alone what you'd make at an entry level

art job.

[thefreshestever]

nowadays you can learn almost everything all by yourself, all the information is out there, and it´s completely FREE. it´s a little bit more inconvenient than getting everything fed to you by a teacher, but on the other hand you have full control about what you want to learn, when and how you want to learn it. i´ve had a bunch of interns a few years ago when i still had my office, most of them were studying communication design at college. most times when they told me what they learn at school i thought "oh my, what a waste of time"...

 

when i finished my alternative civilian service i wanted to go to college, but i couldn´t, because i had no money and had to pay my rent... so i started working in an advertising agency, started as "girl for everything" and made my way up to becoming art director. after 3 years i started my own business. looking back, i´m glad i did it that way, in the 3 years in the agency i´ve gained far more applicable knowledge than i would have at college.

[John Bigboote]

Agreed.

 

The one course of study art schools (and this guy) need to address is BUSINESS. I think every art student needs to learn business practices. The only people I have seen succeed are the ones who started their own business or had the business training to advance to the top of the company they work for. Without a fundamental business background even the best artist will be slighted in one way or another.

[largento]

I was an art major my first year of college. I vividly remember the first day of my Freehand Drawing 100 class. The instructor took us outside and said, "Draw that tree." I soon realized the instructor wasn't actually giving us any tips or insight into the process. He was just telling us to do it. My exact thought was, "I could tell myself to draw a tree for free. Why am I paying for this?" :-)

 

I was going to school there with an academic scholarship that covered a little, but a sizable student loan needed to cover the rest of it. After that first year, I left the school and went to another one that offered me a bigger academic scholarship and an art director scholarship for the school newspaper, which almost covered my tuition. I had to work full time, but the only debt I incurred was for that first year and I ended up paying it off before I left school.

 

I switched my major to Broadcast Journalism and finished in that. It's always been a conflict between me to write or do art, which I guess is why I like comics so much. It mixes both. Plus, with my new major, I got to play with the radio station and tv studio, which gave me a kind of mini-film school.

 

The outpouring of information about art and everything else that has been spilling out of the internet for the last ten years or so has been amazing. It definitely re-energized me several years ago when I started finding these cool art and comics blogs with so much practical information. Made me want to do comics again.

 

In the old days, a college degree was supposed to guarantee you a high-paying job. There's no such guarantee anymore. Students today face a tough choice.

[fae_alba]

Mu daughter spent $80k (of my money of course) getting a fine arts degree. She is now working at the local YMCA child care facility earning min wage. I'll be paying off the student loans for the next ten years. Her words right after getting her diploma..."wish I hadn't gone to school here...waste of money." Ouch.

[Vertexspline]

Indeed the return on your investment is pretty poor . And really ---for art jobs especially like game industry --its all about portfolio and skill not so much where you went to school. So In many ways he paints a cheaper and hence better alternative . Now one thing I was told by one of my prof's in college ---they can beat you , fire you, lay you off . put you in jail but they cannot never take away your diploma ---so there is some merit it gaining one but alas at a less expensive route might be best.

[higginsdj]

I'd say this goes for a lot of 'education'. If you have an avid interest in something and have already been doing it for a while, you will likely not benefit from a formal education in that subject (value for money wise). I've been an amateur research astronomer for over a decade and decided I wanted to do a Masters degree in Astronomy. After the first year I found I knew more than my instructors so why would I want to pay a University $1000 per unit to be taught to suck eggs!

 

Cheers

[Simon Edmondson]

Don't want to sound too pompous here but, are we really talking about the difference between education and training ? It is fairly straightforward to pick up a lot of technical information yourself, it is readily available in many forms especially on the internet. A large part of education is, and should be, about the acquisition of that information and those technical skills. What differentiates good education from training though is the outcomes.

 

Once read that the major difference is that, training produces predictable outcomes while education does not. One is a closed process, the other is open ended. If that sounds a bit airy fairy or wooly ( and it is a bit ) then try the TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson on creativity in education,

 

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says...creativity.html

 

When I went to ( Fine arts ) college we received very little by way of technical instruction and a lot of discussion about what we could/should be doing. At the time I thought that was the wrong way around. Now I understand the benefits of it, even though I've had to acquire the technical skills since. The educational process should ( in my opinion ) be about opening up the thinking of the person to the possibilities available. It is very seductive to concentrate on the technical skills because you get tangible, demonstrable, results. It is the adaptability and flexibility of thinking and approach that are the benefits of education ?

regards

simon

[fae_alba]

Don't want to sound too pompous here but, are we really talking about the difference between education and training ? It is fairly straightforward to pick up a lot of technical information yourself, it is readily available in many forms especially on the internet. A large part of education is, and should be, about the acquisition of that information and those technical skills. What differentiates good education from training though is the outcomes.

 

Once read that the major difference is that, training produces predictable outcomes while education does not. One is a closed process, the other is open ended.

 

Simon, you are correct. Education is not the same, since a good university would/should also require a more well-rounded course load that educates the student in other disciplines (language, science, math, history etc.) This in theory, produces a student better prepared to survive in the real world. Dealing with other cultures, understanding the world around you and so forth. That is the importance of a good education. Added to that, if (when) the student can't survive working in the art industry, then finding a job in say the business community would be next to impossible without a college degree.

[jakerupert]

...and don`t forget about the social component.

 

Especially for young people starting into the world , it might be more important

to make friends and find people you can learn together with and from each other and socialize,

then actual learning the stuff offered by the school.

As you said: nowadays you can fill up most kowledgegaps online, you can try this with

personal realationship to some amount as well ,but you could never substitute an actual

personal relationships.

[John Bigboote]

Ow- Paul Harris- that hurts! My neice is a illustration graduate from Kendall School of Design in Grand Rapids... she now works as barrista at a coffee house. When I was contemplating college my decision was to gain immediate access into the industry by working as an apprentice- good and bad to that... the good id I got into the industry I wanted and have worked here ever since, the bad is that I have no degree and worked for peanuts my first 7 years and have suffered from 'lower wages' ever since.

 

When they were handing-out pay cuts at my last job(before we tanked) they skipped over me, and it was noticed by some of my besmirched colleagues... I told them, I've had my pay cut for years.

[Rodney]

The world has changed a lot since I first started moving toward 'cartooning'.

Where I grew up there was interest in such things but only from the perspective of a consumer.

Children really got into that drawing thing but set it aside as they advanced toward more mature pursuits.

Even among those who had a vested interest (comic book collectors, writers, etc.) few were motivated to actually produce the work.

 

Contrast that to now and at the local level much still remains much the same.

I ask folks who seem interested in such things if there is anyone locally interested in create comics/cartoons/animation and I get the typical blank stare in return... as if to say, "you mean ACTUALLY produce a product?".

 

I suppose that the difference is that the internet at times makes it seem as if everyone you know (and don't know) is producing artwork in some form or fashion.

As has been mentioned before here in the forum, this is both good and bad in that (Good) there is a lot of creativity flowing (Bad) it's hard to get your work noticed... much less have someone be willing to pay for it.

 

I'm hoping to take advantage of some educational opportunities in the near future but I confess that when I look at the options I'm a bit less than enthusiastic. Going to school does have the advantage of assigning tasks and deadlines that require you to produce... something... anything... and that ability to finish a project... to be productive... may be what is most lacking amongst the 'unschooled'.

[fae_alba]

Rodney,

 

It's funny, your post about interest in cartooning, and producing an actual product couldn't be more apropos. My youngest, who just graduated from high school is chomping at the bit to create her own animated comic. She is a big Marvel fun, and is writing her own script for a series. She keeps asking if "there is someone in the A:M forum who could help her on it".

 

Long story short, I'm "making" her get at least an A.S. in computer science just so she has something to get a job with.

 

This is a sample of her work....

 

[Rodney]

She is a big Marvel fun, and is writing her own script for a series. She keeps asking if "there is someone in the A:M forum who could help her on it".

 

Tell her this is a great place to explore ideas.

As for personally helping her on her project... I'm here to help in whatever capacity I can, although... disclaimer... I must admit I tend to only commit to a project to the extent the originator of the idea is willing commit.

 

In short, I'd love to hear more about 'Delta 7'.