School Learning Or Self-Teaching ?

The room was full. Everyone listening to the welcoming speech of the director : “ The first year will be dedicated to flat out all the technical skills required to become a successful artist. Hence you will forget about your...Style and hone competencies such as Observation, Anatomy, Perspective...”.
Everyone was hooked. Who needs a “style” when one can get promises of any styles he wants ? When the keys to handle that power, that technicity will be handed to him ? We were here. Finally. The hundred and fifty new students. It was our chosen path, to become artists.

It wasn’t by luck if we picked one of the most famous and difficult school in the country. There is already a reconnaissance to get in. The mere fact to attend attests of one’s potential. We will crush it. Succeed the 4 years in a row, graduate and get a job in a prestigious company or become successful freelance artists.

At least, that was the plan.

Fourty-eight hours per week. Almost as much homework. Feedbacks from top industry artists from various fields such as cartoons, videogames, architecture or traditional. The race to the top of the class was made of feedbacks, hustles and many long sleepless nights. Despite our closing, tired eyes and bodies, the scent of the charcoal scratching the paper in rhythm with the other students kept us motivated. Disciplined. The cheering from our new friends kept us going and the feeling of the carbon on the Ingres paper brought us happiness. With each class came a new knowledge :
“MOVE MOVE MOVE ! BE LIKE THE BOXER ! Don’t stay passive ! Turn around the model !” The sculpture teacher was on his feet, ready to strike his modeling with more clay. The dust filled the air for the next 6 hours as we tried to do something with the materials.

But after a year, nothing went according to plan. The friends turned into foe, the ladder became higher and higher and we begun to feel the bodies and dead corpses of the previous years under our feet. The ones who gave up. The ones who didn’t make it. The ones who got Fooled.

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One of the great power of being schooled is the social pressure and good stress you can feel while being part of a system. The same system brings you knowledge, makes you improve and sometimes, helps you get a job.
It gives stability to one’s life and can be seen as High Road of being established in a career position later on. And you might even get a diploma, facilitating your integration in some companies as well (especially if you plan to work abroad).

Okay. Let’s recap a bit the advantages of going to ArtSchool :

• Networking
• Memories and the atmosphere of the class
• Fast paced knowledge and learning.
• Quality material and quality teachers
• Results (A job within 2 years for at least 60% of the students)
• Diploma
• Discipline
• Going to school ("currently doing something with your life" from more traditional point of views)

There are many opportunities to go into such schools. The amount of knowledge you will get can be tremendous between your teachers and your fellow students, it is a hive of ideas, talents and experience crossing path everyday, for a full year. As such, you often won’t regret going to school.

But Beware !

ArtSchools often are private, hence running as business corporations for profit (not all of them). While they are huge opportunities for the artist, they are also a mined field where corporations prey on uninformed students and reputation hype. The first wall we hit before entering is usually the cost of the year which can be very high (FZD, ArtCenter are some exemple).

A bit of research is usually something you must do beforehand.

Ask yourself :

• Who are the teachers ? Are they active ? Do they teach part-time or full time ? If part-time, what else are they doing ? What are their portfolios ? Their reputation online ? Is their pedagogy adapted ? Keep in mind that a good artist is not necessarily a good teacher !

• What is the mentality of the school ? Is the school goal is to get results only ? Or is it to teach and share art to the next generation of artists ? The first one will mostly result in money making and you can easily find such schools if they have a ladder-type of organization. Meaning they kick you out if you don’t climb to the top of the ladder.
  You can think these school are great as they make winners and grinders and if you got in, it means you have a chance. The reality of it is unfortunately if you got in, you might end up paying a lot of money for crushing your own dreams.
  If the school goal is to share a passion, they are more inclined to help beginner levels to reach the stars and help your art and personalities bloom. Also the atmosphere in these class will be much better than the former as if you played Starcraft 2, a ladder pedagogy induces competition and toxic behaviour both at school and after.

• Contact former students of the school to ask the their feelings about it. Don’t contact only one of them but a few so you get a good idea of how the school works.
  As in crypto and investing, do not trust the hype, trust your own research. Many successful former students will love the school and be the fertile soil for creating the hype around the formation. Widen your search to get the full picture.

• What do they teach ? What are their main selling points ? And what is your end goal ? You won’t pick the same school if you want to become a fine artist or a technical artist. And what their cursus looks like ? Does it coincide with your long term vision ?

Know your needs and inform yourself on how a school can fill them efficiently.

But while a school is no rest, and a well of knowledge, the main protagonist of your success is yourself. Only. Relying on anything else is bulshitting your future you. The actual education system tends to give you that tutors and teachers knows better and should be trusted to give you everything. The class becomes a plug and as if we were in the Matrix, what your teacher gives you, you know it.

But nothing is further from the reality and this is a mistake hundreds of student do or did. But know this : The master only gives you 40%, the remaining 60% comes from you only. Your hardwork and your passion, your discipline and your interest. No one will give you the 100% other than yourself. So what you’ve learned at school, apply it, test it and adapt it. Research what you ignore, go beyond the teaching.

On that matter, take responsibility over your life and your future.

It seems in Art forums there is a dichotomy between Self learning and School teaching. As if School will bring you some miracle over your own work. But School is part of your journey and shouldn’t be taken apart from it.

Nowadays we have the chance to rely on the Internet to learn directly from pro artists and be able to reach anyone in a record time. Learning becomes personalized, tailored to you for a fraction of the price you would pay to school. And many people might think you don’t have the atmosphere and the friends and network you can make at school but I think it is up to you to create such things. Many forums and online classes have their own community and nothing stops you to join or create a monthly IRL meeting and make friends from your classmates.

One advantage to it is the large panel of profiles you will find in online courses. Some seasoned veterans can be your classmates, giving you some headstart learning from their own experiences. Books, mentorships, Youtube videos, the resources are endless.
Internet opens a world of possibilities to find your way, not closed in the discretion of a classroom. If you want to do videogames, try some Gamejams ! Want to be a designer ? Crowdspring can help you hone your skills by competing with fellow designers.

But caution must be taken here as well !
Amongst this ocean of information, one can drown into it. All these informations to swallow can be overwhelming and it becomes easy to lose yourself in such infinite library.
The same advice as for the schools comes in mind. Hone your critical mindset and sort what is useful for you. Which can be different for your neighbour and his neighbour. Many books already have the fundamentals well written, don’t let your thirst of knowledge drive you away from such gems. Study these books or articles. Take your time, be patient.

Today, learning is organic, tailored to your vision and will. How do you optimize it to reach your goals ?
School became one resource among others, it is a choice to make in order to reach your dream. Will it help you ? or is Internet, books and mentors be a more suited path ?

For the artists reading out there, how did you learn ? I’m quite curious ! What is your point of view over school and art education in general ? Feel free to share in the comments !

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Update : Oh ! I also followed Beekart advice and I got a new shiny website ! (After many many years of wonderings), for the blog part you will find past articles I wrote updated a bit (or a lot, depending of the topic). And more diverse writing like Expat life and some crypto-world related articles. I will keep Steemit more Art related compared to my website while trying some different ways to tell stories and write articles. So please feel free to give feedbacks about this as well ! Thank you !