Okay, so I'm clearly not quite old enough yet to go to college yet, but the time is approaching and my Mom and I have been looking into several art schools which include the Joe Kubert School in Dover, NJ; the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont, and Gnomon School of Visual Effects in California (Which can also be done online). So, I would like to hear back from those of you with more experience in this area, or maybe even very little experience at all. I just want some input on these art schools, other art schools, pros and cons, and as a Christian (who also may want to preach as well as be an artist) whether or not I should attend a Bible college and whether I should be more careful on what school I choose based on how much of a Christian Influence there is there and whether or not the majority is into drugs/etc. I'm new to all this, so please be patient with me. All advice, good and bad, will be appreciated! Thank you.
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Hailey,
I went to George Mason (a 'regular' university) and got a degree in drawing. Fortunately I was able to pull a pretty nice scholarship due to high grades so I wasn't stuck with crippling debt, because so far my experience is that an art degree has opened exactly zero doors for me.
That's not to say that I didn't learn from school - quite the opposite. However, like Steve said, the best way to learn is to teach yourself. Teachers and fellow students can give fundamentals and critiques, but in the end you have to push yourself to reach your potential. In the two years I've been out of school I've taught myself far more than what I paid thousands and thousands of dollars and spent hours and hours in a classroom for. Passion and practice are the real catalysts for development, not professors. Although they can certainly help!
God bless,
Matt
But, didn't we both love the School of Visual Arts?
Steve Crespo said:
Hailey, we have an Open House twice a year at the Kubert School (one Saturday in the spring, the other in the fall) where faculty do demos and answer questions, and tours are brought through the building. Otherwise, tours can be arranged anytime throughout the year when the office is contacted in advance. I've been working professionally as an artist in comics and the illustration field since 1985, and have been an instructor at the school since 1992. Yes, we do have an after school Bible study on Mondays. All schools - art or otherwise - are terribly expensive nowadays, so the words of caution that others have given are spot-on. Check out your options, visit the good ones in your area (NJ/NY), and, as others have said, pray it through.
I haven't (yet) read those books by Seth Godin that Steve mentioned, but he is absolutely correct that the marketplace has and is radically changing in this new information/internet economy. As for Andrew Loomis (a fine illustrator and instructor from the WWII era), while I enjoy his books for the most part, his FIGURE DRAWING FOR ALL ITS WORTH has a number of anatomical errors in the lower legs, so be forewarned.
Kind regards in Christ Jesus,
Alec
Steve pretty much summed it up for me. If I had to go back and do it all again, I wouldn't have gotten my degree in Graphic Design. I probably wouldn't have gone to college at all. This isn't to discourage you, but it's good that you're weighing things now beforehand instead of later.
Hi Hailey,
It's great you're seeking counsel to help with your decision. I actually attended the Kubert School thirty years ago and have had the privilege of visiting the school as a speaker once -- most recently last year. And just a few weeks ago, Andy Kubert asked me to sub for him, so I got to do some teaching, which was a lot of fun. I find the energy there to be pretty terrific, and they have some good instructors -- people who have all worked in the industry in one capacity or another -- some of them quite accomplished artists. In fact, CCAS's own Alec Stevens is one of the longer tenured instructors at Kubert (we were actually roommates way back when). Tom Mandrake, Hy Eisman, Andy and Adam Kubert, Fernando Ruiz ...the Kubert School has guys that are truly experts in the field teaching there.
While I strongly agree with Steve that going to a school won't give you passion, it can be a way to coalesce a lot of info in a compressed time period...and there's an accountability that can be inspiring when you're surrounded by like-minded people trying to accomplish similar goals. I only went to the Kubert school for one year. Prior to that, I also attended a fine art school -- but, again, for only one year (I was a spiritually/mentally restless young man who wasn't walking with the Lord back then). I have come to believe the balance between the two art schools' approaches to have been ideal for me. I really love the approach to comics (and art, in general) that I've come to as a result of those two years combined with oodles of hunger to learn and grow. I've enjoyed almost 30 years working in the field.
What I've believed for a very long time is similar to Steve, but it might also a little different. I believe no matter if you are learning IN an institution or OUTSIDE one, you alone are responsible for what you will learn. At the same time, I don't believe anyone is truly self-taught -- no one learns this stuff on their own. We are all learning from those who have come before us -- whether in or out of the school environment. By far, I've learned most of what I know apart from my two school experiences, but those two years were incredibly valuable. In my one year at Kubert, I probably learned more from the questions I asked and conversations I had outside of the formal class setting than I did in the class. I used to hound a few of my favorite teachers before class, after class, and even in between classes...just wanting to learn more.
As to an example of a Christian alternative; my daughters attend Liberty University -- not an art school but one that is building their art program. Just two months ago, I spoke to the art students there, as well (as part of a solo show of my work in their university gallery). We've all been greatly blessed by our daughters' experience there (one is doing an extra semester after graduating last year, the other is a junior). Each class begins with a prayer in the name of Jesus, committing everything to the Lord. The dorms are gender specific, each floor broken up into prayer groups, and the culture there -- though far from perfect -- provides great opportunity for Christian fellowship. But, even at a Christian college, authentic in-depth fellowship doesn't happen automatically. Jesus tells us that even in our churches there will be wheat and tares; certainly in a university as large as Liberty, one can't take for granted the level of "Christian-ness" (in fact, my one daughter -- early on -- once stated to me that in some ways it was a little easier at the 3000 student public school they attended that had every sin imagineable out in the open).
Christian fellowship will be important no matter where you go, of course. It might be more work finding it at a secular school, but it can be done. At the Kubert School, I know that Alec oversees a bible study group that meets in the school once a week.
Whatever you do and/or wherever you attend school, find the couple people who you see can be a resource for you. Learn from them however you can -- and work hard. Do everything as unto the Lord. There is no one answer that is right for every person (I mean, apart from Jesus being the one way to the Father!). Just from the little that I've read of yours, I have confidence you will prayerfully seek which is the right path for you. And don't be afraid to reevaluate as you go along. A sailboat is almost always off-course, the direction constantly being adjusted so that it still arrives at its intended destination. The secret is to be moving -- having your sails full and starting out.
I wish you all the best, Hailey, and may God bless and lead you always.
In Messiah Jesus,
Lee "The heart of man (woman) plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." --Proverbs 16:9
I counsel high school juniors and seniors every year in college and career courses, but have no formal art education. What I recommend depends on the student's abilities and passion...and what their family can and is willing to afford. If your family can afford it, go for a four year general degree with an art emphasis. Include secular colleges and universities in your consideration since many of them have Christian clubs and fellowships that are as vibrant or more vibrant than most Christian colleges. A two year stint at a junior college can save a lot of bucks, but you need a little more drive and self organization. Some of my students are tired of school, period, and we lay out ways to get them working or to a trade school.
Yet with 70% of my students at or below the poverty line, I still recommend avoiding large(more than a year's worth of college) of student loans at all costs. Colleges have every reason to encourage students to pay with loans, and generally little concern about how you can pay them off after you leave school.
College is a long time during which the job market changes and you change as a person. You want to have the freedom to go where God leads...without having a ball and chain of unpaid debt on your feet for many, many years afterward.
I'm glad that you and your family, and God, are talking this out ahead of time. College is a pretty awesome experience, but you want to graduate with a minimum of debt.
Halley,
You might try to contact Sergio Cariello, the artist of the Action Bible. Sergio was an instructor at the Joe Kubert school for several years and might give you some good inside info on the that school. I've heard it is really a hard as nails boot camp type of learning environment. Sergio has a web site that you can Google. Also Nate Butler at Rox35.com might have some good input for you.
I've been a professional illustrator for roughly 20 years, and I must say that in all those years I have NEVER heard of anyone being hired because of what school they went to. It's all about what you can do, not where you've been.
If you want to learn there are ways to do so without incurring massive, life-crippling debt in the process. A formal college education, especially in the arts, is not absolutely necessary. I myself dropped out of college after two years. My major was commercial illustration, but after leaving I went into comics. (After floundering around for a few years.) Why comics? Because I loved 'em as a kid, and that's what I drew. In short, I taught myself.
My wife, who designed children's clothes professionally for many years actually went to school for graphic design. She did that for a bit, but then fell into fashion, which she had taught herself by taking apart and remaking her own clothes since she was a little girl. She began designing her own clothes because she loved it. (And still does.) In short, she taught herself.
School won't give you a passion. It may teach you a a couple of peripheral things (facts), but the actual learning comes with the doing. And if you are focused, and driven, the doing you can do on your own.
That being said, I'm not completely against college. However, I do think it is largely a scam. My sister-in-law worked up $90,000 in debt for a useless degree in archival library sciences. ...Colleges will give you a degree in anything you want, that doesn't mean you are A) good enough to make it, and B) learning something that actually has a market.
I mean, yes, if you are planning on being a surgeon, then yes, PLEASE go to college. But, if you are considering a living in the arts, then take a while and really think this through. Are there other ways of learning, of honing your skills? If you love drawing, you will draw regardless. How can you learn to draw better on your own? (To me, one Andrew Loomis book is worth a college course or two easily.)
Further, the art/illustration world has changed DRASTICALLY since the internet came on the scene. This is NOT the same ball game as it was ten years ago. Making a living from art has COMPLETELY changed.
The best advice is to talk to professionals. Through LinkedIn you can join illustration groups... ask questions. Meet professionals at conventions. Ask specifics. Talk. Get as much info from people who are actually doing this stuff. Get a feel for what you are walking into. It's not an easy field. The more you know, the better.
And lastly, self-appraisal is key. Judge your own work honestly. You see what's out there. Look at your own work, and see it for what it is, not what your relatives or friends say it is. I knew a LOT of people in art school that, in my opinion, really shouldn't have been there, and have moved on to completely non-art fields. But remember, schools will take your money no matter how good you are.
Anyway, not exactly an upbeat comment, but I prefer to be real. Hope this helps!
Be blessed, Hailey.
(P.S., Also, if you can, pick up Seth Godin's books "The Icaraus Deception", "Purple Cow", or "Linchpin". These don't have to do with illustration, per se, but in the area of marketing and cutting a path in this new information/internet economy, no one speaks to it better than Godin. His books have both inspired me, and given me MANY things to think about. (He's really changed my thinking.) ...Peace.
In the end you should try to hear where God leads you, but I think it depends on what you want to do in the end. I have a background in Fine Arts training, but always wanted to do comic books. I'm more self taught in comic books, but have found of late how my fine arts training has been more helpful in doing comic books than just having straight comic book training. But that's just my opinion.
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