General Posts | Infinity Roads Comics

This week I have been going over my time in New York and my three years in art school. Reminiscing on the good and bad, mixed in with some stuff I wish I could tell my self back then. This list is the result:

10 Things I learned/Things that benefited me or made me a better artist going to school.

1 Diversity of Interest is one of the keys to growth:

My first day in art school was orientation. I don’t remember a single thing about it except being given my ID and going to the library. I had previously attended state college and “library” was a bad word. That was the place which stored volumes of old, boring sociopolitical discussion books. Being a newcomer to art college I decided to give the library a chance and was immensely surprised. The college library was so full of things that peaked my interest, I went back almost every day till graduation. In my library travels I tried hundreds of new movies, comics, cartoons, manga and much more. My list of favorite comics grew nearly ten times not to mention my favorite movie list. This exposure to things I had never seen (or things I had dismissed as no good) changed me for the better. My art grew and my desire to improve exploded. I was so excited to draw and read every day I could not find enough time to do it all. If you are an artist, I highly encourage you to begin reading or watching as much as you can. This learning will help you grow and (possibly) bring back the love of a craft that could grow dreary after too many years of the same thing.

2 Experimenting and failing with media encourages style development:

Although I was never afraid to try new media, school gave me a better appreciation of what experimentation means. Taking a class in oil painting was a real eye opener; oil paint, which I had experimented with in the past, was an extremely difficult thing to work with. In class I had to not only “try it out” but had to keep trying it for a year (or even two) till I was able to get some improvement. Those many tubes of wasted paint and ugly paintings taught me the value of messing around with a media till you feel comfortable with it. Trying to be perfect with something you have never used is impossible and avoiding the media becasue you are not good at it is bad for your growth. So the lesson I learned? Keep wasting those canvases till something looks good. : )

3 Other people’s opinions don’t really matter:

This one took me a while, in fact I’m STILL learning it! I remember an instance in my senior year where me and my friend Jon Griffiths were looking at a 2 page spread I was working on for a project. I was griping becasue, despite the fact that I had worked on this set of pages for weeks and felt they were finished, the instructor was not happy with them. I was not given a reason why he was not happy, just a simple “they don’t look right.” I remember Jon’s response to my frustration being “Well why are you worried about what he says, It’s just an opinion.” It may sound ridiculous, but this really changed the way I looked at my work. It was the first step to growing better self confidence.

4 Being lazy or just doing the minimal amount of work results in a crappy product:

Before learning this lesson, I turned in many sets of comic pages that were done the night before, with minimal effort. I’m not sure why I had the idea that rushing things through and procrastinating could still give me a decent art piece. I remember the first time I really pushed myself on a set of comic pages for a school project. The results were incredible, and I realized that high quality potential was always there, if I was willing to put the time and effort into it!

5 Your friends are your greatest artistic asset:

Keep your true friends very close, especially if they are creative people. The friends I made in art college are family to me, even when we don’t always get along. We learn from each other and help each other grow. There is a respect and support that cannot be duplicated. We have helped each other for years now in many ways, whether it’s drawing advice, moving into a new apartment or working on someone’s car together to save money. These are the kind of people you want in your life, people who will help you and in turn expect you to help them. People who you can build a community, and expect to become successful with.

6 Your teachers don’t always know how things really are:

Art school and the real world are two very different places. Remember to check what you hear from teachers with the the real world. Not everything I heard in school was junk, but there was plenty of junk filtered in with the good stuff. It took me a while to figure this out but it really helped when I did realize it. No one knows everything and your personal journey can’t be shaped by the opinion of just a few people.

7 Money spent on art supplies is money well spent:

In school I was very liberal with my money, especially when it came to buying supplies, books and anything I felt could help me in my quest to get better. While now I have to be a little more careful with where my cash goes, I am glad I spent so much on art supplies and book while in school; much of it has lasted me till this day and still helps me make excellent work.

8 Your art career is a very serious matter and should be treated with respect:

Art school was pretty expensive; this alone is a good reason to take your work seriously. Of course you should have fun too, fun is part of the experience of going to college. But I quickly learned slacking off in class, or only doing work for the classes I liked was not going to benefit me in any way. I sadly knew quite a few people too who, instead of doing art, hanging out with people or doing studio time, spent their time playing games or just doing nothing. Once again, that hard work ethic was one of the things I learned super well during my time in art college.

9 Drawing every day is so important:

Another hard lesson learned. Drawing for me is pointless if not done daily, especially when i was in school. This one took me a while to get but once I started, it became a habit, and even better, a habit I enjoyed thoroughly. Draw every day! You will learn more than you ever dream!

10 Learn more than just 1 or 2 art skills:

The benefit of knowing more than just one or two skills cannot be overstated. Working as a professional artist often means doing jobs in 2 or 3 different fields or media at once.

10 Things I did not learn/Things that I feel held me back.

1 Your ability to draw does not equal your value as a person:

Your ability to draw does not equal your ability to be a decent human being. If you, or you peers, feel you are bad at art, this does not mean you are a bad person. Therefore it is wrong to hate yourself for being “not good enough.” You are a person and deserve respect, your art is always growing and will continue to evolve throughout your life. No one has the right to judge you for your abilities; everyone in art school in is the same boat, you are all learning. Now for the opposite end; being good at art does not make you a better person. Your abilities may be good while you are in school, but guess what, once you leave college there are millions of others who are equally as good if not better. Please consider this carefully and remember your abilities can only take you so far in life. There are many aspects to success, your art is just the first step.

2 Your own style and interests are the key to your success, not your ability to imitate everyone else and follow a trend:

Perhaps it is better to say it this way: “Do what you want, not what others say you should do.” If your dream is to draw Captain American for Marvel, that’s exactly what you should do. If you want to do greeting cards for a card company, or sell drawings of hot rods to guys at car shows; if you want to animate your own show, draw your own newspaper strip, design ceramic plates… That’s exactly what you should do. Do not let anyone tell you what kind of art to do. You’re the guy whose going to have to do this for a job, make sure you enjoy it. Trends are very dangerous, they set up an idea that a lot of people follow, which then creates the false sensation that by you also following, you are going to somehow achieve something. Be yourself, do what you enjoy!

3 Your art is yours, school does not own you, your instructors do not own you. You are in charge:

Once I left school, I had such a hard time doing what I wanted in terms of art. For a long time I kept recycling what I had learned in class, but there eventually came a point where I realized, that in order to grow, I had to throw away my art school dogma and start writing my own rules. This self trust is so important to your career and is probably one of the big things that will help you grow from an art student into a professional. Trust your instincts, trust your own ideas, don’t be afraid to throw out that art school training when needed.

4 All the rules and dogma you learn in school are up in the air in the real world:

To go with the previous point, your art school training can only take you so far in the professional world. Eventually you will need to take some risks and start doing your own thing.No two editors think alike, and no editor will think exactly the same as your instructors at school did. This can be refreshing and help you grow. The only thing you need to remember is to be flexible to your editors needs and not get stuck in what art school made you think was “always true.”

5 Good self esteem and a realistic world view will help you way more than any ability to draw:

Your abilities to draw are just the beginning. You have to believe in those abilities in order for success to follow. Self esteem is very important to success, a person who can’t believe in their own future will never find it. If you give up, you automatically lose. As for the second part: be realistic, it takes time to be successful as an artist. Some people get lucky and catch success early on, while it takes time for others. This does not make you any greater or less of a person or artist than the next guy. Remember to work hard and do your best, go to your friends or people you trust for advice on how to improve your career. Most important of all be realistic, do not weigh yourself down with ridiculous expectations and do not throw yourself under the bus with self hatred. Take the middle road, remain calm and keep drawing. Believe in your product.

6 Don’t be a dick:

This one is a real shocker. If you treat people bad in school, once you graduate they will not help you in any way. It’s hard to believe that something with this much common sense is ignored by so many. There is a simple rule here: Your friends are assets and will help you in a lifelong artistic career. If you are a dick to everyone in school, no one will help you and you will be at a disadvantage. If you believe skill alone will get you through this, good luck buddy. (just a hint, some of those people you were a dick to might be your art director or editor someday) School did not talk about this much, and some faculty even encouraged this ridiculous behavior. Shame shame…

7 Learning a bit about business couldn’t hurt:

Art school probably could do more in regards to teaching young artists about business. We had very little instruction in this topic. I am not sure if this has changed at my school since I left, one can only hope. Business is a very important part of art and will help you so much in getting your career started, whether you are trying to grab a job with a huge corporation or trying to make a living selling prints at small conventions. This knowledge is a must!

8 You are not going to school to be a “starving artist”:

Many times I was told by faculty or other students none of us were going to get work, and school was training me to be a starving artist. This is so far from the truth it hurts. There are many careers for people who just get out of art school, many paths you can take to grow and become successful, this idiotic idea that once you graduate there is no hope, ruins so many art school people. Someone who thinks this way will begin their post college life with a defeatist attitude and not even try to get work or think outside the box. This is something I had to learn on my own, that I was not useless and that art school gave me skills that have helped me build a successful career.

9 Your work has value, and should be respected:

Because you are in school and learning does not make your work junk, sub-par or worthless. You alone assign the value to your work. What you are doing in school may just be projects, but hose projects have value, they are helping you grow and take steps on your journey as as artist. Your instructors feelings about a piece do not make the piece bad. Remember to keep your own self esteem a priority beyond anything faculty in art school might tell you. A good self esteem will take you far in life. And as an artist, assigning value to your work will make it easier to show to an editor or art director and say “I’m proud of this.”

10 Your outward appearance is so important and people will judge you for it:

I believe this goes in hand with the business aspect mentioned earlier. I’d like to say too that while people might judge you for your appearance, this does not make their judgement right. Sadly though, it is a reality and when it comes to your career, it needs to be addressed. I know I am a good person, I know I am a professional and a good artist. Others however, do not know me and will judge based solely on appearances. This is why, especially in world as difficult as the creative world, we show ourselves in a professional and good looking manner. This does not exclude being creative with your looks, nor does it exclude being an individual. It calls for us as artists, to take as much care in our appearance as we do in our drawing. Again, I wish art school had given me some class, or session which talked about making a professional presentation or about dressing to impress others. You would be surprised how much better people will think of your art based on how you present yourself, it’s incredible! Also important is good hygiene, brushing teeth, showering, cleaning your hair (even if you keep it long!) are all big factors in your outward look. These can be used to your advantage, take command of them!