Someone emailed me asking, “Is art school worth it?”

And as someone who spent 4 years in a University studying art, I wanted to share my thoughts and experience with you on this topic.

Hopefully, you will find it useful if you ever asked yourself:

“Should I go to Art School?” or “Is Art School a Waste Of Time?”

So as many of you know, my name is Anna and a while back I decided to go to a university for Bachelor of Art – Illustration Major.

And after spending 4 years in there, I’ve learned a lot of different things that I didn’t even know where worth learning.

It was sort of like when you want to start a new hobby, and you decide to Google some things about it. But then you realize that you don’t even know where to begin and what to type in the search bar!

But when I first decided to go – I had some expectations in my mind of what it would be like:

• Fun
• Only drawing/painting ALL the time
• Easy to get a job because of BA Degree.

Man, I was wrong!

And while as it was fun most of the time, the other experiences I’ve had didn’t really match my expectations!

So that’s how I came up with the:

2 Biggest Myths about Art Schools:

Myth #1. You will only draw/paint all the time

That is so NOT true!

Because in order to graduate you will also have to take courses in liberal studies, humanities, English, science etc…

So, you will be forced to spend money on courses you don’t even want to take and that (most probably) won’t ever be needed in your art career!

Myth #2. Easy to get a job later because of your degree

Hmm… Well, to be honest, this could potentially give you like 1-2 points out of a 100 during a job interview

(and I’m talking here about illustrators, painters and concept artists).

So, let’s say there are 2 candidates for a position that both have stunning portfolios. The only difference between them is that one graduated from an art school and the other didn’t.

In this case, the person hiring might give a preference to the graduate. Might.

However, if you have a degree but the other person’s portfolio is better or they have more experience, or they just clicked with the employee more – no paper proving your education will help you.

So why do artists want to go to school then? 

1. It’s their parent’s way

Let’s be honest, a lot of people in any field go to colleges/universities just because they are told that it’s the way.

Even artists are under the impression that they HAVE to just so parents are not that worried about your life.

To be honest, if you decide to not get a secondary education – most parents will be freaking out.

If you decide to get a secondary education in art – most parents will still be freaking out, but a bit less.

So what’s the big deal then if we don’t go at all?

(Side note: if your parents are freaking out that’s only because they LOVE you so so much! And want what’s the best for you! So don’t freak out back at them, just try to smile, appreciate their concerns and calmly explain your point of view.)

2. Getting a job

Yup, that’s a big reason for going to college/university, but I already covered why I don’t think this is a valid reason to go.

3. Networking Opportunities

A completely valid reason (more on this later).

4. Knowledge

Another great reason that I cover in more depth below.

You might ask yourself, “Should I go to Art School?”

And let me tell you – there is no one right answer for every single person out there.

But there are some hints that can help you make that decision!

Why you SHOULD Go to Art School

Now, points 3 (Networking) and 4 (Knowledge) are the ONLY good reasons to go to an Art School (in my opinion)!!

You should go to art school if you are planning to network with other artists (students and professors) because they might just land you jobs in the future!

And because you will get valuable critiques on your art and will, therefore, know how to improve it.

You will also have some (hopefully) healthy competition which will constantly push you to grow!

And you might get bits and pieces of knowledge from your professor’s experiences about the ‘real art world’ – what your future field of work is like, how to land jobs and what to be aware of.

And of course, the most important piece (I think) is learning!

Learning from people who have better skills than you is always an amazing and a valid reason to spend money!

Why you SHOULD NOT Go to Art School

• You shouldn’t go to art school because “that is the way”.

Nope, for artists it never was.

• You shouldn’t go to art school because “it will help you land a job”

There is a 99% chance that it won’t be that useful.

• And you shouldn’t go to art school if you don’t plan to network and your only goal is to learn.

Because let’s be real here for a second: getting $30,000 – $100,000+ worth of loans to learn art is probably not what you really want.

And since we live in the world with the Internet – we can afford to learn everything they teach you in school ONLINE.

I know that many people are still kind of on a fence with this, but that’s the truth.

Yes, you might stumble on some online courses worth $1,000 that weren’t worth your time and didn’t teach you much.

But then you will find a $100 course that really clicks with you and helps you grow as an artist!

And if you spend on average $50 – $100 per online course – for that $30K you would spend on an art school (if we are going with the lowest possible choices) you will get 300 – 600 courses!! 

And if only half of them are decent – that’s 150-300 LIFE-CHANGING courses that you can take!!!

And guess how much the average for a course in school is?

Mine was $800 (one of the lowest fees ever) and I had 10 courses per year.

40 courses = $32,000 loan.

Doesn’t sound fun, does it?

And out of those 40 courses – 10 weren’t related to art. So that was just money wasted because I needed the credits to get my degree.

My point is – if you can choose and think strategically – you can really learn everything and MORE about art by taking online courses, instead of going to art school.

At first, I thought that if I could go back in time I wouldn’t end up going to art school, and instead, I would spend that time learning at home and practicing.

But now, I realize that I HAD TO go to art school. Because if I didn’t – I probably wouldn’t have created this blog and talked to you right now.

So, I’m glad that I went because now I can share the knowledge I’ve been taught – with You.

At the end of the day, what sounds better to you:

40 courses you HAVE to take for $32,000 ? or

40 courses you WANT to take for $2,000 – $3,000 ?

The funniest thing to me is that the amount of 2-3 thousand $$$ sounds like A LOT of money!

And it IS a lot, but that amount doesn’t even cover 1 semester in an Art University!

Yet, a lot of people don’t compare these numbers, so they can’t truly make this decision for themselves.

WARNING:

If you do decide to be home-schooled and learn from online courses – that can be a lot of fun! And you will be learning a lot of different skills from a variety of artists. BUT YOU MUST BE ORGANIZED!

I can’t stress this enough!

In school, professors give you homework and grades. You need to pass the course so you do the assignments.

But at home – you will constantly need to look for new awesome courses, and YOU will have to MAKE yourself learn and practice!

Either you decide to go or not (or maybe you’ve been already) I totally respect your choice.

There are artists who are better at learning on their own, and there are artists who prefer schools.

Whatever you end up doing – keep your end goal in mind! And focus on learning as much as you can!

If you disagree with my view on this, that’s also cool. We all have different experiences and opinions.

And I just wanted to share with you mine and hopefully give you some stuff to think about.

What Do I Do Now?

Step 1. Make that decision for yourself

Research more if you need to, talk to people who have gone to art schools, email people who finished your dream school and just think. Think what your goals for going are and if there is a different way to achieve them.

I’m not telling you not to go.

All I’m saying is, Go for the right reasons.

I would hate for you to spend a lot of your time, get into loans and be dissatisfied at the end of the day.

The goal of this blog is to inspire, teach, motivate and keep you a happy artist!

And to be happy at the end, you need to do some real thinking about your goals and where you want to end up.

Step 2. Commit to your decision

After you’ve made the decision I want you to really stick to it and give it your all!

So if you decide to go to art school, make sure you take everything you can out of it!

Meet people, network, learn everything you can, ask a lot of questions and work hard! Don’t waste a day!

And if you decide to take a different route and learn from home then check out some of the most amazing courses for artists!

Some of them are huge learning platforms that cost cheaper, and therefore the quality is a little cheaper. They won’t be your life-changing courses. But still worth a shot!

• Skillshare
• Udemy
• CreativeLive

And there are also courses that artists make on their own – which are higher priced, but you know that that artist put their heart and soul into it for you. And those (at least for me) where the life-changing investments!

• YourArtPath Products
• Proko
• Bloop Animation

It’s like coffee shops – everyone goes to big brands because of the name and the affordable price, but the best coffee you’ve ever had was probably at some local mom ‘n paps little coffee shop.

Just make the best decisions for yourself that will result in the best future for you.

And not little quick wins.

Good luck with making the decision – it will define your life, really (no pressure)!!

And let me know in the comments below what are your thoughts on art schools?