why I’m not at OCAD anymore
I’ve been thinking a lot about how me being at Art School was like playing a shell game.
An awful lot of people were selling it awfully hard. And it seemed like some of them had made a go of it (though usually under much different circumstances). And yeah I was doing very well on my first attempt. Very very well. I won my first try. I found the nut under the shell. I won.
But I looked around at an awful lot of the artists I respect, and they claim to be ’self taught’ and do very well for themselves. Some of them were even my professors.
And the first question I would ask anyone is: do you need a degree to be an illustrator? And the answer would always be a resounding no.
The second question I’d ask is: Why does none of this make sense? Why am I not learning here? And their answer would be: You’ll understand when you graduate. When you get out there in the real world. When you start working.
Funny thing is, I already have some experience with the real world…
And I know, I know, that ultimately it was just a waste of my money. All I really want, or need is some more life drawing experience. And OCAD had cut life drawing in first year down to almost nothing. And I can find life drawing classes (without disgruntled professors who force me to draw with messy charcoal) for 10 bucks a pop throughout the city. And I can go (or not go) whenever I feel like it.
I’m smart enough and strong enough to be an artist on my own without gambling my time away at shell games.
Because the wisest move you could make in a shell game is to walk away.
February 6th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Ah! I know!
Art school, and its counterpart MFA programs in all arts diciplines (I tried one in writing a few years back), do sometimes seem like a shell game. But it’s also possible to look at it like this: that money you’re paying — it makes you work hard on your art. And sometimes you need that.
Of course, if you’re not learning what you want to be learning, well, that’s a different story!
February 6th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Yeah.
I should add that this was a decision made by me about OCAD specifically, not a blanket statement about art school in general.
I think going to art school would have been pivotal in my development as an artist if I were 17 or 18 and just heading in.
But as it is, I’m a pretty developed as an human being and have three full years of university under my belt, as well as a good few years of real world design, illustration and creative problem solving experience.
I am simply not willing to wait another 3 1/2 years just to get a piece of paper that I don’t really need (unless I want to be a professor myself and teach - and I REALLY REALLY don’t).
February 6th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
Congrats! Congrats at being smart enough to live your life the way you want to.
February 7th, 2007 at 12:32 am
I’m taking that as sincere, so thanks, but it also sounds kinda sarcastic.
It’s hard to tell with you sometimes (especially over the internet).
To be fair, they don’t exactly make a: “Congrats on your dropping out of art school!” greeting card. But I think they should.
June 19th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
This entry has inspired me. I have been spending the last two years regretting that I didn’t finish my art degree (I was double-majoring in English education and Drawing, and the cost and time were becoming astronomical), even though I know I am where I am supposed to be right now. I love art, but I am 25 and rather poor, and everyone (even my students) are like: why aren’t you an artist “for real”? Why didn’t you finish that degree, too? Reading your entry reminds me that a) I can always go back someday, regardless of my age, and b) lack of a degree does not mean I lack talent. Thanks, and congrats for having guts and for knowing what you want/need!