Here’s her site link, in case you haven’t already found it. Good luck to you, I hope things go well!
I’m a professional artist working in greeting cards. I started art school as a fine artist/ film maker but then finally accepted that at heart I’m a cartoonist.
Find a good art school and go. Work your butt off and get better than the other guys.
And as for statistics, do know that the world is in no dire need for any more artists. It’s clogged with em. That said, there’s always more room for the really talented. Thing is, it’s a lot easier to make it as a mediocre business man (or any other mainstream profession) than as a mediocre artist. More than most professions I know, there’s a real survival of the fittest thing going on in the art world. And not only the fittest, but also survival of those who can last the longest.
It’s been a bumpy road to a secure job doing what I love, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
If you have any other questions, drop me an email.
Best of luck!
Aslan2, I just graduated from college a year ago. Maybe my experiences will benefit you.
I went my first year to Pratt Institute of Art & Design in Brooklyn. Good school, good professors, a requirement for teaching there is that you have worked professionally in the field you’re teaching about. But not really worth the money. If you know you only want to do art and will accept no other career, even if it means literally being a starving artist, then sure go to an expensive art school like that. Me, I’m still paying off the debt I incurred from that one year. I learned a lot about art, but nothing about anything else. They approach the academic subjects as if artists are complete drooling morons. It’s not an English class, it’s an English For Artists class! Not practical if you might someday want a “normal job”, or even a job in a related field. They teach no real world skills.
After a fiasco involving following a guy to Texas and becoming completely broke, I ended up moving back with my parents and going to a state school here in CT. I was amazed at how much I learned in their art department. The professors there were just as good if not better than the ones at Pratt. And I learned enough other things that I now have a good job in an office using all those other skills. It’s not doing art, but I could tell that most of the art majors in that school went on to become professional artists. If I still had that drive, I know I could too. Plus with a state school like that the curriculum is far less strict, so you can go and explore a few different kinds of art to find what you’re really good at. I always thought drawing was my thing until I tried sculpture. I have also been surprised at the ways I have so far been able to use my art skills at my current job.
And after all of this, someone told me that if you are accepted to Cooper Union in New York (very hard-to-get-into art school in the middle of the Village) it’s free. I have yet to verify this, but it made sense when it was explained to me. It’s a very prestigious school, very small, and they only admit the best of the best. I know you’re your own harshest critic, but don’t listen to the voice telling you you’re not good. You might be great and you just can’t see it. So if you want to go to an art school for free (I think it even includes housing?) see about applying with them. You never know.
So to sum up, don’t go to an art school unless you are absolutely sure it’s the only skill you want to learn and you are also very rich, or apply to Cooper Union, and it can’t hurt to check out the art programs at state schools, they are sometimes really great and waaaaay cheaper than art school.
For undergrad I went to The Massachusetts College of Art (the only state-funded art school in the US) If you live in MA, I recommend it. Got my BFA in Illustration there.
Got my MFA at Syracuse in Illustration some 5 years later.
The difference between the two schools was significant in some areas. To echo Faerie’s point, the accedemic courses in art school (Mass Art) seemed a little… dumbed down. That may be a blessing or a hindrance, depending on how you look at it.
The Syracuse experience had presitigious visiting artists, famous professors and bountiful facilities. The Mass Art one was decidedly more low-tech and low profile.
The major factor of course was tuition. Mass Art was 2,000 a year, Syracuse was 21,000. Was Syracuse worth the extra 19,000 grand a year? I don’t think so.
I also spent two years before either of these at another liberal arts college which was about as expensive as Mass Art but with much suckier classes and selection, relatively speaking. So not all institutions are created equal.
Heh. I graduated from Pratt in '76. Sounds like they haven’t changed. Though I will say I had very good drawing and design teachers there (and it was a lot cheaper then - I paid off my whole debt in about 7 years after graduation, working as a scientific illustrator/draftsman). But I learned my painting partly from private lessons with an Italian conservator and partly from just painting. What you say about Cooper Union was certainly true when I applied in the 70s (and didn’t get in).
Sitting in on a figure drawing class taught by a friend last semester, just to enjoy it and brush up on my skills, I have to say that a good teacher can be found anywhere. He’s excellent and he’s at a community college. I didn’t find the painting teachers here any better than the ones I found inadequate at Pratt. Maybe it’s just me. I don’t think so, 'cause I learned a lot as an autodidact and from my tutor. Maybe painting’s just bloody hard to teach.
The Art Spirit by Robert Henri
And keep in mind, you never know where you talents will lead you - unless you don’t develop them, in which case the answer is nowhere.
I’m not a big success, not a Great Artist, but I do earn some money at it. It has taken me many, many years to find a way, and it happened by accident. There are a lot of different art markets, you can find a niche if you keep trying. It may not bring you a lot of money, but it can bring a lot of satisfaction.
Also, experiment with all the knowledge you can find but don’t try to be anyone but yourself. If your teachers want you to turn out just like them, be very skeptical.