Should I Go to Art School?

The question “should I go to art school” comes up and goes around every year. Usually asked by kids who are already making art and thinking about turning that into a career, whether that’s as an animator, illustrator, graphic designer, etc. Currently it seems like that question is asked most often by kids who are looking at animation, illustration, or comics.

I'm thinking about this on a personal level because my oldest kid is a high school senior. I got all ready with a list of schools she might want to visit or look at and consider. Even as a person who works at an art school there is still some hesitation on my part to recommend it. Maybe that's because I went to a "real" college myself. But in the time I've been here I've seen students learn, grow, and mature in the same ways I saw friends do that when I was in college.

I think the first question is really, “should I go to college?” I know when I was nearing the end of high school that wasn’t an option. I knew for certain I would go to college. That’s just what was next. I was a creative kid, I’d been making my own comics for years so I thought about pursuing that as a career. But I was also academically talented and very interested in the sciences. Since I wasn’t sure about either path I figured going to a liberal arts college where I would get a good broad-based education was a good idea.

More importantly, when I toured and visited schools I went by what felt "right." When I visited the college I ended up attending it was because it just felt like that was where I belonged. It would seem like my kid had that experience when they did the summer program at my school. They found their people!

Now these questions are asked by kids who have access to YouTube video tutorials and all kinds of other online resources to learn specific skills or techniques. And their most pressing question is one of value: is college “worth it?” especially if they think they can learn those things online. It’s a fair question to ask. But again think about the broader question of why go to college or school at all?

Yes, you can watch or read tutorials to learn specific things but a lot of learning is what you pick up from others, or what they decide to impart to you. A lot of school is socializing. It’s figuring out how to be a person, and also how to be a person in your field. What are the art students doing? What are they reading? What are they doing with their free time, etc.? Or just being able to lean over to a friend’s studio and ask, “Hey, does this look right?”

It’s still an expensive question to be sure. It’s not one you should answer lightly. But think about the broader sense of the value of that education and what it might include. It became very clear to me in the middle of my college years that a lot of what I was paying for was the time and privilege to live in a little bubble and indulge my interests and desires and explore and expand my talents without too much interruption or inconvenience by the “real world.” (Getting experience in the real world is important too of course, but having that time to be selfish can be immensely helpful.)