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7 users agree
4:48 PM, Sunday February 16th 2020
edited at 4:50 PM, Feb 16th 2020

Like 80% or 90% of art is doing practice, studies, experimenting. That is stuff you can do on your own (assuming you have the tools: a PC and software if working digital, and various art supplies if traditional).

The remaining 10% or 20% is the theory. There's really no deep secrets in art. Everything is available online and for free in some form or another. Commercial resources like Schoolism, while very good, won't make you a great artist on their own.

IMO, the benefit of art schools is that it will force you to do a lot of practice in a lot of different ways. It's for the people that need a course structure in order to actually do the work they need to do.. The exact same (and maybe even better) could be achieved self-taught. And there's even free resources with a course-like structure (DrawABox being one of them).

Another thing art schools give you is the reputation from coming from a certain art school. Certain companies seem to only hire people that come from certain schools (but you plan to be a hobbyist so this doen't apply).

Also art schools give you the opportunity to make contacts in the industry. So you have more leverage when trying to get a job (which again doesn't apply because you are hobby artist).

In summary: Just practice, practice A LOT. Then check a tiny bit of theory. Then do 10x more practice. Go up to absurd levels of study and practice. Always check back to the theory/books, read and re-read them. Specially the most basic stuff. Don't only aim for knowing about the theory, aim for mastery of it. If you do all that, there's no reason you can't achieve whatever artistic goal you propose yourself.

edited at 4:50 PM, Feb 16th 2020
9:11 AM, Monday February 17th 2020

Is there anything else to say? Great explication especially the 'read a bit of theory then 10x more practice', sums it up perfectly.

The only thing I think I would add is that online courses/art-schools and such offer just a shortcut but also can get in the way if they are not on the mindset of the student and the way he learns.

12:27 PM, Monday February 17th 2020

Everything is available online and for free in some form or another.

I agree that everthing is available online and we have a vast resources here. But I think that the problem is, sifting those resources. I think that's what I struggled the most. That's also the reason why I've been drawing on and off since I was in middle school. I think, it's great that right now, there are a lot of really good art resources. Though, my doubts is still there that I can't get that far. Still, I'm going to practice anyway.

I didn't think that 90% art is for that, I thought that there are some information that you can only get in art schools. I have a misconception that knowledge of theory is more important than practice which sometimes makes me frustrated. I agree that you can learn more with practice than just reading theories. Right now, I'm going to practice a lot. Also, Thanks for taking the time to answer my question.

11:36 AM, Tuesday February 18th 2020

As someone that has studied illustration at university, digital painting at a concept design school (CDA clone), as well as followed Drawabox through self-directed study, my experience is that all three offer different things. I actually wrote an article about it a while ago and whilst I speak from a position of relative privilege (low consequence university loans, high income country, etc), I do think people are often too quick to put formal education down.

Some of the things that I learned in my illustration degree that are quite a lot harder to find online (though not impossible) are how to design, generate ideas, accept critique, and how to market yourself as a freelancer. In your case, as a hobbyist, I would definitely be trying to push as far as you can with the free/cheap options available to you before worrying too much whether you'll get to some standard.

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