This post might read something like an essay, but more on a rant on why I should have been self taught other than studying art in college/uni that requires a degree (spoiler, you don't!) so let's get into it.
For many years from my youth that I've discovered art, weather be gaming, cartoons and movies and such, I grew loving the medium of art, but learning about it is another story. At my years at secondary school once I've discovered how manga drawing was made from pencil to ink, I was amazed by that skill. But, the tools isn't enough. but what should have taught me, was fundamentals. I didn't understand how fundamentals are, in bases of anatomy, compositions and such, I didn't have much resources not just to study but make my art 10 times better.
During my early years of art college, I've learnt different things from discovering photoshop (7.0 version) to life drawing (drawing fruits and objects) to even learning art history. It does get good to do all this from art school, whereas at the same time, I just wanted to draw on how the human figure works lol.
Then after that I went to uni, where I've actually did study Illustration, then have to combine another course for it at the time, that did peaked my interests, but at the same time it did not, because at the time I wanted to learn digital painting, where that got me into being a game artist as you do character designs, set stages, props, weapons and such. So uni did not fulfill me as an artist in that caliber.
So all I was doing is learning on how to make your own sketchbook, doing prints of the old movies you watch, and doing Photoshop tutorials that isn't based on how to be a good digital painter. That is where I've should've dropped out of university and just been self taught.
I know that certain students who wanted to go to art school to be something like a fine artist, architect and such, but when it comes to be an illustrator, it doesn't help you become in the field you want to be, like becoming a concept/games artist.
In a sense, if you are a student that wants to get involved in the gaming industry to create cool-looking characters and stunning environments (if you've got top-tier perspective skills) don't do an Illustration course and find a course that is based of concept art. Illustration tutors don't cater to game art development, it's not their specialty.
In the UK there a few courses that have concept art courses, but with my long term health I couldn't study outside London, which is why you can't find any concept/game art courses going around in London. You do get games design (which I did for one year) but learning on how to draw characters for games is nonexistent.
7 years later I've been practicing my fundamentals ever since and I'd like to make money on my own craft. Throughout that time I have been going to life drawing classes often for a few years, yet I still need to improve on that, learning digital painting at my own pace as doing colour theory is tricky to implicate, and I've traveled to Amsterdam. Which I'll hopefully go back and visit again, once c*vid has been eradicated around the world.
I would write more of my bad experiences of being an art student, but lets just say I've had challenges that should've been well thought out. Still it was an experience both good and bad. least to say I'm glad I didn't get an art degree, in a sense, cos an portfolio and sketchbook is your best method of your body of work, other than a piece of paper of what you done for 3 or 4 years in school.
See you in the next post of what I how I do my digital art
