Just read an article about Rob Liefeld - Never knew he was a self-taught artist. He got into the business just by chance and has taken off ever since

So the question is, are you self-taught or have many of you received formal training (Be it private art classes, secondary education, college...whatever).

I'll start out - I have no formal training whatsoever. Still, I'm curious to see where people in this community fall. I'm guessing most of you have received some formal training.

Self-taught. I started drawing around 7 years ago because a friend of mine drew a lot XD. I've gotten a lot better since then, but of course I could still improve. I honestly could never stand art class; I was never allowed to draw what I really wanted to! D:

I've done your standard school-curriculum-art-class and a how-to-draw book here and there, but that's about it. In the last year or so, I've been watching people draw on youtube, or doing a close-reading of some of the comics here on DD, but I don't know if that counts. It's certainly helped, though, I think.

It's obvious, right? :P

I'm a dabbler. I wouldn't be drawing if I knew someone who'd draw for me. I took a lot of art in high school, but that doesn't really count. Especially since I immediately followed that with seven years of studying biology with nary a moment to draw anything but the suicidal stick figures in my class notes.

I'd be surprised if more than 3 people here had formal training...

I've been drawing casually since being a kid(pokemon) but only started to take it seriously early 2008. Tons of art books and tuts from DA and whatnot. I'd love to do a life drawing class at my college but you've got to go through 4 beginner level money sucker classes as prerequisites.

Skullbie
I'd love to do a life drawing class at my college but you've got to go through 4 beginner level money sucker classes as prerequisites.

Same here, actually.

Even though I dislike art class, I do like drawing realism a lot on the side, but at my college there are actually some art classes that you're not allowed to even sign up for unless your an art major/minor. D:

Skullbie
I'd be surprised if more than 3 people here had formal training...

Off the top of my head - CS3LINK (Broken Things), JillyFoo (Demon Eater, TPCTH) Comic_Chic (The Dreamer), bittertea (Scorch), hpkomic (Cosmic Dash), MAYBE Iowabarbiedoll (Xylia)...I believe they have "formal" art training.

Then again, I see your point, we may have more self-taught artists here at DD. Makes you wonder if even many of the "big dogs" here are self-taught.

Many years in art college and university. Yes, I have academic qualifications in fine art and art and design, among other things. :)

"training" is a misnomer though. Who's trained these days? There aren't many situations where art is treated as a practical discipline.... except when you're leaning techniques. What I did when I was learning doesn't much resemble what I do in my comic, but it gives me a good library of skills, techniques, and knowledge of styles and art history to draw upon.

Rob Liefeld never had formal training?

That explains a lot...

Jokes aside, I'm studying Design on the College, so I'm having some formal training.

I taught myself very early on, but...well, let's just say I just graduated college with a B.A. in Illustration. In other words, lots of art classes.

Both actually. I've had something in the neighborhood of two years of formal art education. Later I learned more about anatomy from medical texts and was able to draw more "correct-looking" figures afterward. I figure the rest came to me through practice.
Unfortunately in terms of comics theory and writing I have close to zero training formal or otherwise. So at the very least I'm entirely self-taught in those areas and I'm often worried that someones gonna call me on the fact that I have no idea what I'm doing.

I'm only self-taught. I started drawing when I was five. I just loved to do it. I mean in high-school I take art, but that doesn't teach you anything really.

and Yeah, I don't really think people go from "I cannot draw a stickfigure to save my life" to "I'm a great artist" from being formally taught. Most, I think, would teach themselves early on, get okay at it, and then the only formal training would be lessons on how to get better.

I never took up art lessons. Does that mean I'm the next Rob Liefeld? :nervous:

I was always able to draw from an early age and decided to formalise it all by doing my National Diploma in art and design foundation studies and then a HND Graphic Design (UK qualifications).

Since that time I've unlearnt everything I ever learned on the HND and have gone back to doing my own thing;)

Reva Flynn
Since that time I've unlearnt everything I ever learned on the HND and have gone back to doing my own thing;)

Same. I was always good at drawing when I was little. What I did in my studies wasn't the sort of thing that was too useful to what I do now., except for the more formal aspects like balance negative space, composition...

No formal training at all.
I loved to draw as a kid and I did art at school (got a C), and I bought a book with drawing tips in to refer to sometimes, but that is as far as my training extends.
I just hope practice will make perfect....or at least a bit better!

Self-taught.

And I have never gotten higher than a B- in an Art class in school.

Teachers told me, and I quote, "You don't draw realistic enough."

That's because my influences were comic books and cartoons, y'nitwits.

Anyhoo, that venting aside, I am self-taught. I actually use Marvel Legends figures to capture certain poses at times and pictures of real people for references but other than that it's all me.

I've had years of college art classes and life-drawing sessions. I totally encourage people seek classes out if they can, even random classes at community colleges... it practically triples your development speed, provided you have a decent teacher and are willing to do the assignments.

I won't deny that you can still get pretty good on your own, though. Skullbie's proof. But that takes discipline and real hunger for knowledge and self-improvement. A lot of people don't have that, and somewhere along the way they think, "oh well, I guess I'm good enough now". Then they stagnate.

Having graduated from college, I no longer have access to art classes, so I've been seeking out tutorials and books pretty regularly. I'm lucky to be surrounded incredible artists where I work, so my learning has kept up its momentum.

well are we starting from the beginning?

because everyones self taught in the beginning...you just pick up a pencil and doodle.

i taught myself with my copy of HTDCMW (if you dont know what that stands for by now, too bad)

in high school i took as many art classes as possible...3d art, drawing, painting.

after that its pretty much been just pushing myself to get better from life and stuff. lots of visits to art museums and the like.

I could never be "formally trained" because art is subjective, i would just be molded into someone elses style.

NickGuy
I could never be "formally trained" because art is subjective, i would just be molded into someone elses style.

Completely self taught here, but not without heeding the advice of my art instructors in grade school who encouraged me to draw more than Looney Tunes and TMNT fanart! While I went through many art classes in school, the style and techniques I eventually developed were through my own effort, since my art teachers encouraged a little more observational drawing than I was keen to do at the time. I've always disliked "still life" even if it IS a helpful tool. I was the kid in school that people begged to do art for them whenever a project needed it, but then was ignored profusely at all other times.

I've always been focused on cartooning art though, since it was my initial goal to make it into animation...which I realize now would be impossible with a certain complication in my wrist keeping me from drawing gazillions of pages of super consistent art. Also finding out that unless you're a director you have little say in what your cartoon is about was a little discouraging.

I do wish that I'd had a little more instruction on perspective in the past though, I can't seem to grasp the concept of using a ruler for this. I am an epic failure at ruler-using! (My hands aren't very steady) I've considered buckling down and purchasing some instruction books on the subject. I'll probably just try and find something useful online though since I don't have the money$ to drop on those pricey books!

NickGuy
I could never be "formally trained" because art is subjective, i would just be molded into someone elses style.

Learning the basic concepts and disciplines of art is not the same as being formally groomed into a style. Style is not something that is forced on someone in basic artistic training, unless you're being trained specifically to adapt a style (as in cartooning or a "house style" for comics) Just because someone teaches you how to make sugar cookies doesn't mean you can't use that information to make Snickerdoodles instead!
Formal training suggests that an artist is trained on the basics like perspective, form, anatomy, color theory, all that fun stuff, which are in turn applied to their own "style".

Amelius

NickGuy
I could never be "formally trained" because art is subjective, i would just be molded into someone elses style.

Learning the basic concepts and disciplines of art is not the same as being formally groomed into a style. Style is not something that is forced on someone in basic artistic training, unless you're being trained specifically to adapt a style (as in cartooning or a "house style" for comics) Just because someone teaches you how to make sugar cookies doesn't mean you can't use that information to make Snickerdoodles instead!
Formal training suggests that an artist is trained on the basics like perspective, form, anatomy, color theory, all that fun stuff, which are in turn applied to their own "style".

exactly, which is why i enjoyed the tutelage i recieved from my teachers in school. and i still get tons of insight and critiques from pro artists on other boards and the like. I just could never pay 30 thousand dollars a year for it

I am self taught like most others here.

The only Art class I have ever taken was a digital art class that went heavily into various Photshop techniques.

I'm glad I took it because I knew nothing about Photoshop before that class. Now I'm fairly skilled at it. Despite what my comic looks like sometimes.

NickGuy
I just could never pay 30 thousand dollars a year for it

I can't really blame you there. There are many art schools that want you to think that you can't get professional training without putting yourself into horrendous debt. Cal-arts was even known for recommending that their students pay for their tuition in loans and then go bankrupt immediately after college to escape them. These schools also want you to think that you can't get a good art education without going to somewhere like the Art Institutes or Full Sail.

But honestly, you can learn a lot in a state-funded school. You still have to look for the ones with good art programs, but when you find them they're a LOT more affordable.

I have a Batchelor Of Arts in painting - that's a degree, four years study after leaving school. I learned a lot but I firmly believe you can't teach anybody anything. They have to learn for themselves and the best you can do is guide them through the maze.
The most important thing I learned was how to take your own work to pieces and never be satisfied - you can become a great artist with or without art education, but you can't do it without being your own harshest critic.

i was self taught for most of my life then attended some collage art corses and took a comic corse taught by Guy Gilchrist. im just about to go back to school for an associate's in animation.

i love learning how different people do this. it can be so easy to get caught up in yer own thing. when i go to school, i do things i normally wouldnt do and it always suprises me to see how it comes out. looking forward to being in the environment again. not to mention, i've been kinda a recluse lately.

Hawk

NickGuy
I just could never pay 30 thousand dollars a year for it

But honestly, you can learn a lot in a state-funded school. You still have to look for the ones with good art programs, but when you find them they're a LOT more affordable.

yeah exactly...and theres alot of nice pros and artists online who give great tips and layovers and techniques for free.

Self-taught, with the exception of some online tutorials and a couple of art books.
Yep.

90% self-taught and 10% formal schooling.


You see, I started doing comics even before I learned how to draw. I was 15 or 16 when I drew this page.


The formal schooling part?
- I took a 5-day figure drawing course for beginners. I had alot of teacher attention because of the small class size. However, 5 days is 5 days. You really can't learn much in that small period of time.

- I took an art class in high school. Which was really a joke except for the teacher who was a nice person. I remember everyone else was like 10 levels above my ability because they've been drawing since they were 5 year olds or something.

- I took 1 year of "art foundations" course in college. This is the kind of course where people who would wanna get into graphic design, animation, web design, art degree, etc. would get into in order to push up their art skills to an acceptable level (from the art school's perspective).
I had a teacher who used to do some contract jobs with Marvel, Disney, Pixar, and Image comics (at least that's what he told us) He was a good teacher and he showed me a few tricks on how to make perspective and fight scenes alot easier to do.
Though thats about it in a community college setting. The large class sizes won't really get you that much teacher attention. Most of the stuff you have to learn on your own and improvise.

Self taught for the most part, with one year at the Joe Kubert School thrown in.