Can You REALLY Make It As a Self-Taught Artist? || SPEEDPAINT + COMMENTARY

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[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

On the business side - when I worked in a studio, it definitely took a degree just to be admitted to the interview... But since I left to become a freelance illustrator, I have NEVER been asked for my degree 😅 It's all about the portfolio!

[@AHylianWarrior]

How long ago did you work in a studio? The degree has become more about getting a working visa nowadays which has been in the last 5 or so years (you just need a bachelor level to be able to get a work visa without problems)

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

@@AHylianWarrior I wouldn't know about visas since I was working in a studio in my home country. But I think it depends what kind of artistic job you're going for as well. Something like animation, they don't usually hire anyone without a degree because it takes technical skills and knowledge of the software. I had to have an animation degree to be admitted to the interview, then after the interview I also had to do an animation test to demonstrate my skill.

[@shannon.00]

In my country to there are good animation schools AND good self taught 3d animators that I know, I felt having my degree helped in that competitive environment.

[@amethystimagination3332]

I’m in art school and I’d argue it’s worth it because it forces you out of your comfort zone, and you have guidance from people more experienced than you. That being said there’s no one way to do things and the school structure doesn’t work for everyone but it does work for me.

[@shannon.00]

I agree forcing you out of your comfort zone and the deadlines keep you accountable, I found so much value in doing an art degree, networking and meeting people I wouldnt have

[@astronma_starheart]

Personally, I still consider myself mostly self taught. Why? Well, although UNT’s art program *is* good, and I did take art classes in high school, there’s a lot that I ended up learning on my own that’s improved my art for the better and in a way I can understand something as a neurodivergent person whenever there’s a fundamental that I learned but can’t grasp as quickly as my peers at times. I found techniques that worked best for me that may not always be seen as traditional, depending on the medium, and while there are areas in my art that need more work (mainly perspective), I’ve found I learned so much more through self study compared to my classes at UNT and high school art classes beyond the fundamentals taught. Hell, I’ve seen more improvement in my own self studies compared to how UNT right now is handling it’s art courses. We’re just taught a thing, and then told to fuck around and find out to make a piece. Which, is fine? But I don’t really find it beneficial for me at least. Rambling aside, great video as always!

[@thisusserisacat]

Technically, yes, it’s important for digital artists to learn how traditional art works too. Learning how to paint in a tradicional way, helps you to understand colour theory. Because sometimes the colour picker, is not very accurate.

[@thisusserisacat]

Also, I think there’s a misconception that art school would provide you with all the info that you need, when sometimes they don’t do that all, you need to do your research too. I know that art school is expensive ASFI. In my opinion, it should be a mix both types of leaning. Art school and self thought are great in my opinion

[@BlueDragonArt]

I'm not arguing for art school, but I will say one thing about taking courses that you aren't interested in, such as ceramics, is to give you an opportunity to try something you may not be able to at home. I will never have the space or money for a kiln, and they are DANGEROUS. I'll never have the money for the glaze components (I was able to buy the clay components, but had no way to mix the dry clay: school provided those resources as part of the course, and we could use them as we wanted and batch bake and share recipes and stuff). But having taken it, I got to learn and experience 3D art, and there were other valuable lessons the professor made me do: I suck at math. No math teacher has been able to get me to work well with numbers (I flip them, like dyslexia. I forget the term). But my ceramics teacher had the patience and knowledge to spend time with me and help me look the equations differently (this related to making glazes, he wasn't just doing my math homework XD XD). He also had mad crazy organizational skills he taught us, that I now 10 years later still employ to keep my tools organized and easy to find. I am a messy person, so having someone force me to put things back where they belong got me into the habit of doing it in my real life. All these things are something I wouldn't have tried on my own, but that I found I loved. Now, I work in comics. But I think there is a value in a curriculum that forces you to try things outside of your comfort zone, because you could find that this creative outlet is something you were missing or looking for, but never knew it. Same for oils. I didn't take those courses, but I'm sure if my curriculum had forced me, I could have gone a completely different direction with my art. I'm saying all this not to argue against the points in this video. I 100% support (and learned more about illustration from) self education than I did in college since our Art Department was underfunded and the school was trying to just get rid of it D: (I don't blame my professors, most of them really cared and I can't stress how much I appreciate them.) My only comment is that having a professor or school make you try something outside of your scope is also a benefit: some people know exactly what they want to do and know they wouldn't be interested in a medium. Others are floating around looking for themselves. Others still are open for experimentation and find something on their own, but being introduced to a subject or medium they wouldn't have tried otherwise can get them a head start in that direction. Those are just some thoughts I had on it. I have to re-iterate that I am supportive of self education and affordable continued education. I don't think knowledge should be gate kept or barred from those who don't have the funds for college. Also I am a bitter, bitter person STILL paying for an education that taught me less than I learned on my own. I am SO happy that younger generations have the benefit of finding instruction from the experienced for either free or a vastly reduced cost. Don't forget your libraries, folks! You can see what type of resources they have to try a text before paying for it!

[@The_Open_Book]

I love that analogy! "You can polish bronze all you want but that won't make it gold!" This can apply to sooo many aspects of life learning and skills, I'll be thinking about it for a while :)

[@dinoheartnerd2265]

So happy to see you back, Duchess. Getting a notification from you about a new video was easily the absolute highlight of my whole day. ❤

[@Swe3t_Coffe3]

It kinda feels weird that I started taking art practice more seriously at 17 too. I would consider myself self-taught, even though I do take art classes, but only because my school/college is kinda crappy and we're just told to do whatever (we were never even formally taught what foreshortening meant until the beginning of our last year, and even then we weren't even given any exercises or anything to practice it). It's just... eh. Imo I'd say the advantages you get from studying art only apply if the school is good, otherwise self-taught would be the better way to do things Great video, Computational Prowess Casanova!

[@NightStarGamer]

I went to collage for graphic design because I felt just going to learn art would be less impressive but the course followed a lot of the same classes the main difference graphic design was a 3 year course and art was 2 years. Though I did drop out, I learned that the college also couldn't teach me everything we needed to learn. In our digital art class the teacher stated during our lessons on 1, 2 and 3 point perspective that he would like to focus more classes on each but instead had to cramp all three into one lesson with a 3 point assignment. My photography class was also really silly, though the idea of photography was exciting and the course came with a camera, our teacher only knew how to use Canon cameras and didn't know how to use the brand we had and didn't teach us how, just told us to "look it up" and our classes were just show our pictures for an hour and that's it. When I'd ask questions for help since this was the first time I've ever used a fancy camera she never gave it. So though I'm sure a degree does help in a lot of cases and networking is good, not every course will be the same and stuff can and will be overlooked even with the structure and cost of college.

[@GothicPhantomZero]

This became a bit of a rant, as this subject is not really a pet peeve of mine but more of a thorn that's been stuck in my side all my life just because of the "no art background/school background" type of thing for jobs.... Back when I was trying to get an art job on different sites, mainly Pet Sites (think like Chicken Smoothie, Flight Rising, etc). I put in my application only for it to be instantly denied. I tried and tried to get other art jobs but it was no use. It was only after trying to get another art job at a pet site that was up and coming about dragons (not FR)...did I learn that there was a list of "Do Not Hire" that was being passed around. I was on that list. All because I didn't go to art school or have had any 'training' by a named-for-their-self art teacher. (I was in my teens at the time haha, I wasn't even old enough to go to art school) I even changed my name and information and was able to find a different job only for them to find out I was on the list, turn around and fired me. Even after I finished stuff for them and they really really liked it! They never even paid me for it because to them I 'lied' and wasn't worthy of being paid. Well over $600 gone just because I didn't have an "art background". This also includes family members as well. "You won't get a good art job if you don't go to school! You should save up and go to school for art, you could get a really good paying job! You'll amount to nothing if you don't go to school, your talent right now is a complete waste of time!" I see it on youtube as well. Those with art background for companies such as animation studios (ie. disney, bluesky, to name a few) really have a following, from 500k to millions of subs. While those who are self-taugh, have maybe a few thousand or so. Very rarely do I see those with 10k+ to 50k+ and they are art commentators or drama commentators. Makes me wonder if people really come to watch their art or the commentation/drama? (no offense...it's just always been a curious part of me) It's just not on sites, servers, or youtube. It was like this everywhere. It's rather disappointing. Even for self-taught upcoming artists. There is no foot hold for them to grow. Because they are never seen and by some rare chance they are, then they are bullied for having weird/ugly art, being a newbie at art, and just not having decent proportions/anatomy. And being constantly told to 'Get better!", go to art school, to learn not to draw ugly things, and make their art look better. I mean who does that help? *sighs~ There's just some things that will always be apart of things, and this is one. I'm sorry I ranted about this. But I have heard this all my life, that I need to go to art school just to get paid better. Honestly, I have wanted to, I mean when I was younger, it was a dream for some time. But, coming from a life with absolutely no funds, no place for future things such as this, or the ability to learn like others because of a learning disability. Really put a stopper to it all. This part of me will never heal, it has over time, but it's still there as you can see. I'll shut up now. Thank you for listening to me if you did read this. Edit: Spelling errors X3

[@mysryuza]

Thank you for speaking up. I somehow was able to understand this so deeply.

[@GothicPhantomZero]

@@mysryuza You're welcome. And thank you for taking the time to read it. It really is quite a struggle, isn't it?

[@indesomniac]

I had a graphic design job for over a year self-taught -- the problem was that the working conditions were pretty garbage. Huge projects sprung with minimal deadlines which included things not even in my job description and needed to pick up on the fly, little in the ways of financial growth, constantly being contacted off-shift; it became not worth the stress after a while because I was breaking myself down over a job which didn't care about me. I do okay doing freelance freelance, but it's still nowhere near the kind of income I'd need to live off of my work.

[@FuzzyImages]

I’ll be honest, getting my AFA was probably the biggest waste of time and money ever. I could have used my GIbill to buy a house! I was a digital artist who wanted to go into doing animation and character design, but instead I learned a bunch of mediums I’m never gonna use again and how many ways a person can say “it’s subjective”. Sure I learned a lot on styles and history, but I still feel like I learn that stuff better on my own time and interest, rather than it being imposed on me under restrictive deadlines. Not only that, a lot of the fine/high art standards and view points probably set me back mentally as an artist 10 years as I struggled with this idea that I wasn’t a “real artist”…

[@TheobaldLeonhart]

While I don't plan on pursuing art as a career, and am not exactly teaching myself ... My art has improved a lot, from like a few years ago. And especially from when I was taking art classes in grade and highschool I think the main thing that helped me (aside from starting to use references, when I discovered I have aphantasia), is to not give in head first, and draw the final sketch. But instead break it down into three parts 1. Draw basic shapes and lines, to get the general idea of the pose (circle for head, rectangles for hands, weird shapes for the body and feet. And lines for the arms, legs, and neck) 2. Draw, I guess the shiloette (how do I spell that?) Of the body 3. Add details (basically, making it actually look like the character I want to draw) And I guess a 3.5, would be drawing a cat tail, for characters that have long, detailed tails. Instead of just going in and drawing it Two other things I picked up, are 1. Draw the hands, before the arms (I forget why, I just know I picked it up from a Lavendertowne short) 2. Try to pay attention, to how close/far the hands are from the head or waist (I tends to draw my characters, with long arms. So this, kinda, helps me fix that)

[@Kiraidi720]

Silhouette*, tricky word indeed I actually do something similar, for now I'm only using pencil and paper but I make the rough "model" with lines and shapes then start drawing on top of it, didn't think rectangles for hands though, should probably see if that works for me too.

[@mizubiart6230]

Every artist should be subscribed to your channel. You’re very sincere, vulnerable to a healthy degree, and inspire respect in how steadfast you are in really succeeding at what you want, tears, sweat and all. I hope you only the best for new year and all years to come!

[@pokemongirl5674]

I started back in high school, back when I didn't sign up for any of the studio in art classes as I had no idea until I was close to graduating that art fully became a passion of mine, all of that began in 2009. During most of that time, my art felt so stagnant as I had no idea where to go to get any better, barely have any money to even consider taking classes in the comics field that I wanna study in (its a dream of mine to get into the comics industry) and it took until sometime last year to finally take steps in figuring out what I need to do. I never made a proper art portfolio as my art didn't feel like it represented me well, even months later. Thanks to this video, I have an idea on what I need and should do if I want to progress further on my dream (also that writing a story for the comic is always gonna be a struggle)

[@Heathiekins]

Thank you for this video!!! I am a self-proclaimed hobbyist. I do exactly as you said: I research depending on the material I'm working on. I have always assumed that if someone's making a career out of something, they'll put more effort into it than what I am. I draw for fun, and as soon as something stops being fun for me, I take a break. That's not the kind of luxury someone has if it's their job, and improving in your field is so important. Though not stated in the video, but is always implied: It's never too late to pick up new skills and honing your technique.

[@Jordie.anigaming]

Perfect square is literally gonna be the raid shadow legends for the art community 💀

[@tocasmiley360]

This is really helpful for me thank you!

[@tocasmiley360]

I love how your redrawing old art of yours! It’s amazing to see the improvement❤

[@devinsauls9137]

Happy New Year Duchess Celestia

[@ARand_0m_stranger]

Great video ! ❤

[@takatotakasui8307]

Thank you Ducchess 😁

[@Hatsune-Miku_Fan]

Happy new year

[@a-garden-of-worlds]

That art you're doing is gorgeous.

[@cozy_calicos]

I love your videos sm, Ive never found someone on yt who is as unbiased and informative as you are! also idk if anyones said but the music in the bg of your videos is so calming and helps when i draw too :P

[@candiirabbit]

Really good video. Thank you so much for the encouragement that I can still possibly make it as a self-taught artist. Sometimes it gets super discouraging when so many things require a degree.

[@Benny_Artz]

I consider myself as a small self taught artist and I'm currently 17 and yes I definitely say you can good improvements in your art without education, my art is at a decent point and I learned from looking at resources like pictures and breaking down the subject such as body parts and I also would draw something and experiment. afterwards I ask other artists for feedback online and I can guarantee a good art community will certainly help out and can help you improve

[@elisaelisaross]

Very interesting points, as usual. I hope beginner self-taught artists see this and can use the tips and specificities of that learning method at their advantage! I am self-taught, but I spent so many years drawing randomly with little improvement, and only in the last few years making huge improvements by studying and exercising fundamentals!

[@AHylianWarrior]

You didn't mention about the fundamentals of learning copyright and trademark as being ESSENTIAL to self-teaching. Being self-taught isn't about learning art techniques, it's about learning the business aspect of it too. I've come across so many self-taught artists who don't know what the hell is the difference between copyright and trademark is or how it is applied to art. I see way too many people thinking you can't copy people's palettes or poses, or know what a reference is. Speaking of palette, way too many self-taught artists call it "pallet" and that's not the same thing lol Please learn about the structures of the art world, not just how to structure art.

[@DarkPrincessAly]

I spent a year at the art institute of Seattle (art institute as a corporate entity is Horrible), and I made more growth there than I Ever did in self teaching. My anatomy got better, my color work got better, my composition got better. And that's mainly because I have a lot of trouble building structure myself due to my adhd. I need somebody there to make me do the necessary but unappealing work. So while it's Possible to make self teaching work, some people Need the structure that traditional learning provides. My parting advice is to look at your learning styles and needs. Look back at how you did in public school. What about the structure of those classes clicked for you? Compare the structures of classes you did well at vs classes you did poorly at. How did their structure differ? How much practice (homework) did you get on the topics you excelled at? Did you actually do the homework at all? Was it the teacher that made the class easier/harder? Was it your own motivation? These are the things that indicate whether self teaching or art school is going to be better for you. If you were a self motivated kid that was able to coast through school and get good grades with little to no studying or issues, then maybe self teaching will work just as well. But keep in mind that maybe the reason you excelled is because of the structure that schools provided. I know plenty of people that excelled academically, but then had a hard time transitioning into the adult world because they suddenly had no structure, myself included. Meanwhile, people who did poorly at public school might think they Need that structure to do anything, when the reality is that the structure hindered their ability to learn by being too rigid and not allowing them enough freedom of choice. In my personal opinion, most people can make self teaching work for their art careers. But for a lot, it needs to be paired with some sort of formal education or authority for most to be successful, even if that's non-art stuff like learning networking and marketing. Otherwise, art schools would be completely out of business. There's a reason a lot of art majors minor in marketing or communications.

[@waterworks_yes]

commenting for the algorithm, have a good day random internet strangers :)

[@BarKeegan]

Getting direct access to knowledge from industry pros is the secret sauce

[@burstoloon]

11:17 i am self teaching rn and definitely agree that im just learning what i need rather than just learning to learn. 😅

[@poumybeloved]

Yes

[@firebundle]

winged canvas is a great channel that teaches you about art

[@makamiusless1954]

When it comes to self-studying in art, I would say I do a pretty good job in a sense. I don't just search up a tutorial for something because that's what I needed to learn in order to draw what I wanted to draw at that moment, I search up tutorials because most of the time I'm actually interested and wanted to learn about them in the long run. Do I consistently implement what I learnt into my art? Not quite, only when I feel like doing so simply because some are quite too niche for what my style in particular feels like. I'm not planning on pursuing art as a career anytime soon but when the stars align, maybe I will and maybe I'll pick up on more professional approaches to make it work.

[@ShslbunnyloverVA]

Commenting for the algorithm ❤

[@tinyginger]

I went to digipen institute of technology and I left due to abusive work schedules. I learned more art skills outside of the college than being in college. However, I believe having an educational degree is a good thing. I have one in fine arts, but I just did it at my own pace.

[@ShelbyLikesStuff]

This video reminded me that yes I desperately want to be a better artist but right now I can’t, I can’t because I do not have the energy or motivation (like the only reason I’m able to write a bit is because it’s on my phone so I can be laying down when doing that, I can work in bed because I do stuff on my iPad but again, I don’t have the energy), and, I can’t find recourses, I don’t have the energy to seek them out and so I just stick to watching speedpaints and things like that. I don’t know where to start so an art school would be great for me (since I like to do most forms of art and want to do those) but even if I had the money I can’t because I am 11-15, and my old school’s art lessons were the typical “draw this and you do good” stuff which I can do it’s just annoying.

[@thisusserisacat]

Maybe you should seek therapy because those are depression symptom And take care mate. A great resource is the Proko channel it’s great for beginners artists .yo don’t have to expend so much money to buy art supplies .having expensive tool doesn’t make you a great at it .it’s because art is a skill

[@ShelbyLikesStuff]

@@thisusserisacat don’t worry! I am actually on break from therapy because my anxiety is bad enough that I can’t leave my house but I’m taking medication, I’m probably going to talk to my therapist about the chance of me having depression which seems to be likely..! Thank you for the concern and take care too! Edit: omg thank you for that channel!! I’ve searched it up and I’m gonna start watching tutorials later so yeah just thank you!

[@gillespiethomas]

❤

[@OrFennSchuller]

I'm not self taught, work experience was my teacher.

[@Black_Beary]

❤‍🔥

[@trickthemisfit3256]

I did get a degree... but did not land the job I wanted and is mostly freelance.

[@suprisedpika9731]

real

[@figuredrawing4912]

TLDR: You can be your own teacher. You just have to...somehow...be wise enough to do that.

[@NapoleonBonaparteMAGA]

9:28

[@dwarfyuki]

Listen you can't just extract the real world out of the equation and make your arguments in a vacuum. The real world is complex and even something as simple as learning art has major ramifications outside of itself. The journey to learning a skill is a winding path full of unexpected twists and turns that is unique to everyone. Trying to break it up into time frames and goal posts to reach decided arbitrarily based on what other people achieved is at best unhelpful and at worst harmful. Just because I made almost no progress in the last three years but now I'm doing things I didn't think were possible before and looking at other people's art and both understand how it's made and even see some mistakes here and there doesn't mean I was slacking off before. There were just other difficult things going on in my life before that needed to be solved first. Not to mention my frontal lobe's done developing. And if it sounds like I'm getting a little bit vulnerable, making this about myself and/or over-sharing. Then that's good cuz this isn't what's been bothering me but I didn't wanna put you on the spot before saying this. If you happen to read this ignore my comment, don't say anything just ask yourself this one question. When is it going to be time to have some compassion for your younger self? From the very far outside it looks you've been in survival mode for a really long time. Are you safe enough now?

[@DOCTORSUNSHINEISDEAD]

i currently am lol

[@rubymoon72]

of topic of the video, what if this video was sponsored by Skill Share XD

[@meechartz4235]

You cut me deep with the "comic artist learning sculpture techniques to get through the core classes." I HATED this so much.

[@user-qd5mw5sv6c]

I am a self taught artist, and a child a and I sold art before and got 18 followers on tik tok>:D

[@user-qd5mw5sv6c]

:D*

[@vermilionwinsor411]

i have no interest in pursuing college

[@vermilionwinsor411]

im just confused what to do in the future since im graduating senior high soon. maybe i could just find a job.......

[@mangledfoxy2052]

It’s alright if you don’t know what to do with your life. A lot of people don’t know what they really want to do with their lives until their in their 20s or 30s, sometimes even later. Van Gogh didn’t starting painting until his late 20s, and he’s one of the most famous painters in the world. Take the time to explore your options, don’t be afraid take up a job for now to earn some money, and know that it’s never too late to pursue your passions. Believe me, I’ve changed my mind a lot on what I want to do with my life, there’s no shame in it, and it’s a normal part of life. Your gonna be great