I hear this a lot in my own art school, and I'll be completely blunt because trying to protect your feelings only hurts you, those complaints usually come from either lazy people, untalented people, or people who were told they were so good until they faced reality. Going to art school in NYC, literally the biggest cutthroat city for art students, I have come to these conclusions and I talk about it with my friends a lot... I don't know you, but I'll rant for you now haha

Lazy people say this a lot! What I mean by that is that they are lazy in the sense that they never practice at home or out of class. They do whatever is assigned to them but never try to improve and grow their skills, they simply do what is required of them and then wonder why they don't improve and then complain to the heads of the department that the assignments are too tough or too many. Pretty much they just wanna do as little as possible.

People with no talent say this, which is unfortunate because most of the time they have never been told "no." They have just gone through their lives thinking they're good or hoping to get better but it just doesn't happen. Yes, you can learn art, much like you can learn how to swim but not everyone can become an Olympic swimmer. Art is a skill, you can nurture it as long as you want and you might get good, you might not, but bottom line is, some people just will never get it no matter what they do. There has to come a time where you have to sit down and really think about it, if art is your calling or if it's going to be a waste of money. I have seen people get kicked out of art school just because they don't cut it... it looks a little harsh but more likely the professors are just looking out for you, after all you don't wanna end up in debt an an useless art degree working as a bank teller because your portfolio is not getting you jobs or gallery shows.

Then comes the precious, little, untrampled flowers. I guess we can lump them in with the untalented people, but these are different. These people don't know they have no talent, they think they're good and refuse to see the light of day... until they realize that they are not all that (unless they are a huge egotistical asshole who scoffs at every critique they receive). These people just were never told right from wrong or have a huge support system at home (monetary or artistic). I don't think this is you, I think you recognize you are not growing as fast as you would like so I'll move on from this point.

Thing is, art school is not there to teach you but to nurture your talents, most of the time you are given instruction but you have to figure it out yourself. The language thing... art has no language, you know what looks good and what doesn't and even then you can ALWAYS go on YouTube and check out some awesome tutorials or find artists on Instagram and Tumblr. You have tools at your hands, SO MANY tools! So yeah, art school is more like an academy rather than an institution, what I mean by that is that in an academy you grow by yourself and by your own talents with some instruction rather than an institution where you are taught by a professor. If you really don't feel happy where you are you can always look for a transfer or bust your ass and learn as much as you can on your own to create a badass portfolio. You can do it, you just gotta work really hard at it!

From having gone to an art school myself, it's really not much different from one school to the next. Professors aren't going to teach you things as you go unless you ask how to do a specific technique. Their teaching lies within their critiques of your work, as well as you learning from the other students. Really take to heart what they point out as flaws in your pieces, but don't take it as a personal attack. Use that to grow, and if you can't figure it out on your own, ask your professors or other students for advice. Art school is a lot about taking your own initiative to become better.

If you're having trouble because of a language barrier, please go talk to your professors about it. Email them or something, because if you think that will help you get the most out of your education, you deserve to have it! Being able to comprehend instructions clearly is a very important thing in ANY field.

It is incredibly frustrating, and I really sympathize with that as someone who went through it, but it's kind of the point of art schools. You learn from trial and error.

I'd like to point out that most, even at an art school -- at any school, frankly -- do a very poor job of critique. Too often, they are useless and needlessly negative, and they tend to promote a personal opinion or preference rather than encouraging independent style or development. Saying "you just need thicker skin" doesn't really help with something that gives you nothing to work with, which is so often the case. People shouldn't be assumed to be lazy or untalented just because that's not the way they learn, or they don't get anything from what most often is just excessive anyway. Authority does not equal "I can be rude to you with impunity", and disagreeing with someone's opinion on art and technique, or not finding their critique useful, is not something exclusive to people employed by an institution.

People learn differently. Required schooling rarely if ever engages students in the diverse ways they need to be engaged. Higher learning should, and so often it doesn't. Art schools aren't exempt from this. And yes, if you're paying out the nose for art school -- which you probably are, since they aren't cheap -- you should expect to learn. You should expect to be engaged in a way that you can engage in turn and learn, and produce what you need to, in order to develop and improve. If that's not happening, and if you're just in a situation that isn't giving you anything, you should look around and find better options. I've had numerous friends and colleagues that have gone to art school, and while a couple of them completed theirs and had an overall positive experience...to be honest, I've heard far more horror stories about them, about poor environments for learning, hateful atmospheres, and worthless courses going through the motions all the way to the bank. They'll promise the world and you'll get nothing once you've done exactly what they asked. So I'll admit, I'm not particularly inclined towards art schools when I hear something like this.

All that aside, though: if you're having negative feelings about something you're paying a lot of money and time for, and it's not giving you what you need, I advise at least taking a short break and assessing your options thoroughly. Continued, persistent frustration and not getting at all what you need, or even what you want from something that is such an expenditure of time and resources, will only lead to burnout and can lead to indefinite disillusionment with the entire thing. If you can accomplish the same things for free and you're only learning from yourself, your own motivation, and your independent work, there's not really any need I see for involving other people you literally have to pay to care.

From my experience, art school gives you what you put into it. I'm kind of a Hermione Granger type so I would give myself extra assignments (Oh, both of these sketch ideas are good? I'll just take BOTH to finish even though the assignment only called for one finished piece) and eventually started making up my own independent study classes with professors I liked and doing internships with professional artists. I left art school feeling satisfied, but there were definitely classes that I didn't feel were worth it, especially early on. As Shazz said, a lot of first year classes aren't challenging, because they're just the basics.

At the university I went to you weren't even allowed to declare a major until after your foundation year so everyone was lumped together and we focused on concepts of design rather than skills most of the time. It was so boring and tedious. It wasn't until our second year when we entered our departments that we started to focus more on different techniques... which was also pretty tedious because I'm a digital artist and pretty much always have been, but that year I had to learn how to use pretty much every medium under the sun. It was really the junior and senior years where people found their voices and hit their strides. And even then it was only the people who were fully committed and pushing themselves that graduated satisfied. There were plenty of people talented and untalented alike who left unhappy because something didn't click with them. It's hard to say what didn't click, because there are so many factors... but sometimes talent isn't enough and sometimes drive isn't enough and sometimes both of them together isn't even enough.

I would say, if you don't want to do art as a profession then I don't know if art school is for you. I can't imagine spending that much time and money studying something that I didn't plan to do for the rest of my life. Even as someone who DOES want to do this and LOVED my time at art school I've doubted my decision to go to art school because it was such a huge investment that wasn't really paying off at all when I first graduated.

Yeah, I'm frustrated with my school however I love my professors and classmates.

I went to a for profit college, AIFL, and the admission side of it is very shameful and cutthroat in a sense of getting as much money from each student as possible. They advertise 99% job placement in your industry, however they include jobs at game/movie rental stores and other meager vaguely relevant jobs in that percentage. Also once graduated, they refuse to help alumni with job leads or get their feet in the doors at studios. Not to mention their dorms are old Holiday Inn hotel buildings with super small rooms, 1 small bathroom, a vanity sink/mirror that also serves as a kitchen, that they cram two people into.

Even though I have my own personal horror stories with AiFL, they pale in comparison to the experiences of other students and what my friends went through. I'm one of the lucky ones, honestly.

HOWEVER, all of us agree that the school itself sucks but most of the teachers, classes, and classmates were amazing. I personally needed the structure and guidance of college to get me on an art career path. And to echo what others have said, school requires students to push themselves above and beyond assignments. Odd that teachers don't really stress this more in their classes.

For me personally, I spent every spare moments in the school's 2D Animation lab to the point I was called the 2D Queen. I started the school's first animation club, Student Animation Production Club, and I went to Washington, DC to represent my class' student film entry in the National Fish and Wildlife's Film Festival called the Teddy Project. ON TOP of all that, I held an internship at a local 2D studio during most of my time in college. I didn't have a class requiring it, I just did that on my own inorder to further learn animation and work on professional projects. A good internship where the employer is actually training the intern in the field is GOLDEN!

And to further combat school woes it's important to remember that we live in a time where you can learn literally EVERYTHING online. If the teacher isn't explaining things right or you're not understanding their lessons, you have the ability to look up video tutorials or read through forums that can aide you.

Honestly, if the student is willing and dedicated enough college/art school isn't required. A student can learn completely online and build their own portfolio.

If your school has a career service department, try seeing if they have any internships available. Some schools have partnerships with local studios, or perhaps even ask your mentor for more guidance. Most internships, atleast when I was in school, are unpaid. I know that recently in America, there are more laws and rules for internships since so many employers abused it. You can always look into Disney, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Networks' internship opportunities and try out for that.

I also have a Media Arts degree.

I would say for the most part- I was dissatisfied with my school, but then again my circumstances were different. I took evening courses; all I knew is that I wanted to do something art related, but I wasnt as focused on my career path. I had 2 classes- one was an art fundamentals type course where you learned stuff like charcoal drawing, pencil drawing, marker rendering(using design markers; similar to coloring with copics), drawing with technical pens/inks, and rendering with prismacolor pencils. The class was okay, but it barely held my interest.

My 2nd class was graphics & design- there I learned about type fonts(which turned me into the font junkie that I am today), design/arrangement, graphics, and lightly touched on Photoshop/Illustrator/Corel Draw(this was the early 90s, so computers werent an every household item). My issue for me wasnt that I was lazy- moreso that I was probably the youngest person in my classes; everyone else in my classes were older, more focused, and at one time or another dabbled in some sort of art gig- so they knew what they wanted to do, and how to go about doing it. I was WAAAAY more introverted than I am now, so it was an uphill battle trying to get projects done, and trying to pick these instructors' brains about how to get things done.

I got through my classes, but I had an EXTREME lack of confidence in my abilities. It took some yrs for me doing the odds & ends(working at an art store, learning stuff from comic artists, submitting pages & portfolio reviews at conventions, and finally- starting my own comic) before I got the confidence in my abilities. So yeah, I can say I was dissatisfied with my art school- but if it werent for going through that experience and learning what I learned, I dont think I would be where I am today.

Can I just say right out of the gate, that if you're currently attending a for profit-- Art Institute for example-- school, to drop out now while you can?

(erased my rant-- I won't push that on you fine folk!)

I am actually part of a movement that is trying to fight student debt (more specifically for-profits).
We've protested the open houses, we try to get as much information to young students and their parents-- we are very much against this school and we try to give alternatives before signing in to a life time of debt under false statements, mediocre training and reputation.

Graduated from AI, have pretty much the same experience at @CyndiFoster had-- I was one of the more talented students, got to do a lot of fine things, but I regret my time going to that art school. When people ask, do you need to go to school? I say no. There are other ways...

I loved animation growing up, but mostly, I loved the story telling aspect of it. I loved creating stories, acting out scenes, world building etc-- I probably would have been a good fit as a story artist or story board artist, but with comics, I can do all of that and more. I wish I introduced to the medium properly when I was younger.

You're on this forum, so you must be into comics. Storytelling? You don't need to go to art school to learn those things! A college course here and there, a book on story telling, themes, comic book making, etc-- Where can you find like minded people? Clubs, groups, LCS's, conventions... bam, there's your networking.

Um, so yeah, I am really/was dissatisfied with my school.

I can understand how it could get very frustrating when your professors offer little to no advice that can help you in your class despite that is the whole purpose of you going to class in the beginning. I get it, college is not like middle school or high school where the teachers will take your hands and show you what to do and how to get there. But sometimes I wonder why do I have to pay such insanely large amount of money for something I can just sit at home, look up on the computer and study myself? (As an international student and having to pay international tuition fee, I pay at least triple the normal price for a class a normal student take) I guess in the end, we are all just paying for that college degree at the end of our college life, not quite the knowledge that the professors can offer us.

(I went on a tiny rant about college there, gomen)

@agentfink I totally think if I would have had availability to more resources as kids do now, I def wouldve figured something out...all I knew was that I wanted to do a higher ed after high school... still today I would be open to learning storyboards- if it could get me some work.