What is (or was) your college major? Does it help you with web comics?

[shazzbaa]

What advice would you give an artist going into college?

Assuming you're American or some other country where this is relevant: make sure you can afford it! Avoid going into debt.
College debt makes sense if you want to be, like, a lawyer or something. But art will be less likely to make you an extra $500 a month on top of rent for a while, so it isn't worth it to incur that kind of debt. If you end up with those kinds of student loans, you are dooming yourself to live with your parents for years.
I send everyone a link to the Don't Go To Art School article, since I think it's good to consider seriously even if you do stick with the decision!

As for me, I went to art school (SCAD) and my major was Sequential Art (aka comics), and I definitely learned a lot. I loved it, the discipline of deadlines and critique I got there sped up the process of learning a lot for me, and for a few years I had a really cool group of art friends that I learned a ton from! But I was also extremely fortunate to have parents who could afford it with minimal debt.
Meanwhile, my closest art friend went to a different school with a terrible art program that taught her almost nothing, but she loves art and comics and strove to learn on her own and learn from her peers -- and she and I are pretty much equal in skill!

All of them sound like so much fun, I can't choose. lol I'm a HUGE gamer, I love games, but my comic, Pixy Byte isn't exactly going down the game development path, so Animation or Graphic Design seems like more useful options.

A few things! First: being an avid gamer doesn't always translate to enjoying game design, just as loving movies doesn't mean you'd enjoy being a director. Look for in-process work of indie game developers, or check out some indie game jams and see if that side of games looks overwhelming, or if it looks fun!

Second: Take classes that are interesting to you! You don't have to decide on your major immediately. Trying to figure out which direction you should go before you've taken a single class is very hard! And I can't tell you what program will be the best for you because that's different from school to school. Trust your gut -- if it seems like the people you fit in best with are all in Game Design, consider taking some Game Design classes. Meet with the professors of each department and see which program really excites you.
Don't hyperfocus yet -- you might be surprised at what will click the most with you!

[Luie]

I went with illustration, but it didn't get too far. College became insanely expensive overall and I wasn't learning at the level I thought my money was worth. The biggest exceptions are a couple of professors who taught me some things I didn't know about what the art world is like today. For now, I'm doing some self study. It's going pretty well since there are so many free resources online (although I'm kicking myself for not doing this sooner). I guess I've never really thought about how I was going to teach myself on a "student" level until now. I made myself, like... courses. I recommend looking at things in this aspect as well because it may make college a more fulfilling experience, namely teaching yourself but also having people teach you.
Also, marketing. Whatever you do, make sure you learn a little about it somewhere. I imagine there are better resources in your college than what I have, but sometimes some random person will do some teaching thing about it that I'll go to. Those are really good resources too even if you are in college. There's always plenty of that stuff happening around campus and that's where all the fun is.

My major was illustration. I had to sit and look through all the majors to see which one best suited me, and after looking at different kinds of courses I found that illustration had the best fit for the things I was interested in. I was looking for "I want to take ideas and draw them and make them come to life because that's cool :|" which encompassed fields like comic art, concept art, children's books, political cartoons, posters, freelance, all that fun stuff. It covered both digital and traditional aspects equally. It gave me a wide array of things to choose from to prevent me from getting stuck on a single path, so I figured learning all that stuff was good. Even if I wanted to try something different, illustration had tons of different aspects I was interested in so that I wouldn't be stuck with only a certain kind of skillset. If that sounds like you, illustration is probably your friend.

If it doesn't, try looking at the courses for each major a college offers. Don't be afraid to ask questions about what you'd be learning and what that type of course entails. Find the one that fits "you" and what you see yourself doing on a daily basis, then go from there. Often times, if there's something you're interested in in another course but aren't willing to change your major, there are other ways to learn the things you want to learn. I never really made it that far, but everyone there wants to make sure your time is being spent in your best interest and the experience is suited to you. It's a very adult environment and it would be very rare to have to follow the same implications as high school. Don't be afraid to say what you want and how you want it. It's the same way in the business.

Also, network like crazy. More often than not someone of the higher-up in your college will know one of the higher-up's in an industry or job you're interested in. There are also college friends in other majors that might want to collab with you and make some cool stuff, which is a really great experience in itself. Artists just sort of know each other. It's a big help in the future. Good luck dood! :>

[Mharz]

My degree is Computer Science. Programming is somewhat enjoyable but art is way more fun to do. I can't stand the idea of sitting in a corporate office from 8-5 surrounded by people who just like to take each other down so I pushed for an art career. I also took a 3-month short course on Multimedia arts and that didn't help me much as well. Art education in our country is pretty meh because most school here are only after the students tuition rather than actually teaching them. The only formal training I had in art is when I worked in an animation studio.

When I think about it, I should've taken Marketing or Advertising instead because I suck at marketing my webcomic.

I'm not really sure how art education works on other countries since I live in an island far away. But based on my experiences and encounters art college doesn't really help much. Plus their tuition fees are outrageous.

[heterodont]

@PixyByte Haha, that makes two of us! I have Generalized Anxiety + Depression and let me tell you it was Not Fun to discover new things about myself during the stress of midterms and finals. I wish I had taken a gap year because it would've given me time to figure out myself AS WELL as figuring out what my artistic inspirations are! But yknow too late for that seeing as my 2nd semester is coming up.

either way, it's a good idea to try to break your shell. how else are you gonna promote the hell out of your art/webcomic?

@demthorshie That sucks to hear! It's nice that your parents were concerned enough about your future, but art now-a-days is definitely a lot more profitable than people say it is. Sure it's difficult at first to get a decent income, but honestly what job isn't? It's unfortunate what a bad rap art jobs get (ignoring the whole 'starving artist' stereotype). At least you're doing what you love now!

[demthorshie]

You're so right! People have this ugly assumption that artists have to be poor and starving, which hasn't been the slightest bit true. My art career has been a lot more stable than the dead end jobs I did during highschool.

[quietsnooze]

I have a BAA in Animation! I feel like it helps tremendously because of the storyboarding courses. Not only being able to thumbnail sketch and to work with pacing, but to repeatedly work and rework scenes in brief to make sure you get the best possible shot. Additionally, learning how to draw the same character model over and over and keep it looking the same is absolutely key for comics!

[windikite]

I can relate. Not a HS dropout, but I left college. It had nothing for me and added nothing but unneeded stress and a large weight of debt. Now I'm just honing my art and want to bust into the convention scene.

[Aetherwing]

I have a BA in Studio Art! I got to experiment with a lot of different media when I was in college, although most of the classes I took were illustration related. I would say I learned a lot more from the artist friends I made in college than from the actual classes, though.

[efdvorsky]

My university is not....very good.

I mean it is...if you study natural science, architecture, or law, then YOU'RE GONNA SHINE, SON. If not. Eh.

I first started out 2 years in Computer Science because it just...sounded fun??? I didn't know how to draw but I wanted to do animation and I was told to do Computer Science as it would "always guarantee a job". Our university has ties with NASA so that was another great opportunity for me and I was like "YEAH MARS MISSIONS. LET'S DO IT"

I did not.

I actually ended up almost dropping out of college with major depression and started working in some temp jobs but they never lasted too long as I mostly quit and would sulk for a while in my house.

Eventually I changed to the art school in the same university when I thought "well screw it, I mean, if I can't go to Mars I may as well just draw." And even then I wasn't nor am very satisfied with it, their focus was mostly performance and theory and only NOW is it really trying to expand in other areas. Most of the things I've learned on my own or outside sources, so a year later I changed ONCE AGAIN to another degree after experimenting in literature and sociology for a while, and eventually landed in Public Communications and Filmmaking, which is what I'm going to graduate in.

So really, my degree is still film making but, like I said, the school hasn't been all that helpful and I'm only thankful for outside courses or a good number of professors who've been downright amazing. My focus is mostly in the theoretical aspect of film making and story structure, at least.

Would I recommend you going down the same path as I did? UH, NO. tobequitehonest

No, if you live in the States it'll cost you an arm and a leg. It's taken me 6 years but here studying in universities are practically free (I only pay $144 a year since my mother is employed there) so I've been extremely privileged to take my time and squeeze in courses for comic researching like all my forensic electives. But because of it I've also been terrified of heading out to a grad school or a specialized school in fear of being in debt for the rest of my life.

What I recommend is: choose a good school, don't jump in on the debt train out of empty promises, you can learn most of it on your own. Thankfully in the art side of things, it's more talent and a good portfolio rather than a piece of paper (unless you're in CalArts)

But always be open to take extra courses to improve or get a second opinion.

[alakotila]

I am positive you could make anything help for comics; if you study it because it truly interests you, that interest will likely show up in your comics and other work. If you go for an arts degree, you really need to be a very self-motivated person. But I will be the last to recommend you pick up a degree you think is useful but you hate. Your call!

I have a degree in Fashion Design, but I also have a ton of interests and I knocked myself out getting hours packed into English and writing, Graphic Design, and Illustration. Liberal arts schools are good for that.

And dang, if my characters aren't stylish.

[AnnaLandin]

Well, I literally went to college for Comics and Visual Storytelling, so yeah, I'd say it helps! XD

ETA: I should probably mention that I'm Swedish, so going to college did not saddle me with the same kind of crushing debt an American college would have. In fact, my government actually gave me a monthly stipend to go to school.

I got to study all sorts of visual storytelling - from regular comics to children's picturebooks to illustrated instructions, so I got to experiment with most kinds of visual storytelling, including a very basic course in animation, both doing a 30 second finished animation and practising the very basics of storyboarding for animation.

My comics assignments included everything from gag strips to political cartoons to regular full-page comics of all genres, and we were tasked to experiment with dialogue vs silence, telling the same sequence of events from the perspective of two opposing characters (i.e: practising how to depict a character's subjectivity to what was happening in the story), we got to do a shorter version of the 24 Hour Comic Day - in 16 hours instead, because we weren't technically allowed to spend 24 hours straight in school, though I did have classmates who did that before deadlines.

Tips for artists getting into college - challenge yourself. Experiment with new techniques, give yourself specific challenges to complete, try new things. Don't just do the assignments - use the opportunity you have with the presence of so many other artists and art teachers and the available facilities to do things you otherwise couldn't. Learn from your classmates as well as from your teachers, and try everything.

I mean, I had a classmate who once painted a very elaborate portrait of one of her characters using every medium available to her in the same picture - including glitter-glue and the dregs of her cold coffee.

Another classmate did his 30 second animation 100% by hand, pencil on paper, and wrote his own soundtrack to it - while most of us were happy just learning the basics of flash and making something that didn't look completely awful, he decided that no, he should really do something that looks like a test-reel for Disney.

And he did.

[Chopythes]

My both universities has helped me a lot with learning how people works and I think that's a great thing to know.
I am however a university drop out, have attended two different universities and two different programs.
The first one was where I thought I'd become a pre-school teacher, but it turned out that they've changed all the courses into something else and it was something I didn't agree with. I wanted to be a TEACHER not an assistant for a teacher.
Then some really nasty stuff happened that made me feel violated and it ripped my dreams apart from becoming a teacher.
10 years later I still haven't studied it.

Then I jumped on to a Multimediakommunikationsvetenskap = Multi Media Communitcaton Science where we're to learn about how media tell us different things, it was awesome!
But... I had gone in to a severe state of depression and just couldn't handle the pressure. (Long story there as well, haven't studied ever since.)
But here we had to learn how to analyze different settings, what movies could tell us, who was the antagonist and protagonist, the angles to use to make you feel really gross inside (just watch anything by Alfred Hitchcock, oh man) and how to make a scene feel crowded and so on.
I still have usage for this yet today, and watching movies helps me a little when I feel stuck at panelling by thinking: How would someone panel this movie into a comic?
Movie Science was just the best (but I flunked it because the teacher didn't believe my essay about Chocolat... I still believe it's the chocolate that's both the protagonist and the antagonist in the movie but it does different things to different people).

@AnnaLandin
I mean, I had a classmate who once painted a very elaborate portrait of
one of her characters using every medium available to her in the same
picture - including glitter-glue and the dregs of her cold coffee.

... It's the one girl I'm thinking of, isn't it? Because she still does this, haha!

[AnnaLandin]

... It's the one girl I'm thinking of, isn't it? Because she still does this, haha!

It is, yeah! XD She's using plastic and paper-cutouts and who knows what else these days. Why limit your imagination, after all?

[Stellamari]

I graduated from med school a few months ago, which was one of the many reasons why I put off doing webcomic until graduation. In a way, it did helped me with web comic (or art, in general) because it helped me to realize how much I love doing it.

[HNLEE]

I'm a Fashion major ... I don't really think my course helps me in my comics since it takes up my time with plates. Being in an art department is the real reward though. I meet lots of people who are interested in comics too and having connections help a lot. My friends even published their own comics too, and if I ever want to animate my comics then I know who to go to.

[maripazvillar2004]

History major here. I totally wasted my time in college because I only studied to pass the exams. Fortunately I found a job in a small animation studio just in my last year of college and never had to look for a job related to my major. Being in college help to my career? I'd say... yes, because I used the long classes to draw in the margins of my paper sheets and the study time to draw stupid stories for my own. That's training after all, right? XD

Also education's not expensive in Spain, so I hadn't loans to pay.

I believe that no matter what you study, if your passion is drawing or writing or whatever you'll do it anyway, as a job or as a hobby.

[gateofselidor]

I studied Japanese. I don't think it really helped my art (although I got a year studying in Japan out of it, which gave me plenty of inspiration, access to a lot of comics, and a nice library of reference photos for Japanese architecture). It probably helped me as a writer, because learning a new language tends to teach you plenty about your own language as well.

[PotooGryphon]

What is/was your college major?

I majored in Media Arts and Animation, with a focus on 2D animation.

Does it help you in creating your web comics? Or getting noticed?

Help in creating? Sure, definitely. Animation enforces a determination to complete a project even if have have to draw the same character slightly moving 100+ times for 4 seconds of motion. :crazy grin:

Also drawing constantly and practicing art for all my years in college, learning proper technique, getting inspired, learning what about an art piece gets me inspired, being challenged and forming friendships with other art students, yeah it helps. However, it will not help you get noticed and you don't need a degree in art to be an artist.

(Getting noticed comes from building a presence online and there's no short cut for that, just time)

All those benefits can also be achieved without college through online tutorials, joining art communities, and drawing constantly.

What advice would you give an artist going into college?

You don't need a college degree in art to be a professional artist. You just need a strong portfolio. You can get a degree in literally anything else, and work on your art/portfolio on the side. Apply to job leads and send them your art portfolio. That's all you need.

However, if you have your heart set on an art college, I recommend trying for CalArts (if you want to go ALL OUT) or just apply to a community college art degree. The cost of a private school in America is not really worth it unless you go head long into a cream of the crop school. You'll get just as much from a community school as you would from a lesser private school like the Art Institute or Art Academy and be in less debt after graduating. Student loans are relentless.

Any other helpful tips would be appreciated. Thanks so much in advance!

Look and apply to art jobs while in school. It's good to start gaining experience immediately and it'll keep you current in the job market.

[Kayke]

I have a BFA in Illustration and it definitely helped me! It helped me with my art, design, and typography skills obviously, but it's had other benefits as well.

When I was in school I interned with one of my professors who is a cartoonist and I got to work with her on some comics for Ape and Dark Horse. I spent a summer going to her studio with her a few times a week and learned... well, basically everything hahah. Most of my comic making techniques were learned from her.

I also tabeled at my first con with a few of my professors, They had a table at Wizard World Philly and let me tag along for free and sell my first mini comic at their table to see what it was like.

When it comes to college, you get out of it what you put in. So if you go there and work really hard it will pay off. Like I took a lot of creative writing courses along with my illustration course work because I knew I wanted to make comics and that it would be helpful. I took an internship with someone in the field I wanted to go into. I worked with my professors to fit comics and sequential art into my portfolio and thesis. I'm sure there are people who graduated the same program as I did who wouldn't know the first thing about comics because they didn't try to focus on that.

[okellymx]

I want the opportunity to study for animation but I can't afford that. I'll probably settle with fine arts.