Does the Image in the Mirror Show You Art School Material?

Most people know the expression, "actions speak louder than words."  Yet, few listen to the meaning of their own actions.  Maybe it's because sometimes it can be brutal. 

Still, I often confront my college students to take an honest look at their actions, because I know it's really hard to become a working pro in art, and the sooner they know if they have what it takes, the better.  So why don't you try it?

If you're in high school and thinking that you want to go to art school to become an artist, let's examine your actions.  By actions, think of all the things that you do in the course of a day, a week, and during your free time.  Especially focus on the moments where you have choices of what to do.  These choices speak volumes, so listen to them. 

So, what do your actions tell you? 

Do you draw only or mostly when your high school art teacher gives you assignments? 

Do you doodle and draw only when you're "trapped," such as when you're stuck in a boring class? 

Do you draw much outside of school? 

Do you spend time drawing when most of your friends hang out, play video games, or interact online?

Do you draw much during weekends, holidays, and all the school breaks?

Do you get annoyed and possibly "bent out of joints" when a day goes by and you didn't get to draw? 

Do you have on-going and self-imposed art projects, and are you making weekly, if not daily progress on them without anyone pushing you?

If your actions reveal that you draw on your own, even when you could be doing other fun stuff, then you've got the artistic fiber.  However, if art is something you do mostly when instructed (say, by your teachers) or because there's nothing better you could do (when you're stuck in a boring class, and doodling is the only entertainment that won't get your teacher's scolding), then art for you is a diversion rather than a calling, and you should probably explore other areas for your college career.

For some of you, this realization may hurt.  Yet, it's important to have clarity when engaging in a long, difficult, and risky path.  And trying to become a professional artist is all of that:  long, difficult, risky, and more.  Yet, for people who "have it," it's a fantastic way of life.

An Art Degree Isn't a Job Guarantee

Take all your savings.  Borrow from future paychecks.  Get your art degree.  Pay for groceries with food stamps.

Sounds improbable? 

I'm sure several the several thousands of janitors with PhD's had other visions when they began their college careers.  Yet, from 2007 to 2010, three times as many PhD's needed food stamps and other kinds of welfare to get by. 

Today's latest unemployment figure of 8.2% highlights the nation's dismal economic shape despite the promises of a recovery if we borrowed trillions of dollars for "shovel-ready" projects.  In a bitter way, it is a useful reminder that an art education isn't a job guarantee and that making it as an artist is hard.

So how can you avoid spending money on an art degree that will land you on the food stamp homepage?  First, unless you're accepted in a top art school (and in my view, there are probably less than a dozen in the USA), admit that spending more than $20,000 a year on an art degree makes you look borderline stupid (but plenty of art degree mills love such kinds of fools!).

Second, learn to evaluate the return on investment of your education.  And it comes in two parts:

1) the cost of your education

2) the income generated by your education

We all know there is a chance that the second part, the income you get after art school, might be modest, and even frighteningly low when you're just starting.  So what you want to do is focus on the first part, and not fall for the Big Trap:  more expensive is always better.  Seriously.  More expensive art schools rarely get you better art profs or more brilliant art programs.  What more expensive will get you is glossier promotional brochures, shinier hallways, and vastly larger teams of paid recruiters.

On the other hand, what is certain is that the more bangs for the bucks you get from your art degree (that is, finding the most affordable, yet best art program suiting your learning goals), the less money you will spend, the less debt you will owe, and the higher your chances of making it and staying off food stamps after you get your first art sales and art jobs.

Taking Out Student Loans Doesn't Make You Too Big To Fail

Debt, loans, bonds, credit all share one hard truth.  It's called, "payback, baby!" – Lenny the Loan Shark's favorite phrase.  If you ever get money that's not yours, be it a car loan or credit card, you are exposing yourself to the world of debt repayment.  At best, that world's never fun, because the new car smell never lasts as long as your car loan's repayment schedule.  At worst, it's hell.  Exhibit A: the thousands of college grads who get more attention for struggling to pay back their debt rather than from their academic or professional achievements.

Unlike Wall Street banks, Greece or Spain, no one is anxious to bail you out.

This should be common sense, but it's not.

So when should an art student borrow money for college?

Two cases:  when needing to bridge over a small, short-term cash flow gap, or when knowing, with a very high probability, that the return on the borrowed money will exceed the interest payments.

We'll explore these options in later posts.