When people come across my art online, they assume I went to an art school because, in Morocco, people still believe that you need to go to an art school to become an artist. And I always get asked if I think that going to an art school would’ve helped pave my way and made me a better artist than I am today, so here’s what I think.

Is it necessary to go to art school to become an artist?

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A few years ago, I would’ve confidently said that going to an art school would not make you a better artist. It was by choice that I decided to remain a self-taught artist and focus my time on studying business communication instead of art. However, a few years later, and because of my job in the art field, I happened to meet many professional artists who actually went to art schools and this is what I discovered. 

  • Although studying art wouldn’t necessarily make you a better artist, it will make it easier for you to become one. Having a mentor figure, such as a teacher or a senior schoolmate, is mandatory for the career of an artist. It presents you with guidance, inspiration, and a possible role model.
  • Being part of an art school gives you a network and good connections with people in the same field who might share your interests and visions.
  • Going to art school also puts you under a necessary sort of pressure to keep on creating, which will lead you to constantly develop an art portfolio.
  • This may not be completely true, but I have observed that artists who go to art schools find it easier to develop an art style specific to them than the average self-taught artistartist,ay take so much longer and would need so much more experimentation to find their art style.
  • It is much easier to find opportunities in a field that you have a solid sense of belonging to than being an “outsider” to it.
  • Self-taught artists aren’t taken as seriously as the professionals who went to school for it.

Cons of going to art schools

I know that in many countries, it would cost a kidney to study at an art school like Yale or the Royal College of Art (although in Morocco, thankfully, that’s not the case yet). So the cost of following an art program is definitely one of the main cons for the majority of people out there.

Another thing is that not all art schools will be able to provide a decent mentor figure. Many art schools hire Inexperienced Instructors who only hold art degrees and aren’t really influential in the art scene themselves.

Many artists have also talked to me about their experiences in art schools where creativity wasn’t really cultivated and the students were required to follow specific rules and fit certain molds that didn’t match their persona as artists in the first place. 

Your art school may not have the connections, and abilities to help you land a job in the art field or even a partnership sometimes so most of the time, students will have to do everything for themselves, exactly like self-taught artists, while having paid a lot of money for the potential pros and opportunities that may come with going to art school. You can also read: What is art education supposed to teach you?

Conclusion

Overall, I didn’t go to an art school and made the decision to have two different careers. It may have been a safe choice or a fear of missing out on all the things that I find interesting. But I highly recommend that if you’re serious about art and see yourself dedicating your time and interest fully to art, then go to an art school because the discipline you get with that is really out of the question. 

And if you are willing to remain self-taught and believe that you have the discipline it takes to follow along with an artistic autodidact journey, then you may want to read this article: Succeed as a Self-taught Artist: The Not-so Trendy Tips.