What did you want to be when you grew up? A doctor? A lawyer? A chef? For me, it was always easy. I wanted to be an artist. I doodled in high school here and there, creating light sketches of teachers getting hit by pianos, or whatever flower caught my eye that day. I was always in the band room, making sounds on different instruments, or seeing how fast I could get my fingers to move through a passage of music.
After waiting so long for freedom, senior year of high school finally rolled around. It was time to go on those dreaded college tours, that offered stale bagels and coffee as their breakfast spread, while cheery college sophomores (who got paid way too little) RAVED about how great of a fit you'd be to their school, but I knew they were wrong. None of it mattered; parties, football games, "The Greek Life." I knew that I wanted to be an artist. I knew that I wanted to be a creator. I knew that I wanted to go to an Art School.
With that decision, definitely came some doubts. Here's what I wish I would've known, while jumping head first into a school of creation.
To The Incoming Art School Freshman,
So you say you want to go to Art School? A place full of music and dance, painting and sculpting, film making and production; it's all right here. It's your dream. Well with that dream comes some unpleasant nightmares.
The first nightmare? Get ready for the funny looks. Once you decide that art school is where you want to be, you will get a lot dirty looks, followed by a ton of questions. My favorite, and by far the most common is, "What do you plan on doing with your degree after you graduate?" or the ever-so-common, "There really isn't that much money art, shouldn't you think about minoring in something for a back up plan?" These are the questions fuel my fire.
You see, to the normal person, art school is a place where kids pay a boat load of money for an education that they can get out of a $50 book by teaching themselves. What people don't realize is that they are 100 percent wrong. There are many different jobs in the art world. There are plenty of fields to go into, and god forbid if you say you want to teach. They will rip you apart so fast, commenting on how "The arts are dying in schools" and "Art programs are the first to go, are you sure you want to risk that?" I always get a chuckle out of these comments, but please, DO NOT let it deter you from what you really want. They say if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life. Who else wouldn't want to get paid doing something they love?
You will not get babied, or coddled, and this is not high school band practice. Students at your school will be serious about their work, regardless of what it is. They will get mad when things are not perfect, and will strive to make it that way in any way that they can. This may result in throwing things, yelling, or obscene language.
You will meet SO MANY people throughout your short journey. Keep the people you meet at a phone call away. You never know when you will need their creative eye, or tuned ear. That being said, you never know who you will meet! Take advantage of every opportunity, no matter how small. Small things can lead to bug opportunities. That being said, not everyone will like your work. Sometimes a piece that you have spent the past 74 hours working on, without any sleep, six Red Bulls, and take out Chinese food to keep you company, a person may look at it for 10 minutes, and decide it is not for them. That is OK. It does not mean it's bad, or crap. It just means, that there are more eyes out there than just the two that you have and the sooner your realize that, the better.
Be ready to say goodbye to sleep and free time. You're going to school to get an education, on top of what your craft is. Essentially, that is DOUBLE the amount of work. So, you'll spend all day in classes, with short breaks here and there, which you will cram with a quick practice session, or a rough draft for a new idea. Then, you will continue your classes for the day. At night, you'll have homework from your actual classes, plus homework from your art classes. Not to mention, any rehearsals, studio work, or group planning you have to do. Oh yeah and then there's this thing called eating. So add ALL of that up and you will come up with the outcome of no sleep or free time.
This leads me to my next point: You will cry. You will get overwhelmed and overtired, and cry a lot. You will get mad and angry and frustrated and think you want to quit, but DON'T. Remember, this is just a rough patch. If you work through it and see the light, great ideas, lessons, and work will come out of it. Do not give up and keep pushing forward. A quick phone call home does the trick for me. Sometimes you need a reminder of how hard you've worked to be where you are, and motivation to keep that drive going helps a lot.
Always surround yourself with people who are better than you, as well as people who have the same goals as you. This will help keep you focused (especially as a freshman, who is newly free to the world), and will make you want to be as good as they are. It will teach you new techniques, show you more styles, and most importantly, help you make connections and get your work out there.
Get yourself a business card and ALWAYS keep it on you. I cannot tell you how many times I've been in a situation where I'll be in mid-conversation with someone about what I do, and they just happen to know a guy who needs my service. Then before I know it, I'm scrambling around trying to find a piece of paper and a pen to write my information down, knowing darn right well that this person will most likely lose my information and forget my name before it gets into the proper hands. Please, please, please, if not for anything else, make yourself a business card.
Lastly, art school is full of weird, crazy, obscure people. People just like you! You will get a sense of culture shock; embrace it. Use it in your work. Let it motivate you. Experience is everything. The more you have of it, the better off you are. Don't let any of this scare you! You will be amazing and you will create wonderful things. There is a whole universe out there, full of creativity and wonder, you just have to find your place in it.
