My Thoughts on Art/Design School After My First Semester
What I Learned in the Past 10 Weeks
Going to an art/design school in the US was not an easy choice for me, especially considering the financials of attending university in America as well as the fact that I was leaving everyone close to me back in Canada. I was scared and nervous, but there was also this sense of excitement. My life was going to change drastically.
After finishing my first quarter (instead of two semesters of about 15 weeks each, I have 3 quarters that are 10 weeks long) at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), I can confidently say I am very happy with my choice for many reasons. I know not everyone will agree with me and that this only represents my time here. Some will even say that design school has nothing to teach you that cannot be learned by yourself using the internet and books. I won’t argue that is necessarily wrong but there is definitely value in being instructed in creativity.
This first quarter consisted of three classes, all of which were foundational courses: Drawing I, Design I and Anthropology. Each of these classes provided a different type of value that I can use as a designer moving forward.
Finding A Place Between Abstract and Tangible
Creativity is an abstract concept but holds substantial weight in tangible world. Through the way art has been regarded historically, the idea that the abstract and tangible are mutually exclusive has been implanted into our minds. In my mind however, they are not. Abstract and tangible are ideal types, meaning they are labels that don’t have 100% correspondence. Instead, let’s view them as a continuum (or a scale) — everything falls in between.
Being instructed on creativity has helped me find a place on this continuum. As someone who wants to be a designer, the abstract matters to me as much as the tangible. I should not limit myself to one.
My first design project pushed me right into this realm of finding a place between the abstract and the tangible. I was assigned with defining what home was to me in the form of a poster that had to be created using only a blue ballpoint BIC pen until it ran out of ink. The challenging part is that home is tangible as much as it is intangible — I encourage you to try defining it yourself. As someone who is not extremely skilled at drawing, I tried my best and what I created is below:
For me, this piece holds more value than you may realize — it’s a fragment of what home means to me. There is a lot going on this piece despite its simplicity. Many different elements work together and hold different meaning.
The most important components are Batman and Catwoman, who are an abstract representation of my feeling of a dual identity or double consciousness.
They signify my sense of identity that is neither fully Indian or fully Canadian. In the 50th issue of Tom King’s run on Batman, Batman and Catwoman were supposed to get married. The image I have drawn is imitating the Jim Lee variant cover for this issue (tracing elements was allowed). Sadly, due to complications, Catwoman leaves him at the altar in the issue. This is just one of the many times Batman and Catwoman have demonstrated their complicated relationship. They are two parts of a whole that have never been able to fully become one. This is a metaphor for my double consciousness because I believe I can never be one with my two identities. They are separate and rely on each other to form me but cannot be just one identity in of themselves.
This piece is just one of the three projects I completed in design class. Obviously, I did not need to attend design school to do this project, but without the aid of my professor (awesome dude), my grasp of ideation would not have flourished in the same way. During each project, I would hit a roadblock and that would lead me to going to my professor to ask for some guidance. Being the excited fellow he is, he would have many ideas and would spiral my mind in too many directions. But within this confusion, my solution would lie. By the end of the semester, I had created three unique projects that I am proud of.
Drawing to Think
Drawing is a skill that I have been interested in developing for a long time. But, I had always prioritized other things in my life and often lacked the motivation (“I just don’t have it in,” etc.). This may make me sound like unmotivated and undisciplined person, which I don’t consider myself to be, but I just cared about other parts of my life more. Having a course on drawing forced me to draw regardless of my feelings. This course was the most rewarding in terms of how much my ability developed by the end of the semester.
Going in, I was nervous as to how difficult the course would be considering I was at art school and that other students attending would most likely be experienced artists. However, because most freshman are required to taking drawing regardless of their major (even film and writing majors), skill level in each class varied heavily. This meant that the professor understood that not each student was going to be a prodigy, and as result the course was beginner-friendly. Nonetheless, being beginner-friendly didn’t mean the course was not demanding. Regardless of skill level, the course required time and attention to be rewarding as with learning any skill.
In the end, I came out much better than where I had entered. My inspiration to draw is rooted in two different places: my interest in comics and my interest in drawing as a method of thinking. The latter of the two is the one that I am fascinated by. Much like writing, drawing is a way to process what I am thinking. Although the course was focused on drawing for observation, I feel the focus on gesture drawing is slowly bringing me to a point where I can draw to think.
Humans are Interesting
To round off the breadth of knowledge I needed, anthropology was my third class of the semester. Most students have the choice between anthropology and psychology as their general education credit in liberal arts. However, for my program of User Experience Design, I am required to take anthropology over psychology. That was a little surprising considering both are equally valuable for a user experience designer. Nonetheless, I am so glad to have had to take anthropology.
For one, my professor’s passion to teach and learn about anthropology was extremely evident. He often told us that he could not wait until each class to talk about the topic of that day based on the reading we had to do. It was not hard to believe him because whenever he would enter class, he would immediately have a smile on his face. This passion cultivated an environment in which the students looked forward to class and were able to take away more than what the textbook contained.
In addition to the environment created by the professor, anthropology is a vastly interesting topic. It’s the holistic study of humans (much more than the archaeology and the study of evolution) and I believe there has never been a better time to be interested in humankind. I recently watched the TED talk of an Indian movie star, Shahrukh Khan. Within the goofiness of his talk, he embedded a truly inspiring image of what the ‘future you’ must be.
The future “you” has to be like an aging movie star who has been made to believe that there is a possibility of a world which is completely, wholly, self-obsessively in love with itself. A world — really, it has to be a you to create a world which is its own best lover. (Shahrukh Khan, 2017)
To simplify what he said, the future of humanity is empathy. Anthropology was the gateway that allowed me to become obsessed with humans. There are many problems humans have to solve and the only way we will manage to solve these problems is by being in love with each other.
Through discussing culture, language, religion and politics, my class became more aware of where we are as a society currently. Many people say we are on course to extinction for whatever reason it may be. I, much like Shahrukh, believe we are at an inflection point. Considering we lived in bands (containing of only one culture)for 99% of our existence, we have only began learning about other cultures for 1% of our time here. It obviously will take time to adjust, but now it’s slowly becoming time to take action.
The Verdict
My academic experience at art school has been critical to my mental development. I have come out a stronger designer than what I had entered only 10 weeks ago. I plan to further develop my abilities over my break, so that I can come back stronger than here I am currently.
Beyond academics, there is a lot to talk about. I have made some amazing friends, done things that I never expected myself to do and created some unique memories.
Regardless of my experience, I cannot guarantee that someone else will love art school as much as I do. A lot of people have a problem with teachers they get, courses that they are required to do and more. Sometimes a school just won’t provide you what you are looking for but will be perfect for others. Sometimes it will just be bad luck. So, instead of saying yes or no directly to art school, do a lot of research. It may be for you, as it has been for me.
Thank you for reading! I know this has been a long one and that too after a long time.
