On the Art School debate: if you want a college degree, find a school— any school— where the professors in your department of study take your ambitions and interests seriously and care about helping you achieve them. It does not need to be a private or specialized school.

Reasons for having a college degree (the actual piece of paper) : you think you might want an office job, teaching job, or other position that is not directly related to your skill as an artist. Some fields are more demanding of this than others.

If you’re not sure you want/need a degree, you may get just as much or more out of taking continuing ed or extension classes or finding out about auditing the courses in skills you feel you need guided work/mentorship on.

You can also find out if there are guided life drawing sessions or other art workshops in your area— some libraries, museums, and other groups offer these and you can pay as you go to work on your skills.

You may want to consider getting an associate’s or bachelor’s degree in something more related to being a small businessperson— because you WILL be— and then paying by the credit for art courses so you can take what you want and not what the curriculum requires.

Things like accountancy, communications, writing, paralegal studies, etc, will all help you manage your business or even help your friends’ businesses. Don’t think of them as “fall back” degrees— they can help you succeed as an artist!

If you decide to go to a liberal arts college, just be aware that many liberal arts schools are not prepared to teach you about commercial arts— they can often be geared toward “fine arts” in a way that snubs illustration, comics, animation, design, or other arts professions.

Find out as much about their arts offerings as possible. If you don’t care for what’s available in practical art courses, that may not mean it’s the wrong school for you, just that you’ll want to take art classes elsewhere. Or even work them into studies in another department!

I *hated* the studio art courses at my liberal arts college; they really looked down their noses at cartooning and illustration. But I was able to study animation in the film department and one of my English professors ran a comics independent study course for me.

Art schools are still a good place to learn about the business of being an artist, to get guidance on building a portfolio, and to learn software and tools you wouldn’t have access to on your own. But there’s no reason not to take more of a buffet approach to your learning...

Go to an art school for the specific things that you personally want to get out of an art school. Get the other things somewhere else.

And remember that the reason the rate of non-returns after breaks from art schools is so high compared to the rate at liberal arts colleges is because a LOT more of those non-returning students got good jobs without finishing their degree or decided to get a different degree.