#also once again grain of salt re: anything i said in this DFLKSLS

[trinketiers]

hey as it turns out i totally forgot to mention it here but i graduated art school last december (exactly one year ago on the 16th) !!!

it was a wild six years so here's an unorganized mess of some of my thoughts looking back at it:

The tldr of it: - enjoyed art school 👍 came out of it with wrist & thumb issues and debt 👎✌️ - i learned a lot of things that i wouldn't have sought out on my own, and so much of that information is still useful in varied ways now - also i'd say the most important thing i learned wasn't necessarily drawing/painting but moreso learning 'how to learn' (it was all an uphill battle though lol) - wish i put myself out there more with all the opportunities literally available in front of me but i was too scared and anxious. Regret. - would i recommend it? In general, no. Not unless 1) money isn't an issue. 2) you're serious and dedicated about working hard, otherwise its kind of a waste of time and money to just coast. And 3) if a competitive environment is something that works for u

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I think there were a lot of eye opening experiences for me. like, something about being able to actively see how you and your classmates all learn and struggle and create, and that the hard work WILL pay off, even if its not instant, or within that same year, bc knowledge adds up over time… i think really helped my confidence(?) in trying and learning new things and failing a few times. Because i used to get so disheartened when i couldn't understand how to draw something, but now i feel like i have a better ability to problem solve why that may be. Or honestly, to just come back to it later instead of completely abandoning it!!

genuinely enjoy having my work critiqued now. I hated it at first bc it made me feel bad and i didn't know how to go about resolving my problems, but over time i realized that like. Literally all the critique i got were on things my own eye couldn't see until they were pointed out to me. And i feel like that was the point where i finally felt as if i was understanding what it meant to actually learn something. Or, i guess, i was learning how to learn lol. But i think that getting over the initial feelings that come with critique is, yeah it's hard, but it's really integral to improvement as well as to how you perceive your own work. failure doesn't equal not being able to do something, it just means if you can't do it now, come back and tackle it again from a fresh angle later ^_^ !!

buuut unfortunately that lightbulb moment happened… i think during the last two-ish years i was in school. Two years of classes from the six years i was there is…. its rough HDHFKGH i really ended schooling wishing i could retake some classes bc if i sat through them now, i feel like i would be able to learn deeper about the concept of something vs getting stuck at the first hurdle and struggling to catch up as the class kept moving forward. alas...

the constant struggle to keep up did end up in more all-nighters than i would have liked. i already had some wrist problems prior to art school so i already knew to give my hand regular breaks, but with all the work and deadlines it kind of became less and less important because i just wanted to get the work done. Uhhh well seeing as its been one whole year... yeah my wrist is still a little messed up LOL but i AM much more conscious about how i use it, both w/ art and just (unfortunately) every day life like lifting heavy things. but i am also (unfortunately) currently wary of applying to any jobs that may have a heavy workload, so it's definitely limiting + makes it a bit harder to break into the industry.

hmm. i actually really regret not participating in campus events/opportunities more. Things like studying abroad, joining a club, doing more workshops, or even joining gamejams, which always caught my eye when i saw the flyers looking for artists… but i was too intimidated. by.... my lack of knowledge 😔 (which is dumb btw bc the literal purpose of being in school is to LEARN).

I've never been super social either and i did lose contact w a lot of classmates when things went virtual for a year+ but the experience of being surrounded by people who are so passionate about the same things you are is unparalleled. Truly. And the friends i did keep are people i would love to keep in my life for a long time :')

also i really regret not branching and exploring outside of my major more while it was still relatively easy. When i started in 2018 i think there was a lot more freedom in being able to take classes in other fields so long as there were vacant spots in a class, and all you needed were a few signed approvals from the departments. But when i ended in 2023… like. Financial aid was no longer covering non-mandatory classes??? The last class i took was paid out of pocket bc i had already completed all my requirements smh. no clue if its still like that now though. but subjects like typography or shop class were very cool and i'm glad i took them when i had the chance.

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Aaaaanyway. These are just my rambling unorganized thoughts about my personal experience at ArtCenter in California. If any prospective artists happens to be keyword searching and researching before applying (like i did LOL) then hi. Grain of salt and all—i had a decent experience overall (largely thanks to the people i was around and the teachers I was able to have) but its absolutely 100% not like that for everyone

And just for fun if anyone read down to this point, lets all point and laugh at past nikki for not being able to do one 4 hour art class while i regularly stacked two 5 hour classes into one day at art school: