I went to SCAD, I loved it, but mostly for the people I met, and being around like-minded artists and having iron sharpen iron. This was nearly ten years ago now, it was a lot different then. At this point, I wouldn't really recommend art school unless you can safely afford it.
By which I mean, it is NOT worth putting yourself into years and years of debt for. There are now all sorts of options and studies out there for learning all the stuff I went to classes for. The discipline helped me, but it is by NO means required.
Like, most of the stuff I learned in SEQA is... frankly in Scott McCloud's books. So much of learning about SEQA is reading things with a critical eye and reading A LOT. All genres, all styles, to figure out what speaks to you.
Like I probably learned more about pacing/panelling from just sitting and reading tons of books than trying to do assignments; And more about backgrounds by reading tutorials and using the new tools of the trade to help plot them out. It's a very different world now.
I'm grateful to my profs and to SCAD for instilling that kind of discipline and critical eye that I use now. But this was in a time when SEQA was rarer, harder to access, and super cape-book centric.
We had one, ONE!! class on webcomics, taught by the late great Sweetwater. He truly believed in where webcomics could go, and if he knew what was up now, I think he'd be over the moon. But at the time, it wasn't a class that was encouraged by other profs.
Webcomics were considered what people did who couldn't get published, or what you did long enough to be noticed and published. Now we have awesome things like @LINEWebtoon out there, and @Hiveworks and hell, Kickstarter and Patreon.
The model of how to Do This Professionally(tm) that I learned at SCAD is already defunct. The photoshop class I took on coloring was defunct the year after I took it as Adobe updated constantly. At the time, cintiqs were prohibitively expensive (still are, really).
iPads and similar things were not even a gleam in our eye by then. And now we've got full-tilt photoshop dropping on a tablet we can literally carry with us anywhere. That is WILD, y'all.
The point is, I learned SO much from my peers, and still do. Most of what my SCAD degree is for is instilling discipline and creative critique... not for SEQA work. But for graphic design and other junk. My SCAD degree gets more points with non-creatives than creatives.
My degree helped me get a job as a copywriter for a website. Not my portfolio, anything like that. Louisville folks knew, "Oh, SCAD's prestigious, that'll do." And got me day jobs. What has always gotten me work in my field is working on things I'm passionate for, independently.
My SCAD degree was a nice "oh neat!" but frankly, it was more of a "oh cool so we don't have to explain DPI to you" not "YOU MUST BE SO EXPERIENCED!" I don't regret going there, I don't. But 2007 was a very different place.
In 2007 I would never have imagined being able to have this much access to comics whenever I wanted, or the freedom to publish however I wanted. And the more I read and see, the more excited about comics/animation I become.
So I feel like the model of "spend tons of money to hang out for four years in a school where you stress out about pleasing your profs and trying Not To Die from panic" is over. It might help some people, but it ISN'T the only path now. Far from it.
ONE MORE YELL as this has gained some traction: If you went to art school and benefitted from it, AWESOME. I did! It helped me a lot. But I'm now allergic to the sentiment that art school is necessary for success, especially in comics.
If you can't go to art school, or it doesn't work for you-- which happens, everyone learns differently-- then it is NOT a hindrance to you as a creator. In the end what matters is being nice to work with, making good work, and your own determination and tenacity.
There's been a few times that I've been asked by local schools to advocate for continuing education in SEQA programs... and frankly, I don't feel comfortable giving that kind of endorsement anymore. I thrived in my SEQA program, but most of my growth happened outside.
It feels cruel and irresponsible to stand up and tell kids they HAVE to go to an expensive school in order to create the things they want. If you love what you create, that's 75% of the battle.
If a student came to me, planning to do the SCAD SEQA program, I wouldn't shoot them down. I still dearly love my profs and everything they taught me. And I treasure my friends from there. But it isn't worth the stress and terror of wrecking yourself financially.
OR wrecking yourself emotionally. SCAD is tough. The hours can be grueling, the work can be isolating, and being surrounded by talented artists can sometimes make the worst anxiety flares. No career or job is worth ruining yourself.
What this thread is about is taking comfort in knowing that the path to a successful, happy life in comics-- in whatever form that takes for you-- is not gated off by college degrees. I would be lying to say privilege doesn't factor in, as it does with all things.
But just hear me: if you can't/aren't getting a degree: It's OKAY. I still believe in you and your work, and you're in good company. There's a whole world of artists just like you ready to help.
