Masters in either fine art or illustration

#1

I have been considering taking a Masters in either fine art or illustration if they have one. Do you think it is worth it if I am ambitious and want to be a top illustrator? or would you say it is better just to be harmed with a BA and go out in the world. An MA might give me more experience (student life and demos) and a qualification that shows that you are very dedicated to art and improvement.

Also for you English folk, how would one pay for the expenses of an MA tuition fee? Is it the same as the BA where you have loans and grants, or does it rely on other factors?

Thanks all.

#2

Fl3wk,

This kind of decision depends entirely on what you want to do and how good the school/s you are looking at are - no one can really tell you what’s best for you, that’s a very personal decision.

Having said that -

First I think that before diving back into school, you ought to try to get some work experience, be it art related or not. I don’t know if you’ve worked before, but work experience will tell you very quickly what you do and do not want to do for the rest of your life. It will also tell you what your strengths and weaknesses are, and what you are and are not capable of. I think school will be a much more valuable experience for you if you work for a year or two first. Give yourself time to figure out your goals and priorities - apart from which, give yourself some time to grow as an artist and develop a portfolio without having to pay someone to help you do that. The forums offer a tremendous opportunity to develop your portfolio without shelling out a lot of money. I can’t recommend working before going back to school enough. This however is only my opinion. :slight_smile:

Also - a website (your own, not just a CGP) is going to be nearly mandatory for looking for jobs. Joel did a great job with mine, I’ll pimp him out a little here. :wink: It’s never been easier to show your work to an employer - and many prefer/require that you have a website, they will not accept jpgs attached to an email.

Regarding degrees:

In the US at least “Fine Art” typically means conceptual art, which is fine so long as you want to have a degree that grants you zero actual skills. :wink: There are however concentrations within MFA programs - for example, my MFA concentration is Digital Art. I don’t know if animation students in the UK receive an MFA or some other type of degree - that’s certainly something you’d need to investigate. What type of art are you interested in doing? I think that gaining some work experience first would better tell you what you actually want to do.

Here there is only one school that I know of with a Master’s degree in Illustration, School of Visual Art in New York. I don’t know about the UK. The main thing is to thoroughly investigate any school to which you apply. Don’t waste your money on a school that is going to teach you how to make a giant wall sculpture out of string. School is an investment in yourself - you want to get as much as possible out of it that will benefit your growth as an artist, but most importantly, your ability to be hired at the end.

Here an MFA (Masters of Fine Art) allows you to teach at the college / university level. An MA will not allow you to do so. It’s not to say that it is completely impossible to teach in the US at the college level without an MFA, but at many schools it would be very, very hard to do so. At least at my university, the only difference between an MA and an MFA is about 15 credits - for an MA there are 45 required credits, for an MFA, 60. I’m getting my MFA because I want to be able to teach at the college level.

Do you want to be an illustrator? I don’t know what the illustration market is like in the UK. Understand that being an illustrator likely means being freelance, for at least part of the time. Do you like working at home? Knowing whether or not you like to work alone or in a group (something you can only find out with some work experience) will determine whether or not you really want to freelance, be it in illustration or in any other kind of work.

My best advice is to also pick up some graphic design classes along with any further art training you decide to go after. Here at least there are about 90X the number of jobs for graphic designers than there are for illustrators. :wink: You have to really love art to pursue it as a career - because in many cases it can take a while to become good and savvy enough to earn a living with only art.

Just some thoughts for consideration - I wish you the best of luck in your decision making process! :slight_smile:

#3

I have just finished my first year in my BA three year course, which is an Art and Design one in Interdiciplinary practice. It teachs all creative practices from graphics to sculpture to painting. I was asking because I like to look a head nowadays and plan. These plans are never concrete, they will change all the time, but I like to think of them as schedules or reminders of what I could do in the future.

I think also that working first will yield more than if I carry on for another year or two. With what I learn in graphics I may find a job relatively easy. As for any work experience, a friend is getting me a bar job which will be great for people skills (during uni). I have also been searching for gaphics agencies in my area so that when the time comes I am ready. I do not believe I will be a teacher, I think my style is the opposite. I have always been independant with my work and organisation and never really had the need to work in groups, so working in a group or working in my own personalised studio/office does not really matter. Right now I am trying to cover all the fundermentals for illustration, i.e. anatomy, composition, perspectives, content, etc. Bu7t my issue is actually making illustrations, I think i have been studying for so long that I forgot how to actually illustrate!

For now I think I will just try to survive next year at University, then start worrying! For now (4 month break, FOUR MONTH BREAK!) I will see about joining some of these workshops officially. So, when would the next master workshop be, or has the Character workshop taken over?

Thanks

#4

Heya,

With respect to the Workshops, I try not to make any promises about when they will run since the time frame could always change unexpectedly - between now and June I’m going to be pretty busy but Mike will be continuing to run the Character Workshops in that timeframe. I definitely encourage you to participate in those - it’s a great way to put all of your anatomy knowledge to the test. :slight_smile: Also I would encourage you to try some of the basic digital shading tutorials, like the apple and skull shading tutorials in Photoshop. You might even try to tackle one of the Master Copy Workshops that have previously concluded - they’re a great way to increase your digital painting skills as I’m sure you know. :slight_smile:

#5

There are a number of Art Schools in the UK that offer specialised MAs in Illustration - Brighton is one. If you are serious about doing it, I’d advise starting straight after the BA as once you start working, it’s very hard to go back - I speak from experience :o) As for working as a professional illustrator, it helps if you have an agent as they will already have relationships with publishers, especially those in the US - probably the main source of commissions these days. They will also put you into the type of books that sit on Art Director’s desk. But the best thing is doing tax returns, those Inland Revenue forms make Joyce’s Ulysses look like Mr.Tickle :o)

#6

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