How important is a degree??

[Kuma Kensai]

Hello all,
This is my first post...yeah! Anyway, to the point. My question is about the actual importance of a degree weighed against the ability level of one's portfolio. I am currently attending a 4 year WI University, going for an illustration major, a minor in philosophy and an emphasis on creative writing.

However this is not my first time in school. I attended the Joe Kubert School back in 2001 but was forced to head home after 1 year due to financial problems (Jersey is a damn expensive state to live in with a family while attending school fulltime). Since then I have done a great deal of study, opened my own business doing custom automotive airbrushing www.kumaautoart.com . Won some awards (every show my paintjobs have placed 1st for paint if not best of show also) and had 2 bikes featured in Super street bike magazine. I'm not bragging by any means, I justthink if I'm going to get good advice I need to lay out all the cards on the table.

I actually borrowed someone else's airbrush for my first pro job... it went well and I rolled with it. I attended a local tech school for the autobody stuff and welding that I needed to know. All told I have over 4 years in school already just at different places for different things.

Comic books were my first love in art and my style has developed from that, but I'm a big game fan and really believe that to be able to work with like minded people creating games that people love to play and to see artistically are where my talents will serve me best.

I am quickly becoming more fluent in Painter X. I just put together a PC that lets me do just about whatever Painter can do. By that I mean the program is running smoothly and the tools don't bog down when pushed.

So that's my story so far. Here's my real question. What chance do I actually have (if my portfolio is up to snuff) of applying for jobs that say they want at least a bachelor's degree of some sort? I have 4 years of experience working with customers from concept to final. I understand it's a different and much shorter info pipeline but it's better than fresh college students with no experience at all at narrowing down designs based on the customers ideas.
So If I sit down and work up an A class portfolio do I have a chance?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Here is a link to my other web portfolio. www.bjornvhansen.com Mind however that it's not organized yet, I got all the pictures updated recently and haven't had time to rearrange the site. So nothing is in chronological order of completion. you should be able to tell what is old and what is new. None of this stuff is really geared towards a gaming portfolio so I will have to start from scratch and build one up. So everything is current and what I want to have seen as proffesional level stuff.

Thanks everyone!

[Elwell]

If your work is strong enough, a not having a degree makes no difference. And if your work isn't strong enough, having a degree makes no difference. What's important is getting the skills you need, whether that's from a degree program, a non-degree program, individual classes/workshops, or self study. From looking at your work, at least the comics/illustration stuff, you still have quite a ways to go before you can compete.

[Kuma Kensai]

Well I appreciate the feedback. Really all I needed to know was if I couldpush ahead without a degree. Unfortunatly much of what may be termed as illustration stuff is at least 5 years old. And isn't really current or applicable as portfolio material. I want to sort the site by chronological order of completion by year completed. I've learned a huuge amount of color usage and composition over the last 4 years doing the airbrush stuff. I've never applied it to illustrations. Which I can do now. and will do for my professional portfolio.

Well thanks for the info, back to being inspired while I build a new body of work!

[jennibell]

If they are asking for a degree, they want someone who has a degree or comparable work experience.

Also, many employers who ask for college graduates couldn't care less about the degree itself, but more about the fact that you took the initiative and were mature and goal-getting enough to COMPLETE the degree program. That says a lot about someone who may not have a lot of work experience, especially in such a competitive field as illustration.

Best of luck!

[Storyboard Dave]

In all these years of working in the field I've never had anyone ask me whether I have a degree or not. It's the portfolio and can you do the job necessary. We're very much a results oriented profession.

Looking back at it, I wouldn't have traded those four years of growth & learning in college for anything in the world though. They were the most formulative, fun, grueling and exhilerating times of my life.

[Kuma Kensai]

Thanks much Storyboard Dave and Jennibell. I'm Ok with going to school and continuing my education. But the fact of the matter is that I am now getting to the end of my Federal G.I Bill benefits and I drive 2 1/2 hours to school one way! I am commited to my education but life is always throwing me curveballs and as such adjustments need to be made, and backup plans may need to be enacted.

I had a wonderful time at school at the Kubert school and I miss that enviroment. So much creative energy to be apart of! The community college I now go to for my gen eds.... well the art department there is an absolute joke. My instructor in my intro to oil painting class said that "he knew I could paint and draw at a more advanced level than his students coming out of high school, so therefore I shouldn't paint stuff".... not even allowed to work on the still life like the other students. I was told to paint "not stuff"....

I make every effort to not be frustrated that I'm paying to be deeducated. The school that I spend 5 hours aday in a car getting to has a much better program and I'm more pleased there. I feel kinda like I'm learning something at least. yet even there I cannot get feedback and good crits because the students, even the seniors and advanced students are well below my experience level and I actually think they are intimidated to call me on mistakes and improvements I can make. Even my illustration instructor is kinda hush about my stuff. No good feedback equals no good growth. So far I have maxed out my available grades for the assignments easily and barely get feedback from my teacher.

So now my plan is to hammer out as much of my art side of my illustration major and forego the few gen eds I have left so that when the time comes that I can't afford to go to school anymore (which will probably happen before too long) I at least got the most that I was able to artistically.

I'll post up some of my illustrations in the crit section as soon as I get the finishing touches down and get the images scanned.The comic book stuff in the portfolio DOES NOT REPRESENT WHERE I AM AT ARTISTICALLY. The airbrush stuff is closer and by far more current. Some of the comic stuff is from 97 when I was still in the Marine Corps and much is also from 2000-01 when I attended the Kubert school.

I'm just trying to understand the playing field here and I want to make sure that if I CANNOT finish school for reasons beyond my control that I don't have to give up pushing forward towards my dreams and aspirations simply because I do not have a degree.

Thanks again for the insight everyone. Watch for me in the crit section here in the next week or so, I need some good feedback to continue my growth, as I can't really seem to get the level of critique that I need elsewhere. :yayca: 8)

[Storyboard Dave]

I'll post up some of my illustrations in the crit section as soon as I get the finishing touches down and get the images scanned.The comic book stuff in the portfolio DOES NOT REPRESENT WHERE I AM AT ARTISTICALLY. The airbrush stuff is closer and by far more current. Some of the comic stuff is from 97 when I was still in the Marine Corps and much is also from 2000-01 when I attended the Kubert school.


One thought regarding the age of your artwork is that if you don't say anything about it, is anyone else? Are your samples dated (ie. signature and date finished) or are they just not in a style you feel comfortable showing?

I always encourage my students NOT to put dates and/ or signatures on their work because generally their work is used for a purpose beyond decorative. Their artwork has to work hard for a purpose and sometimes a signature (in my opinion) can be distracting to the purpose of the work. Artwork done with concept art in mind is supposed to "keep the conversation moving"- selling, pitching and progressing forward. I don't think a signature is vital or needed. It's also generally done as a team project- not an individual's project.

That being said, your artwork should be representative of styles you feel comfortable in showing and still doing. Who cares if a piece was done 10 years ago if it's still a style you do well and if it's truly representational of what it is you do today?

I'd almost be willing to go out on a limb to say that you are further along artisitically today than you were a week ago but that doesn't mean the work you did a week ago isn't valid. It's also about a comfort level that you've got to come to with your artwork- regardless of when it was done.

Good luck!

[Kuma Kensai]

Storyboard Dave- Thanks again for the input. It's not that i'm not comfortable with the earlier artwork, it's more like, with any type of communication be it verbal or visual, things should be taken in the proper context. I just wanted it to be clear that some of the stuff is from the beginnings of my artistic journey....and should be taken in that context when looking at it.

I think it's important to be able to look at where you came from to mark your progress forward. Which is why the pieces are even on the site at this time. I just want to seperate it so that the growth is more evident between the early and more recent work. If someone doesn't look at all the pieces right now they may look at a peice from last week and one from 2000 and without them being in the proper context, judge them against each other. One will be full of anotomical or compositonal errors and one will be more refined....I think this will lead to premature judgements, like Ellwell's comment.

As far as signatures are concerned, while doing my airbrush work I really hated when people would slap a signature or company logo right in the middle of an otherwise good piece and just about ruin it. So I started making my signature disappear into my composition. Most of the time people never even know it's there. That was always fun, it was like placeing the Playboy Bunny on the cover somewhere.