Seriously Considering Career in Concept art and Illustration... little advice desired

[Brutillus]

OK, I know you've probably seen a billion other posts like this, but I've been wondering a bit about my future of late, and because I want to go into Concept art and Illustration, I decided to ask the community of artists here for a little advice.

To the point.
I'm 15 and I currently live in Benin with my dad (although I'll probably only be here another year or less). I love drawing stuff, and have found this community very helpful with critiques and inspiration(!). I'm going to a small English school here and I will be taking the IGCSE (an internationally accepted general exam) this year. our art classes are not surprisingly very limited.
My two main questions are A) in general, how much might art schools (especially ones with good illustration/design departments) look at high school grades and exam performances compared with your portfolio. I'd imagine the portfolio would be more important, but I'm pretty ignorant about all of this.
B) what are some good suggestions for studying art on your own or when only a very limited art class is available (my situation)? of course this site is a great resource <3 , but what about books, other sites, etc?

sorry for the long windedness.
any replies would really be appreciated.

Thanks

[April]

It's been years since I checked out requirement for art schools, but I imagine it hasn't changed all that much...

I'd say that grades don't matter that much. It's better for YOU if you're not totally flunking out in all your subjects, though, and some art schools do have an academic curriculum as well as studio classes, so I wouldn't slack in the grades department. But more important would be your portfolio.

It doesn't matter if you're very limited in your art classes. If you can find any decent life drawing class at all, just take a few of those. Most schools used to believe that if you could draw the figure, you should be able to draw other stuff, so it was looked upon as a basic skill. Drawing from photos or showing lots of elaborate finished work wasn't as useful as showing basic drawing and compositional skills.

At least that's how it was when I went to Art Center College of Design for Illustration. But it was ages ago and things may have changed. And most art colleges can vary greatly in what they teach and what they expect from a student on entry--so I'm not sure how helpful anyone's advice can be.

Good luck.

[JoshuaTheJames]

The best thing you can do is stick with this site. All the answers are here.


-Joshua James

[Brutillus]

Thanks a lot for the replies!
April, what you said about the importance of figure drawing is a little reassuring because this is one of my favorite areas, and where I'm really concentrating on improving. I doubt if I'll be able to find a life drawing class during my time here in Benin, but this summer I'll be participating in a an art program where I should be able to take one, and I'll really keep my eyes peeled for them from now on. it eems that everyone agrees that life drawing classes are very important.

Joshua James, you are absolutely right, I find myself spending more and more time here. it's just a great resource, period.

thanks again people