Art School and Authenticity: Does Formal Training Make You a Lesser Artist?
PRESSURE TO FOLLOW THE “RIGHT” PATH
Everyone has an opinion about how artists are “supposed” to do this.
Go to art school.
Don’t go to art school.
Be self-taught.
Be trained.
Be disciplined.
Be free.
It’s exhausting.
I was never pushed to go to art school. If anything, people told me not to. Waste of money. Waste of time. And honestly? Some might be right. Others? Dead wrong. There is simply no universal answer.
My best advice: listen for your calling , when you hear it, follow it.
Before art, I tried to do what made sense. I was a two-time engineering major, mechanical then computer. I made it a year and a half into my second degree before I tapped out. My grades were fine. Everything looked fine. But I was completely out of alignment. My mental health was getting wrecked doing something I didn’t care about.
I wasn’t lost. I was just ignoring myself.
Art is where I belong. That’s my truth.
SELF-TAUGHT VS FORMAL EDUCATION
I don’t care if you went to art school or not. Truly. That’s not what makes someone an artist.
Talent, instinct, curiosity, and time put in. That’s what does it.
Art school didn’t make me. It didn’t give me permission. It didn’t crown me anything. What it gave me was access. Space, time, critique. tools. And yeah, that matters, but not in the way people think. It’s not a requirement. It’s not a shortcut. It’s just access. And access isn’t something every artist needs, or even wants. Access can support the process, but it’s not the source. It doesn’t give you instinct. It doesn’t give you vision. That part already has to be there. School can shape what exists, but it can’t create it.
A lot of artists build their voice without studios, professors, or critiques. Some people are creating in bedrooms, garages, after work, between shifts, or in moments they have to steal for themselves. That doesn’t make the work less serious. If anything, it makes it more raw , more honest.
Being able to go to art school is a privilege. Not everyone has the money, time, or support for that, and that does NOT make them less serious, less valid, or less talented. Some of the coldest artists I know never stepped foot in a classroom. Not going to art school doesn’t put you behind. It just means your path looks different, and different doesn’t mean lesser.
A classroom doesn’t make you credible. The work speaks for itself.
STAYING AUTHENTIC (WHEN STRUCTURE STARTS FEELING WEIRD)
I’ve always cared more about being real than being “correct”. Rules and rigid assignments sometimes messed with my flow. My best work has never come from being told what to do. It comes when I move freely and listen to my instincts.
Technique can clean things up. It can sharpen edges, but it will never replace intuition. Ever.
You don’t lose your voice because you didn’t go to school. And going to school doesn’t suddenly give you one. It just sharpens what already exists.
CRITIQUE, DOUBT, AND FINDING YOUR VOICE
Holding onto your voice is the hardest part of being an artist. Period.
Critiques hit me hard in the beginning. Not because I wasn’t good, but because I was still growing into myself. I’ve always been my harshest critic. Way harder on myself than anyone else ever needed to be.
I had family that judged me for going to art school. Nobody took it seriously until they saw I was consistent. Until they saw it wasn’t a phase.
Whether you’re self-taught or trained, everyone feels it—the push to show your work actually matters.
WHAT LEGITIMACY ACTUALLY IS
Art school didn’t make me an artist. My instincts did, my work did. I had talent before school, and school helped me understand myself better through my work.
Authenticity is staying in your lane. Trusting what feels right. Not chasing validation from systems that were never built for everyone in the first place.
Whether you went to art school, wanted to go, couldn’t go, or chose not to, you’re not behind. There is no correct timeline. No checklist. No one way in.
At the end of the day, school doesn’t make the artist.
The work does.
