Full version: Smart School is an online art and illustration mentorship program founded by Rebecca Guay and taught by several masters in the illustration industry. As a bonus, the end of each semester gives students the valuable opportunity to have their work seen and critiqued by seasoned art directors in fields ranging from book publishing to video games, fine art galleries to blockbuster film production. I enrolled in Smart School's very first Illustration 101 "Bootcamp" course in Fall 2014. I had heard amazing things about this online mentorship program for at least a year before I decided to take the plunge. Better yet, I had seen the work that came from previous and current students. I had hit a pretty rough dry spell in my own art making, and I was finally ready to re-invest in myself. Problem was, I was also very rusty.
That first semester was a much-needed kick in the butt for my foundational skills and an exercise in discipline. My figure drawing improved dramatically, as did my overall sensibilities for line quality, movement, technique, and value. Marc Scheff mentored Bootcamp, and I just can't say enough good things about him. I also had the golden opportunity to audit Iain McCaig's class in visual storytelling.
That first semester was so successful that I signed up for yet another inaugural Smart School class in Spring of this year, again with Marc. Illustration 102 focused more on composition, process, storytelling, but still kept some focus on improving technical execution. This class was a bridge between foundations and actual illustration. The piece posted here, a digitally-painted hypothetical wrap-around book cover, was what I had accomplished by the final class. My inspiration for the assignment was a short story titled Tear Tracks by Malka Older. I was allowed to take my time and struggle. I didn't get to a color stage, but the lessons I learned over the 12 weeks were invaluable and fuel for my future works. It was also incredibly inspiring to watch how my classmates improved as the course progressed. Smart School attracts the best and I expect to see many "alumni" take their chosen art fields by storm in the coming years!
Seriously, give Smart School a look. It's a financial investment, but if you put in the work, it's completely worth it!
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| Copyright Katherine Campbell Spitler, 2015 (Do not copy, alter, or use in any capacity without explicit permission) |
