The "Why"
A personal perspective from Rebecca Guay
The motivation behind creating SmArt School grew out of 20 years working as an artist/illustrator and people asking me again and again "How did I become a success?" After spending five years developing and growing the Illustration Master Class (illustrationmasterclass.com) and initiating my own individual online mentorship program last year, I feel that the time has come to open up these experiences to a wider audience.
SmArt School is grounded in the principal of teaching I deeply believe in – that of bringing passionate, uber talented working professionals (artists, editors, art directors, agents and gallery owners) into the classroom to share their knowledge in an intimate environment where one on one dialog is not only possible, but the norm.
In addition to the monthly assignments the students undertake during our rigorous weekly class online, we welcomed some amazing guests over the past two semesters.
In the fall, Rubin Pfeffer ( agent and former VP of children's publishing at Simon&Schuster) joined us and gave a children's book dummy assignment, followed by a two hour critique at the end of the month.
In the spring we welcomed David Saylor ( senior art director at Scholastic: Harry Potter, Hugo Cabret etc...) and Irene Gallo( senior AD for Tor and Tor.com), both of whom assigned projects and joined class for long critique sessions.
At a time in the industry when it is very hard to get a personal meeting or ask business questions DIRECTLY to the people in publishing who give you work, this is a tremendously valuable experience.
I believe that the world of art/illustration is a "big tent" and there is room for inspired, hard working creators to succeed together. Sometimes we loose focus and are unable to find the path to the kind of work we want and how to get there.
SmArt School will help you train your eye to you own work, start helping you understand how to do the kind of work people fall in love with.
I try to teach people to reach far past where they thought they could go, to reach for the most beautiful form, subtle gesture, strong composition and full complex emotion. I try to help students not get distracted by what they think they should do, and stay focused on what they WANT to do.
In my experience no one "falls in love" with "good" art. We must reach deep and provide something outstanding.
Tapping into what makes people attach to, and "fall in love" with your work is what gives you "fans", what makes people seek out your art, gives you a career.
Some of my wonderful students have given me quotes that i have used on this web site. I encourage you to read them.
It will help give a true perspective one what is really means to be mentored ( like we will be doing in SmArt School this fall) by a professional artist/illustrator.
There is nothing more wonderful than working as an artist.
I can honestly say, i feel the joy of it every day.
Is it always an easy road? Certainly not, but what, in the whole world that is truly worth while, is easy?
That does not mean the (sometimes challenging) path is not exciting and full of great inspiration along the way!
"Working with Rebecca has been an amazing experience, and after the 8 months of my mentorship with her, one could look at my portfolio and see that my work has truly benefited from it. I'm more able to recognize trouble spots in a composition or color comp; I can see where I need more layers in complexity, mood, and subject; and I know for sure that any good piece shouldn't just be good, it should be better than the last. I see the same in my fellow classmates. All of us had different interests and styles, but Rebecca could look at each piece and know what we needed to learn for ourselves and our own goals. Attending class online worked very well: the atmosphere was intimate and each of the students had plenty of one on one time. We all gained a closeness and appreciation for each other that you wouldn't often get in a regular classroom, and the continued critiques and discussion over email has been wonderful as well. At times hilarious, eye-opening, and sometimes frustrating (but in a good
way!), our classroom critiques were consistently spot on. Having assignments and due-dates is also something I appreciate; the pressure adds a real world experience, but you have the comfort of knowing you are only learning and improving and adding good work to your portfolio. This is especially invaluable when you haven't been in a classroom situation in a while: you start to feel rusty, lazy, and isolated (in my case, at least!), but the mentorship has jolted me awake and shown me what I'm capable of. With such amazing illustrators gearing up to teach in SmArt School, I know plenty of illustrators will benefit as I did with such close guidance and a class schedule that is very convenient to work around."
-Elisabeth Alba (http://www.albaillustration.com/)
way!), our classroom critiques were consistently spot on. Having assignments and due-dates is also something I appreciate; the pressure adds a real world experience, but you have the comfort of knowing you are only learning and improving and adding good work to your portfolio. This is especially invaluable when you haven't been in a classroom situation in a while: you start to feel rusty, lazy, and isolated (in my case, at least!), but the mentorship has jolted me awake and shown me what I'm capable of. With such amazing illustrators gearing up to teach in SmArt School, I know plenty of illustrators will benefit as I did with such close guidance and a class schedule that is very convenient to work around."
-Elisabeth Alba (http://www.albaillustration.com/)
