The artist Rebecca Leveille Guay founded SmArt School to address a pressing need. Often art students, self trained artists, and working professionals find themselves stranded and looking for more:
How do you push your vision and your technique further?
How do you connect with people in the industry?
How do you learn the nuts and bolts about how a professional lives and works?
How do you learn the business of art?
How do you shift from one area of art to another successfully?
SmArt School was constructed specifically to address these questions. Our success can be measured by the astounding success of our alumni.
Small and interactive
Big online classes are impersonal. We recognized this and, from the beginning, we focussed on very small and highly interactive courses. We call them mentorships because the teacher can work very closely with the needs of each student. In keeping with a mentorship, the classes also include professional development and industry opportunities.
the best teachers
We only work with teachers who are at the very top of their fields. This is a key part of our focus and we can achieve it because we don't have the overhead of a bricks-and-mortar school. We use our efficiency to pay great teachers what they're worth.
giving students real experience in the profession
Each mentorship (beyond beginning figure drawing and beginning illustration ) includes a professional connection through a classroom visit at the end of the semester. Students not only work with the high level professional who is their teacher, they also get feedback from a guest professional. Depending on the class, these professional contacts include prestigious art directors, gallerists, or publishers. Guests have included representatives of: Simon & Schuster, Scholastic, Tor, Orbit, Plan Sponsor, Charlesbridge, Dark Horse, DC Comics, Johnathan Levine Gallery, SITE Brooklyn, Spoke Art, Modern Eden Gallery, Arcadia Contemporary Gallery, Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, Imagine FX Magazine, Blizzard Entertainment, Wizards of the Coast, and more. The classes often include receiving assignments from these professionals and completing them for their review. Since 2011 many students of SmArt School have launched their careers through our connections.
Fostering community
Building community is part of building one's vision and career as an artist. We believe that 'a rising tide raises all boats'--there is enough success to go around. We foster a communal environment in which everyone helps each other strive.
PROMOTING OUR ALUMNI
Our community doesn't end when class is over. We do a lot to promote our alumni. Check out these ways we showcase alumni talent:
ALUMNI PORTFOLIOS page. All alumni who have completed a full mentorship, beyond a beginner class, or attended an IMC can have a free portfolio on this page. Our aim is to do what we can to build sales and opportunities for all who come to study at SmArt School. Check it out: ALUMNI PORTFOLIOS
Also, at the bottom of each artist's page you can see who they studied with.
smart school art prize
We hold the SMART SCHOOL ART PRIZE to create more professional connections for alumni and to encourage everyone to update their portfolio page. Everyone who updates their portfolio automatically has their work seen by a leading art director or gallery director who is judging the art prize. The judge sees everyone's work with their name attached. So this is great exposure for everyone. Past judges of the art prize have been:
Lauren Panepinto, Creative Director at Orbit Books
Christopher Everhart, Art Director at Collectionzz
Eric Skillman, Art Director at Criterion Collections
Rob Jones, Cofounder of Mondo
Paul Suntup publisher of Suntup Editions
Kirsten Anderson, Owner/Curator of Roq La Rue Gallery
Adam Auerbach, Art Director at Berkley / DAW / Penguin Random House
Shelly Bond, longtime Executive Editor at Vertigo Comics, currently editor at large
Matthew Gardocki, Director and Curator at La Luz de Jesus Gallery
Jeremy Cranford, Art Director at Blizzard Entertainment
alumni news
We try to keep up with alumni successes by doing a write up about notable events in people's careers. Gallery shows, first time book covers, illustrations for major clients such as Wizards of the Coast, or the New York Times. On ALUMNI NEWS you can see the broad range of things our alumni go on to do.
smartschool instagram
@smarterartschool With more than 10k followers, our instagram is a powerful platform. Most of our posts are about alumni. We post an image for every artist who updates their portfolio as part of the SMARTSCHOOL ART PRIZE. We announce alumni achievements. Plus we showcase work of our teachers and announce upcoming mentorships. It is a great way to keep up with the community.
ARTIST REFERRALS
Because of our reputation, art directors and editors approach us looking for talent. We regularly recommend alumni for commissions.