So here's the deal. There's a lot of chattering of teeth and fretting of fingers going about the fantasy art in college thing. So....being that I am in college...I'm gonna break it down for you, and then I'm gonna go over the common bad things in amateur fantasy art.

Application stage-
Lots and lots of realistic work. Some colleges, like SCAD, will tell you they want your best peices regardless of subject, others, like Ringling, will tell you no fantasy or anime and so on right of the bat. The Ringling app is actually kind of easier for that, because you can make it up entirely of class assignments and the reveiwers know pretty well what entry level work of the human skull, etc, should look like. With an open application it is tempting to do just what they say and include what you consider to be your best even if it is all fantasy. My advice to you is to have at least half, probably three quarters of your work be academic. Still life, figure, landscape and environment, you know the drill. The last little bit, include as much diverse media as you can. When I applied to Uarts I think I had something like ten or twelve media, including sculpture and fibers.

Foundation Year-

Foundation year is like a continuation of your portfolio...but it starts out retarded. Really. My drawing teacher had us copying basic shapes, unshaded. A typical assignment was to cut out a circle, square and macaroni shape from construction paper and then glue it to paper in a pleasing way (i.e. arrange them) and then copy the arrangement in pencil at 115% scale. It's harder than it sounds, and at the time it will probably feel frustrating and beneath you. But your class will probably contain people who arent going into drawing intensive majors, and they need to be brought up to speed. Also a lot of the people in your major will probably have never heard of DA or just be oblivious to posting online. My foundation year, one other student had an online gallery and sophomore year three others have one. Out of a class of 17. Of that 17, the same three plus myself have any aptitude with photoshop, scanning in work, taking commissions, so on and so forth. Second semester will be better than the first.


Sophomore year-

First semester is almost, but not really, a continuation of the 2d aspects of foundation. You'll be told what to use, and what size to do it in. If you're in illustration like me, you may have an anatomy class or a figure class and some classes on photography or graphic design. In my anatomy class, we were expected to literally make our own textbooks and memorize the names of the bones, muscles and tendons, their insertion points, their various tuberosities and arches. Its sort of like being in med school. Second semester you have much more freedom, generally in your core illustration class you wont be told what to use, and you'll only be told a format to use but not a inch by inch measurement. I must add, I have not once in sophomore year turned out an image for illustration that was not fantasy, and not one person has seen fault in that.

Junior year-

Junior year is much like second semester of sophomore year. My friend tells me they try to mould you a little but if you resist and show them you are doing what you want to do, what you love to do, then they will help you. You'll learn lots of technique usually on a one on one basis (I.e. a teacher comes up and says, "That doesnt look right..here try this") and even your anatomy class will have you solving problems in an illustrative way.

Senior Year-
In my school's case, all illustration seniors are part of a gallery show called the Eli. (pronounced E-lye) The majority of this year is going to be spent getting your portfolio and your Eli done. They overlap You are expected to know more or less all the technique stuff you plan to use (which isnt to say you cant get help there) and the bulk of the time will be spent getting things done. I've been to two Eli, and the work has proven to be very diverse.



Okay so now we reach the second part; common mistakes in fantasy work.
1.)Narrative.
Why is it that I like [link] more than [link] I asked myself one day. I wanted to put that as my featured deviation and I couldent put my finger on why until someone in class noted that I make a lot of images with no story to tell. Chase has an emotion yes, but no story. It's featured because it shows a fair amount of technical skill but it lacks a narrative. Slaughter has a narrative. You may not get it all at first look, the importance of the two suns for example, but for before college work it really has a narrative.
summation: AVOID making images that can be summed up as "thing on a rock looking pretty".

Two; Anal retentive detail

I am soooooo guilty of this. Working over a whole image with detail makes the image more bland on the whole. Pick and choose what to give your veiwers and keep in mind the arc of the eye around your image. Also, SHADOW! I wouldent use deep shadow for the longest time because I'd loose detail. WRONG! USE DEEP SHADOW! Contrast and a full range of value will help you much more than that extra row of scales will.

Three; steriotypes

There is a good reason why *beastofoblivion is popular, and =Shinerai as well. They both pick and choose their steriotypes well. Whether they make tweaks to the anatomy or use inventive color schemes and patterning, its very interesting! I prefer any one of their images to the famous fire and ice thing *deligaris did. We've all seen a red dragon with s-shaped horns. What can YOU bring to the table, even to that archetype, that makes it interesting and yours?

Four; Color schemes

I had to separate this out. Mainly I see this on anthro and anime art, but I need to state it here...limit your pallet folks. Try finding a master work, like say Caravaggio, save it, open it in photoshop, and check the number of colors. Not "Orange, lightish orange etc" but basic colors. Your rainbow scheme is likely only hurting you, very few images can I think of that pull it off.

Five; lastly.. defeatism.

Look kids, if you want to be a fantasy artist you can- it's a fast growing market. Fifty years ago, wildlife art was recognised as an art form. WILDLIFE ART. It's the most selling form of art today, right ahead of fantasy. If you want to do this you have to BELIEVE in yourself cheesy as it sounds, because nobody else will do it for you unless you do it yourself. It's a lot like walking. You need to put the first foot forward and let the second foot follow it, and so on. But the biggest thing is really convincing yourself. Hell I remember the day I 'decided' to pursue a career in the arts-same thing. I told myself I was going to do it, and then I worked to make it true. Now I'm telling myself I can be better, bigger, grander..and I'm working to make that true too.

So that's that. My professor (who is a rather famous illustrator still working for clients like Oprah and Discovery and so on) had this to say on the subject;

Draw what you love. Because if you dont love what you draw, it will show up in the finish. One of the best skills we cant teach but that you need to pick up is to be able to find a way to love whatever you may be asked to draw by a client, because even in niche markets there is going to be some assignment that you will hate...but even then you need to treat it like all the rest!