I need to share my advice with you because I think you might be making a mistake. I'm thinking about dropping serious money on art school. James Watt's atelier seems like a fantastic choice, and a cool experience to live out there for a while. It would be good to develop traditional painting skills instead of just digital. I haven't done any serious research on a better value atelier, but I don't think I'll go wrong with Watt. He has a video on his YouTube that I considered an extremely convincing pitch. "how to be a successful artist" or something.
FZD though... I have strong reservations about investing in that, for a couple of reasons. His YouTube is quite good, at least. But the model of a fixed-time college education has been shown by many professionals not to be the ideal way to learn art. Yes a dedicated environment is a strong point, and you certainly will handle pressure better after that much training, but it teaches by cramming, mostly. Ateliers teach in a way that's focused on your skill level, rather than having this sink or swim state for 1 to 2 years in such a college. And FZD teaches such a specific style, whereas a good Atelier just focus on giving you a fundamental mastery so you can further your training however you want.
And 16 hours a day? That's ineffective in so many ways. Humans don't work like that. You're going to be overtired, unhealthy due to lack of sleep. Getting sick all the time due to your weak immune system due to lack of sleep and mental well being cause every waking moment is pressure, with no time for self, or loved ones, or any other hobbies or jobs. How much money are you gonna spend eating out?
16 hours is such a thoughtless way to get results from students. It makes me think Feng doesn't care how you do. If you burn out and flunk off it's not his problem. And trust me, lots of people would burn out in that environment.
Yeah no, if I spend big on art school, it's at an atelier. It's a fraction of the cost.
