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Art Schooled
Daniel Stope is a small-town guy with dreams of becoming an artist. His enrollment at art school and subsequent move to the city opens up a world of possibilities. Unsurprisingly, Daniel struggles with his newfound independence—the difficulties of big city dating and making new friends. Jamie Coe's tale is a visually powerful graphic novel that covers familiar ground with an enthralling approach. Jamie Coe is a recent graduate from Central Saint Martins, London. He has worked on commissions for Foyles, illustrated political cartoons for the Gateway , and is the author of the short comic House of Freaks . He lives in London, England.
96 pages, Hardcover
First published November 11, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
September 2, 2016
Oh, dear.
Jamie Coe's a talented artist. But this flat little book of mumbling art-school stereotypes and no plot to speak of is very disappointing indeed in its absolute failure to give anything even resembling fresh perspective on the art school experience. Even a unique twist on an *old* story would have been nice, but alas, too bad for us readers; Coe's too busy letting us know that art students are weird! and pretentious! and occasionally vegan! in case, y'know, we weren't aware. Also, there's a hot girl! Who presumably makes art, since she's in art school, but she never talks about it, or maybe she did and Jamie was paying attention to his own angst at the time and didn't notice and that's why it's not in the book?
The most interesting moment, for me, was a scene in which a professor says to Daniel, the author's proxy, that his work is undeveloped, and the kid actually looks at his own stuff and thinks, huh, maybe that's true. What's ironic is that the book itself reads as being a first concept, as if Coe took the comics he created in school and just...published them. It's the same sort of feeling that Unlikely has: a writer just plopping what happened to them down on the page without taking the time to think why any of it's important and whether anything is actually being said in the telling.
I think I would probably be less harsh if I wasn't so burned out on comics about essentially bland, self-interested, vaguely artsy young men reciting thinly (or non) veiled autobiographical tales of disappointed first love with a girl who is portrayed as basically fucked up in one way or another, which is, of course, why it doesn't work out - even The Sculptor was a version of this, despite the fantasy elements, and it makes for increasingly dull reading.
Jamie Coe's a talented artist. But this flat little book of mumbling art-school stereotypes and no plot to speak of is very disappointing indeed in its absolute failure to give anything even resembling fresh perspective on the art school experience. Even a unique twist on an *old* story would have been nice, but alas, too bad for us readers; Coe's too busy letting us know that art students are weird! and pretentious! and occasionally vegan! in case, y'know, we weren't aware. Also, there's a hot girl! Who presumably makes art, since she's in art school, but she never talks about it, or maybe she did and Jamie was paying attention to his own angst at the time and didn't notice and that's why it's not in the book?
The most interesting moment, for me, was a scene in which a professor says to Daniel, the author's proxy, that his work is undeveloped, and the kid actually looks at his own stuff and thinks, huh, maybe that's true. What's ironic is that the book itself reads as being a first concept, as if Coe took the comics he created in school and just...published them. It's the same sort of feeling that Unlikely has: a writer just plopping what happened to them down on the page without taking the time to think why any of it's important and whether anything is actually being said in the telling.
I think I would probably be less harsh if I wasn't so burned out on comics about essentially bland, self-interested, vaguely artsy young men reciting thinly (or non) veiled autobiographical tales of disappointed first love with a girl who is portrayed as basically fucked up in one way or another, which is, of course, why it doesn't work out - even The Sculptor was a version of this, despite the fantasy elements, and it makes for increasingly dull reading.
January 3, 2018
NOTE: This was given to me via Amazon Vine. I posted my review there first, then reprinted it here. My views were in no way influenced because I got this free.
Is this an average book about your average special snowflake going to a crazay art school with a bunch of other crazay special snowflakes? Or is a brilliant work of art looking into the desire of sexuality and connectedness to sexual awakening? Or is it just meh?
My initial reaction was to rate this 2-stars for its stereotypical story about a boring author insert who supposedly can see into the depths of people's kitschy cliches and produces the very comic you are reading (after nailing the girl, losing the girl, cheating on another girl, then winning the girl back - because women are trophies, yo).
But you know, as I finished it, somehow the book endeared itself to me. Sure, Jamie - I mean, Daniel - is a loser, but there's a great scene where Charlie calls out his dorky friend - if you like art so much, why do you say so many hateful things about art school? Why are you still going?
I have never been to art school, nor have I been expose to this eclectic assortment of walking cliches in college, mostly because I went to engineering schools, and engineers don't tend to be barefoot with dreadlocks nor militant vegans. It is irritating to see people reduced to cliches - the girl who draws a minimum of 15 penises on every work, the girl who produces scribbles that passes for art, the blowhard pseudo-intellectual analysis of squares and triangles. I don't know if my art inclined friends would chuckle heartily or be irritated at once again being reduced to a joke. The only art cliche missing was the guy wearing a beret and a black and white striped shirt, holding a palette in one hand.
But at the end, I go back to - it was okay. Neither brilliant nor abysmal. Neither the best art nor the worst. Neither the most clever or unique story nor the most overdone. It was just - OK.
Is this an average book about your average special snowflake going to a crazay art school with a bunch of other crazay special snowflakes? Or is a brilliant work of art looking into the desire of sexuality and connectedness to sexual awakening? Or is it just meh?
My initial reaction was to rate this 2-stars for its stereotypical story about a boring author insert who supposedly can see into the depths of people's kitschy cliches and produces the very comic you are reading (after nailing the girl, losing the girl, cheating on another girl, then winning the girl back - because women are trophies, yo).
But you know, as I finished it, somehow the book endeared itself to me. Sure, Jamie - I mean, Daniel - is a loser, but there's a great scene where Charlie calls out his dorky friend - if you like art so much, why do you say so many hateful things about art school? Why are you still going?
I have never been to art school, nor have I been expose to this eclectic assortment of walking cliches in college, mostly because I went to engineering schools, and engineers don't tend to be barefoot with dreadlocks nor militant vegans. It is irritating to see people reduced to cliches - the girl who draws a minimum of 15 penises on every work, the girl who produces scribbles that passes for art, the blowhard pseudo-intellectual analysis of squares and triangles. I don't know if my art inclined friends would chuckle heartily or be irritated at once again being reduced to a joke. The only art cliche missing was the guy wearing a beret and a black and white striped shirt, holding a palette in one hand.
But at the end, I go back to - it was okay. Neither brilliant nor abysmal. Neither the best art nor the worst. Neither the most clever or unique story nor the most overdone. It was just - OK.
December 4, 2023
The art school story is a well-worn genre in alternative comix, and Coe's take on it is obviously derivative, leaning hard on Dan Clowes and Chris Ware. Yet whereas those artists have had satirical fish to fry when it comes to art school, Coe just has a wistful, pleasant, yet aimless tale to tell, one that shoots for but misses a conventional big payoff. The characters remain under-done, and narrative risks unexplored, in this beautifully drawn and design-happy (and of course Nobrow-gorgeous) but ultimately slight book. Imagine Clowes's "Art School Confidential," with its bruising portraits of hifalutin' or desperate art school types, but with no satiric teeth.
I'd love to see more cartooning and storytelling from Coe, because he has mad chops, which he flaunts here for the sheer crazy joy of it. He does need some better, fresher ideas, and some tough editorial feedback to steer him away from the cliches he runs head-first into this time.
Not a keeper, but a graphically promising first effort from someone who can cartoon like anything.
I'd love to see more cartooning and storytelling from Coe, because he has mad chops, which he flaunts here for the sheer crazy joy of it. He does need some better, fresher ideas, and some tough editorial feedback to steer him away from the cliches he runs head-first into this time.
Not a keeper, but a graphically promising first effort from someone who can cartoon like anything.
November 12, 2014
Wonderful art and highly entertaining. There is no indication that this book is autobiographical but one can't help but think so while reading. Coe's art style is wonderfully comic and cartoony while being radical and risque. The "art-style" nudity and language make this a certain mature read and perfect fit for the so-called "new adult" crowd. The story is funny, touching and ironic and it examines the eccentricities of art students, the various stereotypes, a country boy's thoughts on the new experiences he meets such as modern art, veganism, psychobabble and finding himself a weirdo among the "weirdos". There were a couple of spots where I felt the story wandered a bit but otherwise I had a great time reading this and mulling over what Coe is perhaps saying about university and young people on the path to becoming who they will be. I'd certainly read more of his work.
December 26, 2018
Yeah this wasn’t great. Coe uses the self-reflexive technique that many other cartoonists have used - where the book the reader is using is also an object within the text itself, where Coe’s protagonist, Daniel, spends art school adapting his experience into a graphic novel, with panels lining up to pages, and the ending featuring Daniel commissioned to finish the graphic novel, and including vox pops of the ‘real’ characters reacting to their representations (who look identical to each other.)
So many graphic memoirists are essential to the medium - I’m especially thinking of how Harvey Pekar turned his own working life and everyday observations from the 1970s through the 2000s into ‘American Splendor’, but there’s many other examples too. However Jamie Coe is far too limited in his approach - page count, development, time period - that it never comes together. I would actually have appreciated something far more rough and longer than these pretty well done and coloured cartoons where more things could be elaborated, the finish on the cover is nice? But that’s kind of it.
There’s a few pages where Coe depicts Daniel’s classmates’ horrified reactions to his comic - it’s “dry”, “judgemental”, “narcissistic”, “belittl[ing]”, depicting himself as the hero - all of which are perfectly valid criticisms. There’s a scene early on where Daniel’s dad, after dropping his son off at uni for the first time, responds to two (queer?), gender transgressive people, adorned in dresses, beards and pink hair, turning to him to ask “You didn’t forget your dress did you?”
Woah! Is Daniel working his way out of the closet - an FTM trans dude whose family still expects him to be a ‘girl’, a trans girl becoming more comfortable in herself, a dude who just loves wearing drag for fun? Of course it’s none of these - unlike the queer feminist memoirists like Bechdel et al., ‘Art Schooled’ is another case of the cis, heterosexual male viewpoint is more important than all others, as we see Coe’s wildly dehumanising and unnamed caricature archetypes illustrated out - a Greek transvestite depicting nude photos of himself in women’s clothing for the class, a creepy fetish ‘life drawing’ man who starts conversations with the girls in the class, hipsters and slang and anime girls, vegans who accept no dissent, feminists who hate phalluses and the patriarchy - who exist more as figments than with any attempts to get inside their own personalities and heads. The book’s entire narrative isn’t Daniel’s frustration with seeing girls, but it’s clearly an important part of it, with the framing narration centred around a fight with a friend - and brief sexual partner’s boyfriend (he dismisses her as a ‘bitch’), with notable scenes including his mum and dad asking him if he’s seeing any girls, or the girls in the local pub. Race is never really addressed as anything either.
But Coe finds his interest in depicting how wacky and odd people are in art school than depicting them more complexly. There’s a few brief vignettes but there’s so few pages that the number of awesome and fun incidents that uni entails that become laughing and talking points - are left out, with too much focus left on creating an overarching narrative which just ends up skipping over 4 years - and the serious development and personality shifts and character evolution, or even changes in fashion sense - really aren’t addressed at all.
For a British perspective on being a university student, read ‘Giant Days’ instead.
So many graphic memoirists are essential to the medium - I’m especially thinking of how Harvey Pekar turned his own working life and everyday observations from the 1970s through the 2000s into ‘American Splendor’, but there’s many other examples too. However Jamie Coe is far too limited in his approach - page count, development, time period - that it never comes together. I would actually have appreciated something far more rough and longer than these pretty well done and coloured cartoons where more things could be elaborated, the finish on the cover is nice? But that’s kind of it.
There’s a few pages where Coe depicts Daniel’s classmates’ horrified reactions to his comic - it’s “dry”, “judgemental”, “narcissistic”, “belittl[ing]”, depicting himself as the hero - all of which are perfectly valid criticisms. There’s a scene early on where Daniel’s dad, after dropping his son off at uni for the first time, responds to two (queer?), gender transgressive people, adorned in dresses, beards and pink hair, turning to him to ask “You didn’t forget your dress did you?”
Woah! Is Daniel working his way out of the closet - an FTM trans dude whose family still expects him to be a ‘girl’, a trans girl becoming more comfortable in herself, a dude who just loves wearing drag for fun? Of course it’s none of these - unlike the queer feminist memoirists like Bechdel et al., ‘Art Schooled’ is another case of the cis, heterosexual male viewpoint is more important than all others, as we see Coe’s wildly dehumanising and unnamed caricature archetypes illustrated out - a Greek transvestite depicting nude photos of himself in women’s clothing for the class, a creepy fetish ‘life drawing’ man who starts conversations with the girls in the class, hipsters and slang and anime girls, vegans who accept no dissent, feminists who hate phalluses and the patriarchy - who exist more as figments than with any attempts to get inside their own personalities and heads. The book’s entire narrative isn’t Daniel’s frustration with seeing girls, but it’s clearly an important part of it, with the framing narration centred around a fight with a friend - and brief sexual partner’s boyfriend (he dismisses her as a ‘bitch’), with notable scenes including his mum and dad asking him if he’s seeing any girls, or the girls in the local pub. Race is never really addressed as anything either.
But Coe finds his interest in depicting how wacky and odd people are in art school than depicting them more complexly. There’s a few brief vignettes but there’s so few pages that the number of awesome and fun incidents that uni entails that become laughing and talking points - are left out, with too much focus left on creating an overarching narrative which just ends up skipping over 4 years - and the serious development and personality shifts and character evolution, or even changes in fashion sense - really aren’t addressed at all.
For a British perspective on being a university student, read ‘Giant Days’ instead.
January 31, 2021
I majored in film at a second-tier state school in the rural Midwest. The Pratt Institute it was not. Once during a class discussion after watching SERIAL MOM (Serial. Mom. By John Waters), a guy raised his hand and expressed indignance at the entire film program for making us watch “arthouse stuff” (direct quote) while HE was majoring in film to learn to “make” (direct quote) “real movies” (direct quote). Our long-suffering professor thanked him for his contribution while the rest of us cast bewildered glances at this asshole. His self-satisfied smirk said it all: in the movie in his brain starring him, he’d knocked us impotent wannabe artists down a peg with his brash common-man Truth.
This graphic novel is the embodiment of that guy. Imagine being a painfully average cishet white man and somehow believing yourself to be superior to your freakish (vegan! dyed hair!!!) art school classmates because you give the finger to “”””pretension””””. And also believing that a wide audience would be on your side and want to spend 100+ pages laughing unironically at the weirdos?
I’m not a huge fan of Daniel Clowes’ brand of self-conscious str8-guy cartoons either (many comparisons have been made between his ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL and this) but at least he has a semblance of awareness and satirical teeth. This goes nowhere. Some of the art is cool, I guess?
This graphic novel is the embodiment of that guy. Imagine being a painfully average cishet white man and somehow believing yourself to be superior to your freakish (vegan! dyed hair!!!) art school classmates because you give the finger to “”””pretension””””. And also believing that a wide audience would be on your side and want to spend 100+ pages laughing unironically at the weirdos?
I’m not a huge fan of Daniel Clowes’ brand of self-conscious str8-guy cartoons either (many comparisons have been made between his ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL and this) but at least he has a semblance of awareness and satirical teeth. This goes nowhere. Some of the art is cool, I guess?
November 3, 2014
The Short:
I don't even know where to start with this book. It was weird and it was hilarious, and I am so glad that I read it.
The Good:
I was laughing so much throughout this book. It was so blunt and sarcastic, and I just couldn't stop laughing.
When Daniel punched the guy in the throat the reaction of everyone around him was so good. I was just dying laughing the entire time.
The art was beautiful. Nobrow does it again with a wonderful book.
The overall quality of this book was magnificent. Like every Nobrow book, the quality of the book itself and the paper was noteworthy. Also, the size of the book works perfectly for the content being put in display.
The color scheme on the pages was much appreciated since each page and even half pages were mostly monochromatic, and it just looked beautiful.
The story was magnificent. I loved seeing how Daniel grew from a new and nervous art school student to a fully developed and confident person.
The Bad:
Did there really HAVE to be that much nudity. I was not at all offended by it (I watch Game of Thrones nudity doesn't offend me anymore), but it was kinda like really? Was that necessary. Honestly, it was not at all a big deal to me, but others may be upset by it.
The story was funny, but it was not very heavy in the plot department. Like nothing REALLY happened. But it was fantastic anyway.
April 8, 2016
I'm not a big fan of graphic novels. I'm much more of a lover of the artwork that lies inside of them, but Jamie's book completely changed that for me.
Firstly, though the story was pretty simple, it was really funny and as an art student myself it was very rateable.
I love the artwork - which initially drew me to the book. His use of colour is brilliant. Each scene seems to have its own palette and the layout of his artwork & panels is really unique as well. You never get bored of a predictable layout because each section changes and really makes the characters stand out and become part of the design itself.
The quality of the book is lovely, which NoBrow do so brilliantly.
Over all I can't really find a fault!
It's well worth a read!
Firstly, though the story was pretty simple, it was really funny and as an art student myself it was very rateable.
I love the artwork - which initially drew me to the book. His use of colour is brilliant. Each scene seems to have its own palette and the layout of his artwork & panels is really unique as well. You never get bored of a predictable layout because each section changes and really makes the characters stand out and become part of the design itself.
The quality of the book is lovely, which NoBrow do so brilliantly.
Over all I can't really find a fault!
It's well worth a read!
June 21, 2016
Dude-who-thinks-he's-boring goes to art school and feels outniched. Full color (on the dim side, but in a good way), creative panel work, crush which kinda goes somewhere and then doesn't (or did it?).... ya know, typical art school angst - but well executed.
I went to a smallish private college and studied theatre and music, regularly walked down the art studio hallway, and roomed with an art major, so I feel like this is relatively close to my experience. I also regularly felt like the DUFF among my cool, smartypants, arty friends. So there are things here I connect to. I absolutely recognize the privilege of the experience, the navel-gazing quality. But I get and dig it anyway.
I went to a smallish private college and studied theatre and music, regularly walked down the art studio hallway, and roomed with an art major, so I feel like this is relatively close to my experience. I also regularly felt like the DUFF among my cool, smartypants, arty friends. So there are things here I connect to. I absolutely recognize the privilege of the experience, the navel-gazing quality. But I get and dig it anyway.
June 2, 2015
Canny comic about a "boring" boy's experiences in art school in London. Coming from "the Middle of Nowhere", Dan travels to London to pursue his childhood dream of becoming a painter. Met with an abundance of unusual folk, Dan feels inspired to turn his final project into what he terms as a "comic journal" documenting his experiences of art school. Is is this comic book we now hold in our hands by the talented Jamie Coe? Regardless, Art Schooled is a lighthearted, well-drawn, beautifully coloured comic about growing up, falling in love, and how important it is not to punch someone in the throat.
July 15, 2015
Even separated by an ocean and many years, many cliche's can be found in many different cultures, ... (art school cultures?)
and yes I can verify that I experienced many of the types exemplified in Jamie Coe's wonderfully illustrated book in my own days in Art School.
This was amusing, but it was a series of snarky snippets, and unfortunately it did not go very deep at all. Though it almost tried to,...
and yes I can verify that I experienced many of the types exemplified in Jamie Coe's wonderfully illustrated book in my own days in Art School.
This was amusing, but it was a series of snarky snippets, and unfortunately it did not go very deep at all. Though it almost tried to,...
October 7, 2016
I thought it was interesting that several of the art school weirdo characters make the point that the fictitious cartoonist-protagonist's comic journal is judgemental and naive. This doesn't let Jaime Coe off the hook for the lack of depth and characterization, since we don't learn much about any of the characters. Still, this book has it's moments, and the art and presentation are pretty striking, which is why I picked this up.
November 15, 2014
I like the self-reflexivity of this book, that much of its subject matter is the actual context and process of its creation. Yet Coe accomplishes this in a non-obtrusive way. It's noticeable, but it never becomes a gimmick.
December 31, 2014
An interesting look at a somewhat alien culture, and a touching coming of age story, all told in an interesting manner.
January 28, 2015
I loved the art, wasn't super engaged in the story; it felt like pretty well-worn territory, as far as art school narratives go.
December 19, 2018
An unoriginal take on a worn out premise.
July 21, 2020
2014 = £14.99
Written with an impressive wisdom-insight that usually comes years later in adulthood.
Written with an impressive wisdom-insight that usually comes years later in adulthood.
July 28, 2021
Beautiful drawn, harsh and sweet and entertaining
October 19, 2023
The art in the comic is a bit messy, but really nice. I think it fits the story well, thought there were some pages where the colors were a bit too similar and it made the page a bit hard to read. Overall, though, I liked it!
Can't say the same about the story though.
This comic seems to be more of a journal of the author and his time in art university and a bit after. I like that each chapter seems to focus on a specific idea, I like how there are single or double page interviews with what I assume to be other students littered throughout the book. I also like how each chapter has a different font and color theme. But that's about it.
The author has a very snobbish, wholier than though attitude, which is ironic considering the classmates/teachers tell him that in the book as well. In fact they mention quite a few negative aspects about his portrayal of them and art school life that I found myself agreeing with. The whole time it feels like he's just one step away from really getting it.
He fits almost all of the characters in very strict caricatures and enforces what are already widely spread stereotypes about artists and art school students and life. Again, ironic, as he mentions a few times how he knows what he is doing is bad. It actually became very apparent, very fast, that he is his own stereotype of person, the type to consider himself "normal" and everyone else "weird" simply because of the way they express themselves and their interests in art.
He just came off as rather obnoxious tbh. The comic very quickly lost its appeal to me because of that. In the end I finished it just so I can say I read it, not because I enjoyed it.
Seeing as this was started during his time in university, I assume the author has grown and widen his perspective a little (at least I hope so), but this particular comic was not it for me.
Can't say the same about the story though.
This comic seems to be more of a journal of the author and his time in art university and a bit after. I like that each chapter seems to focus on a specific idea, I like how there are single or double page interviews with what I assume to be other students littered throughout the book. I also like how each chapter has a different font and color theme. But that's about it.
The author has a very snobbish, wholier than though attitude, which is ironic considering the classmates/teachers tell him that in the book as well. In fact they mention quite a few negative aspects about his portrayal of them and art school life that I found myself agreeing with. The whole time it feels like he's just one step away from really getting it.
He fits almost all of the characters in very strict caricatures and enforces what are already widely spread stereotypes about artists and art school students and life. Again, ironic, as he mentions a few times how he knows what he is doing is bad. It actually became very apparent, very fast, that he is his own stereotype of person, the type to consider himself "normal" and everyone else "weird" simply because of the way they express themselves and their interests in art.
He just came off as rather obnoxious tbh. The comic very quickly lost its appeal to me because of that. In the end I finished it just so I can say I read it, not because I enjoyed it.
Seeing as this was started during his time in university, I assume the author has grown and widen his perspective a little (at least I hope so), but this particular comic was not it for me.
November 25, 2025
2.5 stars
Not too sure about this one. Written like a graphic memoir of a fictional character and I thought it was a graphic memoir until the end so that may have skewed my thoughts. Very stereotypical with not much else to say, every character except the main ‘normal’ guy was a judgemental caricature. Even if the work points that out itself it doesn’t really fix the lack of depth.
Great art on this though, and I do love the idea of a fictional graphic memoir. There were definitely funny parts and bits I liked, but was hoping to see a new perspective.
Not too sure about this one. Written like a graphic memoir of a fictional character and I thought it was a graphic memoir until the end so that may have skewed my thoughts. Very stereotypical with not much else to say, every character except the main ‘normal’ guy was a judgemental caricature. Even if the work points that out itself it doesn’t really fix the lack of depth.
Great art on this though, and I do love the idea of a fictional graphic memoir. There were definitely funny parts and bits I liked, but was hoping to see a new perspective.
June 6, 2025
The art was nice, I feel the story itself aged like milk.
boring white dude with pretentious mindset, gets the girl at the end. I found some of the jokes funny though like the art student stereotypes lol
boring white dude with pretentious mindset, gets the girl at the end. I found some of the jokes funny though like the art student stereotypes lol
May 14, 2017
3.0 out of 5 stars
Overall a good look into art school (I say as someone who didn't go hahaha) but overall had a very pessimistic view point that felt like it was dragging at times
Overall a good look into art school (I say as someone who didn't go hahaha) but overall had a very pessimistic view point that felt like it was dragging at times
October 14, 2020
Weird comic, but good.
May 12, 2021
Ottimo illustratore, bellissimi colori, narrativa un po' banale e acerba.
February 16, 2017
Much like Art School Confidential, a coming-of-age story about a sensitive, idealistic young artist trying to make his way in the art world and not come out bitter and jaded. Jamie Coe's artwork, writing, and the fact that this was in England instead of the US helped make this stand out from similar stories. Being far enough removed from art school also helped this not cut *too* close to home.
August 11, 2015
A beautifully illustrated but cliched semi-autobiographical story about going to art school, Jamie Coe's "Art Schooled" is like looking at someone else's yearbook. Any one who attended an art school (or just took art classes) will recognize a lot of the experience here: the weird fellow students, the pretentious art-speak, the brutal critiques, the creeping feeling that it's all a big waste of time, etc. The big problem with the book is that it all feels like it's been done before.
"Art Schooled" doesn't really break any new ground and because it's formatted in little strips that bounce around in time, it feels disjointed and thus it's actually less successful than other books in the art school memoir genre. The other big problem is that Coe's protagonist, Dan, comes off as the only sane character but in a way that feels cruel and judgmental of the other students; I had a hard time feeling much sympathy for him even though I identified with him quite a bit. The thing that really saves the book, however, is the art: Coe's drawing style, coloring, and layouts are simply exquisite; it's what made me stick it out through the end of the book.
Not great but not bad, "Art Schooled" is worth checking out for the art alone, if nothing else. Art graduates in particular will probably get a nostalgic kick out of it. Jamie Coe is a talented artist - really talented - so I look forward to seeing where his artistic journey takes him next.
"Art Schooled" doesn't really break any new ground and because it's formatted in little strips that bounce around in time, it feels disjointed and thus it's actually less successful than other books in the art school memoir genre. The other big problem is that Coe's protagonist, Dan, comes off as the only sane character but in a way that feels cruel and judgmental of the other students; I had a hard time feeling much sympathy for him even though I identified with him quite a bit. The thing that really saves the book, however, is the art: Coe's drawing style, coloring, and layouts are simply exquisite; it's what made me stick it out through the end of the book.
Not great but not bad, "Art Schooled" is worth checking out for the art alone, if nothing else. Art graduates in particular will probably get a nostalgic kick out of it. Jamie Coe is a talented artist - really talented - so I look forward to seeing where his artistic journey takes him next.
March 7, 2015
Coe covers a lot of familiar ground depicting his caricatures in art students and faculty (Art School Confidential and Claire's arc in Six Feet Under come first to mind), but I guess that speaks to how universal the art school experience really is. What makes Art Schooled compelling is Coe's art, which combines the raw style of alt weekly comics with a charming sincerity. His colors and layouts are great too. The format -- more an anthology of more-or-less chronological vignettes -- makes this a great coffee book to leave lying around one's flat as every page is an accessible entry point.
February 28, 2015
Very nice! Not sure how much of this is autobiography and how much is fiction. I suppose it doesn't really matter. I've never been to art school, but this still resonated with me. In the process of attending art school, a boy becomes a man. That description sounds more cheesy than this is. It's very real, believable, and organic. At least some parts of this appear to have been previously published, or at least exhibited separately from the rest of this graphic novel, but it all hangs together quite nicely. Excellent work!
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