A new installment in John Leavitt's ongoing True Art School Tales, his irregular, illustrated diary about life as an art-school student. John's currently studying at Manhattan's Fashion Institute of Technology. His own website -- where he shows off his witty and elegant art, as well as his prowess as a designer and cartoonist -- is here. If you click on the thumbnails of the drawings John has included in his diary, you'll be able to enjoy them at a more sensible size.

This week, a taxonomy of art students, by major.

Ad Design: Smug. Greedy. Dumb. Dress embarassingly up-to-date. Can't draw.

Graphic Design: Jerks. Undeservedly big egos. Neophiles (in love with everything new). Overly cozy with Ad Design. Can't draw.

Textile Design: Shy girls. Very Patient. Can Draw.

Package Design: Uncreative. Industry destroyed by computers. Can't draw (anymore).

Fashion Merchandising Management: Blonde girls from somewhere upstate. Rich. Amazingly dumb. Not expected to work. Can't draw, not expected to.

Photographers: Vaguely skilled. Wolly-headed. Can't draw, wouldn't occur to them to learn.

Toy Design: Trolls who are given the hardest assignments. No one has ever seen one alive. Draw alot and often.

Restoration: Actually lost chemistry students. Never see the light of day. Diligent. Can draw, despite not having to.

Display and Exhibit Design: Misunderstood genuises. Get all the fun projects. Temperamental. Actually construct things, and even work nights. Can draw, and extremely well.

--by John Leavitt

I'm blown away by all the different experts. "Textile design"...who knew!

Posted by: Scott Chaffin on October 5, 2003 08:04 AM

Thats nothing. Hat design, Menswhere vs. Children's ware. The degree of hair-splitting and speicialization at an early level is appaling and (from what I hear) due mostly to staff in fighting. The Fine artists don't want to ly down with the graphic designers and so on. Creates very incestous and staid depts.

-JL

Posted by: JLeavitt5 on October 5, 2003 01:24 PM

A guy can save a lot of money by living with his parents. BTW the busty babes I draw are naughty co-eds; so much for your analysis.

Posted by: Jeff on October 5, 2003 08:39 PM

Its more the Heavy Metal Mileu of the Illo dept that gets to me. "Didn't I run away from home to get AWAY from this?" Of course, I'm an uptight prig and electric snob.

-JL

Posted by: JLeavitt5 on October 6, 2003 08:54 AM

The caricatures remind me of Tom Wolfe.

Posted by: Tim Hulsey on October 7, 2003 08:07 AM

If I'd read that item about Fine Arts majors, I'd never have married my first wife. Where was this guy when I needed him 30 years ago?

Posted by: Van der Leun on October 7, 2003 11:46 AM

Tom Wolfe? Not familar with him.

-JL

Posted by: JLeavitt5 on October 7, 2003 06:50 PM

I love it! I went to art school 20 years ago and always refer to it as "vo-tech school for the upper middle class."

But what about Industrial Design majors? In my day they all tried to look like David Byrne - very forward-fashion and obsessed with cool. They were excellent draftspersons as long as they had a triangle and parallel rule. (Probably do everything on computers now.) They could also build life-like models of blow-dryers out of Bondo and foam-core and were not interested in having a conversation with anyone who wasn't restoring some antique car or motorcycle.

Posted by: Yehudit on October 7, 2003 07:06 PM

SOunds like the Display and Exhbit dept, you remain above us all...creating thier own worlds awith hammers and motors.

Regards

-JL

Posted by: JLeavitt5 on October 8, 2003 11:46 AM






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