For some reasons my life has turned out so that I had to do (and still do) lots of self-studying. When growing up I didn’t have that many choices of what to do with my life, but knew I need to get a university degree, so I chose psychology, and although I’ve never worked as a psychologist for various reasons, I don’t really regret that decision.
But after graduating, when I realized I wanted to do other things, the only way for me to do those things was to learn them all by myself. It hasn’t been an easy journey, it had lots of stumbling and mistakes and routes taken and abandoned, but I have learned a lot on the way, both on the subjects that interest me and about the process of learning itself. While some people are lucky enough to not have gone through that process and had access to quality education whenever they needed it, I am a strong believer that no matter the industry, you need to do some self-studying to remain relevant and up to date. Especially in the industry I worked in, graphic design, I’d say it’s a lot of self-studying and self-education.
I’ve realized that some things work better for me than others, and I hope this information would be helpful to someone struggling with finding a way to organize a successful self-study system.
- For me, it works better to start with general knowledge on a subject. By this I mean studying the underlying theory and processes of the field. If it’s design, I’d first learn the principles and elements of design and only after that learn tools like photoshop. If it’s painting, I first studied how pictures work, what are the elements of a successful image, like line, composition and color theory, and only then delve into specifics, like how to paint an apple. That being said, I can never claim that I know everything there is to know, so I always find myself going back to the basics and discovering something new. In this sense, study is an iterative process. In addition to that, most industries have certain processes and best practices, and although I’d want to be creative and do things my own way, I’d say it is essential to know what those processes are and work my way from those, rather than stumble in the darkness.I feel like this gives a solid foundation which to build upon, and while tools and tasks at hand can change, having a strong theoretical foundation helps me adjust to those changes.
- Related to the first point is studying the history and roots of the subject. For design, I have studied history and styles of design to better understand where it is coming from and get a sense of continuity and how things have arrived at the place they’re now. The same with art, although I can easily paint a portrait without knowing any art history, I would say that knowing it and knowing where we are at this point of history just opened up my horizon and made it more clear for me why exactly I paint the portrait the way I do. I would say that a good understanding of history and styles puts everything in perspective and opens up opportunities to innovate and be relevant in the present moment.
- I have learned more than my fair share of tools in the past few years, aside from handling analog tools like charcoal, graphite, watercolor and oil paints, I’ve also studied design tools ranging from Adobe CS, tools for 3d modeling, animation and some coding on top. What I’ve realized while studying all this is the following: although by watching a tutorial on youtube I can easily follow it and end up with a successful looking result that I can show off, the truth is, the result is hardly ever mine. For me, nothing beats having a deep level of understanding of the tools, knowing at least the basics of how exactly they work and exploring a bit on my own the possibilities they give. To get there it’d take to read some documentation or at least invest in a thorough, detailed course that covers everything from the very basics to an intermediate level.
- One challenge for me is that the amount of learning materials out there is fascinating and overwhelming and sometimes it is hard to decide where to learn. But after some research and stumbling and studying different sources, I have come to realize that most of the information out there is repeated to some degree, especially when it comes to the basics. So now I just look for a source that works well for me, is clear and enjoyable and I just stick to it. And for me, no matter how well presented and thorough the information given in an online or off-line course is, nothing beats reading books on the subject I’m studying.
Being a self-learner is definitely challenging but also extremely rewarding. For me, knowing that I am the only one responsible for my studying success made me much more organized, responsible about what I do and also opened up my mind in different ways. I can be confident that when I am faced with a challenge, with some time and dedication I will for sure overcome it. And that’s a great feeling to have.