Someone once said, 'A laborer creates with his hands. A craftsman creates with his hands and his head. And an artist creates with his hands, his head and his heart.' The Academy exists to help you be whoever you want to be.

This is exactly the kind of education I wish I'd had. It's the most up to date concise information available on an ongoing basis from award-winning artists working in the trenches, not from the disconnected clouds of academia.

Fifteen years ago we developed The Illustration Academy as an alternative education to fill a void in the information from Art and Design Colleges. During the last fifteen years The Illustration Academy has offered life-changing results for many young illustrators and painters by delivering our students the most accurate and current information that exists from artists who have excelled in the professional community. Today, the information offered by Art and Design Colleges comes even less from the professional community, making the need for an alternative education essential.

TAD is purposely designed to bring the grammar of art and professional career based information directly to students of art around the world. I went to art school for six years. I remember how much I benefited from crossing paths with actual professional information at The Illustration Academy. I landed scholarships and jobs because of it. Years later, I have seen the lives that have been changed around the world, from holding the ConceptArt.Org and Massive Black workshops. The best students strive daily to reach their goals and have the strongest success when given the information they need see their career dreams come true. TAD is the educational program art students have asked for and I wish I could have had when I was getting started.

My mentors, The Art Department instructors, were able to teach me the lessons between the lines of my textbooks. The application of this knowledge has allowed me to graduate from their student to their peer.

When I was young and struggling to find my way with drawing and painting there were precious few places to go to learn what I so desperately needed to know. The library was number one, then came the magazine rack at the local grocery store, as well as bookstores, both new and used. These were my haunts, and I practically lived at any one of these places.

My teachers, my galleries were my comic books and paperback book covers. I was intimately familiar with the artists who drew and painted my favorite stories and heroes. It was through emulation that I was able to find my way with drawing and painting. That was a long row to hoe.

There was no internet, only a magazine (Comixscene, later Mediascene) that ran wonderful interviews with my art heroes, and I would run out and buy the nib that so-and-so said they used, finding out the hard way that there was no magic brush, just knowledge gained through doing. And while I wouldn't trade that sense of self-discovery for the world, I would have killed for this program.

To actually learn from artists doing what I aspired to do with my life, would have been priceless. To be able to ask the questions I needed the answers to and hear them straight from the source would have been a godsend.

And here it is. There is nothing else like it.

Society, technology, and education have at long last converged. The Art Department is the education of the present and the future; being taught by those that practice their craft and live their lives at the highest levels of excellence.

The Illustration Academy is around-the-clock, hands-on, absolutely intense immersion in all things visual. As a student there, I found the studio camaraderie and energy level intoxicating, and now, as an instructor, I'm still addicted to it. The willingness of everyone involved to share all aspects of their craft creates an atmosphere unmatched to its ability to inspire. The perspectives and habits I learned at the Academy set an example that I could follow to become successful as a professional illustrator, but even more importantly helped prepare me to continue to learn in my journey as an artist.

Attending the Illustration Academy was the single best thing I have ever done for my illustration career. The things I learned from my interaction with the instructors and other students are valuable beyond measure. I believe that anyone who is interesting in improving their art would love and benefit from the program. I know that the help and guidance I received last summer drastically improved my work and opened doors in my mind that I had been struggling to open for years.

Not only did the instructors at the Illustration Academy show me how to design a successful illustration, they showed me how to present my illustrations successfully. I never realized the importance or networking until I experienced the generosity of these illustrators and witnessed the strength of the community in which they thrive.Lots of artists can draw, but not all can illustrate. Lots of illustrators can produce, but not all can market. The Illustration Academy taught me how to do both.

It's really hard to distill the Academy experience into a few words; because it really is an experience. While I no doubt learned a lot in school, the Academy really taught me how to think. Watching the faculty work along side you is amazing, just seeing their continued passion for art is inspiring. And the faculty isn't the only inspiring part of the Academy. Being surrounded by talented students from around the country and the world is the best motivation.

What an incredible experience! I learned so much at the Academy, from idea generation and color theory, to how to be a professional artist and what that means in today's career market. Being immersed in nothing but art for eight weeks was a truly satisfying experience, and by the end of the program, I felt as though I left a better artist than when I entered. It was surreal to be surrounded by the industry's leading artists, learning not only from their vast artistic skills, but as well from their real life experiences. The program helped me become a better storyteller and artist, and I know that I will be referring to the lessons I learned at the Academy for years to come as I move forward in my career.

My experience at the Illustration Academy was a struggle, but through that struggle I learned how to become a better, more practical image maker. The information I needed to become a professional was no longer shrouded in mystery. I felt like I was beginning my career with an instruction manual.

The Illustration Academy is an experience that you would not be able to find anywhere else. I learned so much about the process of making a good image from working out the initial idea to rendering the finished product. It was amazing to learn from some of the most successful illustrators in the field who are all so willing to share their expertise and experience. The program gave me the knowledge and confidence that i needed to promote my work and start my career as an illustrator. I will value it for the rest of my life.

There are only a few words I can use that can truly embody the experience I had at the Illustration Academy other than, "EXCEPTIONAL". I have never met a more esteemed and dedicated faculty of artists who are so determined in equipping their students with the essential process of effective image making and also to share of their vast experiences in the professional and business world of Illustration. I had the privilege of attending the Academy for two summers and can honestly say that the knowledge I had as an illustration student entering the program, did not compare to the perspective and information I had gained leaving the program. Attending the Illustration Academy places you side by side with the most respected artists of Illustration, and despite their high recognition, they are some of the most generous and humble individuals I had the pleasure of meeting.

As many who attended the Academy will tell you, it will change your life. At first it will completely overwhelm you with so much info on picture making, you become quite scared of how little you know. Then you take a stab at it, and with the guidance of the incredible teachers (who quickly become good friends) work that you never knew you could make begins to appear. But it has a peculiar effect. It has been 8 months since I finished the Academy and I think I'm only now comprehending much of what they taught (they predicted this of course). They plant the seeds, you have to make them grow. I still have much to learn, and at the time of writing this, I look forward to attending the Academy for a second time.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the Illustration Academy changed my life. Not only did it attach rocket boosters to my career by giving me everything I needed to succeed as an illustrator, it taught me how to live the life of an artist. To this day, the lessons I learned echo in my mind and find new expression in my work, while the artists I met and the friends I made are a continuing source of support and inspiration.

I was not surprised by how much was known about picture making by the faculty of The Illustration Academy. I expected that. How much was known about everything else caught me off-guard. Literature, music, history, pop culture, and philosophy are just a handful of topics discussed on a daily basis at the Academy. I was inspired to become a well rounded person that creates art, not just a wrist. The selfless sharing of knowledge at the Academy is truly inspiring. I did not go a day without learning something new and interesting to try. The fact that I learned just as much from the other students was an added bonus.