Well let's think for a moment about this...... professional artists.

"A professional is a member of a profession. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skills necessary to perform the role of that profession."

Ok..... clear. "A profession is a vocation founded upon specialized educational training, the purpose of which is to supply objective counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite compensation, wholly apart from expectation of other business gain."

By that definition, an artist cannot be a professional at all. You're an artist or you're not an artist. It doesn't matter is you do art for hobby or as your job, you're still an artist and going to an art school or selling art doesn't make you more of an artist as someone who does it for fun. Every artist uses tools and they are all inspired by something. They make art because of that they have experiences, seen, lived, heard, were touched by. They draw inspiration from many sources so in that respect every artist uses tools as a means to get their thought, message, inpiration and so on across to theur audience.

That doesn't take away that a lot of artists are snobs, especially those who when to an art school. They do 'grow up' in a bit of a snobbish enviroment. I was in an art store yesterday, picking up some supplies with my wife. the art college was around the corner. It was quite busy that day. The funny thing was though you could pick out the so called pro-artists and the students in no time. They talk a certain way, they behave a certain way..... they even walk a certain way. I had a great time there.... not only because of all the cool stuff you can get there, but also because just being there watching all the artists is very amusing.

I stood next to a few students, they were looking at the same items as I did. They were discussing what materials to use and they seriously had no clue what they were talking about, they just behaved like they all knew everything about it. In the end they picked the wrong material, but they were too stubborn to ask for help. I felt like a little kid in a toy store, so many goodies around..... they were behaving like snobs.... I know what I prefer :)

There's one advantages about being a snob, it's a lot cheaper ;) I spent way too much money on materials and trying to get to know what works best.... they just knew what to get (without realizing they were wrong) and didn't spent nearly as much as I did on all these cool materials to experiment with. And here I am thinking that art should be wrong, no way, you need to behave as a pro, heaven forbid you're going to have for at the art supply store picking up all kinds of cool stuff..... deliberately using it for what it wasn't intended for.

I guess that's the difference. I knew what all the materials I was getting are supposed to be used for, but I'm going to use it worngly on purpose. They got the wrong material by pretending they knew what it was supposed to be for. In the end we both will use it for a wrong purpose, but I'm not going to be the frustrated artist! I can already see the stress they're going to have while working on their assigment the night before it's due..... finding out they've got the wrong materials and it won't work. At any rate..... art should be about fun and being open minded, shame they don't teach them that anymore.

Artwork and 3DToons items, create the perfect place for you toon and other figures!

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?vendor=23722

Due to the childish TOS changes, I'm not allowed to link to my other products outside of Rendo anymore :(

Food for thought.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYZw0dfLmLk