Explore why APW’s creativity-focused curriculum remains vital in the age of AI, teaching students to develop authentic artistic skills that machines cannot replicate.
The prescience of the APW Curriculum
The reason that the APW curriculum never gets tired, is because from the very start, it was designed to zero in on the the essential elements required to help artists develop and move forward with a successful and satisfying creative life.
It didn’t focus on teaching young artists how to be someone else, how to look like another artist, copy a style, or to copy the “I got into Sheridan with 100% on my portfolio you tube video”. No, we knew that the only currency of real value in any field of the visual arts was, and would always be, authentic creative currency.
Authentic creative currency translates into having ideas of your own and having the skill set to develop and express those creative ideas by following through with something of your own, anything of your own – a film, a character design, a drawing, a painting – anything that was truly something that came from you. We knew that even with the constrictions of an application-ready portfolio ‘shopping list’ of to-do items that needed to be completed, there was still tons of room to develop a unique voice, your own voice.
Since starting APW, what we have noticed developing is an overwhelming trend among young people applying to various design and animation schools, ( and sadly, a similar trend among a lot of the knock off schools and tutors that offer their ‘portfolio building services’ through the internet ) to eschew the “develop the long game plan of becoming a great artist “ and replace it with – “here’s the fastest, easiest tip, trick etc for how to get into a school”. So the short term goal- how to make the portfolio that gets me into this or that school, has eclipsed the long term goal – of developing into a great artist. Incidentally, the long term goal, focused in the right direction through a skillfully crafted curriculum (which in effect IS the APW curriculum), by its very nature, delivers the short term goal as one of its natural byproducts.
So to circle back, the skill, experience and depth of the creators of the APW curriculum allowed them to see this when they were creating the program. Why is this so important today?
Well, AI – the automated ‘art faking machine’ as we like to call it, has removed the need for the performance of the repetitive, replicative jobs that designers and artists have heretofore been trained to perform in school and hired to carry out in jobs.
Quite simply put, AI is a brilliant copy machine, not a brilliant creative with a unique point of view. So in effect, what AI has exposed in all fields of commercial art is the simple truth that now, not only can copying, imitating, stealing and replicating art styles be done better by a machine, but that it is no longer going to exist as prerequisite for being a commercial artist anymore. All this is to come, most probably in the not too distant future.
These developments do affect the way in which young artists must now be trained. Creative assets – human ones, are even more in the spotlight now as our most valuable commodity, not learning by copying styles or imitating other works of art as an end in themselves. Forget developing amazing technique for its own sake devoid of an appropriate powerful piece of creativity that is expressed through it…there is a machine that can pump out the slickest, most dazzlingly polished piece of ‘technical mastery’ (devoid of authentic creativity of course) in a matter of seconds.
Unsurprisingly, this understanding of the crucial role that real creativity plays in the development of artists of merit has been at the core of the entire APW curriculum since its inception. It appears that now, more than ever, the emphasis that the APW curriculum has placed on teaching young artists to really develop and express their own creative ideas through the building up of sound technical skills has become the most valuable currency in the age of AI automation in the field of visual art.
Since APW placed such a high value on young artists developing core processes and practices that help them establish their unique creative point of view, the program and its curriculum still remain fresh, robust and vital twenty seven years since its inception.
To study with the Founders and Directors of APW, join our upcoming Directors Cut Signature program.
APW prioritizes authentic creativity and cultivating an inimitable creative voice, which cannot be replicated by AI, keeping its curriculum relevant for artists and animators in an era of AI automation.
No, APW discourages copying styles. Instead, it focuses on developing original creative ideas and technical skills.
By combining strong technical training with creative development, APW students acquire skills that remain valuable in an AI-driven creative industry.
Learn more about our APW Signature Program and Register Now!
