I Just Started a Year of Art School in France!
I am officially through my first week of art school in France! It feels both surreal and yet so normal to write that. I’m really happy to be here in Lyon, focused on studying art — for a whole year!
As some of you know, I’ve been traveling full-time since June 2014, which means this year in Lyon will be the longest I’ve stayed anywhere in a decade. But I’ve always known I’d settle somewhere for a while when the right place and time came along, and that’s exactly what happened here. So I’m feeling really happy with this decision and optimistic about the year ahead!
But first, you might be thinking… you’re doing what?! And where? So here we go:
Why I Chose to Study Art at ESMA in Lyon, France
My Artistic Journey: From Self-Taught to Art School
Combining Art and Travel: My Summer Sabbatical
Why Lyon? How I Chose ESMA and France for Art School
Want to follow along with me as I live in France and learn art this year? I’ll be posting on my Instagram and hoping to keep up this journal (blog) here on my site.
Why I Chose to Study Art at ESMA in Lyon, France
Lyon, France (Google Maps)
I’ve just started a one-year Entertainment Preparatory Program at ESMA (École Supérieure des Métiers Artistiques) here in Lyon. The program is designed to develop foundational skills in drawing, animation, 3D modeling, and more.
It’s designed for students to gain the technical skills they need to go into art school (like a college degree program), but it happens to also be perfect for someone like me who wants to learn those same skills for other artistic & storytelling endeavors.
ESMA Prépa Entertainment Curriculum
“This preparatory year enables students to acquire the theoretical and practical knowledge needed to enter a training course in the field of animated film.”
Visual Arts
Graphic and plastic experimentation
Practical drawing: Observation,Anatomy and movement, Analytical and technical drawing, Intentional and narrative drawing
Colour and texture
Communication and expression techniques
Specific workshops: Images sequencing, Photography, Graphic Design, Volume, DTP
Language (since I’m in their English cohort, we have French class every week; the French cohorts take English)
What drew me to ESMA was a mixture of its geographic location (Lyon) and the curriculum’s balance of traditional art techniques with digital skills. While I don’t necessarily want to become a full-time animator, for example, I do want to have the skills easily at my fingertips to make whatever I want / envision that best brings my ideas to life — whether that’s another book, a comic, a digital product, an animation, or something else.
ESMA also offers a Design Prépa year, but it had more about Art History, and I’m well covered on that (since my BA is in ArtH). I also think that Augmented & Virtual Reality and the gamification of everything will continue to be increasingly relevant to ALL fields moving forward, so it’s strategic & beneficial for me to feel more comfortable working in those disciplines, whether I want to apply it to creative projects, commercial work, or cultural institutions.
The Prépa year aims to help us achieve the following objectives:
Enrich your general and artistic culture, and develop your practice and your creative universe
Acquire the technical and creative foundations through the practice of drawing
Develop a critical eye and analytical skills
Acquire a methodology for work, reasearch and creation
Acquire the skills needed to develop your own personal graphic and visual universe
Acquire a sufficient level of language and French culture to communicate and act in everyday situations (course in English)
Check out the school’s brochure to get a taste of the school in their own marketing — the Prépa Entertainment info starts on page 39, which I’ve taken screenshots of to share here:
My Classmates / Cohort
Another interesting aspect of this experience is that I’ll be studying alongside other international students from different countries, which adds a whole other level of inspiration and collaboration. There are 25 of us in the English Prépa Entertainment this year, and my classmates are (naturally) all 18-20 years old, with the exception of one other ~40 year old American guy.
Being 20 years older than my classmates is a different dynamic, but so far it’s been fine and I think will be interesting. I think it also helps that they’re from all over the world, so we have a mix of cultural backgrounds and lived experiences that’s more varied & makes it feel less awkward than if I were to join a freshman class at an American college.
I was telling one of my best friends yesterday that it’s also been interesting already in the first week to see how my experiences in just the past 5 years working with BiGLATA (Williams College LGBTQ+ alumni group), teaching Winter Study at Williams twice (to undergrads), and being on the Williams Executive Committee have all broadened my perspective & skills around community building, intersectionality, gender identities, and inclusivity, so I feel like I’m better prepared to be a positive & educated influence on my classmates.
(I think I’d always have been nice because I think kindness is important, but I’m more actively conscious & better informed now.) But overall, I’m aiming for a kind of “big sister” and peer vibe with them, especially as we’re all here to learn the same things!
Again, I’ll be posting on my Instagram and hoping to keep up my journal (blog) here on my site if you want to follow along with me as I live in France and learn art this year!
My Artistic Journey: From Self-Taught to Art School
You know me — I believe that context matters A LOT! So here’s the backstory of how I got here.
I studied Art History at Williams College, which changed how I looked at the world — in all the best ways. ArtH taught me how to see and understand what humans make. But I never thought I’d be an artist myself. That wasn’t even on my radar.
Then in 2018, I started reading The Artist’s Way, thanks to the recommendations of a few friends and my therapist. I was living in Medellín, Colombia, at the time, and on a whim, I bought a watercolor set from a nearby art store. That was the beginning of my artistic practice.
Over the next few years, I taught myself to paint, mostly by watching videos on Instagram and experimenting with sketches and small projects. During the pandemic, I started sending watercolor cards to friends and family, which helped me practice my skills and stay connected with loved ones.
Shoutout to real snail mail — no matter what it is, sending an actual postcard or letter or anything to someone will probably make their day, so I highly recommend it! 🐌 📬
Then for Christmas 2020, I got an iPad, and I felt like I needed a structured project to really get myself to learn how to use the tool and create digital media. So for my birthday in 2021, I created and launched a Kickstarter to create an illustrated children's book (and my campaign was awarded a “Project We Love” designation by Kickstarter, which was amazing!).
Creating An Alphabet of Fun Facts took longer than expected because I was learning to illustrate on an iPad (and ended up doing a very different vector art + flat color style vs how I watercolor on paper) while balancing work and fulfilling my vision for the book. But in January 2024, the book was printed, shipped to backers, and is now available for sale. Here’s a selection of the artwork from the book:
For 2.5 years, the book was the primary creative outlet I allowed myself, with the exception of occasional watercolor cards for friends and a couple commissions (including a watercolored wedding invitation & other print materials and a set of acrylic paintings in memory of someone's sister). [Note: I am accepting commissions so please reach out if you’d like to discuss an idea!]
Once I finally finished my alphabet book, I allowed myself to start thinking about other art projects and creative goals…
Combining Art and Travel: My Summer Sabbatical
Because finishing the book didn’t make me want to stop creating. It made me want to do more. I have new ideas flowing constantly, and now I wish I could spend all my time making things (new life goal revealed!) — similar to the alphabet book in the sense that I'm very passionate about making things fueled by curiosity, learning, and sharing information, but not necessarily limited to any specific format or single audience.
I realized that while I have developed some skills, there are still big gaps in my technical knowledge — particularly in drawing — that I did not want to struggle through DIY learning. And that’s why I turned to formal learning environments. Plus, I like being a student, and classrooms provide good opportunities to be around other people & make new friends. Art classes are also everywhere, and I love traveling & being in different places.
So I decided to combine art & travel and find art classes I could take in places I wanted to go and subjects I wanted to study. That led my to my Creative Sabbatical Summer Break, during which I took 10 weeks off from work to do 6 weeks of art classes in Vermont, Scotland, and Chicago:
June 10 - 14: Graphic Memoir, Center for Cartoon Studies, Vermont
July 1 - 21: Glasgow School of Art, Scotland
Week 1: Introduction to Drawing & Painting
Week 2: Portfolio Prep
Week 3: Fiction and Picture Book Illustration
July 29 - August 9: School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Week 1: Exploring Monoprint
Week 2: Painting and Drawing
Why Lyon? How I Chose ESMA and France for Art School
I spent May of this year in Valencia, Spain, which I really enjoyed. It was a nice city environment and pace of life for me, and I decided I wanted to spend more time in the 2nd - 4th biggest cities where I could have a bit calmer & more affordable experience without sacrificing much in terms of available opportunities for food, cafes, transport, parks, museums, performing arts, etc.
(I’m also fortunate to have now visited almost every major city / destination worldwide, thanks to my lifestyle & commitment to traveling, so I can look beyond the main bucket list destinations for where I want to go or spend time.)
I’d visited Lyon back in 2017, and it left a good impression. And I knew I liked spending time in France, so I thought: why not combine art and travel in a place I already enjoy? So I started looking for art programs in Lyon, and that’s how I found ESMA.
The schedule was pretty tight from discovery to showing up — but I’ve learned that when the pieces just seem to fall together easily, it’s probably a good path to take. And this, paperwork headaches aside, just worked.
July 11: I sent the prep class link to myself via email
I submitted an inquiry on their site a couple weeks later
August 1: I mentioned the idea to my family as I submitted the actual application
August 6: Zoom interview on with Ana, one of the coordinators for international students; waitlisted for a spot
Ana reached out again in mid-August to let me know a spot opened up. I honestly felt a little on the fence about it — just because I'd mentally committed to being in Miami and Fort Worth for the year, focusing on family & friends and my health & fitness alongside some new creative / passion projects. But then my mom said, "Yeah, but now you know this is an option, and could you really be happy in Fort Worth this fall knowing you could be in France?" Touche maman! She knows me so well. So on August 19, I accepted a spot & paid my deposit.
A major factor in my decision to come was, of course, the fees, which at 6000 euro for a year of tuition is incredibly affordable to an American, though I will say there were a LOT of additional fees to various governmental entities, so my actual total is probably more like 7500 euro / $8200, plus travel and living expenses.
I want to give a shoutout to myself and Ana for (1) doing the paperwork slogs and (2) asking for help! I asked her for help, we both emailed various French govt entities to get help, I asked the visa employee for help, so many help requests! And really, we got help in some way every time, if you include a polite response (which I do).
So yall... you gotta ask. It's been one of the best lessons and practices of my life: learning to simply ask for help or the thing I want. Sure, I get rejected and ignored A LOT, but then I'm in the same position I'd be in without having asked, and SOMETIMES IT WORKS!
Moving to France
Thanks to Ana’s and my persistence down every channel we could find, I literally got my approved enrollment certificate via email from the Campus France entity 10 minutes **after** I left my visa appointment on August 27, so I turned around and went back to the office and excitedly waved down my staff member who updated my visa application file. PHEW. And on September 10, my mom was able to go to the visa office in Miami to pick up my passport! (Thanks, mom!)
Meanwhile, I did a bunch of other paperwork activities and prepared to get ready to move to France for a year. I told my work, which I had just returned to from my sabbatical, that I'd be starting full-time art school in... 3 weeks... and after a few conversations, we decided to shift me to part-time when I started school and see how it goes.
(Huge shoutout to COO Beth-Anne for ALWAYS having a first response of enthusiastic support for me and coming up with mutually beneficial solutions. Another shoutout to Alex, the CEO and cofounder (and how I got involved with the org) for also encouraging my creative pursuits & approving BA's plans to make things work.)
From August 28 to September 25, I hopped around the USA — Miami to Fort Worth to Massachusetts to Fort Worth to North Carolina to Miami, and then I flew to Paris on the evening of September 25, arriving to CDG on the morning of Thursday, September 26. I got my (big, heavy) bags and grabbed the convenient train from CDG airport down to Lyon (2.5 hours) and arrived at the room I'd booked on Airbnb for my first 2 nights.
On Friday, September 27, the school organized a tour of Lyon (led by a current student, who did a great job as a guide & knew interesting facts to share. Thanks, Ash!) and some welcome activities for all the new international students. After meeting Ana and other staff & students in person, and then ending up at the school building, I finally knew it was all real and really happening! (Phew.)
On Saturday, I moved to my Airbnb apartment that I've booked for 5 weeks while I start school and look for an apartment for the rest of the year. And on Monday, September 30, classes began! More details to come about my first week of school.
It's been a very busy week — I've been reacquainting myself with Lyon, started full time classes (for the first time since I graduated college 15 years ago!), taking care of administrative stuff, working, trying to settle into my apartment, and barely sleeping (thanks jet lag and eczema!).
It’s definitely a mix of struggle and fun, but overall, I am very happy.
I realized last night that I made it through the end of a month without hitting the depressive episode I've had around the 27-29th of each month for a while now, and even though it's been really tough to not sleep and try to do ALL THE THINGS all day long, it hasn't felt negative. And it’s to be expected that any major move would be exhausting.
So that’s where I’m at now — combining art, travel, and learning in one of my favorite cities. I can’t wait to dive deeper into the technical side of art and see where this path takes me. Thanks for following along and supporting me on this adventure!
Leave a comment (at the bottom of this page) with any questions and what you’re most curious to read about! :)