Luke Surl Comics
The latest from LukeSurl.com
@lukesurl on Twitter
- Yes, I am God's gift to women. And no, God did not keep the receipt.2012/06/26
- Trying to find a wife, but every wife I find turns out to be already married. What gives?2012/06/25
- Time for a heady night of sex, drugs, and rock & roll [editing the Wikipedia articles thereof]2012/06/25
- I've been working like a slave! (I've done nothing since abolition in 1833)2012/06/25
- .@joelist Let your dreams take wing. The BBQ sauce on them is delicious.2012/06/25
Hahaha, oh my… Your strips are so consistantly excellent! And this one in particular got me laughing my patooty off. I am an art student, and I relate… I’m really glad to have found a really good online strip!
Noooooot quite.
I went from Pre-Med to Fine Arts, both at reputable institutions with well-valued programs, and am doing probably around five times as much work now.
Oddly enough, the work load at most art schools would absolutely slaughter most science students.
Yes, exactly! Those damn engineers never believe me!
Finally, people who understand. So.. much.. work.
agreed. most art students are up all night slaving over their artwork and trying to meet ridiculous deadlines. Although the comic is great and hits the stereotype and the common fear of an artist right on the head. good job.
Oh dear, you all parse that as a typo for “art student” don’t you? Luke - do you have a higher resolution copy that I could, uh, get enlarged and post to a few friends please…?
Oops, sorry, that was me
I think he meant “General Arts”, not art.
I am so tired of this ugly stereotype being shat out by people (creative people nonetheless, what the hell?)
Please stop perpetuating this crap. Most “productive members of society” are giant meme-headed peons head-slaved to the almighty dollar and the ever important american idol finals. Art is not some slacker alternative in academia, and there are piles of money to be made while doing requiring more than just the left half of one’s brain.
Sorry to be harsh, but America has a big thumb up it’s ass when it comes to the Arts, and media like this is part of the reason why.
@josev:
You’re right, art isn’t a slacker alternative. The workload for a college student in a deeply creative discipline — studio art, photography, dance, creative writing, and so forth — is quite shocking to those who assume science and engineering students are doing all the work. The art student-as-slacker stereotype is overused and out of place.
It’s a pity, then, that you left your rant on this comic, which isn’t perpetuating that stereotype. “Arts student,” nowadays, means a student of the “liberal arts.” For example, an English degree. Now, while there are certainly English majors who are hard at work, improving their writing and research skills to eventually be professors, journalists, writers, editors, or whatever they want to be. On the other hand, there are also students who are English majors because it’s possible to coast through, earning decent grades with minimal effort, spending more of their matriculation drunk than reading.
And while they do that, they laugh at the science majors who are hard at work on Saturday afternoons during college. The science majors who end up employed, while the slacker English majors will do literary analysis for food.
This is gold. I can say though anyone that thinks arts students have higher workloads than science students are probably arts students.
It’s also wrong to assume that science is all-or even primarily-a left-brained activity. Science at its core is the most creative, most imaginative, most intuitive and empathetic discipline. Certainly most people cannot see that, because they’re taught that mathematics (the foundation of the sciences) is simply rote memorization of algorithms and seemingly-meaningless associations of numbers.
But in order to be a successful mathematician (or physicist, engineer, biologist, chemist, software designer, etc), you have to see what things LOOK LIKE. You must picture them in your head, imagine relationships between them, and understand these oft-obscure and deeply technical relationships. To really succeed in the sciences one must be a master of communication as well, with a great facility for language and the ability to draw (with words if not with fingers) pretty pictures of what you’re working on. One must know metaphor and simile, one must see beauty and feel awe, and above all, one must enjoy engaging their minds in deep effort.
All of these methods are stereotypically provinces of the artist, but, really, they’re the baseline of what one requires to succeed in any endeavor. It just so happens there are a metric fuckton of well-paying jobs in the sciences, while there are a very few gigantically well-paying jobs in the arts. By the odds, scientists make out better than artists because the art which scientists produce has paying customers. If you want to use money as a metric of cultural value, then science is more “valuable” than non-scientific art. You are of course free to measure relative value on any criterion you choose, though in my opinion almost all science beats almost all art for measures such as beauty, depth, awe-inspiration, perspective, insight, and accomplishment. Opinions of course vary, mostly with familiarity (or lack thereof), or simple fear of the subject(s). C’est la vie, and all that.
It’s always been (and always will be) true that the vast majority of people are mindless slaves to their emotions. Pointing out that there exist scientists who care only for social norms and power-games serves no better purpose than the contrapositive, and detracts from any meaningful discussion on the topic.
Brilliant comic, either way.
If the wonderful productive person here had the ability to appreciate som good literature, instead of dorky fantasy books, the guy who is into literature could earn some good money too. His production does not use up any precious natural resources. The productive guy is probably into producing unnecessary shit that only depletes the earth (like the most of us).
Ah Mike, I personally feel that literature originated on paper, which of course does deplete the world’s natural resources. But now, it is on computers etc, which ofc, are only available to the literature composers due to advancements in the Science sector. Science drives our world, arts are there for petty entertainment during the intermission.
so Luke, now that you’re ‘after graduation’, do you find yourself being ‘a produtive member of society’? :p
This is such a lovely argument and I’ve enjoyed reading these responses to your nicely-done toon! (I love that cartoons can stir such conversation!) Bravo, Luke!
I was visiting Paris last summer… and it is amazing the value they place on the arts. There is a reason that many fall in love with Paris; I believe it is partly because the Parisians beautify their city with sculpture, with museums, with a particular attention to artistic details. They have perfected the “art of living.”
I don’t begrudge the sciences at all… they are necessary and important. But it is a shame that in this country, we don’t place the same value on art as we do business or science. Life is a balance, and if your scale tips too far on professions that only inspire certain things such as the procurement of money, your society is left with a void.
LOL.
I suppose we just have to wait for those who currently disagree.
oh yeah, we art students have it easy. i mean really, all i have to do this week is write two research papers, make three collages, fill two sketchbooks, finish a wood sculpture, rework five drawings, study for an art history exam, and make prints of all of my work from the past year to present to a review committee. that’s nothing, right?
I know right?So easy : /
It is hilarious how many people are so excited ranting about their persecution they fail to perceive the comic isn’t even about art.
Even funnier are those railing against being stereotyped while happily perpetuating another stereotype, that people who major in the sciences are unimaginative, materialistic, mindless, uncultured, avaricious drones.
The sciences allow us to live longer, healthier lives. Art makes living our lives worth it.