View in Journal View..Or it won't make any sense OTL

I've been looking through the deviations on the self taught artist group page lately, and I've realized that there are a ton of self taught artists that deserve more attention than they get. Not to take anything away from people who went to art school or anything like that, I was just looking at the self taught group is all. So, I decided to grab a few things that caught my attention in feature them here for you guys.

But before I do that, I want to rant. I tried putting this blog together much earlier today and deviantArt kicked me out of my own account, and then refused to let me back in no matter how many times I changed my password. Luckily, I was still logged in with internet explorer somehow, so I'm making the blog with that. Nevertheless, I'm still sour about what deviantArt did.

My Commisions

I'll give the American price as well as English since a ton of people here use american currency.
Chibi with simple background - £3 / $5
Anime style character and background - £5 / $8
Weird and Wonderful Super detailed style with ink - £9 / $15

Enough of that, let's get to the art!!

 CarlfolmerART

                                             
   I'm such a sucker for fantasy! So, with this one, the idea is quite simple; a witch sat in her forest reading from what I assume is a tome. It's not so much the idea but how it's done that's great. The expression on her face is down right maniacal, and the way the image is framed so as to imply that we're peeping in on her is a brilliant idea! *Aplauds*.

michael160493

 The pencil line quality here is just flawless. And the pose! I only wish it was finished because the other stuff in the background looks so much fun! There are others from this guy that deserve more attention too, you should head over there and see!

darklogik
  I've been playing Ocarina of Time 3D recently which is why I think this one stuck out. I think the textures are great, but more than anything else, the lighting. The different colours of lighting in different sections makes this feel so real. Theres the warm light coming from outside and brushing his face, and that cold light coming from the fairy.

This guy actually has a tomb raider piece which I love even more than this one. But I'm having such a fight with HTML today that I'm not even going to try and get it instead. Just go over to the channel and take a look!

 kmitzel1


 Posting this one for uniqueness! It's like the fish are made of crystal. The seahorse is my favourite part. I actually hate fish that aren't moving (like the dead fish at a fish mongers) and this kinda reminds me of those. They creep me out OTL.. Still, great pencil work and a really unique idea.

annakoutsidou
 Caaan you feel the looovee tonight!!! For this one I really can! The emotion just rushes out of it. The pose is so natural, especially the female figure. I have a lot of respect for any attempt to do something like this with just pencil shading. Yeah it's still making me feel all heart shaped. Let's all just aww for one second..awwww.

fuacka
 Teenage mutant ninja turtles, Teenage mutant ninja turtles, Teenage mutant ninja turles, heroes in a half shell, turtle power!! I actually know the entire theme but I won't sing it here XD. Anyway I think the contrast is really strong and the colours work so well together. I wanted to make this one big so everyone could see the details, but it went all blury for some reason, and I don't have the strength left to fight with this blasted computer!! Again there were so many pieces I liked here, but I went with the turtles so I could sing the theme tune.

 celloismistic
 I never give enough credit to pieces like this. These kind of photomanips are always great inspirations for my fantasy work, and I don't think this one will be any different. It's an alice in wonderland inspired piece, and that really does come across. That sense of awe that I think is so special in fantasy work is definately in this! I think I'll give her a watch actually, when I've finished this blog

 ductilecreations
 I had to finish with these Voltorb and Electrode. Are they cool or what!!

I bet any of these guys would really appreciate if you took the time to check out their work. They really are making some amazing art.

So, now you guys have seen what the self taught artist group has to offer, I'm just wondering what everyone's opinions are on self teaching? I mean, there's some really great self taught work here. But there are obviously some awesome artists that went to art school around. I'm self taught myself, and I often wonder if I should have gone to art school.

Does art school make a tremendous difference? Do you think it can offer anything to an artist that self teaching can't???

Let me know!

-Scarlet