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vga256
@vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net
indigenous canadian, recovering academic → writer, gamedev & interactive toolsmith with a penchant for modems, the 4o3 bbs scene, 1-bit art, classic macs, and 80s/90s gaming. curator of internet, canadian & gaming historical obscura. → mages & modems: growing up in the golden age of personal computers, games & internet piracy → kiki: a tiny homepage construction kit → exigy: a VB & Hypercard-like shareware game creation kit https:// exigy.org (profile: a 6¢ canada red fox stamp)
mastodon.tomodori.net
vga256
@vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net
indigenous canadian, recovering academic → writer, gamedev & interactive toolsmith with a penchant for modems, the 4o3 bbs scene, 1-bit art, classic macs, and 80s/90s gaming. curator of internet, canadian & gaming historical obscura. → mages & modems: growing up in the golden age of personal computers, games & internet piracy → kiki: a tiny homepage construction kit → exigy: a VB & Hypercard-like shareware game creation kit https:// exigy.org (profile: a 6¢ canada red fox stamp)
mastodon.tomodori.net
@vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net
·
Feb 10, 2026
@jsstaedtler@mastodon.art three years ago i decided that i wanted to be an interactive media artist, I began putting together a portfolio for applying to an art school (macewan university in #yeg). they had a one page doc that explained what a portfolio was, what to include, and what *not* to include
at the top of the don’t-include list was “manga and/or anime illustrations”. Not Real Art rang out loud and clear. i immediately understood what the culture was like in that fine art department. people with absolutely no understanding of contemporary art culture, and still stuck in the same boring ideas that they were trained on 30 years ago. i have absolutely no ability to draw/paint manga, but even with my limited understanding of the medium there is no doubt much of it is art.
right then and there i realized fine art school had nothing to teach me that i couldn’t learn on my own. i abandoned that career path and invested all that time (and 1/100th of the money) into developing my artistic craft, with my own sense for aesthetic quality and pride of craftsmanship
we all know when we’ve done shitty work, and when we’ve done good work. no one outside of your discipline gets to decide if it has artistic merit. only people you respect within your artistic medium get to have any say at all.
a lot of words to say: thanks MacEwan fine art dept - your absolute hatred of manga was exactly the kick in the ass i needed to become an artist!
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