Why do Art Teachers HATE Anime and Fan Art?

Hiya, I’m Iiji, an art educator, and today I wanna talk about why Art Teachers are so anti-anime and anti-fan art based on my observations in the US Education System.

And before you get worried, "Art Teachers" in this circumstance, DOESN'T INCLUDE ME. I often say that my colleagues get under my skin more than my students do, and this is certainly one of those cases, but I can't go putting them on the thumbnail, now can I.

There are some subjective arguments about "Oh it teaches bad habits!" that I haven't included here because frankly, you can and will learn bad art habits from any style, not just anime. If you've had rough experiences with art teachers related to these subjects, you're welcome to share too.
______________________________________________

If you'd like to see more of my content:

______________________________________________

Credits:
Stock footage: Pixabay
Background Art and Vtuber Model: Me! (:

[SilverWatercress]

I’m so grateful that my seventh grade Art teacher stuck to the firm principle that if you
A. Followed school guidelines (no depictions of violence, drugs, etc.)
B. Truly put time, effort, and skill into whatever you did
You would do well in her class. She was one of the best teachers I’ve had, because the most important thing to her was that you were learning.

[bspiekerman]

I always say that your education doesn't begin or end when you're in class. If your teacher or professor doesn't want you to draw anime art or fanart for their class, then you should go home and draw anime art and fanart for yourself.

[supermarketone]

I was once told western Disney-like animation was better than anything anime could do in my high school animation course. My counter argument was basically: “yutaka nakamura exists”

[imapotato]

“What is a biblical painting if not fanart for the bible?” 👏👏👏🗣️🗣️🗣️ ‼️‼️‼️

[corrinflakes]

Did you know? Vincent van Gogh got really inspired by Japanese art OF HIS TIME to a weeb level. If I got inspired by Louvre-featured artist Hirohiko Araki, screw you, I’m the real high art appreciator.

[Meh_thefifth-nmzu]

Art is art. As long as it's not AI generated, it's not an issue.

[Kayta-Linda]

Art teachers can be the worst.
I remember one in particular… she was kind of insane.
First she told us to copy a photo (not even a painting, an actual *photograph!)* and then color it however we’re feeling right now. It was.. somewhat interesting? But then she legit went around class making suggestions as to which colors would be better!
The “best” part? I used nothing but basic pencil for it, just shading stuff because I really like black and white aesthetic. She came up to me and *demanded* that I use colored pencils, too. Naturally, I told her “You said to do it based on how we’re feeling.” Her response? “You CAN’T be feeling like this!”
It was both hurtful, because how dare you, but also kind of funny because.. how does one actually say something that stupid with a straight face?

[imjusthere]

From my high school classes, I was supeeeer scared to draw anime in College. A lot of my college peers drew it, but I thought I couldn't for whatever reason. One day though one of my teachers was really supportive. He actually listened to where I wanted to go in art, which was storytelling mediums, such as manga, webtoon, etc... Which you know, stylization makes a lot of sense in those mediums. He even let me borrow Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics. He was my favorite art teacher, and I always will remember him.

[Kiwi-Araga]

In the 9th grade, I had this very old and strict art teacher. Living-fossil years old I mean.
Somehow, he was the most okay with the anime style out of every other teacher I had which were much younger than him. The only thing he wasn't a fan was drawing characters with one eye covered by the hair.

[momsaccount]

FINALLY, SOMEONE WHO SPEAKS MY MIND! I feel like the Western sphere of art education is extremely narrow and full of pretentious old people who believe they know everything about art. It’s because of these types of people that I feel like art isn’t taken seriously outside of communities specifically surrounding art.

Unchecked bias is the root of ignorance and close-mindedness. To anybody who find this comment, please, always keep an open view of the world, and please stay humble about the art or craft you practice.

[sirwoeilim]

Im from Southeast Asia, im thankful that my art education is open to EVERY STYLE, anime included. Even when u draw cartoon western cartoon, they'll still accept it. Of course we still learn from historical artwork as a standard

[xSaraxMxNeffx]

the worst thing an 'anti anime' teacher ever did to me was manage to trigger my ahdh defiance. "Dont draw anime" huh? Fuckin try to stop me now loser i will tank my grade and take it as a point of pride!.... and as a result learn so many horrible bad habbits all because i was told 'anime bad!' instead of 'you should really focus on basics first'.

[DarkSpark]

I had a teacher in college ( looked exactly like the dark haired guy on the left in the middle at 1:47 ) who said that "Unless you're asian you should NEVER draw anime." And implied that anime looking anything will always get an F in his class.

We had only one Asian girl in our class who had an "anime" style and he properly graded and critiqued her work. Anyone else got a huge lecture about how bad they were.


Great vid as always! 🍄💕

[Szczurzyslawa]

My traditional printing professor in high school didn't forbid us from doing anything but he was very open about disliking anime, mostly because in his view it all looks too same-y. He really valued variety, and even if there are many anime artstyles, they're still simplified in rather similar ways especially for the prupose of animation. Similar feet and palms and the way the hair is drawn, that's what he was not down for; that was the only direct anti-anime at school I came across.

But art school and university killed my drive for art in general even when they weren't restrictive - it's the weight of being always under 100% scrutiny and nothing ever being good enough. Even when you get top grades, it's rare to come across kind words. Still somehow got my masters degree in mix of art/education/psychology after sitting in 6 years of art middle school and then going straight to masters degree and it keeps being weirdly useful to me, which is the biggest surprise of my life lmao. I still do art and earn money via it, but it became way more difficult vs my 15yo self who was drawing just for the joy of it 24/7.

[aldrech]

It’s really interesting that art from around the world is being written off.

The Great Wave from Japan is at least as iconic as Starry Night. Thought there would be more prevalence of works like that in Fine Arts.

[inali_illustrates]

I am a Japanese American artist, and I have always felt that anti-anime teachers had some racism behind them, of course as I am Japanese American, it is a personal matter for me, this made it harder going through the high school art system and will no doubt make it more difficult to go through art college (I start at KCAI in 6 days, wish me luck), thankfully the college I am going to seems to be an outlier as far as acceptance of Japanese art, they have a dedicated Asian studies minor that while I do think should be a bit more diverse, focuses a lot on Japanese art in its many forms, including anime, this place is also the only art school in the country that actually teaches Japanese, so I think I picked a pretty good option albeit the struggle will still be there

[lillyreilly]

The problem with schools is that
1. they not not teach us alot about how to pay bills and taxes
2. they do not teach alot about fair use, copyright law and public domain- in some art classes they teach you how to copy but even that can be not benefical to create own art and it does not teach anything about fair use i think

[hldo]

The eurocentrism, racism, classicism, is why I hate the academic art world and ended up not pursuing art, although that what everyone expected me to do. Especially how traditional and modern art world keeps gatekeeping non-western artists and their masterpieces from entering the global art platform. It gets my blood boiling

[Helpicantstopshinyhunting]

Tradionalists: how DARE you try to have an informed debate in an academic setting! You will NEVER be accepted into an art university!

Anime fans: ok well if youre not teaching what i want to improve on anyway then ill just go to artists online courses and streams where i'll learn techniques and tips that will lead me to improve. And its going to be cheaper than university education anyway.

Traditionalists: WAIT NO WE NEED YOUR TUITION FEES TO FUND OUR SUMMER TRIP TO

[devinsauls]

Traditional Art Teachers: No Anime Allowed! 😡
Anime & Fan Artwork: Don't Hate Me Cause I'm Beautiful! 😂
But on a serious note, I'm so glad my professor allowed me to draw in an art style that suits me