This document provides advice for new students attending the Tyler School of Art. It encourages students to take advantage of the school's facilities and opportunities, make friends, get enough sleep, participate in critiques, and experiment with different artistic approaches. The document emphasizes working hard but also maintaining a healthy work-life balance and well-being during this educational experience.

1. Aka The Best Thing that Has Ever Happened to You
By none other than Dan Sipzner, Danielle Hyde, Christian Conrad and Katie Larsen

2.  Find the hidden stairways.
 You’re allowed to try out the freight elevators
if you have large pieces of art
 Embrace all stairs as free exercise equipment
 Use your bicycle!
 There are ways to get around those heavy
portfolios - be innovative!

3.  Be proud of yourself! You’re in Tyler!
 Tyler is an awesome place to be.
 There is great work to do, there are great
friends to make, and there are great facilities.
 Take full advantage of this opportunity you
have been given (and you’ve earned it, too!)
 Be confident but also be ready to learn!

4.  You’re going to love it!
 You will learn a lot about art, and life (and it
will be fun)
 You’ll do things you’d never make yourself do,
and it makes you a stronger and better artist
 There are plenty of people with whom to
commiserate (if you need to commiserate)

5.  Make work that satisfies YOU
 Never settle for less than your best.
 Class is not a competition.
 You don’t have the pressure to be the best
anymore – because you are surrounded by people
who are your EQUALS.
 Treat them as equals and learn from them

6.  Sleeping is important.
 AND it is possible. (Especially with time
management)
 Put your body first.
 And your mental health. If you’re about to break
down, GO TO SLEEP.
 The less you sleep, the less creativity you will
have.
 I don’t care what your parents think, grades are
not as important as your well-being.

7.  Don’t make your year a competition for who
can suffer the most and get the least amount
of sleep – it’s a bad idea.
 You can make good work and still sleep.
 Don’t feel bad if you actually got eight hours
and everyone else is masochistically enjoying
complaining about their all-nighters and
extreme fatigue – be proud.

8.  Embrace critiques: PARTICIPATE!
 Be open to new ideas.
 Think before you criticize
 Critique the art, NOT THE ARTIST!
 Don’t take criticism personally
 Don’t be late.

9. Try the food trucks!
Remember to eat. It’s good for you, and it’s
really okay to abandon work for an hour.
You can really benefit from dinnertime
conversations with friends!
Bring snacks to Tyler to eat between classes.

10.  PLAN!
 First semester is the time where you figure
out what schedule works best for you
regardless of what other people are doing.
 Don’t be afraid to experiment with different
ways to get your work done.
 Don’t be upset if you fail – you just learned
more about yourself.

11.  Work all the time.
 If you think you have free time, think about
what you have to do, and work on it.
 You will succeed
 When people ask what you do for fun, you
should pause and say “ummm…well all I do is
art and sleeping”
 When you work consistently, and start early,
you will avoid most stressful situations.

21.  Have an open mind, you’re at a great school
and you’re going to learn a lot
 Experiment, experiment, experiment…and
experiment
 Remember that art is fun!