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Need Career Advice

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 12:55:05 No.2260312 View Reply Report Delete

Quoted By: >>2260330 >>2260331 >>2260456 >>2260457 >>2260600 >>2260934 >>2260953 >>2261164

Please help, this is really important to me. I'm a 24 year old dude who hasn't made a lot of progress in life. I'm still working on my high school diploma (online) and I want to finish that ASAP before anything else.

I only have a couple years of work experience with an aluminum installation company. I want to be an artist down the road, either freelance or working a corporate job, I don't care. Just to get good enough to earn a living.

My question is: Should I ONLY focus on Art besides my high school, or should I maybe learn programming to get a coding job, so I can have something while I'm progressing in my art (to get good enough to actually have a job)?

I have no idea what to do here. Focus only on Art, get good faster? Or focus on Art+Programming, which means it will take longer to get an Art job?

What would YOU do in my shoes? I just want my foot into the door of the art industry at some point in the near future.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 12:56:42 No.2260314 Report Delete

Quoted By:

If earning a living is one of your most important goals in life then you should avoid trying to become a professional artist.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 12:59:26 No.2260317 Report Delete

Quoted By:

Learn a trade and focus on art in your spare time. It sucks but it's a lot safer.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 13:00:11 No.2260318 Report Delete

Quoted By:

Why is that image always used as a career thread starter?

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 13:08:05 No.2260330 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>2260312
>I'm a 24 year old dude who hasn't made a lot of progress in life
Are you literally m-
>I'm still working on my high school diploma
Nevermind.

Also, /ic/ is a horrible place to ask this, you will get biased second-hand answers at best, or more likely, intentionally misinterpreted gossip from people who are not any more on the inside than you.

I'm personally doing art 90%, with some odd jobs and occasional art-related side jobs. I'd think broadening the scope of things you can apply your art skills to is better than doing two unrelated things, especially if you need to learn both first.

Good luck.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 13:08:39 No.2260331 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>2260334

>>2260312
>I'm a 24 year old dude

Stopped reading there. Another grown-ass kid, most likely white or middle class, crying about some personal drama. I just know that your life is another chapter in the pussyfication of today's generation.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 13:12:03 No.2260334 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>2260336

>>2260331

>>>/pol/

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 13:13:37 No.2260336 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>2260334
Draw yourself crying and post it here

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 13:22:19 No.2260345 Report Delete

Quoted By:

Look up the overlap technique episode
Seanwes.com/podcast

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 13:42:31 No.2260360 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>2260375 >>2260415

Hi, I hope I can help you make an informed decision on this, as someone who's done art as my sole source of income for a few years.

I would strongly recommend that you focus on creating a stable source of income and develop your art skills in your free time. It will take you 5-8 years of serious study and practice (6-8 hours/day) to get to the point where you're able to compete in this field. Ignore anyone on here who tells you can do it in 2-3 years; that's an /ic/ meme and they're delusional. It's going to take you the better part of a decade to get good enough to hope to make a sustainable income from art (even then it can be very tough), and if you don't have a "real job" during that time, you're going to have to depend on others to support you.

Computer science is a good field to get into. All my programmer friends have no trouble finding work afaik. If you have the option of pursuing that and doing art in your spare time with the intention of eventually moving into it as a prime source of income, that would be a wise course of action. You'll likely discover that it's actually much nicer to have a dependable 9-5 job that you can put 8 hours a day into and then be done, rather than have to deal with the stress and difficulty that comes of trying to support yourself as an artist.

tl;dr: do not make art your plan A.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 13:56:24 No.2260375 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>2260360
After trying (and succeeding, though only for a relatively short time) to make my living writing, I can only echo this 100%. I know, not the same discipline here, but the same sort of situation.

Do yourself a solid here, OP. Creative pursuits are awesome, but trying to make your living off them, even if you're good enough, can be very uncertain. Get a 9-5, then work on transitioning out of that. When you have no debt and enough money saved up to live for at LEAST a year, consider giving art a serious go. Obviously be good enough to get commissioned work before trying this. And always try to maintain your savings. You will get sick, or injured, or whatever. You don't want to live month to month at that point if you can only depend on your art.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 14:57:12 No.2260415 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>2260441

>>2260360
>Ignore anyone on here who tells you can do it in 2-3 years

3 years is doable. nonetheless it's not worth it. don't get into art op. get into cs/it/coding and live a happy life. draw/paint on weekends and during holidays, then maybe consider giving it a serious go when you are 50 or 60 or something. Making art a career priority right now is the equivalent of throwing your life away.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 15:45:25 No.2260441 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>2260501 >>2260591 >>2260788

>>2260415

There was a guy who went pro after 6 months, wasn't there?

He got burned out though, lol.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 15:54:53 No.2260456 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>2260312
>Just to get good enough to earn a living.
Define "a living". To a SEA it might be 400$ a month, to someone living in a USA metropolis 3000$.
>What would YOU do in my shoes?
You didn't give us enough information. How long can you go without a job? That is, do you have parents/savings/whatevers that can support you right now?
If you don't, well, you don't really have a choice. If you do you can try to at least postpone getting the soul-crushing 9-5 job.
Besides, if you already had a job, you don't need programming do you? I don't know shit about programming, but it will probably take years to become profitable in that trade too. And you would have to divide your time between the 9-5 job, studying programming AND art. Yeah no. Drop at least one of those things. People in this thread seem to assume that "studying programming" makes you instantly profitable or something. They are forgetting your 24 hours are reduced as follow
>24 -9 (job) -8 (sleep) -2 (eat) = 5.
That's 5 hours a day you have left. There's no way you're going to study art and programming while maintaining your sanity (let alone your social life if you had one).
Your 9-5 job is already your "plan A". I wouldn't make art a "plan C".

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 15:54:54 No.2260457 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>2260312
where is your art skill at?

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 16:19:19 No.2260476 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>2260478 >>2260595

ITT: People falling for the "lol lern 2 code" cash scheme entrepreneurs took advantage of back in 2013 during the obamacare website meltdown.

Lets take a brief look at this little marketing scandal that I'm talking about:

late 2012 -- teamtreehouse, a start-up to teach programming online, begins to ramp up marketing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BFjIoVBxT0
Feb 2013 - Code.org launches a viral video featuring notable multimillionares to tell young ones that "anyone can code"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKIu9yen5nc

It's gotten so viral that hundreds of these so called "programming schools" began to sprung up, and who got rich from the gold rush? The very people who opened these schools such as codeacademy
>and Codecademy continued the program into 2013.
>2013
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codecademy
hmmm I wonder why? Because all the entrepreneurs saw this gravy train and mules lapped it up.
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HealthCare.gov
After the meltdown, obama states this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XvmhE1J9PY
As we transitioned into 2014 the gravy train yearns for more pockets to eat from. It needs to market to women of course! Programming is NOT just for CIS white males! That's where all these coding "schools" for women come in. It's sooo empowering for women to code these days~
>https://www.girldevelopit.com
Ada Developers Academy
Hackbright Academy
Skillcrush
Codebar.io
Code First:Girls
CodeChix
Girl Develop It (GDI)
Ladies Learning Code
PyLadies
Rails Girls
RailsBridge
Women’s Coding Collective (WCC)
App Camp For Girls
Black Girls Code
Girls Learning Code
Girls Who Code (GWC)
TechGirlz
to name few

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 16:22:34 No.2260478 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>2260504

>>2260476
Therefore I advise you to be warry of people glorifying STEM and programming. Drawing can just be just as profitable. Just look at
>sakiMAchan
Don't fall for the lies these entrepreneurs throw at you. They are sleezy, crafty, and know how to market.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 16:59:34 No.2260501 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>2260441

6 months, no way

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 17:06:48 No.2260504 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>2260557 >>2260591

>>2260478
>Drawing can just be just as profitable, just look at [exceptional example].

Shoving things up your ass can be just as profitable if you're lucky. If we're talking averages, drawing isn't, especially if you factor in the people who couldn't get a job in the field at all.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 17:58:32 No.2260557 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>2260504
With a mindset like that you deserve to follow the herd who told you to do X and you will receive Y.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 18:28:36 No.2260591 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>2260441
6 mo isn't enough to do shit. Even if by some chance you could support yourself after six months of learning the jobs would be so shit you'd have to take on a billion of them to make money. It wouldn't be possible. For most people It'd take 2 - 4 years to get entry level work good enough to start getting jobs and probably another 5 years after that to establish yourself to be getting steady work.

>>2260504
You're a moron, you don't average how much people make by adding in everyone who doesn't do that job. Few people actually work hard enough to attain the skill level needed to make money at it, that's why they fail not because the jobs are low paying. Artists may make less per hour based on the skill level of the job but there are thousands of working pros out there that make a decent living. You're just talking out of your ass because you're one of the losers who doesn't have the will power to make it.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 18:36:34 No.2260595 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>2260476
codecademy is a sham? i dropped that after a couple months and eventually moved to udacity

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 18:40:19 No.2260600 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>2260641 >>2260764

>>2260312
As a fellow 25 yo anon who is enrolling next year, i would say:

>job+art on the side
>college+art on the side

Don't go to an art school/college, unless it's world renowned. Try a degree that involves art but don't have art as core.

Design, architecture, engineering (civil, mechanical, etc), web design, fashion, a lot of careers have art/drawing in it, it may not be the type of art you really want to do but it will give a back up in case your art career doesn't launch.

We are kinda old, most people of our age left college already, so they got the chance to try/fail/succeed and change their arts degree for something more functional if art was not for them.
We don't have this option, if you put all your money into art now and for some reason fail without a back up plan you'll be almost 30, having to pay for another degree or having to scale the corporate ladder from the bottom against 20-25 year old people fresh out of college, you don't want that, believe me.

Another option is getting a job and try to get experience/learning a craft aiming for something you can make a career out it a.k.a. jobs where you can be promoted or get experience to apply for better things.

It'll be soul crushing but just do it, we might make it someday.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 19:42:38 No.2260641 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>2260661

>>2260600

Here's the problem. If I go to college, whether it's art or anything else, it's 4 years where I am NOT gaining good experience in art, and certainly 4years where I don't have a chance to get an art job.

We all know the actual degree for art doesn't matter very much. But what if I go into programming? That's 3-5 years of not doing anything art-related. My experience in programming will have 0 relevance when I apply for an art job.

What can I say? I did work and didn't sit on my ass drawing for the last few years? Will that really matter to an employer?

I live with my parents. They support me, they don't mind. I have money. If I could just sit at home and apply myself artistically for 3-4 years until I was good enough, I would prefer that over anything else.

For me programming isn't about getting money. It isn't about the resume because it's irrelevant when it comes to art.

For me, it's because I am CLUELESS. What if they ask me during an art job interview: "Why haven't you had a real job the last few years?" What do I even say to that?

"Why are you 28(at that point not now) and have so little general job experience?" That's a red flag, right?

Fuck this is so complicated it's really bullshit.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 19:59:42 No.2260658 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>2260934

I had a Maths degree and have been doing programming for several years. I can't get a job in it. I had to take a job in pension admin.

Programming is the biggest scam ever. There is only jobs for senior people.

Also, the hours are really fucking bad. I had a job as sysadmin for a year and my boss would phone me up at 7:30pm every other day on Christmas and get me to do half an hour of work.

I'm now studying to do 3d character art in my spare time. Programming is the worst thing ever OP.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 20:01:04 No.2260661 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>2260675 >>2260680

>>2260641

But the degree DOES matter. The degree is what keeps you from working at Starbucks or McDonalds when work is slow and you need to pick something up on the side when no one is replying to your e-mails or calling you back about your interview. That degree, while does not affect your ability to do art, is what separates you from the people who didn't show that they could commit to getting a degree.

Actually, programming is the same as art, you need to put in a lot of time to get the same output you would from art. If you're experienced in programming, good, go take a few classes and you could land a $30 an hour position relatively easy.

You need to just get a job in the meantime. If you live with your parents and have the freedom do to art, you also have the responsibility to hold a job while not in school. If you're playing league of legends or WoW, just reduce your time on both. You need to start working on your art now if you want to be anywhere within the next few years. Post your work so we can see where you are. There aren't a lot of people posting here have any idea in what they're talking about, but a few do.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 20:16:42 No.2260675 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>2260679

>>2260661

I can ask my dad right now and he'll have a $60k/year job lined up at his aluminum company tomorrow for me.

Dude, money doesn't matter to me. I don't have a family. I don't own an apartment. I don't give a fuck about any of that.

I am a worthless 24 year old and I want to make a career out of doing the 1 thing that I love: drawing.

I wanted help on how to get to that point in the most effective way possible. If I need to get a job because I would otherwise look bad during an interview, I definitely will. No problem.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 20:20:05 No.2260679 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>2260685

>>2260675

Then stop playing video games all day and get the fuck off of IC.

Go. Fucking. Draw.

It's easy to get into this industry, it's nearly impossible to keep your job if you're a fuckup.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 20:20:16 No.2260680 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>2260682

>>2260661
>If you live with your parents and have the freedom do to art, you also have the responsibility to hold a job while not in school.
Typical American idiocy. Why would you waste your time (a lot of it) on a fucking job (probably dead end too) when your parents actually want to support you? I swear this is on the same level as "you need to live by yourself (so that you can waste double the money)" bullshit.
If they really want to support you, dedicate yourself fully to art so that you can be independent (and stop leeching off them) sooner.
People telling you you "must" have a job to pay them back immediately are probably envious of your situation/parents because they were left on the street starving by your typical American family, so they think everybody else must suffer a similar fate.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 20:22:19 No.2260682 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>2260680

OP said he wants a job? lol

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 20:23:24 No.2260685 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>2260688 >>2261152

>>2260679

I definitely will. I will work hard on my art and improve as much as I can. I honestly don't know HOW to break into the industry though.

Do I apply to a graphic design job if I think I can get it? Does a graphic design job help me in getting a concept art/illustration job at a game studio? Does it help in a TV storyboard artist job?

I just want that little added security in the back of my head as I pound away at the paper so I can know that I am heading in the right direction.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 20:24:10 No.2260688 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>2260689

>>2260685
Post your work.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 20:25:11 No.2260689 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>2260724

>>2260688

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 21:16:24 No.2260724 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>2260689

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 22:10:48 No.2260764 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>2261011

>>2260600
Why people often says that studying mechanical engineering will help you as an artist. I know couple of this people who know drawing planes, know use autocad, inventor, all the CAD shit you wish and they have ZERO artistic skills (they cant draw for shit, even using reference)
Why? it's simple, all the renderings, perspective, basic forms are done by the software not by the engineer.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 22:51:04 No.2260788 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>2260441
Are you talking about Sinix? As far as I know he got good enough to get contacted for a job in less than or about a year's time because he was so intensely obsessive about getting good. But doing art professionally sapped any fun or passion out of it for him, so he ducked out and kept it as a main hobby.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 25 Oct 2015 03:54:10 No.2260934 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>2260658
Let me get this straight, you have a math degree and work as a sysadmin, but have you ever programmed as a job? sysadmin is not programming. You sound like you don't like programming, so what made you decide to program? Programming is engineering, not system administration.

Programming is probably one of the few lucrative skills that requires just a bachelors degree.

>>2260312
I won't tell you to get a programming degree. But I will tell you to not get one if you're not the least interested in programming. It will be difficult and you will have to work hard.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 25 Oct 2015 04:55:31 No.2260953 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>2260312
I think something that a lot of people seem to overlook when considering art as a career path is creativity. You can be an incredible artist in a technical sense but if you lack imagination then that's really going to hinder you. Most of the art jobs these days revolve around character design, concept art, environment design etc which all require you to be the initial visually creative force in whatever it is (game, movie, what have you).

In most of these enviroments you'll be expect to have you own novel ideas ON TOP of your technical drawing skills. I really think people should keep that in mind.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 25 Oct 2015 07:55:46 No.2261011 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>2260764
>job security
>branching out, you can easily get a job doing cad stuff or even use your experience with it + art you grinded while getting the degree to do 3D models/presentations

You won't get art skills while doing the degree but some skills you learned will put you far ahead when applying to some art related jobs as long you grinded the art on the side.

Yeah, you won't be drawing waifus any time soon but you will gain functional skills.
That's the point, if you just go to mech engineering and expect the art skills to appears out nowhere of course you won't develop any artistic skill.

It's college+grinding art on the side.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 25 Oct 2015 12:03:36 No.2261152 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>2261169

>>2260685
If you really want to get into the industry you won't care about HOW to get in and then just fucking get good.

https://medium.com/@noahbradley/how-i-became-an-artist-4390c6b6656c#.owutvxjgt

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 25 Oct 2015 12:16:35 No.2261164 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>2260312
Post your work.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 25 Oct 2015 12:26:40 No.2261169 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>2261152
Have to agree with this.

There is something to be said about being responsible and having a backup plan but if OP is already hedging his bets about making it he probably doesn't have the will power or drive to actually make it. You might as well scrap ever doing art as a job and just do it as a hobby and get another 9 to 5.

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