College, Work, The Future, and Everything Else

• BizarreJuju wrote on 2013-05-29 02:18
  If you want to become a better artist, make your own game, and all the "I want to do" I've heard from students; It never hurts to do them on your own time. But all this won't happen if you keep hiding in a box and not committing yourself to reach your goal. People tend to call themselves an artist, but not do anything. For your case, you cant afford attending college nor willing to take a different path to teach yourself. People with a BA and BFA will have more advantage in their resume over people with nothing, however when it comes to art, portfolio will become the strongest tool in a resume.
  
  Just a heads up, a good art/design company wouldn't want to look at a "fresh out of college" class works, they want to see works that the student have done on his/her own time. Also show they've spent over 2 years doing it. I've meet students that learn and do things on their own, out side of class work. They show a better aggression and passion than those who sit in class and only have old class projects to show.
  
  Then again you hide yourself, you hide your works, you call yourself a failure. You are not going to convince anyone outside this forum. You don't look like you are in a habit of drawing nor put over 500 hours drawing. When people mention those "pro-artists" who didn't need to go to school, they pushed themselves and had the ambition to reach their goal. They present themselves in public and have their own gig.
  
  There is nothing wrong with failure. Every professional have made few mistakes and failure to reach where they are now. People push themselves, may make mistakes, and learn from their experience. If you continue living in that comfortable box, the whole "I want to become a artist/game designer" is only a mere dream.
• Chillax wrote on 2013-05-29 02:28
  What about getting into programming? If you can learn enough about it, you can try finding a position at a video game company or something along those lines. Once you're in, if a spot opens up for an art position for the company, you can try applying for it. The familiarity the company would have with you could be a plus if you were social with the people in the company and a hard worker. If that doesn't work out, you still have a programming background and should not have a problem finding a job elsewhere if you want.
• BobYoMeowMeow wrote on 2013-05-29 02:29

  Quote from Jedo;1097002:

  You don't think I know that? I said in hopes. I know that by doing that it might not work and be extremely hard but I thought it would be worth trying. It is worth the shot! :D

  
  
  there's too many good amateur artists to even try this
  Anyways, what Juju said, the professional artists have been drawing well for a long, long time.
  They've been accumulating experience and works.
• otto wrote on 2013-05-29 02:32
  ...
  If you can scare yourself out of wanting to do something then either you dont want it as badly as you think you do, or your drive to do it isn't high enough-- and it might not ever be. Don't focus on something if all you're gonna do is think negatively about it. You want to do art? Game design?
  That's great, but those are extremely long term goals that wont be reached in a year or two of classes. You've got to plan accordingly to avoid screwing things up, yes, but also take the steps to make it happen. Take some time to make sure this is definitely what you want to do, and go for it. (but have a back up plan as well)
  
  Everyone is afraid of failure, but the thing about failing is.... it's not the end of the world. You fuck up? Okay, fix your mistake and move on. You dont get into that bitchin' art school and your portfolio is shit? Work harder and try again until you do.
  
  Success is overrated. It doesnt have to mean having a fancy job and a fat paycheck, it can be whatever you want. Dont kill yourself overthinking about the future. Take it a bit at a time
• Enoshima Smoothie wrote on 2013-05-29 02:37

  Quote from BizarreJuju;1097020:

  If you want to become a better artist, make your own game, and all the "I want to do" I've heard from students; It never hurts to do them on your own time. But all this won't happen if you keep hiding in a box and not committing yourself to reach your goal. People tend to call themselves an artist, but not do anything. For your case, you cant afford attending college nor willing to take a different path to teach yourself. People with a BA and BFA will have more advantage in their resume over people with nothing, however when it comes to art, portfolio will become the strongest tool in a resume.

  
  I never said I'm not willing to take another path to teach myself. I'm just unsure of what those paths are. I watch the online classes that professors post online, I read up and study subjects of interest on my own, I draw from life and then draw for fun as well. But doing all of these things myself is worthless if I don't have a degree to back it up. I'm nothing special in this big world of art so I can't expect to get anywhere without some kind of fancy piece of paper, even with a bangin' portfolio.
  
  

  Just a heads up, a good art/design company wouldn't want to look at a "fresh out of college" class works, they want to see works that the student have done on his/her own time. Also show they've spent over 2 years doing it. I've meet students that learn and do things on their own, out side of class work. They show a better aggression and passion than those who sit in class and only have old class projects to show.

  
  I know this as well because it's common sense. A student who shows drive and ambition outside of their schoolwork seems better than someone who just did the assignments only.
  
  

  Then again you hide yourself, you hide your works, you call yourself a failure. You are not going to convince anyone outside this forum. You don't look like you are in a habit of drawing nor put over 500 hours drawing. When people mention those "pro-artists" who didn't need to go to school, they pushed themselves and had the ambition to reach their goal. They present themselves in public and have their own gig.

  
  I totally own up to the fact that I'm a self-loathing asshole, but I'm slowly trying to work on hiding that and improving myself. And I don't know how you know how much time I put into drawing. Even though I have a job I'm drawing on my breaks, during my shift, after my shift, and pretty much in all of my downtime aside from when I piss around for a bit studying something else or playing a game. I really don't see myself getting picked up without some kind of formal instruction under my belt, so I'm not relying on that.
  
  

  There is nothing wrong with failure. Every professional have made few mistakes and failure to reach where they are now. People push themselves, may make mistakes, and learn from their experience. If you continue living in that comfortable box, the whole "I want to become a artist/game designer" is only a mere dream.

  
  You're pretty much just restating what I said I want to do. I even said I'm not comfortable in my box? I'm just being held back by my lack of finances and my own self-loathing. I don't want this life anymore, I want to improve myself, I'm just falling apart as I sit around in limbo.
  
  

  Quote from Chillax;1097023:

  What about getting into programming? If you can learn enough about it, you can try finding a position at a video game company or something along those lines. Once you're in, if a spot opens up for an art position for the company, you can try applying for it. The familiarity the company would have with you could be a plus if you were social with the people in the company and a hard worker. If that doesn't work out, you still have a programming background and should not have a problem finding a job elsewhere if you want.

  
  Maybe I should branch out into other things as a backup, I just don't want my backup to become my priority. Which is where I fucked up in high school by going to a tech school instead of an art school.
  
  

  Quote from otto;1097027:

  ...
  If you can scare yourself out of wanting to do something then either you dont want it as badly as you think you do, or your drive to do it isn't high enough-- and it might not ever be. Don't focus on something if all you're gonna do is think negatively about it. You want to do art? Game design?
  That's great, but those are extremely long term goals that wont be reached in a year or two of classes. You've got to plan accordingly to avoid screwing things up, yes, but also take the steps to make it happen. Take some time to make sure this is definitely what you want to do, and go for it. (but have a back up plan as well)
  
  Everyone is afraid of failure, but the thing about failing is.... it's not the end of the world. You fuck up? Okay, fix your mistake and move on. You dont get into that bitchin' art school and your portfolio is shit? Work harder and try again until you do.
  
  Success is overrated. It doesnt have to mean having a fancy job and a fat paycheck, it can be whatever you want. Dont kill yourself overthinking about the future. Take it a bit at a time

  
  
  The only thing scaring me out of it is the financial aspect, to be honest. I've found out about ways to reduce my tuition (they have exams you can take in place of courses like english/math/etc) I'm just afraid of not being able to pay the bill and then my family coming in and laughing at my failure and telling me they told me so and basking in my failure for not following their damn dreams for me.
  
  I'm the only child in this damn family, I've never been allowed to fail. Failure is death. That's why I'm so fucking scared.
  
  I don't want to be successful, I just want to be happy...
  
  ==
  
  I really thank you all for the comments of all sorts. It's really opened my eyes and I'm going to start sending my applications out as soon as they open and continue improving myself so I can make myself proud and keep my family appeased.
• BobYoMeowMeow wrote on 2013-05-29 07:31
  As long as you do something and have a direction by the time you're 20, you still have a chance at a decent living.
• Drizzit wrote on 2013-05-29 10:05

  Quote from BobYoMeowMeow;1097170:

  As long as you do something and have a direction by the time you're 20, you still have a chance at a decent living.

  
  
  Wow, way to put a time-limit on things.
• Aubog007 wrote on 2013-05-29 11:47

  Quote from BobYoMeowMeow;1097170:

  As long as you do something and have a direction by the time you're 20, you still have a chance at a decent living.

  
  
  I didn't even do anything until i was 24, and even then i was shoehorned into a job.
  
  I am making 25k a year at base pay. Possibilities of 70-80k base pay.
  
  No school, no prior job experience, nothing.
  
  This is why i dislike life's emphasis on schooling because you don't NEED it like some people preach it.
  Long indepth reasons why i never completed college, none of them for selfish, lazy reasons either.
• Bride wrote on 2013-05-29 12:15

  Quote from otto;1097027:

  ...
  Everyone is afraid of failure, but the thing about failing is.... it's not the end of the world. You fuck up? Okay, fix your mistake and move on.

  
  
  that's how I initially felt, now I'm a wonderful $50k in debt at age 21, waiting to go back to my home country and am pursuing something totally different than what I just quit =^_^=
• Lewd wrote on 2013-05-29 12:33

  Quote from BobYoMeowMeow;1097170:

  As long as you do something and have a direction by the time you're 20, you still have a chance at a decent living.

  
  
  How would you know, you're a cat. Cats don't even live that long.
• Enoshima Smoothie wrote on 2013-05-29 13:04

  Quote from Bride;1097265:

  that's how I initially felt, now I'm a wonderful $50k in debt at age 21, waiting to go back to my home country and am pursuing something totally different than what I just quit =^_^=

  
  Shit man, that's harsh...I never understood why college (in the USA, I haven't looked into other countries) is so expensive? Sometimes with all the pushing they do to make us go to college despite how expensive it is...it kinda seems like a scam.
  
  

  Quote from BobYoMeowMeow;1097170:

  As long as you do something and have a direction by the time you're 20, you still have a chance at a decent living.

  
  
  Y'know in the movies where they're trying to deactivate a bomb and they clip the wrong wire and the timer on it suddenly goes from like a very slow 'tik...tik...tik' to an extremely fast 'tiktiktiktiktiktik'?
  That's what you just did to me, cat.
• Murasaki wrote on 2013-05-29 14:19

  Quote from Enoshima Smoothie;1096984:

  That's how I was in high school and even then I still have a lot of those traits.;;;
  
  The last college I went to allowed people from all majors into the art classes and that only dragged down our entire class because we had like only 5 students in my class who actually was in an art major and the rest were only there for credit and had never drawn before...soooo yeah, I'd like to figure out a way to get over my anxiety of being in debt so I can go to somewhere like Ringling or Otis.
  
  I can't accept this pay for my life though, I'd need more than $8 an hour to live.
  
  [SIZE="1"][S]I have this silly dream of working for CyberConnect2 because they hire foreign workers and I really admire their work and artists[/S][/SIZE]

  
  
  About OTIS: Talk to the office of Student Affairs if you're worried about financial troubles. They are more than willing to help you figure something out. I knew a guy who came from Mexico to study there and who is paying for college himself, but he really seems to like what he's doing.
  
  I will warn you now, though, if you want to do well, you'll be sacrificing a lot of your social life. Every teacher things their class is the most important, including the Liberal Arts teachers (even if they sometimes pretend otherwise). I also insist that you avoid any classes which they might force on you that you won't actually use to benefit your area of study. Visual Effects was not my cup of tea and I regret not jumping out of it sooner than I did.
  
  Have diversity in your portfolio, even if it's not a lot. Different mediums or styles.
• Enoshima Smoothie wrote on 2013-05-29 14:53

  Quote from Murasaki;1097303:

  
  About OTIS: Talk to the office of Student Affairs if you're worried about financial troubles. They are more than willing to help you figure something out. I knew a guy who came from Mexico to study there and who is paying for college himself, but he really seems to like what he's doing.
  
  I will warn you now, though, if you want to do well, you'll be sacrificing a lot of your social life. Every teacher things their class is the most important, including the Liberal Arts teachers (even if they sometimes pretend otherwise). I also insist that you avoid any classes which they might force on you that you won't actually use to benefit your area of study. Visual Effects was not my cup of tea and I regret not jumping out of it sooner than I did.
  
  Have diversity in your portfolio, even if it's not a lot. Different mediums or styles.

  
  
  I've heard good things about Otis and Ringling when it comes to their aid so I'm glad to see that there's some truth behind it!
  
  And I have no social life no speak of so that really won't be too much of an issue. All I've done my entire life is dedicate myself fully to school work and other jobs so I'm really not one to slack off...[SIZE="1"](slacking off and relaxing tends to make me feel extremely awful anyhow. I need constant work!)[/SIZE] I'm hoping though that by taking the CLEP exams I can free up myself to take more classes that apply to my fields of interest and cut out some liberal arts classes (I should check if Otis takes CLEP credit) because god I had to take some weird ass courses at state college.
  
  Jaja! Got the diversity all set, collage work, paper craft, markers, charcoal, digital~ I got all sorts of things I can work with to put in my final portfolio...aside from painting (shudders) but I might even tackle that over the summer.
  
  Sorry I'm buggin' you guys, but sometimes I need feedback from people who I'm not close to in order to kick myself in the ass and snap myself out of the funk I end up in after being with my dear[SIZE="1"][S]cruel[/S][/SIZE] sweet [SIZE="1"][S]manipulative[/S][/SIZE] Grandmother.
• otto wrote on 2013-05-29 15:32

  Quote from Enoshima Smoothie;1097029:

  The only thing scaring me out of it is the financial aspect, to be honest. I've found out about ways to reduce my tuition (they have exams you can take in place of courses like english/math/etc) I'm just afraid of not being able to pay the bill and then my family coming in and laughing at my failure and telling me they told me so and basking in my failure for not following their damn dreams for me.
  
  I'm the only child in this damn family, I've never been allowed to fail. Failure is death. That's why I'm so fucking scared.
  
  I don't want to be successful, I just want to be happy...

  
  
  Well, happiness is a form of success too~
  
  And there's always a way to pay for school, whether it's out of pocket, loans, scholarships, whatever. You may a fuckton at the end of it, but if you get the job you want and are happy with it then it's a tiny price to pay imo.
  
  And really, failure isn't that big of a deal. Im the only person in my generation of my family than anyone expects to amount to anything. I felt like I wasn't allowed to fail either, but when I did a few years ago I realized it was okay. I just thought of a better plan and started again.You gotta remember that you're doing this for yourself, and if they are the type to step in when you fail and laugh, etc, then tell them to take a lovely stroll into a busy intersection.
• BobYoMeowMeow wrote on 2013-05-29 15:37

  Quote from Drizzit;1097219:

  Wow, way to put a time-limit on things.

  
  
  

  Quote from Aubog007;1097252:

  I didn't even do anything until i was 24, and even then i was shoehorned into a job.
  
  I am making 25k a year at base pay. Possibilities of 70-80k base pay.
  
  No school, no prior job experience, nothing.
  
  This is why i dislike life's emphasis on schooling because you don't NEED it like some people preach it.
  Long indepth reasons why i never completed college, none of them for selfish, lazy reasons either.

  
  
  Sorry for living in a place where everyone in their early 20s has degrees, work experience, and internships
  The companies here are extremely biased.
  [SPOILER="Spoiler"][video=youtube;cdnoqCViqUo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdnoqCViqUo[/video]
  Note: this is going to be a terrible movie.[/SPOILER]
  Forgot you can manipulate people in areas who have no idea what they're hiring people for.