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darkshark 10-8-2009 07:22 PM

Becoming a professional artist: Tips
 
I've gotten quite a few private messages from many of you, you know who you are, asking what it takes to start a career in the design field...which obviously has no single path or definite answer, but this is my personal take on my feelings about it, and how I did it.


Degree vs. Non-Degree

Obviously, it makes your life easier having that little piece of paper stating you wasted your life long enough to get it. It will always be easier finding a successful career with a degree, particularly a Bachelors in our design field. However, it is not necessary at all in the design field, for the simple fact that we have something we can attach to resumes, a powerful tool, called a portfolio. I, personally, do not have a degree of any sort, but I DEFINITELY do recommend taking a few college courses related to design.

I've spent countless hours looking at design-related job listings on craigslist, monster, careerbuilder etc, and nearly all of them state that a strong portfolio and keen design skills, are more important than a degree. However you still need to possess the abilities of a college graduate, which is fairly easy to learn given the internet is the largest resource tool ever created. I still recommend taking courses. Here is what I've taken so far, not including high school courses;

Schooling (Los Medanos College)

Introduction to fine arts
Advanced Fine Arts
Cartooning
Advanced Cartooning
Introduction to Game Design
Storyboarding (Game Design II)
Game design III
Sculpting
Graphic Design I
Graphic Design II

Photoshop I
Art History
Marketing, Advertising, and Media Design
Introduction to Animation
Intermediate Animation
Advanced Animation
Web Design I
Visual Basic I


The ones in bold are courses I feel would greatly improve your understanding of what makes a good design(er) as well as boost up your portfolio with pieces that are actually relative to industry-specific design.


Portfolio.


This is the biggest one ever. I can not stress enough how important this is as a graphic artist. Your portfolio represents YOU...it is the deciding factor in this career choice, so if you don't have one, start making one...if you do have one, make it better.
What I had done, was purchase my own domain name (www.darkshark9.com, it's down for reconstruction at the moment, though), and created my own website, which was completely centered around my work, resume, background etc. and I suggest doing the same. Keep it updated, often.

If you can't afford to create your own website for any reason, there are a few free options out there, the cleanest looking one is http://www.carbonmade.com/ ...the only drawback to this one is that you can only list 5 projects (multiple pictures of each project may be listed however), so this one would be for the best of the best of your work. Another free one is www.figdig.com, which allows you up to 8 pieces, but personally, I have aesthetic issues with the site. These two sites are a great tool and all, but still doesn't replace having your own site to display your work how you want to.

http://shayne.carbonmade.com/
http://figdig.com/portfolio/darkshark/

Your last option which is also very acceptable, is creating a PDF of samples of your work. Try to include about 10 of your top notch pieces in this, you don't want it too small, but you also don't want a ridiculously large PDF either, you can also include your resume built in to the PDF which saves both you and the employer a little bit of time.

When seeking a job, obviously a portfolio is the only part that really matters...so make sure all of the work that goes into it, is absolutely your best work, even if that means it's only a few pieces, you don't want to show people your "not quite as good" works of art, because that lowers the bar on yourself. Keep it neat and organized, everything labeled etc. I really.........really can't stress how important a good portfolio is.


Experience

I know this one can be difficult at first, but if you're serious about this field, you'll need to start getting clients. An amazing website I came across (you can actually make decent money here too if you're good enough) is www.99designs.com ...It's a gathering of many of the top logo/web/print designers on the net, competing against eachother for the chance to design a big name company's image, and usually, like I said, quite a bit of money can be made. Money is not what you are after here though, you will learn first hand, and at an extremely accelerated pace, what businesses want. You will learn good design practices, and have a new line-up to add to your portfolio.

That's what I did anyway, and it worked wonders for me.


Skills

You've got them, but they aren't good enough, and never will be. Or I bet that's how you feel, and truth is, you probably will forever, I know I do. However, you have to understand, this isn't about you, this is about your client, and fulfilling what they want, not what you want. Again, as the designer, you still have to give your own insight into what makes a great design, usually a company is open to ideas that will attract business. As of right now we are caught in the era of user-centered design (UCD) where everything we design is to be done for the sake of the user. This is very important and will help not only websites, but everyday products, so keep in mind you aren't just designing for the client but his userbase as well.

Overall, never stop improving, and above all else, you need to stay on top of trends and understand the different focuses that can be achieved through both simple, and complex design.

I also recommend checking out this page: http://fontfeed.com/archives/the-logos-of-web-20/
It really gives you a better understanding of the way today's "Web 2.0" era is working, and might kickstart you in the right direction. On a personal note, when designing logos, stay away from Photoshop, use Illustrator or CorelDraw, if you don't know how to use them, I suggest you learn. If you don't have it, I suggest you learn what a torrent is.

As a designer, you WILL need to learn web design skill sets, including HTML, CSS, FLASH (knowing flash is a hugeeeeeeeeeeeee plus), and understand how java, actionscript, etc work, so you know how to design for specific applications.

Also you will need to know what you are designing for. Is it for print? Is it for web? You need to know the design issues with both, here is a good overview about what is involved in each one, and the future of both print and web design, so you future graphic designers should probably read this http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990124.html


My Story

I actually couldn't draw anything but stick figures up until 10th grade in high school. Took my first art class, and my skill just exploded from there. I took every art class the school had to offer, as well as 3d animation with 3ds max. After high school I went on to the local community college and took nearly all of their art classes as well, then dropped out because of a full time job. Last year I was let go from that job, and was forced to make some sort of income on my own, so I turned to the only thing I really had a background in, which was art. I began selling spacepaintings (seen here http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...lbumId=2412266 ). Those just weren't cutting it, I tried to sell some of my hand drawn artwork online, but had little luck.

This is when I turned to the internet, eBay in particular, and started up my own design studio, making 2d/3d logos for businesses. Over time as clientele began to increase, I started a secondary business doing 3d product replication, which was a cheaper alternative to buying a high quality camera or hiring a photographer to take pictures of your products for online stores. Did that for a while (still do) and then through networking through my business, I struck up a deal in which I came into possession, a 36" vinyl cutting machine, so I started up a 3rd business using this machine to create vehicle decals and business signs for storefront windows.

So with a little determination and work, I now make a decently healthy living, and own 3 of my own businesses.

Sorry this post was so long, but I hope the insight really helps some of you. It's not an easy road, and there is a ton of competition in this field, but if you can learn to separate yourself through quality works of art, and have the perseverance to take things to the next level, then you can make it as well.

Spenner 10-8-2009 07:39 PM

Re: My understanding of the world of Graphic Media
 
Great post, should really help me out because I'm definitely going into Graphic Design for my career.

Also thanks for that 99designs link, looks like a great site to make some money off of :O

makdaddy 10-8-2009 11:30 PM

Re: My understanding of the world of Graphic Media
 
thanks DS, I've been trying to find a website like 99designs, and its exactly what I was looking for.

Nice post

Renevatia 10-9-2009 12:44 AM

Re: My understanding of the world of Graphic Media
 
this reminds me, i really need to broaden my style and maybe read into vectors a bit

Mollocephalus 10-9-2009 08:21 AM

Re: My understanding of the world of Graphic Media
 
this is exactly what i am doing with the business i'm leading so far, except i opened to other applications as well.

the "get a vector deisgn program" part isn't bolded enough though, as it's usually easily overlooked by most people.

Mollocephalus 10-15-2009 05:55 AM

Re: My understanding of the world of Graphic Media
 
why isn't this thread announced yet

darkshark 10-15-2009 07:11 AM

Re: My understanding of the world of Graphic Media
 
Announced to what?

Mollocephalus 10-15-2009 07:44 AM

Re: My understanding of the world of Graphic Media
 
my bad, i meant stickied. the hints in this are very good for people who are starting to get into this job, such as myself.

darkshark 10-16-2009 05:26 PM

Re: My understanding of the world of Graphic Media
 
Updated a bunch of stuff in there, added useful links and such.
I'm thinking we should all post up our portfolios, and inter-critique them, it would help all of us get jobs in the future.

makdaddy 10-16-2009 09:05 PM

Re: My understanding of the world of Graphic Media
 
imacklin.carbonmade.com

The third to last is definitely a WIP, so yeah, I'd love some feedback

Which ones should I take out?

Mollocephalus 10-17-2009 02:25 AM

Re: My understanding of the world of Graphic Media
 
third and fourth don't look so good

love the carbonfiber logo even though i would've used a less prominent gradient on the left, it gets a bit too dark. the "b" logo is also very, very beautiful. the font on the bottom is a bit hard to read though. the photomanipulations are pretty, except maybe for the girl with sneakers one, which is a bit shabby.

darkshark 10-17-2009 04:10 AM

Re: My understanding of the world of Graphic Media
 
Yeah take out the graffiti one, and the "Release" one, graffiti is not looked very highly upon by businesses....

I would also try and categorize them, you only used 1 of your project slots for all of your pictures.

ps yeah, carbon fiber logo is sick, aside from having a hard time reading studios.

Mythix 10-17-2009 07:28 AM

Re: My understanding of the world of Graphic Media
 
My cent:


Never upload any of your PORTFOLIO works on the web.

Of course, out dated portfolios that won't really serve your cause in getting a job, fun projects of your own with no extreme value on design and such, testing out renders and models are just to throw out, but your finished art and work unwatermarked on the web can and will cost you a job at , say, Pixar, Funcom or Squareenix (Did they change name again?)

Why?

I am currently on my first month on 3DSM, 3d movies~, Noroff in Norway who associates with Deakin University in Aus, Glamorgan in Wales and Teesside in England for batchellor grades, and we have had representatives from all the schools visiting us regulary to explain the ropes.
We've also had visits from Funcom checking up on promising students, and Funcom, as all the schools, can't stress enough that you must not upload any work representing your quality as an artist on the web.
There are many reasons:

1: People will thieve your work if it's good.
2: If the schools find the work online, you're disqualified since there's too high a chance you didn't make it; and they don't want students/artists thieving works ruining their rep.
3: You're automaticly discovered from artist awards as ASIFA if -any- of your work might be from the web.

However, watermarked public 3D on sites promoting agents are not as bad, but 3/4 sites are phishing sites, also if you ever go for a movie/still picture award, you have to sign that the things you bring to the show has never before been seen and stuff like that.

Then again, if you're not planning on going for the ASIFA or get hired by Pixar, you're your own boss of course.


EDIT: As for why taking a course/degree, the main reason is that big UNIs and firms use their own engines and shaders, vrays and so on. Age of Conan spent a billion NOK (around 200,000,000$) developing their shaders and engines for the game, and Pixar the same for "The curious case of Benjamin Button" (YES, he is 3d, it's not makeup), allthough that engine has a long term development plan... All schools offer a grand chance, meeting with alot of the big agencies.

None of this is necesarry for working as a 3D artist on a private note, though. Just about what you want to, even though one of Squareenix main artists had no degree other than talent when he started on the final fantasy series, I don't remember his name but the E3 had an article about him.

Macmaxi 10-17-2009 03:01 PM

Re: My understanding of the world of Graphic Media
 
It is a bit different over here in germany, but basicly you also need a very good portfolio if you want to applicate somewhere. In germany an Degree how you call it, is very important, you can't go somewhere without one, but they only want to see if you are having experience at all. Having a good portfolio dosen't always mean he would make a good designer in a company.

I'm on private school doing an apperentienceship as an "Gestaltungtechnischer Assistent" should mean something like "Technical Design Assistent". Well it sound weird, but makes sense since we are learning everything from media design over to creating movies with the audio, base knowledge about almost everything there is in "Design" and even a schoolish part for "Fachhochschulreife" which is something like finishing college (correct me if i'm wrong, i'm not really into american school).

All in all, i guess everything that you need is motivation determination and skill.

Greetings

Macmaxi

makdaddy 10-17-2009 05:23 PM

Re: My understanding of the world of Graphic Media
 
I put my portfolio together in preparation to apply to graphic design school here at N.C. State. So yeah

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mollocephalus (Post 3259931)
third and fourth don't look so good

I've been told by design students and design faculty that the third one (blue planets) was one of the best ones due to positioning and lighting. I'm still working on the two photomanipulations...

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkshark (Post 3259984)
Yeah take out the graffiti one, and the "Release" one, graffiti is not looked very highly upon by businesses....

I would also try and categorize them, you only used 1 of your project slots for all of your pictures.

Now that you mention it, graffiti probably wouldn't be the best thing to put in a portfolio hahahahahah. And I need to put them all in the same project slot to apply to design school.

As for posting it online...

1) It's easier to share and keep everything all in one place
2) I need it to be online so I can link it in my application

EDIT:

Thanks for the feedback guys, let's see some other people's portfolios!

darkshark 10-18-2009 04:18 AM

Re: My understanding of the world of Graphic Media
 
If you feel unsafe about your work being stolen, you can always just watermark it.

Those are a few good points Mythix, however, none of us are on the sort of level yet, and an entry level graphic designer should have absolutely nothing to worry about when it comes to thievery, as long as you aren't the one doing the theft.
Online portfolios are the main way to show them to a business these days.

Once you're an established artist, I would assume you could just bring your laptop or something to the interview, seeing as you will have the experience and credit to be able to get to an interview for a higher company in the first place.

Mythix 10-18-2009 08:51 AM

Re: My understanding of the world of Graphic Media
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by darkshark (Post 3261023)
If you feel unsafe about your work being stolen, you can always just watermark it.

Those are a few good points Mythix, however, none of us are on the sort of level yet, and an entry level graphic designer should have absolutely nothing to worry about when it comes to thievery, as long as you aren't the one doing the theft.
Online portfolios are the main way to show them to a business these days.

Once you're an established artist, I would assume you could just bring your laptop or something to the interview, seeing as you will have the experience and credit to be able to get to an interview for a higher company in the first place.

I were actually aiming mostly on the .3ds~ file, or whatever extension you use, not the render picture, unless the render picture is to be submitted to something, but there are render pictures people take too.

I found an entire Bugatti Veyron and Mercedes SLK with a modelled garage with cracked vRay, downloadable, for free, and they were completely photorealistic. I'm quite sure whoever made that is not THAT generally generous seeing there were no credits to any artists. (Found it browsing ads on 3DM3, and yes, it had a trojan)
And the biggest scare isn't that someone might steal your stuff, but the company/host might think you have stolen it, I'd be pissed off if people said "you didn't make that, I saw it on YouTube"- and believe me, once people find something they like, it ends up being hosted everywhere...

darkshark 10-18-2009 08:04 PM

Re: My understanding of the world of Graphic Media
 
Why would you post your raw files unless you WANTED people to mess with them? I think you had just be able to back up whatever you say you can do. Period. If you show off this awesome cityscape to your employer and be like "YEAH LOOK WHAT I MADE" and when he asks you to do something similar and you can't.......well.....we all know where that road will get you.

darkshark 06-2-2011 04:29 PM

Re: Becoming a professional artist: Tips
 
Ultra bump.

Times are changing, and we've all grown since this thread was written. Many of you srtists reading this are ready to take the step into the real world, and get paid to do what you love. You guys have come a really long way, we all have. Spenner, Renevatia, Makdaddy, Spitfire, Mythix...You all have great potential, and have the skill that it takes to make it in this industry. Even up-and-coming artists like midnightraver show great potential.

Time to get active!

Just thought I'd throw this list out there:

http://freelanceswitch.com/finding/t...ing-job-sites/

It's a compilation of a ton of freelance websites, and since you guys are able to produce great quality work, I say go for it, make the jump on your own into the professional world.
Be active with it, search out new clients, retain old ones, and NEVER sell yourself short.

Even though I work a full time job in the design field, I still constantly have freelance projects I work on. Salary and freelance combined, I'm now averaging about $70-$110 an hour. I definitely know that all of you can get to that point too, and even exceed it. I want to again congratulate Spitfire for getting that internship, that's a great foot-in-the-door you've got!


SO GET TO IT. Freelancing is great money, and is your portal to better skills and a better life.

rushyrulz 06-2-2011 05:31 PM

Re: Becoming a professional artist: Tips
 
Holy walls of text :O

sakura080789 06-2-2011 05:35 PM

Re: Becoming a professional artist: Tips
 
awesome love the advice

Nullifidian 06-2-2011 07:02 PM

Re: Becoming a professional artist: Tips
 
Thanks for the mention, means a lot to me. :)

I'll check into the freelancing stuff, would be great experience and great for connections.

My contribution of tips for to this thread is to take everyone's opinion at heart. Take everyone's opinion in consideration and do something with what people say. Even if they know jack shit about art, if they spot something iffy, that's an indicator something is wrong (unless you can justify this really well). Any constructive criticism is there to help you, not to insult you.
Especially for a client or boss this is crucial, since it's their call in the end.

And in reply to mythix' post. Don't worry too much about theft of your final works (if it's a personal project that is). Just don't ever post source files of your works because that's your proof it's yours.

PS. Shameless promotion for our project which is nearly done.
It's called awesomenauts (www.awesomenauts.com) and is gonna be a MOBA (Massive Online Battle Arena) game on xbla and psn. Can't reveal much more just yet but more info will be given at E3. ;)

darkshark 06-2-2011 07:23 PM

Re: Becoming a professional artist: Tips
 
Are you going to E3? I was going to see if I could get off work next week and attend. Would be pretty badass.

And yes, critiques are a massive part of the job, get used to making revisions, lots of them! By no means does a harsh critique say your work is bad, so you still need to be able to take things lightly and not get discouraged by it.

Nullifidian 06-3-2011 03:30 AM

Re: Becoming a professional artist: Tips
 
I'm not going to E3 myself. A couple of the founders are going to talk about the game there.

darkshark 06-3-2011 04:05 PM

Re: Becoming a professional artist: Tips
 
Now lets look at the type of freelancing you need to STAY THE **** AWAY FROM.

This is a perfect example.

http://www.freelancer.com/

Lets look at this main page and break it down for a second. For starters, this is the type of freelance site where the designer is the one bidding for the job in which case 95% of the time, the person who bids the lowest amount gets to do the project. This will likely end up earning you somewhere around $3-8 an hour for the work you end up doing.

Look at the statistics they put up in the mid-right of the page. 2.5 million users, $91 million in earnings, 1 million projects. So the average amount earned by anyone per project is only $91. Your time and effort is worth more than that.

If you were to get hired on at a company as a graphic designer, they can pay you less of an hourly wage, because it is a stable salary. As a freelancer however, you can expect to easily earn at least DOUBLE what any company would normally pay you as a regular employee. Most graphic designers who are employed make around $13-$17 an hour, a freelance graphic designer should make $25-$45 an hour, simply because it is an on-demand, one time job.

As a newer person who is looking at this type of site for the first time, you might think "holy crap this actually seems awesome! Look this one is liek $200!". Some of the listings will be reasonable, but those will also be the ones that have the most competition from other fellow artists. Look at one listing from my side of the industry, animation.

http://www.freelancer.com/projects/V...n.1082866.html

If I didn't know any better, I would just say WOWWWWW $750 for a 45 second animation!!!!!! Luckily I'm no noob. Look at the video references that were given. Those types of animations not only take weeks/months to complete, but are also usually headed by a team of animators, not just one. So let's say you're fast at drawing and animating...like REALLY FAST...and you can get this thing done in under 3 weeks. That's 8 hours a day, for lets say 14 total working days (9-5 m-f), and we're going to assume you get the maximum amount offered (LOL). 14 days, x 8 hours per day = 112 working hours. $750 / 112 = $6.69 an hour. You can go eat a dick because I'm not working for less than minimum wage on something like that. Not to mention, you will not get the maximum, because some kid in China is going to love working for 6 bucks an hour.


Now lets look at the type of site you should probably use often

http://jobs.freelanceswitch.com/categories/1

This type of site immediately lists the price each company is willing to pay for the project, and is usually going to be a fair amount. These are the companies that know the freelancing industry well, and are willing to compensate you for your hard work. All you have to do with these types of sites is show them your portfolio, if they like what they see, you're hired.

Lets break this down a little further.

http://jobs.freelanceswitch.com/jobs...esigner-needed

This is a great example of what to expect from a company that you want to do a project for. The pay is $250 per infographic. (if you don't know what an infographic is click this http://www.dzinepress.com/2010/03/40...ping-analysts/ ) Now if I were to make an estimate of how much time it would take me to design a graphic like this, I would put it at about 6 hours or so. $250/6 = $41.66 an hour, which is right on par with my earlier statement about how much you should be making.

The only drawback to this site in particular is that it does require a $7 a month subscription, but many other sites do not require this at all.



The biggest underlying statement I'm trying to make here is that you need to always be paid for your skills. If you're new at the business, and just want some exposure, extra spending money, or practice in the industry (all of which are great) then by all means, a freelance bidding site is perfect, and should be used to its fullest. If you're confident in your photoshop and illustrator skills (if you think you could produce a graphic like those infographics I linked you to, then you are confident) then you should have no problem bypassing this entire bidding system. If you don't think you could design something on that sort of caliber...well...then I guess now you have a great goal to shoot for ;)

I really hope some of this stuff I'm babbling about in this thread gets taken seriously. I love working in this industry, and I know once you take a step into it, you will too ;D

Renevatia 12-22-2011 08:34 AM

Re: Becoming a professional artist: Tips
 
As topic says 'professional artist' it has been mentioned various times that after one gets __insert art degree here__ credential then .....

Here's the problem, what if I do not have any of such credentials nor the ways to get them anytime in the near future. I am currently going to college for biochem major and will not be able to attend any sort of art school since they REQUIRE you to quit your other school, and I am not willing to do that. Not to mention the tens (or hundreds) of thousands of dollars I don't have.
I am a fairly hard worker in the field of visual art and am about to put in a lot more work into it as it is one of my major passion.
From the above post it seem to me that credential is what matters, even in art. Is this true? Am I screwed because I have no way of acquiring such educational degree (art 101 doesn't count I think). Either way though, I will work as hard as I can on it for as long as I can. The only difference this will make is if or not I will starve to death, or rather how much sooner I will starve to death if I don't have a paper saying I am an artist.

PS. I know op said degree is NOT needed, but is there a cap on non-degree people. Times are changing pretty quickly, all these sites seem to all have a 'degree' section for artists to present themselves as a graduate of so and so.

Zageron 12-22-2011 04:05 PM

Re: Becoming a professional artist: Tips
 
A degree means absolutely nothing if you are good enough. No matter what you are doing. The internet has so much more, and usually better, resources than a University or College. If you put massive amounts of time into it, which I'm sure you have, and create a very impressive looking portfolio I am sure you could easily acquire yourself a job in character concept design. Just look for a tiny and insignificant company, work for very little and create a base of 'credentials' for your self. Eventually you'll apply for a bigger company with "I've created character concept art for X different studios, who have created XX characters using my creations. X of these games were extremely successful, and X of them are available on Steam. ______ game won an award at Indie GDC, and etc...."

Really it comes down to if you get noticed or not. To get noticed, you have to start really small.

(I'm sure you want a professional opinion, but I can assure you that this is pretty accurate.)

Spenner 12-22-2011 06:05 PM

Re: Becoming a professional artist: Tips
 
It all depends on what you have exposure to, if you have the discipline for attention to detail that's been self taught, if you can understand methods and theory for marketing and have evidence to know that said techniques work-- a lot of the attention to detail parts that you wouldn't ordinarily know to look and seek out knowing is taught in school, which for me I found handy; I'm sure you could learn it all by yourself and if you do, sure, you're more than qualified.

And yes, now if you can make something impressive and get exposure, it's something you need in order to be a thriving part of the industry. It's almost a celebrity status among certain companies now, the art teams, so to be a part of a game that particularly stands out graphically, or anything for that matter, it's great to be a part of.

I think a degree is sometimes seen as a reassurance that the person with this good looking portfolio has indeed the knowledge to back up his or her designs or concepts.

darkshark 12-23-2011 11:54 AM

Re: Becoming a professional artist: Tips
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Spenner (Post 3596336)
It all depends on what you have exposure to, if you have the discipline for attention to detail that's been self taught, if you can understand methods and theory for marketing and have evidence to know that said techniques work-- a lot of the attention to detail parts that you wouldn't ordinarily know to look and seek out knowing is taught in school, which for me I found handy; I'm sure you could learn it all by yourself and if you do, sure, you're more than qualified.

And yes, now if you can make something impressive and get exposure, it's something you need in order to be a thriving part of the industry. It's almost a celebrity status among certain companies now, the art teams, so to be a part of a game that particularly stands out graphically, or anything for that matter, it's great to be a part of.

I think a degree is sometimes seen as a reassurance that the person with this good looking portfolio has indeed the knowledge to back up his or her designs or concepts.

The attention to detail you will be able to put into something derives from the passion you have behind it. If you have an undying love for art then you will become amazing on your own, don't bother with school at all. If you like to draw every once in a while and think art is just pretty cool, well, I'm actually going to tell you to pick a different career path because honestly only the ones who are truly dedicated and have that passion make it in this industry anyway. Schools teach you how to use the tools, not how to be creative.

Reincarnate 12-23-2011 02:24 PM

Re: Becoming a professional artist: Tips
 
"If you like to draw every once in a while and think art is just pretty cool, well, I'm actually going to tell you to pick a different career path because honestly only the ones who are truly dedicated and have that passion make it in this industry anyway"

This applies in just about every industry, and is the strongest advice ever, however obvious it may seem. You'll always do the best and earn the most doing what you love doing. Honestly I think there's no real difference between passion and obsession; you need to be obsessed. If you're half-assing it, you'll get half-assed results.

Spenner 12-23-2011 02:37 PM

Re: Becoming a professional artist: Tips
 
Exactly what the problem is with many people in my program at the moment, they're in there because they figured "Art was apparently my biggest interest in high school maybe on par with something more science related therefore I should choose art because it seems like my best option,,," meanwhile we are into 2nd year 2nd semester now and they are still pumping out the same generic designs they did in 1st year, or before, maybe with a kerned headline this time. Not to be narcissistic about it or anything but as far as I can tell, only me and 3 other people in my class have consistent improvement in our work, that is in and around or above the accepted design standards we have today.

On a side note, my school's a bit different-- we go through a lot of talk in our natural media illustration and the first year class "creative concepts" about how we can flex the creative side we already have, and into some topics of psychology on how we can make ideas connect through the means of visual metaphors. All things I normally do but still, for the people not quite there, it was worthwhile.

Gundam-Dude 12-23-2011 02:59 PM

Re: Becoming a professional artist: Tips
 
lmao Spenner I'm in the EXACT situation you are.

With all honestly more than 80% of the people in my program don't actually belong here and it baffles me what the **** they're doing here in the first place. Either I have high standards based off my own design skill or the quality of work those people produce are just ridiculously poor and half assed. It's already 2nd year 2nd semester and I -barely- see any improvement from most of the people in my program, aside from the notable people that I can deem actual designers who will actually succeed in the industry. I've even had one-on-one discussions with some of my professors (mainly my typography and layout profs) and they wholeheartedly agree that there is a HUGE gap between the students who will actually become successful designers and those who will graduate and end up working a shitty job completely irrelevant to what they studied.

As cocky as this sounds, luckily I fall into the handful of students that the professors can see succeeding in the industry after graduation. I don't **** around with my works and I usually I put my all into everything I do; I'm just that passionate about what I study. The works I'm most proud of are the ones I absolutely know will be well received by professors and peers in addition to getting good grades. I only wish that there were more people in my program that have this sort of mindset and motivation. I'm tired of seeing the same generic, half-assed SHIT being shat out every semester by students.

#GDiselitistandmad

Nullifidian 08-10-2012 09:41 PM

Re: Becoming a professional artist: Tips
 
Today a guy I know asked me for criticism on a song he's working on. Rather than listening to what I had to say he had to justify every point of criticism I made. After he was done ranting I told him I'm merely giving him my opinion, and he has every right to do nothing with it. I also told him he should open up to criticism more and not be so defensive about everything. He then proceeded to say that I am unable to handle criticism as well because I disagreed on ideas he had for some of my drawings in the past. Besides the fact that it's irrelevant to his case wether or not I am able to handle criticism, this ticked me off a bit so I'm going to elaborate my old post a bit on the point of criticism.


Inability to handle criticism is not the same as disagreeing with someone. Everyone will have positive and negative responses to their work and you have every right to disagree with someone's view as there's a lot of subjectivity and differences in taste involved. Not sharing someone's view does not mean you're unable to handle criticism.

However, even though you ultimately choose which responses you build further on, it is wise to listen and give some thought to everyone's opinion and their explanations (especially those with more experience) as they all hold some sort of truth and might just be a mind-blowing revelation for you. If you're new to any art form, you can't really form an educated opinion yet so you have nothing to defend. It's wise to follow up on any advice given at that point and try out different angles to tackle a problem.

That said, frantically defending yourself or lashing out at the person giving you criticism will make you look like an asshole who is insecure and unable to handle criticism. Keeping calm, giving arguments to your choices and using those arguments to conclude that you do or do not agree with his opinion however gives a much different impression.

It all depends on your personal (educated) judgement in the end. You can maintain an open mind to criticism, but If you have an intelligent, educated and thought out argument for a decision, you're allowed to disagree. Just make sure it's convincing enough. (unless it's your boss or a client demanding you to do it or you're ****ed lolol)

Pseudo Enigma 08-11-2012 12:52 AM

Re: Becoming a professional artist: Tips
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by _.Spitfire._ (Post 3744473)
Today a guy I know asked me for criticism on a song he's working on. Rather than listening to what I had to say he had to justify every point of criticism I made. After he was done ranting I told him I'm merely giving him my opinion, and he has every right to do nothing with it. I also told him he should open up to criticism more and not be so defensive about everything. He then proceeded to say that I am unable to handle criticism as well because I disagreed on ideas he had for some of my drawings in the past. Besides the fact that it's irrelevant to his case wether or not I am able to handle criticism, this ticked me off a bit so I'm going to elaborate my old post a bit on the point of criticism.


Inability to handle criticism is not the same as disagreeing with someone. Everyone will have positive and negative responses to their work and you have every right to disagree with someone's view as there's a lot of subjectivity and differences in taste involved. Not sharing someone's view does not mean you're unable to handle criticism.

A++ I was in a situation like that earlier this week.

Only through mistakes are we able to learn, and when we can't learn from our mistakes we are unable to move forward and improve. I try to take criticism seriously as a method of improving all the time and it HAS helped in the past and it most certainly will in the future.

Don't forget you have your inner critic always criticizing you too, whether you decide to listen to it is up to you. I try to.

P.S. I completely forgot this thread existed. All the stuff in here is very helpful.


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