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Unsure about plans for college


SuperIb
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I just kind of wanted to post this somewhere because it's been on my mind a lot recently, it's stressing me out and I'm kind of unsure of what to do.

For the longest time I really wanted to get into something art related, like graphic design. I really like to draw and I love making stuff and I have lots of ideas. The problem is that I don't think I'm particularly great at drawing. I can usually do outlines on paper fine but I'm not amazing at coloring, shading or creating backgrounds. And as far as digital art is concerned, I'm even worse, even though I'd think it would be easier.

Recently I kind of started thinking that maybe I shouldn't do that in college and instead something else. I thought about possibly becoming a teacher, specifically to teach English related classes at a high school level. I've always enjoyed the English classes I've taken at my school, whether it be reading literature, writing papers or analyzing books/plays/etc. They're also the classes I do the best in, and I honestly enjoy reading/writing papers and essays.

I don't really know what to do. I really like drawing and art and I think that'd be really fun, but I also love English classes and could totally picture myself teaching it. Even if I became a teacher, I could still do art as a hobby and in my own time and pace, without worry of having to be competitive or "good." This just has been stressing me out a lot and I wanted to talk about it somewhere and ask for peoples' thoughts and suggestions. I'm sure I could figure it out on my own and in due time, but it's nice to share this kind of stuff with others.

Anyways, sorry if this seems simple or the answer obvious, but I always overthink things and I just want to write down how I feel somewhere and get feedback from others.

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I once wanted to be a graphic artist, someone told me to go into something that was more profitable and not do what I originally wanted. I still regret it to this day. I can draw okay now, but I would have been better. I could have been better. Do what you think is right, and be the best damn version of it you can possibly muster. If you find that you lack the passion for it, perhaps it's not your calling, and that's okay, you just scratched off one thing that you've always wanted to try in your life. 

 

 

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Tbh OP, you were in the exact position as I was in when I was still in high school. I love drawing, I love art, I love doing graphic work but being in a family where there's a huge emphasis on Math and Science, it was really difficult for me to come out to my parents that I wanted to go into the Arts as a career. In my situation, I have a lot of people in my life who support me in what I love to do - my sisters know that I'm good at art and that they know I'm passionate, my brother in law is just as supportive, and one of my close friends is in Graphic Design as well so, even though my parents aren't 100% happy with the path I chose, they still try to support me in their own way. 

So fast forward from high school, I'm majoring in Graphic Design at an art University/College called OCAD here in Toronto. Learning in an art environment is definitely enjoyable if art is something that you're passionate about because you'll meet so many people like you (you'll also meet a lot of nerds if that's what you're looking for too aha). In terms of whether it's competitive, any major you're going into, it doesn't matter if it's science, math, English, art, etc - Every field is competitive. Some more than others, of course, but everything in life is competitive, but that shouldn't stop you from being passionate and giving it your all. Even though I'm technically competing against everyone in my grade, that hardly gets in the way of the fact that we're all friends, we all share the same interest, and that we all forgot to do the assignment that was due for class lol. 

Now, if you're going to go into Graphic Design, in terms of getting in with a portfolio, here's some things to keep in mind with when I had my portfolio interview but keep in mind that it can vary from different art schools. 

  1. Be passionate about your work. If you can't talk about your work, the one interviewing isn't going to be convinced that art means anything to you. It's OK to be nervous, it's completely understandable, but just imagine your showing your work to a friend. Imagine someone selling you a product and they're not even excited as they're explaining what the product is or does - would you buy it? Probably not, because that friend is selling you a product that they clearly don't believe in. 
  2. It's good to have variety. One of the pieces in my portfolio, that I believed helped with getting into the school, was a Graphic Design piece that involved wearing 3D glasses when looking at the piece. The guy who was interviewing me really likes 3D movies in stuff so he thought that particular piece was extremely cool. So, even though it's good to have Graphic Design specific pieces, you need some other mediums of work to spice things up. 
  3. They don't expect you to know how to draw like a genius, ESPECIALLY for Graphic Design. Here's the funny truth, at OCAD, they actually have a policy in portfolio interviews where they don't like seeing 'manga' or 'anime' like drawings. So, considering I'm someone who has a pretty anime-ish style, I thought I was screwed. But, I still had so much work that I've done in terms of life drawings, graphic design, etc so don't feel like you're limited to what is expected of you. If you can learn Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, etc - you're golden. 

That's the end of my spiel but if you ever want to talk, feel free to shoot me a private message. I remember how stressful and lost I felt when I was in my last year of high school so I definitely know how you feel. But, if there's one advice that my sisters have said to me that carried me through my doubts, it would be this: "Just do what you love, because you're going to be stuck pursuing that career for 80% of your life - so why would you choose to do something you hate?"

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There is money to be made in Art and Graphic Design.  There are many jobs that need artists such as publishing, advertising, etc.  My suggestion is that if you are passionate about it, then major in that, but try to get a minor or a focus in something that will earn you a living, especially if you are taking out loans to finance college.

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I think you can do both. The reason why a lot of humanities courses get hate is because you don't really need 4 years to get a bachelor's in english(least that is how it is in the NY state university system). The people that direct these majors stretch out the coursework required for the degree such that you are taking maybe 11-12 credits per semester. This is a piddling load, however if you were to double English and Digital arts, your load would be reasonable and you will have more time to decide which field you would prefer to pursue. Or ideally you will pursue a career in something that requires both. But I think you ought to pick both majors. 

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If you're going into an arts/literature program, getting a teaching degree will help. It opens up more job options, and there are more transferable skills to use. The problem is teaching is a difficult program, doesn't make the most money, and does not finish the fastest (most will take five years). This is coming from someone who has two teaching degrees in languages. So you might be able to use your passion for art/english and your desire to become a teacher.

Also, have you thought about actually looking up the type of majors you're going into? Once you find a resource that you can use to look up majors and possible jobs, picking one becomes much easier. There is a very good place called the Job Occupational Outlook handbook that allows you to look at statistics for any major and job you could think of. I'd recommend using if you're not sure of what you want to do, or you want to compare prospects for majors.

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To be blunt, if you want to go into an art/graphic design major and you can't draw well, you're starting at a disadvantage. Arts and graphic design are very popular majors, in an unfortunately highly oversaturated job market. Also, depending on the major or school, you might not even make it past audition.

This isn't meant to be harsh or discourage you. First off, you want to inform yourself on how much of a disadvantage you're facing, and this can be done by asking teachers or program directors about this.

Second, college is expensive and thus you have a limited amount of years there. It's a really bad idea spending more than one year of college figuring out what you want to do.

Third, be aware community/state college exists, is much cheaper, and apparently credits can often be transferred to other colleges.

 

What I recommend you think about doing is:

A) spend one half of your first year in college doing arts, and if you're not certain then, switch to English for the second half, then decide if you want to do that.

B) spend a year in community/state college doing arts or English to find out if you want to do it (and possibly to prepare for the arts programme)

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Thank you all for the replies. I did read them all but I don't think I'm going to individually reply to each one as that'll just make a mess of a post and it'll be less congruent. I wanted to say that I have been thinking about what has been mentioned or brought up and am keeping everything in mind because good advice and ideas were posted, so thank you for that. I've also been doing my own thinking throughout the week and I think I've reached my own decision.

So again, thanks for the replies and advice! It is appreciated and means a lot.

On 2/21/2017 at 5:37 PM, Augestein said:

Do what you think is right, and be the best damn version of it you can possibly muster.

I wanted to mention that I really love this a lot. Thanks for that. :)

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I'll represent the "who needs college" opinion here. The sad truth is that, if you're into art, college won't really make you a better artist. Sure, it can provide you with great mentors, friends, and a general direction, but the most important thing to becoming a good artist is unlocking the potential that already lies within you. You can get the experience and guidance needed to do this without college. The only thing you really need college for is getting a degree that proves your capability to future employers, which is (in my opinion) a pretty bad way to judge someone because the fact that you went to college doesn't make you inherently talented. However, while getting hired with a degree isn't very easy anymore, getting hired without a degree is even harder. 

In the end, it depends on your resources. Do you want to wait four years before going out on your own? Would you be putting an exceptionally difficult financial burden on anybody (yourself included)? In your current position, do you have the means at your disposal to make yourself a better artist without college?

One thing you could look into is getting an internship. These are usually short, six-month commitments where instead of shelling out thousands of dollars for room and board, you face very minimal expenses, and oftentimes are actually paid for helping out as you learn. Instead of hearing about the job in a classroom, you actually get to experience doing the job yourself. True, there are internship horror stories out there, but there are a whole lot more student loan horror stories.

In the end, though, you should do what's best for you. Just keep in mind that if somebody else is funding your education, it is incredibly disrespectful to take their money so you can postpone growing up for four years, party away your life, or learn skills you hope you never have to use. In other words, while you don't have to have your whole life figured out ahead of time, going into a major commitment like college without considering what your underlying goals and drives are in life is simply a waste of time and money. Maybe your benefactors want you to get a degree in something like engineering, but I can guarantee you, if they really have your best interests at heart, then they would greatly prefer that you spend the rest of your life doing what you enjoy, what you were meant to do, rather than wasting your energy on a job that doesn't inspire you.

Those are just my opinions, though. Don't take them too seriously.

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As a software engineer who has held an contracted art job at some point before I got comfortable enough with my code to do code jobs, a college degree is not really necessary for a job in the art field, so much as raw skills and a solid portfolio can get you. What they can probably do for you is get the networking aspect and a foot in the door to potential hirers--I got my art gig at a computer science job fair who was also looking for artists, before I figured out that I don't work very well professionally as an artist (my creativity goes down 70% if I'm not working on something I care about outside of money) 

Graphic design also has a fairly separate skillset than drawing, with some overlaps. I focus mostly as a painter when it comes to art, and granted I'm miles better than most programmers at graphic design stuff, and despite knowing photoshop like the back of my hand, I find my graphic design abilities to be "just ok". 

However, this isn't to say don't get a college degree--it's good to have backup plans in case things don't work out. It's definitely possible to get a job in art--and I think graphic design is probably one of the art jobs with reasonable job prospects and if anything you can freelance, but it's also a competitive field. But whatever you do, just make sure you actually want to do it and not doing it just for the money. I know too many people who go into Compsci without passion (or at least an aptitude in math combined with killer work ethic) and they're miserable and failing and they won't make it as programmers anyway. Don't do this to yourself. Just do something that you actually enjoy and have reasonable options in the future. I would also recommend going for a reasonably-priced college over some really fancy art school, because there is a lot of good online resources and will save you a lot of money in the long run.

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Thanks for the other two replies by the way, though I think I've decided to go for a teaching degree rather than an art one.

1 hour ago, Thor Odinson said:

...before I figured out that I don't work very well professionally as an artist (my creativity goes down 70% if I'm not working on something I care about...

I feel like this would be me. I love drawing and making stuff but after actually thinking it over, I don't think I'd want this as something occupational. I honestly do tend to do worse on things I don't care about and I think I mostly just want to make stuff for myself anyways, so it seems rather foolish to get into that.

1 hour ago, Thor Odinson said:

a college degree is not really necessary for a job in the art field, so much as raw skills and a solid portfolio can get you

I definitely think this is true, so if anything, I'd rather improve on my own time in my own way and see where I go from there.

Haha, I feel like I was overthinking this entire thing. I never really thought about the job aspect of doing something art-related and now when I do, I don't feel like getting into it. And the more I think of a teaching career, the more I think that it'd be a great idea and really fun for me, especially teaching subjects like English/Language Arts since I genuinely enjoy those a lot. I guess it just comes down to me putting more thought into my future and starting to plan things ahead better. Anyways, thanks again for the posts, ideas, concerns, etc. etc. and thank you for helping me put things in perspective. :)

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Yeah when I started college I also was debating between art and something math-related, since I'm pretty passionate about both. I ended up going into computer science (reasoning at the time was "hey I'm on a computer all day and that's just applying math to a computer right") because I feel that there's still many realms of math I want to learn about, while I'm pretty set on what I want my art to look like and I'm just going to practice on my own time without needing to pay 50k for art school or being forced to "expand your horizons" (i don't really enjoy doing stuff such as abstract art, or art history, or writing essays on anything ever) and that was ultimately the right choice for me.

I didn't need to be emotionally attached to the things I code. I treat it as being given a problem I need to solve, and I tend to do well as a programmer--plus I enjoy doing it. When I had an art job but had to do something with a drastically different style than what I'm used to drawing things drastically than what I'm used to, I was not able to produce anything that, by my own standards for my own art, is top quality. So ultimately I did pick the right field to go into. Art's still a solid hobby for me--but hey, my programming job can also actually fund my art supplies. That Cintiq 27inch doesn't come cheap, and paying for Photoshop monthly is just pocket change.

Edited by Thor Odinson
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